Silicon molds and soft tooling are a bridge between prototyping and mass production. Prior to the invention of cast urethane soft tooling, there were few cost-effective options for the production of small to medium runs for bridge applications and initial market releases. In as much as injection molding is an amazing solution for large scale production of an uncountable number of products, it doesn’t provide an economical solution for small volume production needs or highly customized products.
As the 3D printing market grows, industry professionals are facing a significant challenge in scaling their current processes. Particularly with tasks surrounding the quoting and delivery of 3D printing services. To overcome this problem and stay on track with the rising competition, many 3D printing service bureaus are replacing their current hodgepodge of disconnected tools with an end-to-end sales automation software. These new cloud based solutions solutions are built specifically to accelerate the success of 3D printing service bureaus. Most importantly, this is making it possible for 3D print shops to instant quote 3D printing services more efficiently.
The difference between 3d printed part strength, quality, processing speed and cost are functions of three independent input variables: infill, layer height and the type of material being processed. While the strength increase is non-linear across the entire infill range, the relationship between infill % and both part weight and print time is linear across nearly the entire range. In this article we prove why the most efficient infill settings for most projects are between 10-30% and 70-90%.
Created specifically for the 3D printing industry, our advanced sales automation software solution can enable seamless preparation of 3D print quotes. This software was built specifically with the 3D printing service bureau in mind. As such, it comes with built-in CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tools, and countless features to streamline the ordering process for 3D printing services. All of this is provided through a web interface that is branded specifically around your 3D printing business.
SD3D and 3D Matter have come to an agreement in which SD3D will acquire the New York based software company, 3D Matter. 3D Matter launched the platform in 2015 in order to make it easier to visualize the performance of 3D printed materials based on empirical data derived from mechanical testing over 3000+ authentic 3D printed parts.
The acquisition includes 3D Matter as well as their flagship material optimization platform Optimatter. Optimatter is a web-based platform in which designers, engineers and researchers can optimize their 3D printed parts by ensuring the right materials and processing parameters are chosen for the specific part application.
The impact of automation on 3D printing production costs and throughput. 65.9% – nearly two thirds of all technician time is spent on the following tasks which can be reduced to near-zero with automation:
This case study discusses the merger of 3D Printing and IoT at the commercial scale, reflecting the data we have gathered through operations to provide estimates on production cost reductions.
As of 2019 we expect to achieve a net savings of over $400,000 per year in operational costs by implementing IoT driven energy savings and process improvements onto our 3D printing production lines in Dallas and San Diego. Implementing industrial IoT onto our production lines will allow us to offer even lower cost solutions for high volume 3D printing production, pushing additive manufacturing into new applications that are not currently economically viable.
After starting a few years ago on the West Coast, we are excited to announce we have expanded our operations and opened a new facility in Dallas, Texas!
The new office is located in the City of Richardson, just a few minutes away from the University of Texas, Dallas.
Among many strategic attributes contributing to the expansion decision, the Dallas – Fort Worth metroplex is well known for it’s centralized geographical position within the United States, serving as a major logistical hub for large transportation and shipping companies. In the near future, it will also become the birthplace of AAMPL: the Automated Additive Manufacturing Production Line.
