FDM Technology Page 1

It has been an eventful year so far for the TriMech RP Services team. Six months ago we outgrew our longtime printing facility and now we’re established at our new location in Connecticut and fully operational! We keep up with the advancements in new technologies that come out regularly including several new materials and machines released from Stratasys the past few months (with more coming out later this year). 

Additionally, TriMech and another industry leader, Javelin Technologies of Canada have come together as one team. All of these changes are exciting TriMech, as well as the industry as a whole, but what I'm really excited to talk about are the changes to our Rapid Prototyping Services department and how we are making these technologies more accessible to new and existing customers.

Technology continues to develop at an ever-faster pace and educators have long realized that the best way for students to keep up, is to gain hands-on experience. 3D printing is no exception, and many schools and universities are integrating 3D printers into their curriculums. These tools give students capabilities that could only have been imagined years ago, while building skills that apply to real-world applications. The challenge for educators is sorting through the wealth of options that exist, to narrow down the best choice for their students. In this article, we will explain some of the benefits of key 3D printing technologies and the departments that could take advantage of each one.

Carbon fiber materials and carbon-reinforced polymers can replace metal for lighter, more ergonomic tooling. Add to that the power of additive manufacturing to print the part, rather than machine it, and you can significantly reduce both your part weight and tooling lead time. In this article, we are going to review the differences in printable carbon fiber materials and the machines capable of printing them to understand how the 3D printing industry has created approachable solutions for just about every level of production. 

FDM 3D printing is the process of extruding a semi-liquid thermoplastic through a print head tip along a pre-determined tool path to create models and prototypes. Stratasys has transcended expectations to make the FDM process accurate, repeatable and reliable. In this article, we discuss the step-by-step process of calibrating a printer head to ensure the best possible prints.

Having spent a great deal of my time over the last decade working in various design, CAD, CAM and additive manufacturing software tools, I am always grateful for features that save time and improve the ability to get to my desired outcome. With the year coming to an end, there is no better time than now to reflect and present the top 10 features I am thankful for in GrabCAD Print.

GrabCAD Print is a very powerful program for converting a CAD model into a toolpath for 3D printing, and it has some features that can help you get the most out of your Stratasys FDM 3D printer. One of these is the SMART Support feature, which allows you to create a custom support structure that uses less material and takes less time than a traditional support structure.

It is a well-known fact that bringing in additive manufacturing (AM) can help save companies time and (arguably most importantly) money! AM has been used in a variety of applications like jigs, fixtures, concept designs and end-use parts just to name a few. Customers in all fields have felt the benefit of merging AM into their everyday workflow. But many user’s may not be aware that with a few changes they can save even more. In this article, I am going to break down the top five ways you can reduce the time and cost of your FDM printer, in no particular order.

Many times, when nearing the end of a workday you may find yourself having to stay late to start a new build on your machine. Or you may be working from home and must travel to the office just to send a print job over. If only there was a way to set the machine and have it print immediately once you send a job to it. With Stratasys FDM machines, you can do just that!

Every day people walk around without realizing just how much mold manufacturing impacts their lives. The mouse being used to navigate around this post was built with molded parts. The shell of your cellphone, the plastic cup you use to get a drink of water and parts of your shades or eyeglasses are made through manufacturing using molds. Manufacturing with metal molds is a large part of today’s manufacturing process, but these aren’t the only kinds of molds that can be beneficial to companies.