TriMech Blog

The Stratasys F123 Series demonstrates the capability to print high-quality designs because of its accuracy, reliability, durability and safety. It redefines the ability to produce, design and perform faster while getting the results you want. The Stratasys F123 Series is designed to ensure you get the accurate results you need to match your print to your design.

The Stratasys F123 Series prints accurate, durable and repeatable parts with engineering grade and fast draft PLA material options. It’s a smart business move as it’s designed for the way you work. The Stratasys F123 Series boasts many advancements that make it a worthy replacement for those now dated machines that break down quickly.

Generally speaking, Fused Deposition Modeling or “FDM” technology (the kind that layers material from spools of filament) is the most common and widely accessible form of 3D printing being used today. Whether you're an absolute beginner to 3D printing or have been using FDM printers for years, it can get confusing when comparing printer options and how important they are to what you are trying to create. With all the different hardware configurations, material options and applications available, it's worth taking a closer look at some of the fundamental features found in consumer-level (or “hobbyist”) printers and those in industrial-grade 3D printers to better understand how either can achieve specific production goals.

In our previous blog post, our software team shared with you some of the most useful tips they wished they knew when they started using SOLIDWORKS. In this continuation, we’ll take a look at what TriMech’s hardware team wished they knew when they started using SOLIDWORKS, and how some software updates have helped them in their pre-printing process.

Whether using 3D printing for business or for personal projects, nobody wants to have to re-print a part because of a flaw that happened during printing, especially if it could have been easily prevented. We’ve put together five key areas to monitor to avoid common print quality issues in order to achieve consistently better results.

Stratasys PolyJet 3D printers and specialty dental materials create multi-color dental models with unmatched accuracy that can mimic gum textures and print complex geometries. These multi-material models enable a variety of applications including orthodontic models, implantology case planning and cast partial frames. This additive manufacturing technology can empower you with more cost-effective interventions, enhanced efficiency, fewer risks and optimized patient outcomes.

The Stratasys J750 is capable of all sorts of amazing things, as we’ve seen recently with our articles involving the application of real-to-life textures and eyewear prototyping. An amazing new application for the Stratasys J series of printers that I’ve been running into quite a bit is the creation of full-color topographical maps that display visual data on top of satellite imagery, similar to how GIS software overlays data onto a two-dimensional map, but with the bonus of being able to quickly display elevation as well! What we’ve found in our initial studies of this application is that these three-dimensional maps are great at displaying data in a way that can’t quickly be understood when looking at a two-dimensional variant, such as census data regarding population density in relation to mountains and valleys. To get a good idea of what goes into this process, we’re going to overlay street data for the area surrounding Boston onto a topographical map of Eastern Massachusetts. 

Nano Dimension announces the new DragonFly LDM 3D printer for manufacturing electronics. This unique system brings a specialized Lights-Out Digital Manufacturing (LDM) technology and additional diagnostic automation which enables the system to run around-the-clock with little to no monitoring. This is the first of it's kind for Nano Dimension and enables 24/7 uninterrupted 3D printing for greater production output which results in a significant decrease in time and labor cost for realizing in-house printing of electronics.

From Unimate (the first robot placed on the factory floor by General Motors) to Roomba™ the robotic vacuum, there is no question that the field of robotics has drastically changed our culture over the past four decades! The industry is estimated to hit $135.4 billion in 2019, according to International Data Corporation. While robots have played an important role across various industries and even in our homes, there is a whole new category of robots, soft robotics, which could cause exponential growth over the next decade.

Within the past few decades, robotic arms have allowed the manufacturing industry to develop into the fast production entity it is today. First used in the automotive industry, robotic arms can be programmed to take on any task that calls for high repeatability and precision. Today, robotic arms are used in almost every industry imaginable: from medical, to agriculture, to electronics manufacturing- and additive manufacturing tools like 3D printing is making the technology even more accessible.

3D printing processes are easy to implement and offer a wide variety of materials to support a part’s requirements while eliminating cost, lead time and design barriers for adopting manufacturing aids on the shop floor. 3D printed composites are an exciting new trend. Whether it is chopped carbon fiber filled into a thermoplastic or continuously laid inside of a 3D print geometry, the benefits of the strength-to-weight ratio are far superior to traditional 3D printed materials. In this blog post, we’ll compare continuous fiber, chopped fiber filled nylon and Stratasys Nylon 12CF and when it’s best to use them while 3D printing parts or prototypes.

The VeroFlex and VeroFlexVivid family of materials are an unbelievably unique set of new materials available on Stratasys J Series 3D printers, which are capable of producing parts that have improved strength and flexibility while retaining great shape memory. Similar to how our simulated rubber-like Agilus material works, parts produced in either VeroFlex or VeroFlexVivid do not need to be handled as gently as other material parts and will hold up with little fear of them breaking. However, unlike Agilus, this material produces parts that are rigid and will snap right back to their original shape after being flexed in any direction. This makes them a great material to print high-quality full-color parts that are thin, like eyewear and small action figures, so today we’re going to show these new materials in action as we make some incredible Fourth of July sunglasses!