Posted by Robert Kiser on Fri, Mar 27, 2009 @ 12:14 PM
Kaiser3D recently produced a functional actuator gear assembly made from PolyJet Vero Blue at an extreme cost and time saving to a customer who needed 30 of the parts within 2 days. The rapid prototype part was cylindrical in shape and stood 2" tall and was 1.5" in diameter. The customer requested this 3D model as a totally functional replacement for a more expensive aluminum part. The aluminum part had to be polished after production in order to meet the same surface resolution of the PolyJet rapid prototype that came straight out of the 3D printer. This was needed in order to prevent jamming during movement of the actuator gear performing a mission critical function. Not only did the high resolution PolyJet Vero Blue part perform just as well as the more expensive aluminum part, Kaiser3D shaved 10 days off the customer's waiting period and saved the customer over $1,700.00. Because the PolyJet 3D functional model had the capability to withstand absorbtion of water, it performed excellently when exposed to weather conditions of high humidity, then a short time later, operating at high altitudes in extremely low humidities and severe cold.
This success story is only one of many where Rapid Prototyping, or 3D printing, is used as an alternative to Rapid Manufacturing.
Posted by Robert Kiser on Sat, Mar 14, 2009 @ 04:57 PM
Lets be clear; 3D Printing is Rapid Prototyping, but not all Rapid Prototyping systems are 3D Printers. A printer type rapid prototype system "jets" liquid material out of spray nozzles located in a block, laying down a 2-Dimensional bitmap, one on top of another at specified mechanical heights, or jets liquid out of the block into a material like a powder that absorbs the liquid and solidfies the powder into a hard bitmap image. I have been involved with Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing since 1993 and the term applied to the industry was "Rapid Prototyping". Objet Geometries was the first company to coin a rapid prototype system a "3D Printer" and called their rapid prototype system technology "3D Printing Technology". It was the first high resolution rapid prototype system to enter the arena with surface quality of parts containing RMS values in the Die casting range with the capability in Full Glossy mode of RMS values in the lower Die casting range. See here:
How can a 3D Printer create such smooth surface resolutions? Simple, a 3D Printer grows layer after layer in very small slices of 6 ten thousands of an inch .0006" and has the ability to deposit material with excellent precision.
Posted by Robert Kiser on Fri, Feb 06, 2009 @ 11:42 AM
Microtechnology is a term first applied to semi-conductor technology where an array of circuits could be put on a single chip. Microtechnology is technology with features near one micrometer (one millionth of a metre, or 10-6 metre, or 1μm). Inkjet printers are a good example of microtechnology.
The PolyJet 3D printing technology has the highest resolution in the Z-Axis (height measurement) and builds 3 Dimensional rapid prototypes layered together at layer thicknesses of .0006" (.015mm), or 15.24 microns. Comparing the PolyJet 3D printer rapid prototype system to other systems on the market, I consider the PolyJet a microtechnology because it breaks the barrier traditional rapid prototype systems are currently confined in. With a Z-Axis build capability of 15.24 microns, I can consider this close enough to define PolyJet as a rapid prototype "microtechnology". All PolyJet systems also have mechanical tolerance specifications they must be tuned within to meet the definition of the final product. Some of the calibrations require tuning to specification of less than 1 micron.
I just delivered a product to a customer who had literally been struggling to get a quality 3D prototype for a little over a year. This customer was so worn down by the bad quality 3D models he had received, along with all his questions being explained away, he didn't even trust what i was saying. I finally told the customer I would build a sample for free. Once they received the sample, all apprehension about using another rapid prototype service was gone and I was chosen to produce their exciting models. In summary, there was no other technology that was capable of building the project except the PolyJet prototype printer.
3D printing technology is a rapid prototype technology in and of itelf because it is a microtechnology, a true prototype printer, and a microtechnology that is a rapid prototype system using additive manufacturing as it's process.
Posted by Robert Kiser on Sun, Jan 25, 2009 @ 11:55 AM
Yes, and let me explain why.
When most people think of a printer, the image that comes to mind is a device you print a computer generated document to. I asked some very bright associates of mine what came to mind when I asked them what a 3D Printer is. They all stated it was a device that printed blueprints from 2-Dimensional drawings. I told them they were very warm.
All rapid prototyping systems use a concept to place a 2-Dimensional image on top of another. These processes differ in method per system manufacturer, but the end result is the same. This is an additive process to "grow" a shape that takes up more and more space. It is a physical process that requires that each 2-Dimensional image be somehow "fused" together to create the final solid shape. You might then think that this 2-Dimensional image really isn't 2-D after all, because if you could held it in your hand, it would actually be a 3-Dimensional solid mass. The 2-Dimensional images that rapid prototype systems use to create 3D models are in fact a large (or small) series of 2-Dimensional images, like the images you see on a computer screen. The are referred to as "bitmap" images, and their appearance to the naked eye is controlled by what is termed "resolution". The higher the resolution, the easier it is to see the image. There are software programs in existence that can design an image that is 3-Dimensional in appearance on a computer monitor. This 3-Dimensional image is what is called a "Solid Model". This is where the rapid prototyping process begins.
Once the 3-Dimensional image is complete and ready to be created into a hand held object, some neat things occur. The 3-Dimensional image is saved as a Stereolithography file which is a big series of triangular shapes put together to form the image. This file is then imported into the rapid prototype system's application software and maneuvered around for fastest creation time. When ready, the operator starts the process and the 3-Dimensional image file is sliced up into many of those 2-Dimensional bitmap images I mentioned. So now, our software is acting like a printer at this point. How do we take these images and "fuse" them together into a 3-Dimensional physical objet we can hold in our hand? This is where the rapid prototype system comes in.
The PolyJet is a true 3-Dimensional printer. Think of the PolyJet rapid prototype technology as an overgrown inkjet printer. It holds a liquid inside the jetting heads and jets out each individual 2-D bitmap image, on on top of another. Each 2-D bitmap image is jetted out at a certain mechanical thickness, fused together via ultraviolet light, then machined down to a certain height. This is the point at which a 2-Dimensional bitmap image becomes a 3-Dimensional physical objet.
So, are 3D printers and 3D printing technology rapid prototype systems? Yes, indeed, and the classification is called the "PolyJet" technology and is part of the rapid prototype technologies that exist today.
Posted by Robert Kiser on Fri, Jan 16, 2009 @ 03:15 PM
Rapid prototype system manufacturers normally state one specific tolerance the part measurements should never exceed across the surface of a 3D model. From experience, a critical dimension on a part may measure +/- .002" off dimension on one side of part, while on the other side, a dimension may measure +/-.003", .001", or .000" etc. The overall reason for this is what is termed "repeatability".
System repeatability speaks to the mechanics and software programs of automated manufacturing equipment and critical subsystems within whole systems. Some manufacturing systems have better critical dimensional accuracy capabilities than others. For example, I'll use a laser traveling across a build area of one foot in the X plane (left to right, or right to left). That laser energy beam looks nice and smooth as seen by the human eye as it draws a bitmap image of a certain depth (layer height in the Z axis) into the medium (powder in this case). What we can't see is that the laser is not actually traveling smoothly, but it is most likely traveling within acceptable parameters specified by the manufacturer and meets the manufacturer's definition for repeatability. It stops and starts (shutters) a little in it's travel and deviates off a straight line a little here and there. The key to good quality of 3D models being produced on a rapid prototype system is to have performance of critical subsystems meeting repeatable performance standards throughout production.
There are deviations in all axes on all manufacturing systems, some systems with better repeatability than others, even though the system may be the same model and manufacturer. For this reason, it is CRITICAL to have good and knowledgeable Field Support Engineers supporting your systems. In the Field, I have never seen a PolyJet part measure more than .005" off actual dimensions in all axes and normally measures no more than +/-.001" to .0025". A maximum dimensional tolerance number is issued by manufacturers as a baseline tool for Field Engineering and Applications of what to expect and target. State of the art software applications have increased repeatability excellently over the last 10 years in Rapid Prototyping and other manufacturing systems. In reality, a manufacturer states a maximum tolerance value average that is normally very high and all systems can be tuned to degrees of calibration for tolerance values of normally +/- .005" and less. Again, it is a baseline number. But in general, the PolyJet 3D printer system produces impressive dimensional accuracy and is the most "repeatable" rapid prototype system I have encountered because it is a 3D printer system.
Posted by Robert Kiser on Mon, Jan 05, 2009 @ 06:51 PM
Rapid prototype systems use Stereolithography files, or STL for short, to replicate the 3-Dimensional computer aided design image into a physical hand held part. Stereolithography files consist of many groups of triangles called "facets". The smoother the surface of the part, the more triangles which make up the part. This is termed "surface resolution". If you were to draw a square box on a piece of paper, then draw a straight line inside the box from one corner to the other, you would see two triangles inside the box. This 2-Dimensional bitmap image you just drew actually now has a resolution in theory. If you were to then draw another line from the other corner to the other, you would see four triangles. You just increased the resolution of your 2D bitmap image. The more triangles, the higher the surface resolution, or "smoothness" of the surface. At the same time, the higher you go in resolution (add more triangles) the larger the file size becomes. There is a point where the surface resolution is okay and the smoothness of the surface doesn't need a rise in the number of triangles as this would only be overkill and harder for the rapid prototype applications software to process, especially during the slicing process. If not enough triangles (or "facets") are present, then the surface appears jagged and resolution must be increased. Most default settings in Computer Aided Design solid modeling packages output smooth surface resolutions, while some do not. Even some of the more expensive software packages output rough surface resolutions by default, which needs to be a thing of the past. The PolyJet 3D printer technology is a printer, so high resolution physical parts are built that are near the actual surface quality of the computer Stereolithography image.
3-Dimensional Stereolithography files are then imported into the rapid prototype system's application software package where a visual simulation of the actual build platform is viewed by the operator. The 3D file is then manipulated inside the simulation and oriented for fastest and most accurate build parameters. Once the platform simulation is finished, the simulation is of course saved and the "build" is started. The next step the application software takes is a process called "slicing". The parts are electronically sliced into 2-Dimensional bitmap images and stored in an area on the computer. When the rapid prototype system is warmed up and ready, one bitmap is shipped into the control electronics, and in the case of the PolyJet 3D printer, this single bitmap is printed down onto the actual system build medium, or "build tray". This first bitmap printed is the very bottom "bitmap slice" of the part/parts on the tray. You may wonder how thick the bitmap slice is. Answer is, in theory it doesn't matter because the PolyJet 3D printer system's mechanical parameters are what control the actual thickness of the bitmap slice to be built, not the application software. Dependent on the thickness of the slice, as determined by the manufacturer of the rapid prototype system, the build tray moves downward after lay down of the first bitmap by the amount of the physical bitmap slice built mechanically on the medium (build tray). Then, in comes the next 2-Dimensional electronic bitmap slice into the electronics and this bitmap slice is laid down on top of the previous and fused together. The build platform then moves down by the manufacturer's specified amount again (called layer thickness), and the next bitmap is laid down on top of the previous. This is basically how rapid prototyping works and is a process called "additive manufacturing". You may hear the term "Direct Digital Manufacturing", but in the end, the term also relates to the final process called "additive manufacturing".
Posted by Robert Kiser on Wed, Dec 31, 2008 @ 09:56 AM
Hi Folks and welcome to my first Kaiser3D rapid prototype blog entry. I am Rob Kiser, the owner of Kaiser3D, a rapid prototype manufacturer based in Cedar Park, TX, just northwest of Austin. I decided to begin a blog page in order to enhance information flow to users of the Objet PolyJet technology using knowledge gained as a former PolyJet 3D Printer Field/Applications Engineer. We currently employ the Objet Polyjet rapid prototype 3D printer systems to produce rapid prototype models. I started my business in January 2007 with one PolyJet Eden333 3D printer. I quickly graduated to owning a second Eden333, then found myself needing the larger capacity and speed of the PolyJet Eden500V in order to meet my customer's increasing demand for high resolution rapid prototype models.
I chose the Polyjet 3D printing system because of the system's high reliability factor, repeatability, ease of use, and high surface resolution. As a former PolyJet and Selective Laser Sintering Field and Applications Engineer who serviced some very high caliber companies, I found these 4 items critical to a company's success in efficient product development goals. Engineers and designers in the companies I serviced require a one-off rapid prototype that doesn't require reproduction due to a system malfunction, system calibration problem, or operator error. These are reasons why it was critical to properly educate my users. How does this help you? We have the knowledge and experience at Kaiser3D to turn out a product that is most likely going to be the best PolyJet model you can expect.
My experience with PolyJet 3D printer and Selective Laser Sintering systems, coupled with years of overall experience in many aspects of the Rapid Prototype industry, have led me to trust that these two technologies are the best the industry has to offer.
I am very glad you have chosen to view my blog and expect to regularly see some very informative rapid prototyping information that I hope benefits you as users of PolyJet 3D printer technology. Always feel free to add comments to my blog entries, let me know your experiences, and also know that no question is a dumb question.