MCAD 3D Printing and Prototyping

3D Printing Enables A. O. Smith to Cut Time-To-Market, Reduce Development Costs, Drive Higher Sales

2012-02-01T07:00:00.001-05:00

Today's blog is by Julie Reece, 3D Systems Director of Marketing Communications.

I thoroughly enjoy hearing new stories from our channel partners and my sales colleagues about organizations that that reply on our 3D printing technology to grow their businesses. Here’s a story about A. O. Smith Corporation, a leading global manufacturer of water heating equipment. A. O. Smith is creating more attractive and energy-efficient water heaters through its advanced new product development process, which integrates 3D printing solutions from the company’s full-color professional 3D printers.

Using a ZPrinter® to create prototypes in-house, A. O. Smith is shaving weeks off product development, saving substantial cost as well as time. This enables them to iterate more productively and thoroughly refine designs, according to the R&D team.

“Instead of commissioning aluminum molds or sending out to busy contractors for plastic models, we can produce our own high-resolution color prototypes for a fraction of the cost,” said A. O. Smith CAD Supervisor, Steve Wood, from the company’s Johnson City, TN, manufacturing facility. “When a trial design isn’t perfect, we quickly revise it and print another 3D model, or we create several different prototypes at the same time. Our ZPrinter gives us the flexibility to make real-time changes and react quickly to our customers' demands.”

An aluminum mold, including setup and prototype production, can be costly, consuming as much as six weeks from the company’s design cycle before the first part is produced. Worse, if the prototype doesn’t work, a significant design revision can require a new mold and another cycle of waiting. With its ZPrinter 650® 3D printer, A. O. Smith can print multiple prototypes reflecting a wide range of design alternatives in a few hours at a significant cost reduction.

A. O. Smith expected the ZPrinter® to pay for itself quickly, but is happily finding that the return on the ZPrinter investment exceeds even its expectations. "Because we're finding it increasingly valuable as time goes on - and thus are using it more,” stated A. O. Smith CAD Operator, Robert Anest, "it is sure to pay for itself sooner than we thought."

In addition to printing prototypes, A. O. Smith is printing molds for the production of plastic molded parts – again avoiding costly aluminum molds. According to Wood, "To produce prototypes from our own molds, we’re spending less money and time.”

The integration of A. O. Smith's ZPrinter® 650 3D printer has not just been a cost savings. “It’s both a unique and an effective sales tool,” said Wood. “Our customers and partners love them – for one thing, they don’t have to lug around a 200-pound water heater. And we’re getting great feedback from everyone involved.”

Do you have a great success story using 3D Systems 3D printing technology that you’d like to share? Post it here or email me at julie.reece@3dsystems.com.

http://www.zcorp.com
http://www.3dsystems.com

Evangelizing 3D Printing

2012-01-25T07:00:00.013-05:00

This week’s blog is by Julie Reece.

I had the great fortune to attend the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) several days ago. I helped staff the 3D Systems Cubify™ booth in the 3D @Home section of the show, where we unveiled the new Cubify.com create-to-make ecosystem and the new Cube™ in-home 3D printer.

As most of you probably know by now, 3D Systems recently acquired Z Corp, and as a former Z Corper I was accustomed to staffing tradeshow booths targeted solely towards product designers, engineers, educators and architects with ZPrinters and ZScanners.

The CES experience really opened my eyes. The booth was absolutely packed during the entire four days of the show. Knowing that the show is geared towards products for the consumer, I expected visitors to be relatively unfamiliar with 3D printing, let alone the idea of 3D printing themselves, at home. And that certainly was true. People were absolutely blown away by the technology. “You made that with this?!” “This was 3D printed?!” I heard repeatedly, invariably followed by “Woah!” and pleasantly surprised laughter – hysterics actually. “But I don’t know how to make things in 3D CAD,” they would say. “No worries,” I replied, “You can simply download or modify (using incredibly intuitive developer-supplied apps) your file and we’ll print it using our cloud print service for you in any of our technologies, or you can purchase a Cube and simply print it in your home.” Followed by more “Woahs” and laughter and discussions with complete strangers standing next to them. They began to excitedly brainstorm all of the ways they could use 3D printing at home, followed by, “When can I buy one?”

If I had any doubts going into this show about whether or not true, in-home consumer 3D printing is here today, they quickly vanished. Last week I read several blog posts from additive manufacturing industry veterans (mostly engineers by training) who assert that consumer 3D printing is still many years away because the average consumer doesn't know how to design in 3D CAD and, even if they did, what would they use it for? They miss the point of the Cubify ecosystem of which the Cube 3D printer is merely one (albeit nifty) output device. Cubify is the iTunes and Facebook of the 3D printing world. The consumer doesn't have to know how to design in 3D CAD in order to have the option of printing at home or using the cloud print service. And if they had stood in the Cubify booth with me at CES, they would have heard all of the ways average consumers would use in-home 3D printing. People I spoke with talked about simply having fun with in-home 3D printing. They talked about using it as a teaching mechanism for their young children. They spoke of printing replacement parts for toys and games and of creating customized trinkets and gifts for family and friends. Understandably, industry veterans wouldn't necessarily view the possibilities from the average consumer's perspective, but from I saw first hand, that demand exists today.

What surprised me the most, however, was the huge percentage of product designers and engineers from very large, well-known companies, who visited our booth and were equally blown away by 3D printing. How could it be that they hadn’t heard of or seen 3D printing, let alone not be using it in their product development processes today? Several admitted to seeing our now-famous viral YouTube video*about the ZScanned and ZPrinted functional wrench, but that’s about it. In fact, after visiting our booth for a few minutes, a number of engineers talked about putting a Cube 3D printer on every engineer’s desk at work for basic form prototyping, in addition to the larger, more industrial-strength 3D printers in their companies’ RP shops.

The excitement about 3D printing, Cubify.com and the Cube among our booth visitors was contagious. Cubify is just what the average consumer has needed to enable them to benefit from 3D printing. And, there’s still a large, untapped business market that must be shown that more robust 3D printing technologies can save time and money in their product design and development processes, and ultimately win business.

When and how did you first hear about 3D printing? When did you see your first 3D printer and first 3D printed part?

http://www.zcorp.com

*The viral version of this video, with 8.7+ million hits was removed from YouTube.

The Rest of the Story: 3DTouch 3D Printer Prints Bigger

2012-01-23T08:16:00.001-05:00

Today's blog is by Julie Reece.

A few days ago I read a Washington Post article called Saddle your horses and fire up the 3D printer. The article was meant to report on consumer 3D printers based on the author's visit to CES 2012.

To be fair however, the story compared the wrong products to Makerbot's new Replicator 3D printer and omitted the Replicator's most formidable rival, Bits From Bytes 3DTouch 3D printer.

Here's the rest of that story.

3DTouch Prints Bigger

Bits From Bytes line of affordable 3D printers and kits have offered the category's largest build envelope for two years. And while I applaud the 300 cubic inch build volume of Makerbot’s recently announced Replicator, the 3DTouch, launched last year, beats the Replicator hands down.

The 3DTouch is easy to use, comes with a choice of one, two or three print heads and was the first 3D printer to offer an intuitive touch screen user interface. The clean lines, acrylic frame and internal electronics means the you won’t have to hide it - you can proudly display your 3D printer for all to see.

No need to tinker – set up your job and touch 'print!' Use your time to create more!

The 3DTouch boasts a total build area over 950 cubic inches – more than three times that of the Replicator. The 3DTouch allows you to print in up to three different materials at the same time. With a total build area of over 950 cubic inches and up to 3 print heads, the 3DTouch prints bigger and bolder. See the 3DTouch in Action! Also check out this video of a tennis cup printed on the 3DTouch.

Here are a few examples:

'Lotus' printed on Bits From Bytes 3DTouch, 240 mm diameter, 170 mm tall

'World Globe' printed on Bits From Bytes 3DTouch, 7.25 X 6.75 inches

'Hagia Sophia' printed on Bits From Bytes 3DTouch,
7.1 X 8.7 X 5.4 inches

Is 2012 the Year of Consumer 3D Printing?

2012-01-18T07:00:00.002-05:00

I just returned from the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, and what a show it is - thousands of exhibitors, tens of thousands of visitors, and at least that a million TV’s on display. I think the Samsung booth alone had 5,000 TV’s in it.

In case you missed the news, 3D Systems new Cube™ 3D printer was named a Finalist for the CES Best in Show award. This culminates the heaviest concentration of main stream press articles about 3D printing since I have been in the industry. Mainstream press like the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Economist, Christian Science Monitor, ABC News, have all covered a variety of 3D printing angles in the past year. The mainstream technology press has dug in as well with CNET, Engadget, and PCPro all carrying articles about 3D printing. We even had our first viral video on YouTube. It would certainly seem that 3D Printing has arrived, so will this be The Year?

Who knows? To be honest, I don’t know if we will know. 3D printing is a technology that already touches millions and millions of people. From athletic shoes to hearing aids to jewelry to dentistry to aerospace and automotive, 3D printing has changed new product design and affected the lives of what must be hundreds of millions of people. How will we know when consumer 3D printing has really arrived?

Clearly media articles mean little. Plenty of ink has been wasted on novel ideas that disappeared onto the scrap heap of history. The home 3D printers are very cool, but do thousands or even tens of thousands of those really mean anything? It still feels like 3D printers are extremely cool tools in the hands of a small group of pros. Barry Collins at PCPro opined that 3D printing needs a killer app. I think the pros will find their own killer apps, but I suspect the regular consumer is going to need some help. Hopefully the application layer on Cubify.com creates space for the pros to share their killer apps with regular consumers. Other sites out there like Shapeways and MyRobotNation are also showing what regular consumers can do with a little help.

Will all the media attention and some new killer apps lead millions of regular consumers to buy 3D prints and 3D printers in 2012? There’s never been a better time.

http://www.zcorp.com

Reality Redesigned Contest Will Bring Students' Inventions to Life with 3D Printed Prototypes and Drive Curriculum

2012-01-11T07:00:00.001-05:00

Today's blog is by Julie Reece.

We are sponsoring “Reality Redesigned,” a student-focused design competition and online reality show that will spawn daring new mountain bike designs created by inventive riders.

The show bills itself as “the ultimate design contest … what happens when the biggest names in North American manufacturing, design and engineering throw open the doors and allow both mountain bikers and designers alike to have at it.” In addition to entertainment, the episodes will serve as solid curriculum material for science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) teachers across North America.

The contest will spotlight the design process from drawing board to finished product.

Our Technical Support Specialist and expert mountain bike rider Dave Mee will “ZPrint” prototypes of three finalists in three categories, in preparation for a showdown at the RAPID 2012 Conference May 22-25, 2012. The winner will be announced live at our booth. The winning design will then be manufactured and tested by a pro rider.

“Reality Redesigned” is produced by host and Executive Producer Jeremy Bout and others involved in “The Edge Factor Show,” who are joining forces with Pinkbike, one of the top mountain bike sites in the world. Here’s how it works:

Submissions (mid-December through Feb. 24, 2012). After registering for Pinkbike (free), contestants will place their submission into one of three categories.

1. Mountain-bike suspension

2. Mountain-bike component

3. Mountain-bike frame

Screening (ongoing). Submissions will be scored by Bout and qualified experts from the mountain-bike industry. A real-time leaderboard will track the top 15 designs in each category.

The Gauntlet (April/May 2012). Experts determine how designs will stand up to a real-life scenario, then grade each based on research, material pricing and specific criteria:

1. 3D Modeling – Fit, form and function.

2. Rapid Prototyping – (usefulness, rideability) – Judges; Mee and professional rider Mike Montgomery. Mee will “ZPrint” the entries of three finalists in each category. 3D printing converts three-dimensional computer-aided design data into physical prototypes.

3. Engineering/Business plan

4. Manufacturability

Finals (May 22-25, 2012). At the RAPID 2012 Conference, three final designs will be displayed and judged, in three episodes shot with a live audience in our booth. The judging will include stringent and rigorous testing using finite element analysis (FEA) software and ZPrinted prototypes. The winner will be announced in our booth.

Epilogue: The winning design will be manufactured and tested by a pro rider.

“ZPrinting is a center-stage component of the show, inspiring innovation and bringing contestants’ designs to reality,” said Bout. “With physical models, judges and industry manufacturers can more deeply understand a design, and what it will be able to do on the trail. ZPrints will also expose students to technology they will use in their engineering careers.”

“Reality Redesigned” is just one example of 3D Systems ongoing commitment to education in addition to its EngineeringZONE™ program, sponsorships and education discounts.

To enter the contest: http://www.edgefactor.com/?i=12747&mid=1000&id=373053

Our judge, Dave Mee, was featured in episode 2.

In addition, don't miss Dave's blog where he will document his experiences and feedback about contestant submissions.

New Year’s Resolutions and 3D Printing

2012-01-04T07:00:00.023-05:00

Today's blog is from Scott Harmon.

Generally, you can count me among the cynics who think that picking New Year’s as an arbitrary time to make commitments about the future is a bit like believing in the Easter Bunny. We should always be thinking about the future and what we can make do to make better. On the other hand, it doesn’t make sense to waste an opportunity. So here are some resolutions, hopefully for all of us in the design and engineering world, for 2012.

Make a difference in the life of a kid. I find that the most gratifying part of our business is the usage of 3D printers in middle schools and high schools. This article from a newspaper in Tennessee sums it up better than I can. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that 3D printers (in the hands of passionate skillful teachers) can change kids’ lives. I’m definitely not suggesting that learning to operate a printer will change anyone’s life. However, using a 3D printer teaches kids important lessons about creativity, engineering thinking, success and failure. In a world that has gone a little crazy with standardized tests and being right all the time, 3D printers (as an extension of design and engineering) teach lessons about creativity, messiness, curiosity, perseverance, failure, and discovery - things that really matter in the long term. So my first resolution is that we will continue to support efforts, like EngineeringZONE to expose kids to the wonder of being able create.

Produce More, Consume Less. Do you know anyone named Mason? Or Cobler? Or Smith? Or Farmer? Or Baker? Do you see what I’m getting at? Generations ago, we were literally defined by what we made. People succeeded or failed on the merits of the products they could produce, and their ability to produce those products effectively. Today, we seem to be much more likely to be defined by what we consume, than by what we produce. I’m definitely not advocating a return to pre-Industrial Age societal structure. However, I am hopeful that with the huge advance in design and fabrication technology at our fingertips, we might swing things back the other way. That we might use our innate creativity to Create more frequently, to design and make instead of just consume. We have the tools. I hope we still have the desire and ability.

Finally, I’d like to present my nomination for most creative use of a 3D printer in 2011. As far as I know this is the first ever marriage proposal using a 3D print. Our friends at My Robot Nation have the full story. What a great way to bring an eventful 2011 to a close, and kick off a great 2012.

Best wishes to you and yours for a happy and prosperous 2012.

3D Printing in 2012 and Beyond

2011-12-28T07:00:00.001-05:00

This week's blog post is by John Kawola, Z Corporation CEO.

2011 was an eventful year for Z Corporation and the 3D printing/additive manufacturing industry worldwide. There is continued strong demand for prototypes, tools, fixtures….all the parts that this industry has been about for the past 20 years. But perhaps more importantly, 3D printing/additive manufacturing is beginning to really make a move to users and applications outside of the engineer trying to see if two parts fit together.

We see architects building a model of a new project, walking into the selection committee and winning the business. We see sales and marketing folks using printed models to attract new clients. We see printed parts being used for real end-use medical applications. We see consumers beginning to experience this industries capabilities through access to parts on-line or with very low cost 3D printer kits. We see 3D printing/additive manufacturing transforming the way that industries think about design, both functional and aesthetic. 2011 was a year where 3D printing/additive manufacturing really started to capture wider public awareness. Unlike any prior year, 3D printing/additive manufacturing really made its way into the mainstream press and consciousness.

In 2011, Z Corporation agreed to be acquired by 3D Systems. This transaction is expected to close early in 2012. We embrace the efforts by the 3D Systems team to think beyond one technology and beyond being simply a machine manufacturer. For 3D printing/additive manufacturing to continue to grow, new applications and new users will need to be continually brought into the mix. They will require software to learn and be creative. They will require printers that are affordable and easy to use. They will require on-line service providers that will deliver parts through the mail as easily and simply as ordering digital photographs today. We are excited to be part of this revolution, to bring our style of 3D printing into the mix and to contribute in any way we can.

We expect that all of the trends that we saw in 2011 will continue to grow and expand in 2012. The use of 3D printers in education and architecture will become a normal part of what people expect. A custom 3D printed part will become common as birthday, anniversary and workplace gifts. New engineers for the first time will really begin to optimize their designs based on the fact that AM removes practically all manufacturing constraints. All of these trends bode for a strong and bright future for this industry.

I am excited to be a part of it.

http://www.zcorp.com

The Best of 3D Printing in 2011

2011-12-21T07:00:00.001-05:00

This week's blog is by Scott Harmon, Z Corporation's VP of Business Development.

Lots of things have happened in 2011. We would like to take this chance to look back at some of them and see what changed in the past 12 months.

Social Media has arrived in this industry. You might recall the National Geographic video featuring Z Corp and the famous wrench that went viral with over 8.7 million views! Social media wouldn’t seem to be an obvious fit for technical industries like Engineering and Product Design. Still we’re seeing it all over. Dassault and Autodesk have all made major commitments, as have the major RP vendors. Personally, I think this is great. The key to social media is great content. Companies that create great content succeed in social media. Frankly, if companies in the industry are spending more resources creating great content, and less resources on advertisements and trade show booths, I think that’s a net positive.

CAD Tools for the Consumer. We’re definitely seeing an explosion in free CAD tools. It’s going from a trickle to a flood. Blender has been around for a while. Sketch Up has certainly made a splash, but now everyone is in on the action. Established players like Autodesk (123D and 123D Sculpt) and Dassault (3D Via).It’s pretty obvious that a number of important organizations are focused on massively increasing the number of people who can create 3D content.

Design for Re-Design. I personally love this. Many people will be interested in designing and making their own things. However, I believe that many more will want to start with something that is designed to be re-designed. They will want some basic platform that allows them to customize a design for themselves, a way to creating without CAD. Vizardz (http://www.vizardz.com/), Shapeways (http://www.shapeways.com/creator/), Kodama Studios (http://www.myrobotnation.com/) and i.materialise (http://i.materialise.com/creationcorner) have all launched services like this. Keep an eye on them.

Simple Sketching. The flip side of creating free tools for the consumer, is creating simpler / faster tools for professionals. Catia’s Natural Sketch, PTC’s Creo, Spaceclaim are all tools designed to make 3d modeling faster and easier for the professional user. It appears that all the major vendors are trying to push 3D earlier in the design process. At Z Corp, we obviously think that’s really important. Waiting until you have a fully parameterized 3D model before you protype is so last decade. Fail faster to succeed sooner.

The Cloud. Obviously everyone is talking about the Cloud. Frankly, I find a lot of the cloud stuff pretty irritating. I don’t really want to think about whether my key projects are stored in the cloud or on my machine, and I sure as heck don’t want to be separated from my work because of a dodgy internet collection. Having said that, the Cloud does really help with one key aspect of engineering design – collaboration. It’s obvious that product design is among the most collaborative disciplines around. It touches every part of the organization, and the best in class involve other parts of the organization early in the process. The cloud enables that collaboration. Time to get on board.

I would be remiss if I didn’t mention that Z Corp being acquired by 3D Systems was big news in this industry. I think we have two great tastes that will taste even better together. That should make for an exciting 2012.

http://www.zcorp.com

Nothing Says ‘Happy Holidays’ Like Customized 3D Printed Gifts

2011-12-14T07:00:00.003-05:00

Today’s blog is by Julie Reece, Z Corporation’s Director of Marketing Communications.

Amidst the excitement leading up to the holidays, there is always that moment when I sit in a quiet place, make a list of everyone to whom I will give a gift, and begin the daunting task of identifying that perfect gift for each of those people and writing it in the space next to his/her name.

Each gift must be something different from prior years, something personal - yet I confess given my hectic schedule, something quick and easy, and something that won’t break the bank.

Sound familiar?

Then an epiphany. Why haven’t I thought of this sooner? After all, I work for a 3D printing company! I’m talking about customized 3D printed items. What kind of items? Here’s just a sampling:

How about a unique, full color 3D printed robot? They’re all the buzz this season! You don’t have to know anything about 3D design to quickly create and order your customized 3D printed robots, and they’re incredibly affordable. Visit http://www.myrobotnation.com/.

Or, how about a customized World of Warcraft® or Xbox Live® avatar for your favorite gamer? Simply order a 3D printed replica of your loved one’s actual game avatar, including the avatar’s name, customized position, clothing, accessories, etc. Visit http://www.figureprints.com/.

Here’s a unique idea, a 3D printed map of a meaningful place…perhaps it’s a memorable vacation spot, a hiking or cycling trail they conquered, or the spot where they were married. http://www.landprint.com/ uses an intuitive online tool that enables you to select the type of map you want, as well as the precise geographic location. You can even personalize it with a message or label.

The next idea requires you to have a Twitter account, but it is as fun to use and give as it is to receive. It’s a 3D printed snowman called Frstee (yes, I assure you the name spelling is correct). But it’s not just any snowman, the appearance of the snowman you receive is directly related to various characteristics of your Twitter account, including your username, number of followers, and number of years you’ve used Twitter. http://www.frstee.com/.

If none of those items appeal to you, but you like the idea of giving a unique 3D printed item as a gift, check out these sites, that offer a variety of multicolor 3D printed items, such as figurines, statues, avatars, key rings, USB flash drives, frames, lamps, and so much more:

http://www.zcorp.com

Color 3D Printing for the Holidays: Advent Calendar

2011-12-07T07:00:00.006-05:00

This week’s blog post is by Julie Reece, Z Corporation’s Director of Marketing Communications.

It’s finally December! And no matter where you’re from around the world, that means the myriad of December holidays are quickly approaching. A tradition here at Z Corp. is to have fun with some of the symbols of the season. This year, we created an advent calendar using 3D printed models.

Here are the first few days of the advent calendar, in case you missed them:

Day 1 - Santa Hat

Day 2 - Snowflake

Day 3 - Gingerbread Cookie

Day 4 (and my favorite) - Gift

Day 5 - Christmas Pig

Day 6 - Snowman

Day 7 - Snowball Lantern

Of course, we can create these beautiful holiday-themed models because our 3D printers (ZPrinters) uniquely offer a multicolor 3D printing capability and, well, because we like to infuse fun into our daily responsibilities. Enjoy!

If you’d like any of these files, simply send me an email at jreece@zcorp.com.

http://www.zcorp.com

3D Printing Saves Lives

2011-11-30T01:00:00.000-05:00

Today’s blog is by Julie Reece, Z Corporation’s Director of Marketing Communications.

I recently came across yet another inspiring story about how researchers and students are continually innovating with 3D printing technology in pursuit of life-saving applications. This one comes from The University of California Berkeley where they are using 3D printing to accelerate the evolution of a new medical device that promises to deliver safe, non-invasive angiography.

Called X-space Magnetic Particle Imaging (MPI), the technology will let doctors look inside the heart and brain without the dangers of radiation, iodine, guide wires or catheters, according to Patrick Goodwill, University of California Berkeley research associate and developer of both the theory and first X-space MPI scanner. The MPI scanner detects nanoparticles spotlighted by benign iron oxide tracers injected into the bloodstream.

Goodwill and a team of graduate engineering students in the Conolly Labratory use the ZPrinter® 150 to create parts for MPI scanner prototypes that can image small animals. These devices are precursors to human-scale scanners.

“Since we’re building the world’s first MPI scanners, we can’t just buy parts off the shelf,” said Goodwill. “We’re using the ZPrinter to manufacture parts such as transmit coils, receive coils, heated animal beds and even custom components for delivering animal anesthesia. Every scanner we’ve built has incorporated at least two or three ZPrinted parts.”

Graduate Students Print Parts Every Day for Magnetic Particle Imaging Scanner Prototypes, Saving Weeks of Waiting and Thousands of Dollars

Goodwill purchased the ZPrinter after trying Dimension 3D printers, which were expensive –costing up to $1,500 per part in materials – and time consuming, taking as much as 20 hours to make a single part. He found that the ZPrinter creates parts in half the time, at a fraction of the price, and even produces multiple parts in each build cycle. “We can build 30 parts for the price of one,” Goodwill said.

“ZPrinting is the fastest way we can create the parts we need to rapidly iterate our design so we can bring MPI to the general public sooner,” Goodwill said. “We train all our students on SolidWorks® CAD software and have them manufacture their own parts. Now, whenever we have an inspiration, we try it out with a real part. We never have to leave the lab.”

http://www.corp.com

It's a Great Time to Be an Entrepreneur!

2011-11-23T07:30:00.001-05:00

This week's blog is by Scott Harmon, Z Corporation's VP of Business Development.

I was invited to give a talk at Northeastern University’s Global Entrepreneurship Week. I have to say, it’s a great time to be an entrepreneur.

Most of you are familiar by now with the basic idea that 3D printing is a great way to lower the cost and time required to bring a product to market. Entrepreneurs feel the pressure to bring their products to market faster and at lower cost even more acutely than engineers and designers at other kinds of firms. That is after all the key mandate of the entrepreneur – do it faster, and do it for less. When you are pre-revenue, you have no choice.

Of course, many entrepreneurs do not come from the ranks of engineers and designers. Generally they are unaware of the power of the prototype. They frequently make the mistake of starting with a short run of production parts from a low cost manufacturing environment. Big mistake.

What I found fascinating was the enormous array of tools beyond 3D printers that have evolved to make the lives of entrepreneurs easier. All of them focused on lowering the cost and time required to being a product to market. Professor Tucker Marion from Northeastern University presented an enormous array of tools that are cost effective and incredibly useful to start ups. Everything from low cost project management and collaboration, to sites like Elance and Guru that help you find talent in specific niches, to sourcing vendors catering specifically to the needs of start-ups. An entire economy is growing up to aid those trying to bring new products to market.

One thing I know very specifically: regardless of what government does or doesn’t do, the fastest way to grow ourselves out of the current recession is to unleash the creativity of our people. All these tools, 3D printers included, contribute to the efforts of creative people who are trying to bring new and innovative products to market. It’s a great time to be an entrepreneur.

http://www.zcorp.com

How Can You Use In-House 3D Printing to Work Smarter, Not Harder?

2011-11-15T18:50:00.000-05:00

Today’s guest blog comes from Julie Reece, Z Corporation’s Director of Marketing Communications.

Last month I was in the UK for TCT Live 2011. During the show I had the privilege of listening to a presentation by Ben White, Sr. Product Design Engineer at Integra Products (UK manufacturer of window dressing solutions) about how Integra uses 3D printing, not only throughout the product design and development process, but also across the organization, to cut their design cycle by weeks and their product costs by thousands, and even ship greener products. Integra uses physical 3D printed models, example, to refine concepts, ensure fit and function, communicate effectively with partners, and quickly create mold patterns.

Integra previously used a service bureau for its prototypes, but they decided to invest in a Z Corp. 3D printer after realizing they could save time, money and rework by making their own prototypes in house versus using a service bureau. Integra now prints as many as 25 models overnight, rather than waiting as long as seven days for prototypes from the service bureau. They reduced prototyping costs by 85 to 90 percent compared to the service bureau’s fees for SLS prototypes.

White says,

“Our ZPrinter saves us time and money at every step. The biggest savings is getting things right before we invest in tooling. Instead of waiting 40 days for tooling and then seeing if we like our samples, our ZPrinter helps us ensure, before the fact, that our products are going to work, fit with adjacent components, and look great. That can eliminate errors that would otherwise cost us thousands of dollars.”

Integra’s use of ZPrinting includes:

Concept modeling – A powerful use of ZPrinting at Integra involves meeting with customers to refine designs and handing them a prototype reflecting the newest input. “Most of our customers haven’t seen this technology and don’t know that it exists,” said White. “It confirms our edge in technology and innovation, and embodies our mission to work smarter, not harder.”

Enhancing Communication Across the Company – ZPrinting’s quick turnaround helps Integra engineers convey information that doesn’t come across in their computer renderings. With 3D printed models, designers, marketers and salespeople can fully grasp the proportions between the finial (decorative pole end) and the curtain pole. ZPrinted models also more effectively depict complex shapes, such as decorative spheres, to manufacturing partners who can’t fully understand the intent from the digital drawings. Similarly, ZPrinting helps Integra designers ensure that seams and joints aren’t visible in the finished product.

Moldmaking – ZPrinting quickly creates molds for the rapid creation of silicon molds and quick patterns for sand casting. These capabilities cut the 10-week development cycle to four weeks.

Sustainability – In addition to saving time, money and errors in development, White’s team is finding ways to cut costs on actual product materials. “ZPrinting has enabled us to reduce material through extensive testing of prototypes,” White said. “As a result, a recently redesigned plastic curtain hook is now stronger and easier to use, while reducing consumer waste by 500 kilograms per year. ZPrinting is helping us to fulfill our responsibility of being a good neighbor while minimizing our carbon footprint.”

Watch video presentation about Integra’s use of 3D printing delivered by Ben White of Integra at TCT Live last month.

http://www.zcorp.com

How Does Your Company Use Creativity to Create Value?

2011-11-09T07:30:00.001-05:00

This week's blog is by Scott Harmon, Z Corporation VP of Business Development.

Z Corporation recently adopted a new mission, and the timing couldn’t be better. Z Corp.’s mission is to help our customers Create more™ – more ideas, more communication, more innovation.

I gave a presentation last week at the Connected Health Symposium in Boston, and it occurred to me that you can read Create more in two ways – with more as an adjective to describe the things a reader might create, or with more as an adverb exhorting the reader to use their creative powers more.

The difference is subtle, but important. A recent IBM study, in which 1500 CEO’s from around the world participated, had some very interesting findings. The first finding was that complexity was most commonly identified as their biggest challenge. The second was that their companies are not well equipped the deal with the complexity they face. The third was that they viewed creativity as the single most important leadership competency for dealing with complexity.

Complexity is the burden of reading more as an adjective. Growth means more new products designed to serve more new markets with more new customers. All of that adds complexity to an organization. Creativity is the opportunity enabled by reading more as an adverb. By using our creative talents and tools more effectively we deliver greater value to our customers, and hopefully reduce complexity.

We’re happy to support both kinds of creators. With the most productive 3D printers in the world, we enable creators who are relentlessly focused on developing lots of new products in hyper-competitive fields. Our low cost of operation also enables a different kind of creator. A creator who may care less about quantity, but wants to try lots and lots of different ideas in order to identify the one that cuts through.

So what kind of creativity does your company value?

http://www.zcorp.com

Z Corp. and Kodama Studios Bring You “My Robot Nation,” 3D Creation for Everyone

2011-11-02T07:30:00.004-04:00

Today’s blog is by Julie Reece, Z Corporation’s Director of Marketing Communications.

While many invoke the vision of 3D printers in the home, the reality is that until now, the ability to design and print your own creations in 3D has required expert knowledge in 3D CAD software. Mark Danks and Sarah Stocker, game industry veterans and the founders of Kodama Studios, are changing all of that.

Leveraging their unique experience in video game development and the latest browser technologies in HTML5.0 and WebGL, Kodama has put the joy of play into creating in 3D. A featured application on the new Google Chrome Store, MyRobotNation.com provides you with the ability to go online, design and create a personalized robot collectible using a combination of 3D Web graphics and fast, affordable, and multicolor 3D printing.

Virtually anyone, not just experienced designers, can easily design their own personalized 3D robot creation that can then be printed as a high-quality figurine by Offload Studios, in vibrant color, on a Z Corp. 3D printer (ZPrinter). You can choose from more than 9 billion combinations of body shapes, limbs, colors, decals, and attachments. Video. Check out some photos of robots that have been created so far.

In his exclusive CNET article about the beta launch of MyRobotNation.com, Daniel Terdiman includes this quote from Stocker:

“At My Robot Nation, we believe that everyone is creative, and everyone can create – we all just need a fun and easy way to get started. Youtube, Facebook and Twitter show us how creative everyone can be digitally – we’re giving people an amazing new way to bring that creativity into the real world. Robots are only the beginning – the My Robot Nation platform is designed to be flexible and allow for the creation and customization of objects of any type. 3D printing is a revolution in creation and we want everyone to have access to it – now!”

ZPrinters are already being used to create animation characters for Pixar and personalized avatars for World of Warcraft gamers, expanding the creative possibilities for consumers and computer graphics professionals.

http://www.zcorp.com

Tricks, Treats, and 3D Printing for Halloween

2011-10-31T07:30:00.000-04:00

This week’s guest blog is by Julie Reece, Z Corporation’s Director of Marketing Communications.

3D print of my face in honor of Halloween, because it’s just a bit creepy.

Every Halloween, we like to have a little fun here at Z Corp. There’s nothing like tricks, treats, and, yes, 3D printed models created on a Z Corp. ZPrinter to add some zest to Halloween.

I thought that multicolor, fully-textured, 3D printed Jack-O-Lanterns and a skull named Jane would do just the trick (pun intended).

Enjoy!

Fully-functional ZPrinted Halloween decoration

ZPrinted Jack-O-Lantern

ZPrinted pumpkin

ZPrinted Jane (it’s a long story)

http://www.zcorp.com

High School Students Have 'The Best Field Trip Ever!' Learning about 3D Design & 3D Printing at Z Corporation

2011-10-26T07:30:00.000-04:00

Today's blog is from Scott Harmon, Z Corporation VP of Business Development.

With great fanfare we kicked off the EngineeringZONE program last week. Twenty-five students and three faculty members, led by June Krinsky Rudder from Revere High School, came to visit. After a brief introduction to the company, we split them into three groups. Each group moved through three different segments.

In the first segment, students got a tour of the manufacturing facility, led by our VP of Manufacturing, Matt Mandia. Z Corporation has been manufacturing 3D printers right here in Massachusetts for more than 10 years. We ship those printers all over the globe. Although labor costs are higher here, we get very talented assemblers who don’t just put things together, they actively participate in discussions about how we can design things so that manufacturing is less expensive and easier to do. The students saw our KanBan system for lean inventory control which also keeps costs down.

The students also got some hands on time with the printers and the prototypes themselves. Most of them had never seen a 3D printer or the output from a 3D printer. In our demo room, they saw all the printers in our line, as well as prototypes from just about every discipline we sell to. We had students who were interested in engineering, architecture, animation, digital media, medicine, etc. Fortunately, we have lots of different examples of prototypes and customers from all those different disciplines.

Students then learned why 3D printers are so popular with engineers, designers, architects, animators, etc. "Failing Faster to Succeed Sooner" is a message that resonated. Engineers, designers and architects, in particular, try to generate and test lots of ideas early in their design processes so they’re not fixing things later, when it’s more costly.

As a special treat, Z Corp. worked with MyRobotNation.com to let each student create their own robots during their visit. If you haven’t seen this application, you should. It’s really cool. Using a browser (Chrome and Firefox work best), you can actually design a robot and have it 3D printed. No CAD required. The application just went to public beta on the Google App Store. Best of all, in conjunction with My Robot Nation and Offload Studios, we’ll be providing each student with a 3D print of their robot.

More Photos

Videos

If you’re interested in bringing a class of students to Z Corp. as part of our EngineeringZONE program for the “best field trip ever!” (June’s words, not mine), please contact Olimpio DeMarco at odemarco@zcorp.com.

http://www.zcorp.com

Functional 3D Printed Clock

2011-10-19T07:30:00.001-04:00

This week's blog is by John Luongo, Z Corporation Associate Engineer.

As a machinist and engineer; mechanical time pieces have always fascinated me. They are a perfect meld of both skill sets. I’ve been collecting them for ten plus years.

Sometime ago, I found a website where a gentleman from the U.K. shared his passion for wooden pendulum clocks. For a small fee he sent me a copy of the .iges files. I converted them to .stl and 3D printed the components half scale on a Z Corporation ZPrinter. I used zp150 composite resin for the build material and ZMax to finish them off.

I’ll have to admit that Generation 1 was a bear to assemble because of all the parts.

After I assembled the parts, I modified the models (Generation 2) by adding contrasting colors and subassemblies to the design and ZPrinted them in full color (orange and black - just in time for Halloween!).

Doing so reduced the part count from over seventy pieces to under twenty, and it works! I’ve learned so much from doing this. Stay tuned for Gen 3!
http://www.zcorp.com

It's Just Cool

2011-10-12T07:30:00.006-04:00

Today's blog is from Scott Harmon, Z Corporation VP of Business Development.

OK. This week’s blog is not strictly MCAD related. Perhaps it falls more into the ‘It's just cool’ segment of our offering.

Obviously we’re always on the lookout for tools that help designers, engineers, and creative people in general to Create more™. This week we came across a really cool new tool that does just that. Autodesk releases 123D Sculpt for iPad. It’s a free app in the Apple App Store. It’s very cool, and really quite an amazing creative tool.

I have never seen a software application that is as easy to use for organic surface modeling, coloring and texturing as 123D. It’s really extraordinary. Did I mention it’s free? Autodesk has done an impressive job of utilizing the capabilities of the iPad (touch screen, multi-touch, etc.), and keeping the user experience really simple. There are only a handful of tools for modifying geometry, but when you get the hang of them, they are quite powerful.

Just as amazing as the ability to create compelling geometry is the ability to use color and even textures. The way textures work is especially clever. You essentially take texture maps from the library (or pictures you take yourself), place them over the shape, and then ‘rub’ the texture onto the surface. When you put all that together and add a creative mind you get content that is really compelling. You can check out some examples at http://123dsculpt.com/news/artist-profile-chris-kunzmann.html.

There is, sadly, one thing missing. You can do all kinds of 2D exports, but no 3D exports. No 3D exports for a 3D sculpting tool? Cynics might say that Autodesk just wants to protect their more expensive products. I’m not sure I agree. Exporting textures, meshes, etc. is not trivial. I suspect they wanted to push it out quickly to see what happens. They’ve already started adding premium content for a small fee. I suspect and hope we’ll see it added as an option in the future.

http://www.zcorp.com/

Student Creates More with 3D Printing, Carbon Fiber and Fiberglass

2011-10-05T07:30:00.008-04:00

Today's guest blog is by Scott Harmon, Z Corporation's VP of Business Development.

One of the most enjoyable things about working at Z Corp. is hearing about what students do with our technology. When you combine a 3D printer’s freedom to create with the unconstrained mind of a student, sometimes you get really amazing results.

One of my recent favorites comes from Red River College in Winnipeg, Canada. Serge Broeska, a student at Red River under the guidance of Leon Fainstein, recently got an article published in a prestigious industry journal called JEC Composites. The subject of their article: “A New Means of Making Dissolvable Mandrels and Patterns, Otherwise Known as ‘Rapid Prototype Composite Tooling’".

In essence, Serge and Prof. Fainstein used 3D printed parts from a Z Corp. 3D printer to make a pattern around which they applied carbon fiber and fiberglass. After the composites had cured, they simply washed the pattern out with water. In the project technical report, they documented huge (90%) savings in time and money to create a composite part vs. traditional tooling methods. In the article, they describe making a frame component, a handlebar, and a water bottle holder using this method.

Thanks to their creativity and hard work, they now have a handful of major composite manufacturers interested in further developing their research.

As cool as this particular application is, the cooler thing is that literally thousands of new students all over the world are using this technology every year. What will they create next?

http://www.zcorp.com/en/home.aspx

Using 3D Printing in a Vacuum Forming Process to Help Patients

2011-09-28T07:30:00.002-04:00

Through a colleague here at Z Corp. I was made aware of an innovative company here in the Boston area called Radlab Inc., a multidisciplinary design and fabrication consulting firm. Founder Matthew Trimble describes a process for using 3D printed parts in a vacuum forming process.

Matt writes, “As Radlab has been developing a new bilateral hand rehabilitation device for Novokinetics, we've been testing new techniques in vacuum forming with 3D printed molds. For this particular application we started with a 'positive' Z Corp. 3D printed mold. The impetus for our process came from a desire to design and produce workable prototypes of potential wrist cushion variations. As a patient engages with the device, our hope is that their wrist would be comfortably elevated to the necessary height. After the molds were printed they were coated with a release. This is an important step to ensure that the styrene can be separated from the 3D print without significant deformation. We used a 1/16” white styrene for thermoforming. Once we extracted our thermoformed 'negative' we could move to the final stage of casting clear liquid urethane to create the actual pad. The process worked out well for us and we plan to continue using Z Corp. 3D prints for mold making in the future.”

There is a nicely produced video that includes the vacuum forming steps on their site: http://vimeo.com/23161777

It is always great to see 3D printing used in interesting applications. Thanks Matthew for your contribution to this blog and stay innovative!

http://www.zcorp.com

Are You Ready To Be A Rock Star?

2011-09-21T07:30:00.009-04:00

Today's guest blog is by Scott Harmon, Z Corporation's VP of Business Development.

We had a big announcement with Shapeways last week. They have improved the quality of their Z Corp. output. It looks really great. I’ve spoken with them a few times, and it appears that they were using a 3rd party solution that was causing problems for them. They’re now using standard Z Corporation processes, and getting great results.

From the beginning, many Z Corp. types (myself included) were pretty skeptical about Shapeways. That has traditionally been a very challenging business in which to build scale. In general, there’s a lot of complexity to go with a relatively small scale. That’s a tough combination. Still, when you’re wrong, you’re wrong. I’ll admit it, I was wrong. Shapeways has done a really impressive job creating a whole new market for 3D printed goods.

So what are they doing right and what does it mean to you?

First of all, I think they’re doing a really great job of building communities. They are very open in their communications. They take their beatings and their compliments with equal seriousness. This has clearly led to faster rate of improvement than many companies. Their feedback loop from order, to production, to customer, to community is just days. When all your customers can see any customers’ feedback (in nearly real time), it provides an added incentive to get things right.

Second, they’ve created very smart incentives to attract designers to make cool products. The challenge with 3D printing has always been that so few people know how to really draw in 3D. Shapeways wisely turned that liability into an advantage by incenting designers to post their work and make money on it. I have no idea what their mix is between placed by the designers themselves vs. orders placed by other customers, but that mix is the key to scalability in this business, and I suspect it is moving in the right direction.

So what does that mean to you, designers and engineers of the world? I’d look to the world of media for answers. Ten years ago, star musicians and actors/actresses, controlled and promoted by a small stable of media conglomerates, made an enormous amount of money, and the rest were largely out in the cold. Today, there are still serious stars that make serious money, but the playing field has leveled, and a much broader range of talent has far more access to ‘success’ than a decade ago.

In the world of design/engineering, the record companies and movie studios have been replaced by multinational product development companies. They are generally the arbiters of good design and employers of the bulk of engineers and designers in the world. Shapeways, and companies like Shapeways, could level that playing field. If you’re outstanding in design, animation, or engineering, your path to consumers just got a lot smoother. There are people sitting at home in their pajamas making tens of thousands of dollars selling their work on sites like this. OK, that’s probably not the life of David Lee Roth, but it beats being Dilbert.

So, are you ready to be a rock star?

http://www.zcorp.com

Copiers vs. Creators

2011-09-14T07:30:00.001-04:00

Today's guest post is from Scott Harmon, Z Corporation VP of Business Development.

Lately, some interesting people (Ars Technica; Public Knowledge) have started to illuminate the challenges that 3D printers pose to copyright, trademark and patent law. Not surprisingly, IP lawyers are starting to chime in (http://iplj.net/blog/; http://www.ipcg.com/?file=Instant_Intellectual_Property_Violations) as well.

As the makers of the only color 3D printers in the world, the issues are especially relevant. With other printing technologies you can make an object in the same shape as someone else’s work. With our technology, you get the shape and color. Not exactly a replicator, but pretty close.

This debate largely forms around two camps. One camp says that IP laws are critical because they ensure that inventors and creative get benefit from their creations, which provides incentive to create. The other camp says IP laws slow innovation because the owners of the IP are more incented to protect it than to evolve it, and other are prevented from doing so. Clearly both camps are correct.

I was talking to a gentleman at SIGGRAPH who makes and sells models through Turbosquid and other 3D content libraries. He was bemoaning the fact that other ‘artists’ will download a copy of his model, change a few things, and then upload a new model for sale at one third of the cost. That stinks. And, as we have seen, it’s a serious problem for just about all digital media.

3D printing, however, is not a digital media. I believe that the IP problem in 3D printing has already resolved itself. A 3D printer is an excellent tool for creating one new thing (i.e.; a prototype), but a poor tool for copying things in volume (a batch of counterfeit Storm Troopers).

Will the large IP holders care if an occasional one-off copy of their content gets made? Is there any financial incentive for an IP copier to make lots and lots of copies using a 3D printer? I suspect the answer in both cases is ‘no.’ There will certainly be IP violations using 3D printing, but the likelihood that it ever gets to the level of what’s happening in music, video, software, etc. is pretty small.

The more interesting question might be, “How will IP owners, consumer / creators and 3D printers work together to personalize existing IP to create more value for everyone?” What do you think?

Create More. Copy Less.

http://www.zcorp.com

New Education Program Addresses Skills Crisis

2011-09-07T07:30:00.008-04:00

Today's guest blog is from Julie Reece, Z Corporation's Director of Marketing Communications.

Z Corporation's EngineeringZONE Introduces New England High School Students to the Wonder of Making Things

Despite persistent high unemployment, technical jobs are hard to fill, and the pipeline of American students to fill them is thin. American businesses often complain about the supply and availability of STEM workers, according to “STEM: Good Jobs Now and for the Future,” a report from the US Department of Commerce. And it’s bound to get worse. Over the past 10 years, growth in STEM jobs was three times as fast as growth in non-STEM jobs, the report says. STEM occupations are projected to grow by 17 percent from 2008 to 2018, compared to 9.8 percent growth for non-STEM occupations.

To help counter this threat to national competitiveness, Congressman John Tierney (D-Mass.) joined us earlier this week in launching “EngineeringZONE.” ZONE stands for Z Corporation Orienting Novice Engineers. The initiative invites high school classes to visit Z Corp on a monthly basis for an afternoon to experience some of the latest 3D printing and 3D laser scanning technology, increasingly used in the design and engineering world.

Congressman Tierney, the only New England Member on the House Education and Workforce Committee, said, “I applaud Z Corporation’s continued efforts to support our local economy with high tech manufacturing jobs, and it’s most recent initiative to ensure that local students are aware of these new and creative job opportunities. We know that jobs focused on science, technology, engineering and mathematics are growing at a faster rate than many other fields and we need to do a better job of engaging our students in these areas. By bringing high school students into Z Corporation for a day of hands-on learning, they will have exposure to careers they may otherwise overlook.”

3D printing, one of the fastest-growing areas of manufacturing, is the creation of three-dimensional physical models from 3D engineering design data much as a document printer creates a business letter from a word-processing file. More and more manufacturers are adopting the process to quickly create physical prototypes and refine designs during every phase of the product development process.

Students in the EngineeringZONE program will try their hand at some introductory computer-aided design (CAD) software and will make their own 3D printed models. Interested high schools should contact Z Corp for more details.

Scott Harmon, Z Corporation vice president of business development added, “We’re thrilled to open our doors to curious students because this is where the magic happens, where you can see a design on a computer screen turn into a physical object before your eyes. In addition to the sizzle, 3D printing brings together all of the disciplines – science, technology, engineering and mathematics – that our students so desperately need to master now and in the future. We're honored that Congressman Tierney, was able join us on this important initiative.”

Young scientists and engineers have been using Z Corp 3D printers, called ZPrinters, at thousands of high schools, vocational schools and universities, following the lead of companies like Black & Decker, Cisco Consumer Business Group, New Balance, Timberland and Pixar.

Congressman Tierney visited Z Corporation in support of the announcement, toured our manufacturing facility, and spoke with Z Corp employees. Following are a few photos from his visit.

http://www.zcorp.com

What Will People Make When Anyone Can Make Anything?

2011-08-31T07:30:00.002-04:00

Today's guest blog is by Scott Harmon, Z Corporation VP of Business Development

You can feel it coming. It has been coming for a while now. Slowly at first. Gathering momentum of late. The power to create.

Once solely the domain of engineers and industrial designers, the power to create is increasingly moving into the hands of everyone else.

The first wave has been driven by the increasing popularity of services like Shapeways and i.materialise, easy to use, fairly priced service bureaus that cater to the creative class. They have leveraged Web 2.0 to create an experience that is part Facebook and part Etsy. Fun to share your creative work, easy to profit as well.

We’ve also seen a lot of interest in ‘The Clones’, that is, the dizzying array of FDM knock-offs whose low price point has captured a great deal of attention. While real numbers are hard to come by, 'The Clones' have strong appeal among the maker class, and have driven 3D printing into a new market.

However, both of these developments are still hampered by the critical bottleneck. Most people can’t make a 3D file. Without mass access to a 3D file creation, there will be no mass market for 3D printing. Bigger markets, to be sure, but not mass markets. The good news is that it’s coming. The technology exists. The websites are being created. The sales channels are developing.

Pretty soon, anyone from your 8 year old son to your 70 year old mother will have the power to create. No training. No cost. No software required. It will be as easy as playing a video game, and less expensive.

That’s a given. The really interesting question is: what will they make? Will they make replacement parts for tools? Will they make art? Will they copy things that already exist?

What would you make if you could make anything on a 3D printer?

http://www.zcorp.com/

Multicolor 3D Printing: Fact vs. Fiction

2011-08-24T07:30:00.003-04:00

Today’s guest post is from Joe Titlow, VP of Product Management at Z Corporation.

Z Corporation invented color 3D printing over 10 years ago and continues to be the only 3D printer manufacturer to offer true color 3D printing. Interestingly though, some other printers on the market have begun to talk about their ‘color capabilities’ as well. And while we appreciate the reinforcement that being able to 3D print in color is valuable and important, it occurred to me that people might not understand the technical differences between the various 3D printing technologies with regard to color capabilities. So to better educate everyone, I thought I would outline the technical differences and then the color-related applications are appropriate for the various technologies.

Most 3D printing and rapid prototyping technologies (SLA, SLS, DLP, etc.) work in ‘monochrome,’ where only one color is used and that color is the base color of the material. There are a few technologies that claim ‘color’ 3D printing, but the definition of what it means to print in ‘color’ differs wildly between vendors. As far as I know, there are three companies that claim to offer color 3D printing:

- Stratasys/uPrint (HP in Europe): the uPrint Plus is marketed as a 'color 3D printer' because it can produce color parts in eight different colors. However, this can only be accomplished one color at a time, as switching between one color and another requires the operator to manually switch the printer’s input plastic reel. The only way these printers can produce 'multicolor' parts is if the operator manually assembles the separate monochrome parts after they are printed. This is similar to printing individual pieces of paper on a document printer, each with one color, and then gluing them together afterward to form a multicolor picture. It’s laborious, time consuming, and the colors produced are very limited.

- Objet Connex 3D Printers: The Connex printers from Objet, as a byproduct of their ability to print different resins at the same time, are able to produce a handful of colors. The maximum number of unique colors available in one build is 11 (all shades of gray) and this is accomplished by mixing a white resin and a black resin for large sections of a part. These printers cannot address pixel-level color variation - only 'shells' of model (or large sections of the design). They also cannot accept color files into their software – the colors (or really the materials) are assigned manually during the process by the operator.

- Z Corporation has a range of multicolor-capable 3D printers, ZPrinters, that produce color by mixing the fundamental primary colors of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black and White together. This is done on the fly, automatically during printing and results in 390,000 unique color combinations. This enables true color printing in any color that the customer desires. Since ZPrinters create these unique colors at the pixel level, detailed texture maps can be used to simulate the appearance of various materials, add logos, and basically build any image into a prototype that might be desired. The result here is some incredibly life-like models that other 3D printing technology simply can’t produce:

The following chart highlights these technical differences and indicates which color applications are feasible among the three different 3D printing technologies:

http://www.zcorp.com

Creativity and Constraints

2011-08-17T07:15:00.000-04:00

This week's guest blog is from Scott Harmon, Z Corp VP of Business Development.

Creativity and Constraints.

These two go together like oil and water, or here in Boston, Yankees and Red Sox. They are the great paradox of design and engineering. Constantly at war with each other. Battling for supremacy. When constraints win out, products are dull and uninspiring. They are dead before they reach the shelf. When creativity wins out, products are novel and catch the notice of customers, but budgets are wrecked, timelines are blown and no one seems to notice.

Inside this conflict is where innovation lives. Innovation is when companies deliver products that exceed customer expectations, and do it on time and under budget. Failure on either attribute is still failure.

So the question is, how do you wrestle these two beasts to the ground? How do you deliver a product your customer wants, and do it faster and less expensively than ever before? It shouldn’t come as a big shock that a 3D printer company would say “prototype more,” and we do. But the new frontier of prototyping is less about getting to market faster with less cost, and more about creativity. How do you make sure that the product that you are delivering is the product your customer wants?

The answer is obvious, but relatively few companies actually do it. How about showing your customer the product long before it’s a product? How about creating with them?

When I was a product manager, I was always frustrated by how we showed new product ideas to consumers. We would brainstorm some ideas and have an artist draw them up on a sheet of paper. The images would have explanations for various features and such. Then we would show it to groups of consumers and discuss it. I’m sure you have all been there. It was maddening. You’d get really helpful feedback like “That’s not possible.” or “Would it come in yellow?” The boss was not happy to see the bill for a focus group with those kinds of results.

These days you can put a physical prototype in front of the focus group for less than the cost of the focus group. You can get a real response from your customers about what works for them and what does not from a prototype with the color and feel of an actual product. If you want to make sure you customers love your products, give them the product long before it is actually a product.

http://www.zcorp.com

Create more…innovation: WWI Soldier, Killed in Action, Finally Identified with Help of 3D Printing

2011-08-10T07:30:00.002-04:00

In his blog on July 20th, Z Corp. CEO, John Kawola outlined Z Corp.'s "Create more" vision for continuous innovation. Our next few blogs, by Julie Reece, highlighted real examples of our how customers are creating more with 3D printing.

Soldiers who’ve gone missing in battle are often forgotten, but not by their loved ones, who agonize over the mystery. That’s why the recent identification of a First World War soldier killed in action still matters, even though he died nearly a century ago.

CHALLENGE: Identifying the Remains
Two sets of remains were found years ago at a construction site near Avion, France. The first soldier was identified four years later using DNA analysis. Because of difficulty tracking down living relatives for numerous potential matches, DNA was of no use for the second set.

Initially stymied, investigators enlisted a novel combination of identification disciplines, including Z Corporation 3D printing technology, to confirm the identity of the remains and achieve some closure for the family.

STRATEGY: 3D Printing, Facial Reconstruction
The identification team had several large skull fragments of the unidentified soldier. They performed CT scans on the fragments and assembled the data into 3D computer models using Amira and 3ds Max computer-aided design software. To narrow the list of possible matches for the remains, they constructed physical models of the skull using a Z Corporation 3D printer.

Using muscle markings on the 3D printed skull model, scientific tissue-depth tables, and plastilina modeling clay, the team worked with noted artist Christian Corbet to construct a rudimentary face on the model. They photographed that face and superimposed images of it onto existing photographs of soldiers who were potential matches. By assessing how the images lined up – by face height, width and features such as jaw shape — the team was able to narrow the list of potential matches to two. An isotopic analysis of teeth and the jaw bone indicated that the recovered soldier grew up in Dublin — a direct biographical match with a soldier in one of the matching photographs — Private Thomas Lawless.

RESULTS: Positive ID
The announcement came from the Canadian Department of National Defence. Private Thomas Lawless, born April 11, 1889, was a member of the 49th Battalion, Canadian Expeditionary Force. He was killed in action on June 8, 1917, a few months after the Battle of Vimy Ridge. He was 28.

His remains were recently buried at La Chaudière Military Cemetery in Vimy, France, with his family in attendance. La Chaudière, a Commonwealth War Graves Commission cemetery, currently has 907 servicemen from the First World War buried or commemorated there, including Private Herbert Peterson, the soldier whose remains were found with Private Lawless.

“Anthropological analysis and mitochondrial DNA testing are standard approaches for identification,” explains Andrew J. Nelson, a key researcher on the project and associate dean of research for the faculty of social science at the University of Western Ontario. “However, mtDNA requires material from living family members on the maternal side to make a connection. In this case, we had none of that at our disposal. To the best of my knowledge, this is the first instance in which facial reconstruction and isotopic analysis were added to the mix. It may result in a new protocol, or certainly new tools, for the identification of the missing.”

More Applications for 3D Printing
Nelson sees a variety of applications for 3D printing in anthropology beyond the identification of soldiers’ remains. For example, his team used Z Corporation 3D printing in the facial reconstruction of an Egyptian mummy housed at the Chatham-Kent Museum in Chatham, Ontario. But that’s just scratching the surface, he says.

“Societies who wish to move forward must know their past to better understand who they are now and where they might be going,” he said. “The high variability of cultures of the past – before the internetworking of the world — tells us a lot about the interplay of traits like gender, status, health and wealth in different settings. It’s the bones that help us associate those cultural traits with a particular set of human remains.

And though CT scans enable us to look inside a mummy, for example, without disturbing the bones, wrappings and so on, 3D printing lets us extract these pieces, figuratively speaking, by creating a physical model from CT scan data. We can thus examine the bones more closely and learn more from them.”

For the descendants of Private Lawless, these investigation methods accomplished something more personal. As Nelson says, “Although it’s sad to contemplate the loss of young lives in war, it’s rewarding to account for the missing, both for the sake of the deceased and for long-grieving family members.”

http://www.zcorp.com

Be sure to check out the viral 3D printing YouTube video!

Create more…communication: Denby Pottery Extracts Unanticipated Benefits from 3D Printing

2011-08-03T07:30:00.003-04:00

In his blog on July 20th, Z Corp. CEO, John Kawola outlined Z Corp.'s "Create more" vision for continuous innovation. Our next few blogs, by Julie Reece, will highlight real examples of our how customers are creating more with 3D printing.

Every so often, the return on a business investment exceeds expectations.

Among the lucky few is The Denby Pottery Company Ltd., the venerable United Kingdom tableware manufacturer. The company invested in a 3D printer intending simply to prototype its design concepts on an “occasional” basis, but has found the machine surprisingly useful for time- and money-saving applications in marketing, manufacturing and stoneware casting.

The 600- employee company annually produces more than five million pieces of tableware, coveted by newlyweds, discriminating hosts and connoisseurs around the world.

Challenge: Time-Consuming Prototypes
Before any product is sold, Denby creates several prototypes for internal review. For the better part of two centuries, the company’s designers hand-turned and hand-carved new design concepts in plaster. Despite the prodigious skills of the carvers, some having more than 25 years of experience, the process was time-consuming and never produced 100-percent accurate models. As a result, it was hard for clients to fully understand the concept being proposed. Additionally, the fact that a prototype could take as long as four weeks to create made the company perhaps too careful about introducing new products.

Denby Pottery needed a way to reduce the time it took to produce a physical concept prototype, increase the accuracy and quality of those prototypes, and put designers back into the design studio where they could focus on generating new ideas.

The designers investigated various rapid prototyping systems, eventually requesting a demonstration of 3D printing technology from Z Corporation.

Solution: 3D Printing
Denby was quickly convinced that Z Corporation’s technology could save time, improve model accuracy and free designers to concentrate on designing new and better products. Just to make sure, Denby performed a cost comparison against contracting with a service bureau for prototypes. The analysis revealed that the service bureau’s cost for a typical model would be twice that of printing models in-house. Denby estimated a Z Corporation 3D printer would pay for itself in four years, in part because of its low operating costs: its printing materials, for example, cost one-tenth to one-third that of competitors.

Denby purchased a ZPrinter® 3D printer, the fastest 3D printer on the market, five to 10 times faster than other companies’ technologies. Initial expectations were high, but realistic.

Results: Time and Money Saved, Product Lines More Profitable
As expected, the printer has dramatically reduced Denby’s prototyping work. A concept model now takes two hours to print versus up to four weeks to hand carve. Designers now have the time they need to work in the studio and focus on new designs. They quickly and easily produce clear visual samples they can present to company directors, and it’s easy to duplicate samples for additional audiences.

Designers create prototypes in their DeskArtes 3D computer-aided design software, then transfer designs to the ZPrinter. “We then hit print and go make a cup of tea,” says Designer Gary Hawley. “It would take 10 full-time carvers to keep up with the machine.”

The printer cranks prototypes out all week and throughout the weekend, far busier than anticipated. In The company purchased a second Z Corporation printer, adding full 24-bit multicolor capability and a large build area. “Anything Denby Pottery makes, from the smallest espresso cup to the largest casserole, it can print,” says Hawley.

Unexpectedly, the company is saving time and money through its use of 3D printed prototypes in marketing and manufacturing. Marketers use 3D printed prototypes in customer focus groups, enabling the company to obtain high levels of broad-based customer feedback prior to committing to a new product line. “Customers enjoy handling the prototypes and usually think they’re real,” says Hawley. “We gently explain that they’re not for sale quite yet.”

Since tiny variations in designs can make the difference between a bestseller and a failed line, Denby often revises designs during focus group sessions based on customer requests. “3D printed prototypes in our focus groups give the company new levels of confidence in our product lines and benchmark data for our business decisions,” says Hawley. “We’re now confidently backing the winners rather than rolling the dice.”

3D printing also allows Denby to freely share designs with large retailers that carry its product lines. In addition to the hard and fast design communication benefits, 3D printing impresses customers when they tour Denby’s offices. Seeing the device print accurate models reinforces the Denby brand as one that leverages the best technology and makes the most forward-looking business decisions.

3D printed prototypes have also reduced Denby’s manufacturing costs. As new designs approach final approval, designers and manufacturers meet to examine prototypes and identify any potential problems in manufacturing the designs as intended. The team now eliminates in one day problems that previously took three to four weeks to reveal themselves as costly downstream mistakes.

The accuracy of 3D printed prototypes saves additional time and money by enabling Denby to make molds for casting from properly scaled printed models instead of specially handcrafted mold patterns. As a result, production prototypes can now be cast and glazed in two weeks instead of six.

3D printing has streamlined partner interactions as well. Denby works with partners in Thailand who manufacture its china products and partners in Portugal who manufacture its porcelain products. Prior to obtaining 3D printing capabilities, Denby sent these partners flat, 2D technical drawings, which were easy to misconstrue. Denby now sends 3D digital files and 3D printed samples, eliminating mistakes and saving time and money. Costa Verde Porcelains, a partner in Portugal, has even purchased its own ZPrinter to better serve Denby and other customers.

“Many investments yield surprises, but our investment in Z Corporation’s 3D printing technology has yielded most pleasant ones,” says Hawley. “We’ve found a host of unanticipated applications for 3D printing and myriad unanticipated benefits. The result is dramatic time savings and more successful product launches. In fact, we have shortened product launch time from four to two years, concept to availability. Much of that reduction is attributable to 3D printing and associated benefits.”

http://www.zcorp.com

Check out the viral 3D printing YouTube video!

Create More...Ideas: Kamen Rider CRD Buckle

2011-07-27T07:30:00.001-04:00

In his blog posting last week, Z Corp. CEO John Kawola outlined Z Corp.'s "Create more" vision for continuous innovation. Our next few blogs will feature real customers who are creating more with 3D printing. Today's guest blog is from Russ Ogi, Chief Operating Office at Z Corp. partner, Rapid Technology, LLC., and is the next in a series of blogs he is writing about his design and creation of a Kamen Rider Suit.

In the myth of the fictional Kamen Rider universe, belts and belt buckles have been an integral part of the character. Possibly because that area of the human body is believed to be the center of Chi energy. Chi is a concept held by many Asian cultures as a universal energy that people can channel for health and vitality.

For Kamen Rider V3, the belt called Double Typhoon, would use the twin turbines to draw in wind energy and allow him to change from his human form to superhero form.

The Double Typhoon design (see photo below) from the 70's TV show is a classic and is as iconic to fans as the helmet is. We wanted to keep the concept and feel of the original but make it more contemporary. Being a huge fan of the Kamen Rider V3 series, I wanted to pay homage to the original and was careful with what liberties we took with the design elements.

I worked with Calvin Lac, an Application Engineer here at RAPID Technology, on the design (see photo below). The drawing is also done by Calvin. We started the design process by looking at different versions of Kamen Rider V3 action figures and fan art. We tried as best as we could to come up with a unique version of the classic. From there, we examined the look and feel of the piece. We wanted the buckle to be aggressive and have some heft to it.

We developed the idea of setting the turbines back from the surface the way fighter jet engines are. This gave the buckle more depth and allowed us to be more creative with the shape of the openings for the turbines. The partially hidden turbines give the model visual interest and causes the viewer to move around the piece to take it all in.

Calvin did extensive research on fighter jet intake shapes and eventually settled on a configuration like the Harrier Jet. We spent a good deal of time balancing how visible the turbines should be. I wanted to keep the turbines a prominent part of the visual composition like the original, whereas Calvin took a practical approach to keeping the fans protected and hidden, like an actual fighter jet.

Once we had the main layout, we focused on the details. Since the intake wells were much more visible then that of a jet, they needed accents and Calvin actually drew inspiration for the buckle's intake "teeth" from a watch face he saw. He also suggested the idea of changing the number 3 to the Roman Numeral III. I thought it was a great interpretation and one that I had never seen before on any iteration of the character.

Calvin crammed all these ideas, brilliantly, into one drawing. Now it was my turn to transform a 2D sketch into a mythological personal power plant. This is the final design of the model I created in Maya.

From there, we began fine tuning the design. The model went through a couple of iterations.

Looking at the physical models, we were able to pick out two elements that needed to be changed.

Since the buckle wasn't curved enough to conform to the human body and the turbines did not stand out enough, we went back to the 3D model and made some adjustments. With their speed and low cost, the ZPrinters were the ideal tool for troubleshooting the design and within a few hours time we had the new version.

Here we have the raw prints.

The buckle itself was printed in separate sections but here we placed the parts together for visualization and for fun. The battery is shown for scale.

This next image is a work in progress.

The parts are then separated into individual pieces. You can see the early stages of the prep work for painting. The center section has already been sanded and primed and the inlets have just had the filler putty added.

In this next image we see the buckle together again with the parts all painted just prior to assembly.

Next, we focused on the internal components.

The fans are rigged with small motors that you can see to the upper left of the main buckle housing. The turbines in the picture were test printed on the ZPrinter again, to trouble shoot the design and fit of the turbines.

In this picture, you can see the evolution of the turbine.

Subtle, yet important changes. The turbine in the upper right is the original with a flat center. That was followed by the one on the lower left. The center was changed to a cone initially for aesthetics. The final turbine design has a deeper cone to house part of the turbine motor. In the end, the turbine was created on the ZBuilder for its extra-high resolution on delicate parts.

I had expected the turbines to undergo design iterations but the funny part is that I thought the fine tuning would be to the blades and their angles, not the cone. Turns out, we got the blades right the first time out. The "III" emblem was also created in the ZBuilder, again for the fine detail.

Here we have the final buckle assembled.

A sheet of transparent colored plastic is placed over the center "V" design for eventual back lighting. An LED is used in the central dot below the "III" emblem.

Just for effect, we took a shot of the buckle with the CRD helmet.

As a long time fan of the original character, it was cool to see these two models together.

See more examples of how people are "Creating more" with 3D printing:
http://www.zcorp.com/en/Company/Customers/Case-Studies/spage.aspx
and
http://www.zcorp.com/en/forward/events.aspx?c=15

See the now famous viral 3D printing YouTube video

Create more. Z Corporation's Vision for Continuous Innovation

2011-07-20T07:30:00.006-04:00

Today's guest blog is from John Kawola, CEO, Z Corporation.

Some people punch the clock. Others live to make a mark.

If you get out of bed in the morning to push the boundaries of the possible, Z Corporation can help you get there. We exist because you are an inspired designer or engineer who wants to create more. More ideas, more communication and more innovation.

We believe that invention is exhilarating. You discover ideas in your imagination, the natural world or the built world. You transform ideas into digital concepts. Then you push astonishing creations into the physical world where they make a difference.

Sometimes, however, business constraints hold you back. Like limited time and budgets; the complex dynamics of working with colleagues and external partners; and the technical limitations of design tools.

That’s where we come in. We exist not to get around those realities, but to help you use them to your advantage.

We believe that innovation should drive every phase of design, from concept through data capture, sketching, modeling, detail design, analysis, manufacturing and inspection. We make that possible with 3D printing and 3D scanning solutions for high-volume, low-cost use by virtually anyone, so that you can innovate early and often throughout the design process.

And that puts you in a powerful position to synch your goals with those of your organization. You’ll explore more ideas while saving money. You’ll present iterations in a way that encourages group development. You’ll inspire prospective customers. You’ll get the green light to make your designs real. And you’ll see your designs succeed in the marketplace.

Like you, we live to stretch the boundaries of what is possible. We work with the most productive designers and engineers to create solutions that streamline manufacturing, and we lead the way in emerging applications in architecture, education, entertainment, healthcare, art, historic preservation and geographic information systems. No other vendor enables so many applications.

Within each industry, we’re bringing the value of our solutions to the entire organization. We enable management teams to drive investments; marketing teams to generate demand; sales teams to secure orders; and teachers to develop the innovators of tomorrow.

More ideas.

More communication.

More innovation.

Z Corporation. Create more.

Read our complete Vision Paper.

Product Replicator: Real or Fake?

2011-07-15T11:32:00.009-04:00

This week’s guest blog is by Joe Titlow, VP of Product Management, Z Corporation.

(New note as of October 20, 2011: the viral link was recently removed from YouTube. New link to view the video.)

Recently, a video of a National Geographic TV-produced program featuring Z Corporation titled, Known Universe, went viral on YouTube, with over 6.8+ million views. The video has generated loads great discussion and there have been hundreds of comments in support of Z Corp’s unique 3D printing and 3D scanning technologies. Because this has been the first time so many people have been introduced to our technology, there also appear to be some skeptics. There were some comments professing the technology to be a fake and even insinuating that the video was meant to deceive the viewing public.

As a Z Corp employee and the person who appeared in the video, I can assure you that this video and technology is most certainly NOT faked. I’d like to point out a few details to help set the record straight:

First, it’s important to clarify that National Geographic approached Z Corp about creating the video for their Known Universe program. The premise of the story was to look to the future and provide a vision about the types of technologies available today that might evolve in the future and enable astronauts to create tools in space. National Geographic produced and edited the video - Z Corp was not involved in the editing or review and approval of the final video.
As many people pointed out, the 3D printed wrench is slightly different from the one we scanned. The differences between the original wrench and the printed one were done intentionally to demonstrate that once scanned, geometry can be digitally edited and then printed. This is typically done in software packages like Geomagic and Rapidform or even in CAD packages like Solidworks. Our customers will typically add, remove or edit features of the design before printing (check out the other videos on our website or on YouTube). In the interest of time, the editors cut the explanation about digital editing from the final video. See Rapidform's video response: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvfqoaCw5vQ.
It is also correct that our ZScanner cannot scan the internal details of the wrench. It is a laser based scanner that can only capture surface information within line of sight. Details like the ends of the worm screw in the wrench are created digitally between scanning and printing as one of the edits mentioned above. The scanner captures everything that can be seen and then someone using editing software adds the details that are hidden. (Alternatively, one could separate the pieces and scan them separately.)
Obtaining a near-exact replica of an object is entirely possible even though that was not shown in the video. For example, our ZScanners have an XY accuracy ranging from up to 40 microns for our high-end scanner to up to 80 microns for our entry-level scanner. The resolution ranges from .050 mm in XYZ for our high-end scanner to .1 mm in Z for our entry-level scanner. In fact, our scanner customers are using our scanners for inspection applications where accuracy is mission critical, as well as reverse engineering and other applications (see Mackay Consolidated inspection case study).
As most readers of this blog already know, ZPrinting and ZScanning technologies are real and used today by well-known customers worldwide for a variety of applications, including mechanical design, architecture, education, entertainment, geospatial, healthcare and many more. See our Z Corp case studies and customer press releases.

I invite you to come see the technology in action for yourselves. We’ll be at the following public events, where you can find our ZPrinting and ZScanning systems in action. http://www.zcorp.com/en/forward/events.aspx?c=13

http://www.zcorp.com/en/forward/events.aspx?c=14

Hear and see from our customers in their own words how they’re using the technologies today: http://www.zcorp.com/en/forward/events.aspx?c=15

Or, we’ll set up time for you to have a demo here at our headquarters in Boston or at one of our local Z Corp Authorized Dealers.

I personally believe National Geographic did a great job packing a lot of technical content into just a few minutes of air time, while making it entertaining at the same time. Our thanks goes out to them and everyone that helped spread the word.

http://www.zcorp.com

The Fun, Innovative 3D Printing Company

2011-07-13T07:30:00.002-04:00

Today’s guest blog is by Julie Reece, Z Corp’s Director of Marketing Communications.

I generally prefer to purchase products from companies whose employees really, I mean REALLY, love what they do. They’re passionate about their products and actually use them. The lines between their work day and home livese are blurred because what they do for work is also their hobby. They’re fun, creative and brilliant. Sometimes they wear shorts, Hawaiian shirts and flip flops to work. They brainstorm during a game of ping pong and shoot off rockets they designed and created in a park after work in their own informal, internal design competition. They mountain bike together at lunch. Because of these attributes, they produce better products. You know the types of companies I’m talking about…Google, Apple, Converse, Timberland, Cisco, and yes, Z Corporation.

This summer, each Z Corp department is taking turns hosting a themed lunch of their own choosing for the rest of the company. Recdently it was our executive team’s turn. They hosted a Casino event in our first floor café and outside on our lawn under the watchful eye of our company mascot, a pink flamingo named Zeke.

Maybe it was partly because our home team heroes, the Boston Bruins ice hockey team, had just won the coveted Stanley Cup the night before, or maybe it was because it was a gorgeous summer day, or perhaps it was the offer of great prizes from several of our customers that the air was electric. My colleagues yelled with glee as their buckets of fake money filled.

I was the designated photographer for the event, and was able to step back and get a different perspective than my colleagues. Through my lens, I saw a Z Corp vice president in a tuxedo jacket, Bermuda shorts and flip flops.

I saw our CEO, John Kawola, manning the roulette table and good naturedly chiding players for taking too long to place their bets.

I saw employees from all departments and all levels playing together, talking, laughing and building team and company spirit.

But, I think the thing that struck me most was when I finally noticed that the poker chips we were using were actually 3D printed in-house at Z Corp on a ZPrinter. Take a look at the photos below. How cool is that?! There were hundreds of them being thrown in buckets and on tables.

Oh, and the Bruins? Well, we didn’t forget about them either. One of our application engineers who lives, eats, and breathes the Boston Bruins quickly created this 3D print that morning, in time to display it during our Casino celebration.

This is the type of creative, passionate, innovative company I like to do business with, and I’m happy to say, lucky enough to work for.

http://www.zcorp.com

The Future of Design

2011-07-06T07:30:00.000-04:00

Today's guest blog is by Scott Harmon, Z Corporation VP of Business Development.

In the old days, design and manufacturing were essentially the same. The cobbler, the blacksmith, and the potter all designed and manufactured their wares, generally at the same time. Almost everything was custom created, usually with the designer / manufacturer and the customer in close communication.

With the rise of mass manufacturing, design and engineering separated from manufacturing. This makes sense. Labor and materials were no longer the dominant cost of a good. The major cost shifted to the creation of the manufacturing line and the assorted tooling. In this era, the skills required were different enough, and the risk high enough, that design and engineering tasks specialized away from manufacturing and production. Designers and engineers figured out what would be made. Manufacturers made it. Customers bought it. Simple.

Or not so simple. Obviously this can cause a significant potential problem. Products designed without involving manufacturing and customers run into significant problems. Either they can’t be manufactured for a reasonable cost, or customers don’t want them at any cost. These problems gave rise to ‘Design for Manufacturing,’ ‘User Centered Design,’ and ‘Use Centered Design.’ Fundamentally all of these schools of Design thinking are intended to resolve the problem created by the separation of the designer/engineer from the manufacturer and customer.

There has been a great deal of press lately about how consumer 3D printers are going to change all that. Now consumers will design and manufacture their own goods. To be honest, I doubt it. The vast majority of people don’t have the desire, expertise, tools or the time to do this, and a cheap 3D printer won’t change that.

What could change that is an emerging School of Design called ‘Design for Redesign.’ Consumers don’t want to design their own products from scratch, but they do seem to like customized products. Designers are emerging who create products that allow consumers to redesign those products, without CAD and without investing an extraordinary amount of time. Shoes are being designed for redesign (nikeid.nike.com). Shirts are being designed for redesign (zazzle.com). Cars are even being designed for redesign (coopermini.com). When combined with 3D printing, this design philosophy will open up whole new entrepreneurial opportunities.

This emerging class of designers will reap enormous benefits. Their designs will exist in online marketplaces, where consumers will identify products and designers they like, and then redesign them to meet their needs, all in a browser. Designers will receive royalties when those designs are 3D printed. Feedback will be instantaneous. The designer will be directly linked to the consumer. No more design reviews. No more stages and gates. No more tooling. No more listening to a consultant go on about what your customer needs. Designer, Consumer, Product…Simple.

http://www.zcorp.com

How Do You Teach Innovation?

2011-06-29T07:30:00.002-04:00

Today's guest post is from Scott Harmon, Z Corp's Vice President of Business Development.

An earlier blog asking the question, “Can you teach innovation?” received a large number of responses on this and many LinkedIn forums. Many of them quite interesting. Generally, responses were quite diverse with much of the discussion paralleling the more general debate about human behavior summed up as ‘nature vs. nurture,’ or as Curt Moreno mentioned, ‘entity vs. incremental.’

One of the interesting things about teaching innovation is that innovation is hardly a single skill. In responding to the previous post, Emmanuel Garcia made the distinction between ingenuity / creativity and implementation. Paul Jordan reminded readers about the importance of gumption. Surely, Edison would have agreed mightily with the role of gumption. Innovation is clearly all of these things and more.

My personal belief is that some people possess more or less of the various capabilities required to be great innovators. However, I also believe pretty strongly that these innate capabilities can be improved with practice. Interestingly, most of the respondents to the last posting felt like current primary and secondary schools weren’t doing a terribly good job of teaching these skills. (Interesting article here on that subject.). A few respondents mentioned various resources and books on the subject.

That got me thinking. I’d personally love to know more about how people teach and learn the skills required to be great innovators. I’m not so interested in the curriculum. Curriculum is important, and it’s almost certainly part of the problem. I’m more interested in your experiences. How did you learn to innovate? If you’re a teacher, what do you find most effective for teaching kids to innovate?

I’ll share a quick story. I was an electrical engineer in college and was pretty good at math and science my whole life. I took an introduction to electrical engineering course as a sophomore, and I remember explicitly one of the early tests. I don’t remember the exact question, but I do remember being 100% convinced that it was unsolvable. It had no answer that could be derived from the formulas and methods we had been taught. I approached the professor, with an air of indignation, thinking the question must be wrong. He just smiled and said, “Some questions don’t have an answer,” obviously recognizing that is just the beginning, but it’s an important one.

So what are your favorite stories about learning innovation? Are there any resources you have found to be especially valuable?

http://www.zcorp.com

How Could You Get to Market 40% Faster?

2011-06-22T07:30:00.006-04:00

This week’s guest blog is from Scott Harmon, Z Corp’s VP of Business Development.

Time to market has long been one of the key differentiators between successful product development efforts and unsuccessful ones. The term ‘First Mover Advantage,’ refers to the additional profits enjoyed by the company that gets to market first. In the product design world, the first mover gets more shelf space, wider distribution, more PR, etc. All that adds up to more customers and more profit.

The importance of the First Mover Advantage is one of the reasons it so interesting to listen to the recent webcast with Lund International. Based in Lawrenceville, Ga., USA, Lund makes and sells durable, functional aftermarket accessories such as window vents, pickup cargo covers, tool boxes and premium floor protection. Lund accessories fit every type of vehicle – both cars and trucks – and every type of driver.

They supply parts to automotive OEM’s and to distributors and retailers in the automotive market. As you probably know, the automotive industry is one of the most intense, design-centric industries on the planet. (It has also been around for a while, as I was recently reminded during a Father’s Day trip to the Collings Foundation.)

So if you’re in a very competitive industry, with years and years of best practice established, how on earth could you improve product development to get a 40% improvement in time to market?

Well, for Lund International, as for almost all automotive suppliers, capturing the ‘as built environment’ is the first step in the design process. Automotive components inevitably rely on an accurate understanding of the rest of the system. The faster and more accurately you understand the as built environment, the faster you will get to market.

Brent Rose and Jonathan Shroyer were kind enough to share their experiences using the ZScanner to quickly and accurately capture the as built environment. You should listen to their webcast. They talk about their existing processes, assessment of the product vs. other technologies, and how they achieved substantial savings in time and money using this technology with fewer design iterations. It’s really an excellent webcast put on by a couple of pros.

It just goes to show, even in a mature industry, opportunities for substantial improvement exist. Have you thought about how your company could get to market 40% faster than they do today?

http://www.zcorp.com/

Are 2D Product Comparison Grids Useful for 3D Printers?

2011-06-15T07:30:00.001-04:00

This week’s guest blog is by Julie Reece, Z Corp’s Director of Marketing Communications.

I am not a fan of product comparison grids. I understand that in theory they are meant to make it easy for purchase decision makers to compare competitive products and services in what their authors proclaim to be fair comparisons. You know the kind I’m talking about…they provide a short list of capabilities or criteria down the left column of the grid and various competitive products/services across the top row, and use check marks or some other type of indicator within each box to indicate whether or not that product or vendor offers each listed capability. They’re everywhere – across industries and markets. I remember first seeing such a grid early in my career at a very large software development company, and even used them myself at the time in my marketing role at that company. I haven’t used one since. Recently I've seen product comparison grids authored from reputable, third-party industry organizations and 3D printer manufacturers.

So, why am I so anti-grid? Yes, I’ll admit they bring back vivid memories of my less-than-stellar performance studying charts in high school math class. But more importantly, the validity of the picture grids intend to paint is guided solely by their authors and therefore they inherently come with the author’s bias or, at the very least, assumptions about which criteria is important to include and exclude. And, grids don’t enable product evaluators to assign an importance weight or score to different purchase criteria given differing sets of needs.

For example, if the author comes from one of the competing companies included in the grid, he/she is going to list the criteria where they feel they ‘win’ and conveniently omit criteria where competitors win. Even worse, a chart I recently saw from another 3D printing company contained false information. But if it’s on a chart, it’s true, right? Not necessarily.

You might say, sometimes highly knowledgeable, objective and well-meaning third parties develop product comparison grids. But do they always know all of the important criteria and capabilities to include? One of the industry grids I saw did not include all of our relevant products for the topic, resulting in a slanted picture of the available product offerings. Another grid omitted a few key criteria that purchase decision makers in our industry consider.

Even if the industry-savvy authors include a complete list of evaluation criteria in their grids, how can purchase decision makers prioritize, or assign an importance score to, the criteria within those grids? They can’t. Take 3D printing for example. Every company and department application for 3D printing is unique. Criteria that might be critical to one company or department (things like build size, speed, color, surface finish, materials, printer cost, material cost, method of post-processing, type of material used, office-friendliness, and so on) might be completely insignificant to another. If you’re an educator, low cost of operation, build speed, throughput and safety might be your top priorities and you might be willing to do without color or a specific material property. If you’re a manufacturer of consumer goods, color, speed and low material cost might be your top priorities and you might not be concerned about material properties. If you need flexible, functional parts, then material properties will likely be your primary concern, and you might be willing to sacrifice low cost, color, build size, and so on. The point is there isn’t a nice, neat grid that can address your individual company and application needs.

Careful product evaluation isn’t always easy, but it is critical. So, when you see a 3D printer product comparison grid, be wary. Instead, I encourage you to schedule a personal appointment with representatives from each of the 3D printing companies. Describe your application needs to their representatives and listen to how their solutions can solve your application challenges and open new doors to success. Ask each representative to focus on how their solution can satisfy your application needs. See a demonstration. Talk to their customers. Do your homework. Perhaps create your own customized grid based on your needs. Then, and only then, can you begin to narrow your list of possible solutions and make an informed decision.

http://www.zcorp.com/

Related Resources:

Following are a few Z Corp-focused product and technology selector resources:

Interactive Product Selector (enables you to identify your application needs and prioritize different criteria)
Webcast: How to Choose the Right Rapid Prototyping System (free, online)

What is OI and What is its Impact to 3D Printing?

2011-06-08T07:30:00.000-04:00

That is a question I found myself asking as I listened to some of the thought leaders in the field at the recent 5th annual Open Innovation Conference in Philadelphia. I travelled there with an open mind about the definitions and possibilities. From prior experience and research, I had some preconceived notions about what I would hear and believed OI to be comprised of many components. To some, OI might have the same meaning as open source or open innovation, collaborating on challenging problems and sharing solutions with anyone interested in applying them. To others it might mean creating partnerships with suppliers or strategic links with research universities or complementary players in target markets. And to still others, OI could relate somehow to opening the internal innovation process to customers and non-customers through the “cloud” by means of crowd sourcing, mob sourcing, social media and a host of other means made possible by the rapid advancement of internet capabilities.

As the conference wound down and I reflected on what I had heard, I was pleased that my prediction was correct and that depending on who you talk to, OI has widely different meaning and application throughout industry today. For example Clorox, a multinational consumer cleaning-product company, recognizes the need for creating value upstream, downstream, and through partnership. They take a win-balance approach meaning that, to be successful there must be value for everyone contributing to innovation. Upstream, suppliers are included in the Clorox development process and incentivized to actively contribute. Downstream, they look to involve end users through the use of crowd sourcing and initiatives such as Clorox Connect, a website separate from their corporate site, where anyone can contribute to new product ideas. To National Instrument and Tektronix, OI was the foundation for a partnership between these two industry leaders with complementary technologies for the same markets. By opening up their innovation processes they were able to combine their core competencies into a single revolutionary product. Sealed Air put together a program to look specifically at creating value from unused IP through license or other means. During the research phase in most companies, concepts are dismissed because the technology developed doesn’t meet the target requirements. The work is often novel and valuable but doesn’t fit the company goals at that time. Allowing others to use it is a good way to recover research costs.

Open innovation in its many embodiments is clearly here to stay. The enabling technologies that unleash the power of OI are advancing faster than most companies can keep up with. The ones that stay close to the leading edge will see a competitive advantage. Those that don’t will have to work harder to catch up. In the 3D printing world, the power of OI can be seen in knowledge sharing across the web. Open source sites are advancing capability, awareness, and accessibility. New use occasions and markets are benefiting solely from the desire to advance technology through knowledge. The old adage that knowledge is power is as true today as ever. But, a shift seems to have occurred from the realization that the knowledge of many is exponentially more powerful and useful than knowledge closed off to but a few.

I’m curious how others perceive OI. Is it a threat to competition? What does it mean in your organization?

http://www.zcorp.com

Fiberglass Layup: 3D Printed Functional Boat Hull and Ping Pong Paddle

2011-06-01T07:30:00.000-04:00

I don’t usually write about applications in this blog, but I found this one interesting and would like to know if anyone can expand upon its use case. I’ve been doing new product development since the mid-80’s (where did the time go?) and I’ve seen firsthand just about every fabrication method available for just about any material or product.

One that I have some experience with is fiberglass (or other cloth and resin) layup. I have seen boat hulls being removed from their mold in the factory and I’ve done my fair share of repair work on my own boat. Scanning the large array of products on the market today, you can see examples of this method used in aftermarket automotive products, consumer products and many others. These materials can be laid into a mold and removed upon cure or laid directly on the part to form a composite (such as in repair work).

An example I’m familiar with in the composite category is the glassing of a wooden boat. This is a method of waterproofing and strengthening a wooden hull, deck, or structure by coating it in resin soaked glass cloth. The wetted out fiberglass becomes transparent and the natural wood is visible beneath. Wood boat purists might cringe, but for those looking for the look and feel of real wood with the low maintenance of fiberglass, this is a practical solution.

So I wasn’t totally surprised when a colleague here at Z Corp showed me the printed model of a boat he designed and built. I’ve seen pictures of the finished boat and it’s beautiful. What did surprise me was that he had fiberglassed the bottom of the printed model. Why? I have no idea. But it made a water-tight, tough, thin walled structure.

As with many fabrication techniques, material properties can be enhanced through some type of modification. Heat treatment of metals; adding fiberglass, talk or carbon to plastic; and laminating wood products, are all examples of this. 3D printed materials are no different. They can be enhanced using similar techniques.

A few years ago, I designed a ping pong paddle and 3D printed it on a Z Corp ZPrinter. I liked the design - the paddle was usable, but I considered it a prototype. When I saw the boat model, I decided to re-design the ping pong paddle, making it super thin and light, and adding a very thin layer of fiberglass to the outer surface. The result was better than I expected. This paddle is lighter than a store-bought paddle and just as tough.

Here’s the thing that surprised me the most. In all my years involved in new product development, I have only come across a few examples where a fiber-cloth and resin are used as part of a composite with the original shape still encased. So, my questions are: what other products are made this way? What materials are used and what is the final product? I am really curious to know what people are familiar with and doing in this area.

http://www.zcorp.com

Z Corp’s Dedicated Channel Partners

2011-05-25T07:30:00.006-04:00

This guest blog is by John Kawola, Z Corporation Chief Executive Officer.

We just wrapped up our three regional 2011 ZNet channel partner conferences in Denver, Istanbul and Phuket. We had a fantastic turnout. First I want to thank the many people involved in organizing and pulling off all of the meetings conducted in the past six weeks. They required a lot of work and travel, but it was clearly well worth it. Equally important, I want to extend a special word of thanks to our partners.

I am often reminded when I attend these events of the importance of the relationship with our channel partners and customers. While we often think about Z Corp in terms of our technology and what we can do for our customers, none of this would work without the dedication of our dealers and distributors worldwide and the personal relationships we have built with them.

Many of our partners are small business owners. They have invested their own time and money into building something truly great. The fact that they carry the Z Corp product line, demonstrates their commitment and investment in us. We know it’s our job to return that favor by delivering a strong lineup of products, providing first-class support and training and, perhaps most importantly, being their partner.

Live Webcast: How did a leading aftermarket auto parts manufacturer cut product development time by 40%?

http://www.zcorp.com/

Designing and 3D Printing a Functional Kamen Rider CRD Helmet

2011-05-18T07:30:00.001-04:00

Today’s guest post is by Russ Ogi, Chief Operating Officer of Z Corp Partner, RAPID Technology LLC.

Developing the Concept
Born and raised in Hawaii, I had the benefit of seeing both Western and Eastern superheroes. I grew up with American superheroes like Spiderman, Batman and Superman, but I was also exposed to Japanese superheroes like Kikaida, Inazuman and Kamen Rider.

The latter fall into the genre of Tokusatsu, Japanese live-action shows that involve superheroes. This genre spawned an estimated 3 - 4 billion dollar global industry that eventually made its way into all corners of the globe from Asia to Europe and the Americas. In the United States, the original Japanese shows eventually got watered down (due to US TV standards) into what most in the States know today as the Power Rangers.

So, what does a superhero geek do when he grows up and you give him access to a prototyping studio and some of the most talented artists in the industry? He makes superhero armor.

The idea behind the Kamen Rider CRD helmet was to create a more contemporary version of the original Kamen Rider V3 character from the 70's. The goal was to create a 1:1 scale wearable helmet based on this concept.

The Kamen Rider CRD Helmet
Sketching the Helmet Design

Concept pencil sketch for the "Rider CRD" design.

I worked with Calvin Lac, an Application Engineer here at RAPID Technology, on the design for the helmet. Calvin is an award-winning model maker and artist.

We tried to take original elements from the character and give it an edgier, more mature feel using antiquing techniques to make newly printed Z Corp 3D printed parts appear old. Calvin, an avid Gundam fan, tried to incorporate Gundam design elements as well.

I have a deep appreciation of Swiss surrealist H.R. Giger's work and wanted a bio-mechanical feel to the overall design. Some areas were to have organic, fluid looking curves, while other areas would have hard edges and well-defined lines. Above all, unlike some remakes, I wanted it to preserve the spirit of the character and pay homage to the original show, keeping long-time fans happy and hopefully winning some new ones.

Designing the Helmet in 3D CAD
Once we had the idea hammered out, we began designing in 3D with the CAD program Maya. At this stage, the helmet went through several changes and then was engineered for 3D printing.

Maya rendering showing computer-generated model half as a surface render and half as a wireframe.

"Rider CRD" 3/4 scale helmet prototype.

3D Printing the Helmet

The 3D model was printed on the ZPrinter 450 in parts. We created the lower jaw separately to allow the helmet to be worn and retain a tight fit on the wearer's head. We finished the 3D printed helmet prototype with ZMax to provide extra strength to the helmet so it could be used as a true functional part in production work. Finally, we assembled the helmet and prepared the surface for gloss painting.

Rider Helmet prototype emerging from ZPrinter.

Test Fitting the Jaw

Fit adjustments for the faceplate.

Test fitting the jaw.

Painting the 3D Printed Helmet
We kept to the original color scheme of the character as much as possible. The original Kamen Rider V3 had a grey lower jaw. We opted for silver because we thought it would match the mechanical aspect of our design better. We also selected darker colors to give the character a more mature and contemporary feel. The helmet was painted in layers and sections.

Applying Bondo to the prototype.

First coat of primer and spot patching for the faceplate and jaw.

"Rider CRD" in his first coat of sanded-down primer.

Smoothing, joint patching for "Rider CRD."

Silver base coat laid down on "Rider CRD" helmet.

Metallic red overcoat going on the helmet.

Rider CRD in red metallic paint.

Casting the Resin Eyes
The Rider eyes were cast in resin. The masters were 3D printed and silicone molds were made. Then we mounted the resin eyes in the helmet.

Rider CRD... green eyes.

Adding Lights and Antenna
We added lights in the back of the eyes in order to give them a glowing effect. Finally the antennae were added to complete the look. Some of the smaller details were created in Z Corp’s ZBuilder Ultra plastic prototyping system and then painted.

Completed, functional 3D Printed Kamen Rider CRD Helmet: "Hmmm...something's missing..."

Next on the list, creating the entire suit?

The Role of 3D Printing and Scanning in the Community Development of Automobiles

2011-05-11T07:30:00.003-04:00

Today's guest blog is by Scott Harmon, Z Corporation VP of Business Development.

I wanted to take this opportunity to share a very cool webcast about using 3D scanning and 3D printing in custom automotive design. The company is called Local Motors. There are a lot of companies out there that make short run replica cars, like Factory Five and ERA Replica Automobiles. These cars are very cool, and people buy thousands of them every year.

Local Motors' approach is very different. Instead making a replica, they’re using a community development model to create a new car. Their design community creates the concept for the car, and the Local Motors' team designs and fabricates it. In the detailed design and fabrication process, they determine how to integrate mass manufactured components and custom designed components. It’s a fascinating combination of re-engineering the as-built parts, and designing entirely new components. The combination is completely novel, and thanks to some smart engineers and some great tools, Local Motors can do it at a price that’s less than many stock cars.

Obviously 3D scanning and 3D printing are critical enabling technologies for these processes, and it’s no surprise that Local Motors uses ZScanning and ZPrinting to quickly and efficiently create an entirely new kind of car. The webcast goes into more detail about how they make cars and the tools they use.

Please let me know what you think of the webcast, if you have questions or want more information.

http://www.zcorp.com

3D Printed Trebuchet

2011-05-04T07:30:00.001-04:00

This week’s blog is by Nick Stone, Z Corp. Project Leader, Mechanical Engineering, Research and Development.

When I was 15, I saw a PBS program on trebuchet’s and decided to build one in my backyard. Honestly, it was disappointing. My trebuchet threw a tennis ball about 10 feet and sliced a trench into our lawn.

I always wanted to give it another try, so I decided to 3D print a fully-functional trebuchet. I printed all of the parts on a ZPrinter 650. The axels ride in plastic bushing that are used in the ZPrinter 650 feeder assembly. The wheels do turn and are supposed to give you a little extra push. I found a video from the History Channel which provided some good advice on relative lengths, as well as a good way to hang the sling. The length of the string controls the release point as does the weight of the projectile. The heavier the projectile, the earlier the release, and thus the higher the angle. I’m not sure if this is typical of all trebuchets or unique to my sling.

Fully-functional trebuchet 3D printed on a ZPrinter 650

I’ve been threatening one of my fellow engineers, Guy, with my trebuchet since I started designing it. He finally had enough of my taunts and began ZPrinting his own trebuchet. His is about 20” tall and seems strong enough to launch a baseball a good distance. And so the arms race begins…

I decided that, because I had proven trebuchet technology, and since Guy was still perfecting his trebuchet, I’d be best served by improving my projectiles. I had been launching Delrin balls and drywall anchors, but decided to really strike fear into my enemies/co-workers. We have a low melt temp metal on hand, so I ZPrinted some molds and waxed them. I used a heat gun and hot plate to melt the metal and pour it into my molds.

ZPrinted mold for trebuchet’s metal projectile

A flying spiked metal ball is pretty scary (and dangerous, so here’s my disclaimer: Neither I nor Z Corp recommend you try this; if you do, you do it at your own risk and we cannot be held liable for any adverse results!). If Guy starts mobilizing his trebuchet, I might be forced to hold a demonstration near his cube. Until then, I think it’s enough that he knows I have the capability and am crazy enough to try it.

http://www.zcorp.com

Do you have 3D CAD?

2011-04-27T07:30:00.015-04:00

Today's guest blog is from Scott Harmon, Z Corporation's Vice President of Business Development.

There is presently a great deal of interest in the notion of consumer 3D printers. The key question on everyone's mind seems to be when will we have one of these magical machines? However, as I have said before, 3D printers are pretty useless without 3D CAD. So to answer the question about when will 3D printers show up in the home, it might be pretty interesting to figure out how many people have and use 3D CAD.

I have personally heard estimates that range from 1 mm to 5 mm seats. Of course, these estimates are based primarily on professional CAD packages like Solidworks, CATIA, PTC, Invento, and the emerging Spaceclaim, etc. Most of the experts I have spoken to think that the approximate number of real, active seats of 3D CAD is around 1million. Not a small number, but there are 6 billion or so people on the planet. 1mm seats of 3D CAD would suggest that the penetration of CAD seats in the world is somewhat akin to the percentage of communists in Texas. Not zero, but not exactly ready for mass adoption.

Now obviously this is a bit misleading. There are a lot of ways to make 3D data that don't require real professional 3D CAD. There is a wide array of what could be referred to as 3D visualization tools available. These range from professional tools for animation and architecture like Maya, 3ds Max, FormZ, Mudbox to free tools like Blender and Google Sketch Up.

So yes, anyone with a computer and an Internet connection can acquire software that allows them to create 3D items. Some people clearly do. I suspect that most do not.

I know many of you are engineers and architects. So what do you think? How many seats of engineering 3D CAD do you think there are in the world? How many seats of other CAD do you think exist?

http://www.zcorp.com

3D Printing Critical to Symmons Industries’ Design Studio Live Virtual Studio

2011-04-20T07:30:00.000-04:00

Today's guest post is from Julie Reece, Z Corporation Director of Marketing Communication.

Bathrooms matter in the design world. The room itself is a canvas for architects and interior designers to showcase their talents in a way that helps set a property apart from the pack. More fundamentally though, the bathroom “experience” is a critical factor in the discriminating consumer’s willingness to spend and select one property over another.

For these reasons, bathroom fittings – the faucet, showerhead, towel rack and even the doorknob – are too important to overlook when building or remodeling hotels, luxury condos and high-end homes. Property owners are increasingly demanding one-of-a-kind fittings to deliver a unique experience.

Symmons Industries, 70-year-old manufacturer of commercial and residential plumbing products, has long served this market with custom design and manufacturing services. The company broke new ground with the launch of a first-of-its-kind virtual design studio for architects, designers and property owners, called Design Studio Live.

Design Studio Live is a Web-based program that allows users to create their own products and receive color 3D physical concepts of their designs within four days, metal prototypes in approximately 15 days, and delivered product for their property in as little as 16 weeks. With the help of this innovative new tool, architects and designers can create unique ideas that translate into exclusive fittings for their projects right from their desks. Users can begin by digitally paging through a virtual catalog of ready-made designs, dragging them to a virtual light box, and modifying them with Google SketchUp™, Adobe® Photoshop®, SolidWorks®, or any other 3D CAD program.

Eric Spear, Symmons’ director of custom services said, “Symmons is the only manufacturer offering fully customized plumbing fittings, and Design Studio Live makes it easier than ever for a designer to complete their bath design with products tailored for each project. We’ve built a process in which we can execute a custom design in the time it takes to flip through a catalog.”

Symmons design consultants are available for program guidance or design advice. However, users are encouraged to experiment as much as they’d like because the tool is designed to encourage creativity. The Design Studio program is also a tool for tracking and managing the progress of a project.

Challenge: fast-turnaround concept prototypes

Critical to the Design Studio Live formula is the ability to quickly and affordably churn out physical 3D models at high volumes. With this demand, handcrafting models was out of the question due to the time and labor involved. For Symmons, a 3D printer was the answer to creating a great custom service for its customers.

Long before Design Studio Live was conceived, Symmons owned a Dimension® 3D printer. Design consultants only used the printer intermittently because it took too long to get a prototype. Spear said that a single faucet took 15 hours to print.

Solution: ‘ZPrinting’

A local Z Corp. reseller told Symmons it could fix the turnaround problem with a printer from Z Corp. Symmons designers said, “Prove it.”

They did just that; instead of taking 15 hours to print a single faucet, Z Corp.’s 3D printer printed 12 models in 3.5 hours at half the price of the single model produced by the Dimension machine. Put another way, the ZPrinter could produce 48 prototypes in the time it took the Dimension machine to print one. Convinced, Symmons purchased the ZPrinter to create prototypes on demand, giving them the final piece of the puzzle they required to realize the vision of Design Studio Live.

Results: a thriving Design Studio Live

The ZPrinter and its 3D printed prototypes are turning out to be the driving force behind Design Studio Live.

Spear said, “The design process itself is exciting, but there comes a point when it’s really helpful to see a tangible, physical example of it. By ZPrinting 3D models, designers can stop looking at their screens and see what the part really looks like in context and feels like in their hands.”

The Z Corp. 3D printed prototypes also strengthen the relationship between an architect and a property owner. Spear said, “Architects can slide a set of ZPrints across the table – perhaps faucets of different sizes and shapes – along with a red pencil. The property owner gets a rare opportunity to handle the models and mark them up. The architect comes back with revised models a couple of days later, and the owner is blown away by the architect’s responsiveness.”

3D printing has also helped enable Symmons, known for the superior workmanship of their internal plumbing parts, to show their design capabilities. For example, the Mandarin Oriental, New York wanted a distinctive look and feel for its bathrooms, and their design firm turned to Symmons to help create the details of the design. The bath design called for a shower system that incorporated fittings with a ceiling-mount drench showerhead and a Roman tub filler that was both stylish and simple to operate. Symmons developed custom concepts for its client with an elegantly simple, single control for on/off, hot/cold operation, a feature that helped to overcome the language barrier many international guests experience. ZPrints helped Symmons communicate a range of options to the client, which enabled the team to quickly close on a final solution. It was the same story at a Miami hotel where ZPrints helped Symmons refine the design of a vertical showerhead surrounded by chandeliers. Other satisfied Symmons clients include the Wynn Resorts, Four Seasons and The Ritz-Carlton, to name a few.

The Z Corp. 3D printer was printing at full tilt five days a week, 20 models a run, according to Spears. In the first four months of use, Symmons produced 4,000 prototypes for a wide range of applications. Most were for client projects, but models also went to tradeshows, “lunch and learn” seminars with designers and architects, and to Symmons industrial designers. “You can push the print button during morning coffee break and be passing around prototypes at lunch. Z Corporation is enabling the kind of speed and part quality that is indispensable for Design Studio Live and all of our design work here,” said Spear.

The ZPrinter and its unique color capabilities have also produced other surprising benefits. They help Symmons stretch design concepts and prototypes beyond conventional stainless steel, using color to accurately represent the popular finish of Onyx. Color prototypes also make great promotional handouts – for instance, a brightly colored faucet model with an architect’s name on it. Symmons even brings its ZPrinter to tradeshows and prints nonstop, making its booth a popular stop for designers and architects witnessing the possibilities of both Symmons designs and instant prototypes.

Whether at tradeshows or in Design Studio Live, 3D color printing enhances Symmons’ business and brand by helping the company focus as much on the aesthetic considerations as the internals. The company is now able to prove that it can make the most beautiful “facades” – or better yet, help customers make them.

Spear said, “It’s a great experience to be the first in market to do this. Our unique ability to host a full-service virtual design studio with 3D printing capabilities, and do it so painlessly, is a real differentiator and a powerful one that keeps us in top of mind to our clients. Z Corporation’s unique speed, color and affordability make this possible.”
http://www.zcorp.com

3D Printing Helps Cisco Uphold Scandinavian Design Tradition

2011-04-13T07:30:00.000-04:00

Today's guest post is from Julie Reece, Z Corporation Director of Marketing Communications.

Designers at the Cisco Consumer Business Group combine time-honored aesthetic principles with 3D printing technology to produce some of the world’s most elegant consumer electronic equipment.

Devices like wireless routers, the media hub, and the wireless home audio system create what the Cisco calls the “connected life,” a life that’s more personal, more social, and more visual. Constant network connectivity is a given, and the focus is on the content – the music, video, Web pages and work materials coursing through the home, office or classroom.

As these devices further infiltrate the home, networking gear becomes more central to our lives, moving from the “computer room” to the living space. Like a stainless steel refrigerator, electronics must be aesthetically pleasing with sleeker, less boxy lines, while increasing connectivity, reliability, and intuitive operation. Making functional objects both simple and beautiful is the challenge Cisco engineers face every day.

Challenge: upholding traditional design standards in the fast-growing consumer electronics world

Since design excellence is paramount for Cisco, the company established a European Design Centre in Copenhagen, Denmark. Here the company continues the venerable tradition of Scandinavian design – functional, minimal, and affordable – without comprising design aesthetics.

Scandinavian design tradition requires the engineer to hold a prototype of his or her creation in their hands, sense the proportions, heed what the object has to tell them and ensure that the form ultimately follows the function. The artisan then modifies the design, creates another prototype, and examines the new design just like the first.

The problem is that traditional handcrafted prototypes are time-consuming and expensive to create. Most automated rapid prototyping technologies are just as costly and must be outsourced, adding time and inconvenience to the process. And though many designers rely on 2D screen images alone, they are simply insufficient to create the quality that Cisco demands. The challenge, then, is upholding the highest aesthetic standards while meeting deadlines in the highly competitive consumer electronics business, where time to market is critical.

Strategy: Investing in 3D printing technology from Z Corporation

Z Corporation’s 3D printing technology helps Cisco quickly and inexpensively create the physical models, or prototypes, it needs. 3D printing gave Cisco a way to apply its exacting design standards in a way that keeps the development cycle humming, ensuring that products get to market on schedule. ZPrinting pumps out prototypes in hours instead of weeks and for one-fifth the cost.

Eskild Hansen, Head of Cisco’s European Design Centre said, “Proportions and ergonomics are paramount, yet too many designers rely on computer screens alone as their design medium. For our strategic design approach, we depend on physical prototypes and the ZPrinter® for each design review, both locally and globally in concert with our design partners in the United States. ZPrinting is an easy and effective way to conduct a productive global design review.”

Results: lots of models for productive design reviews

Cisco uses their ZPrinter to create 10 models per week, on average, for design review. Models are printed directly from SolidWorks® 3D CAD files submitted by Cisco designers around the world.

Designers pass around the resulting models, mark them up with pencil, revise designs in SolidWorks software, print out new prototypes, and repeat the cycle as necessary. The hands-on step is an absolute must, according to Hansen, who selected Z Corporation’s technology because of confidence in the brand and his experience using it in other settings. He said, “We get prototypes quickly, we refine them quickly, we create new ones, and we derive our elite designs. It’s inspiring to see what my team can do with what the world has always received as a basic black box. Designs like these don’t just emerge from a computer screen. Because design is very important, 3D printing is an important element of our product strategy.”

http://www.zcorp.com

Cutting-Edge 3D Printing, 3D Scanning and 3D Software Used in Design of Local Motors' Rally Fighter

2011-04-06T07:00:00.000-04:00

I missed the opportunity to attend SolidWorks World 2011 a few months back, but those that did go came back excited about what they saw. One story that intrigued me enough to investigate further is that of Local Motors. I didn’t know anything about this company. As I searched the internet it became obvious that this company is different. Different product. Different business model. So different, in fact, that it would be difficult to explain accurately in a short blog posting. I encourage you to visit the links below and do your own search.

There is a definite “cool” factor being involved in cutting edge, emerging technologies like 3D printing. 3D printers, 3D scanners and 3D software are creativity tools. They help people be more creative, more efficiently. I’m not a hardcore car buff but I know a nice looking car when I see one, and my first thought when I saw Local Motors’ Rally Fighter was “Now That’s Cool.” As I dug further, I started to realize how this company was benefitting from using a community approach to design and technical challenges, and was also benefitting from cutting-edge creativity tools and design software.

At SolidWorks World 2011, Jon Hirschtick introduced Mike Pisani, Senior Vehicle Engineer and Head Builder Trainer for Local Motors, who described the process for redesigning standard parts to fit their specific needs. The process includes using a handheld ZScanner to accurately convert the part into 3D data, SolidWorks to modify that data and a Z Corp ZPrinter to prototype and verify those changes.

I mentioned in a previous blog how one of my favorite end uses for ZPrinted parts was the Pixar Zeotrope, but I think the Rally Fighter has moved up on my list of very cool end users.

You can hear Mike Pisani from Local Motors talk about how he uses this technology in a live Webcast on April 27 at 2 PM EDT: http://lnkd.in/5v2V7h.

http://www.zcorp.com

Myth or Fact? 3D Printing Provides the Answer

2011-03-30T07:30:00.002-04:00

If you are like me you and have a natural thirst for knowledge and technology you probably watch TV channels like The Learning Channel, Discovery Channel, Science Channel, History Channel and others. For me, there might be 200 channels, as the saying goes, but there is something on at least some of those channels. I could run down a list of my favorites like Modern Marvels, How it’s Made, Dirty Jobs, and Pitchmen but I’m sure everyone has their own favorites. One that’s been on for a while and I really like is Mythbusters with hosts Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage. In the show, Jamie and Adam use science to either prove or “bust” common myths. They have also been known to blow stuff up which could be another reason I like the show. For example, there is a myth about thieves that drilled a small hole in the top of a safe, filled it with water and used dynamite to blow the safe apart from the inside. According to the myth, the incompressible water would transfer the force of the dynamite to the walls of the safe. Toward the end of the show they reveal whether the myth is plausible or busted. If it’s busted they usually go much further to see what it would take to achieve the desired result. That’s usually when stuff gets blown up.

A few months ago I was watching a new episode. In typical show fashion, Jamie and Adam pursued one myth while co-hosts Kari Byron, Tory Belleci and Grant Imahara pursued a different one. If I remember correctly Jamie and Adam were cutting up an old Porche sports car to see if it was more aerodynamic going backwards than forwards. The other segment was about the myth that a car with a surf board on the roof, involved in a head-on collision, would propel the surfboard with enough energy to penetrate the windshield of the second car and kill the driver. The myth was from the movie Lethal Weapon 2. They start out by conducting full scale tests by recreating the crash scene. After making observations they decide to analyze why the board failed to fly straight and hit the target windshield. The full episode can be seen in two parts here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYVwmXor5eM and here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXMgc4xaiwg&feature=related. The surfboard myth starts at the 6 minute mark of part one. Kari wants to build a small scale model of the surfboard and bring it for flight analysis in a water tank at NASA. Her first attempt at building the scale model is by hand. She quickly realized that for this test she would need accuracy and turned to CAD and 3D printing.

This segment starts at the 10 minute mark of the part two of the video and includes Kari pulling the miniature surfboard from a ZPrinter 450.

The accuracy of the board is evident in the aerodynamic water tank and it helped prove why the myth was...

I’ll let you watch the episode to see if it was proven or busted!

http://www.zcorp.com

Unique 3D Printing: Z Corp.’s 3D Printed Parts of the Month

2011-03-23T07:30:00.000-04:00

Today’s 3D printing guest blog is by Julie Reece, Z Corporation Director of Marketing Communications.

Each month, one of our star application engineers, Dan Topjian, creates or selects (from one of our partners or customers) a ZPrinted part of the month. These parts are highlighted on our partner and customer portal called ZCentral, where the files are also available for download. I thought you might be interested in seeing some of our recent prototypes of the month.

Functional Pump Sprayer: 3D printed on a ZPrinter 650

Sunglasses: ZPrinted on a ZPrinter 650

Bike Seat: Model created in T-Splines for Rhino by Juan Santocono, T-Splines, Inc.3D Printed on a ZPrinter 650

Rings: ZPrinted on a ZPrinter 650

Soap Bubble Toy: 3D printed on a ZPrinter 650

Karling Clutch: Model provided by Solidmakarna, created by Karling Racing AB, printed on a ZPrinter 650

Plug: 3D printed on a ZPrinter 650

Sauna House: 3D printed model provided by Juha Savisalo, Finland, ZPrinted on a ZPrinter 650

Functional Lamp: 3D Printed on a ZPrinter 650

Rider Helmet: Model provided by Russ Ogi of RAPID Technology LLC, ZPrinted on ZPrinter 310

Functional Pen: ZPrinted on a ZPrinter 650

Do you have ZPrinted parts you’d like to have highlighted on the ZBlog? Submit your photos to me at jreece@zcorp.com.

http://www.zcorp.com/

What Needs to Happen Before There’s a 3D Printer in Every Home?

2011-03-16T08:00:00.017-04:00

Today's guest blog is by Scott Harmon, Z Corporation VP of Business Development.

It seems like the 3D printing industry has more buzz now than it ever has. Recent articles in the New York Times, the Economist etc., have all touted a brilliant future for 3D printing. Respected technology thinktank, The Gartner Group, publishes an annual Hype Cycle chart.

The chart describes expectations of different technologies over time. In the Gartner 2010 Hype Cycle chart, 3D printing appears to moving into the area known as ‘Peak of Inflated Expectations.’ Gartner notes that a relatively small group of users are already getting great value from 3D printing.

For participants in the industry, manufacturers, service bureaus and users alike, it’s worth taking a moment to consider what the future really looks like. Will 3D printers exist in every home? Will manufacturing plants ultimately move from large centralized facilities to your basement? Perhaps more importantly, what will it take to get to that future?

Many people compare the early days of personal computers to the current state of 3D printing. The price points are similar, self assembly is in many cases required, and the early adopters certainly share a creative spirit and a techy bent. It seems almost a foregone conclusion that like personal computers, 3D printers will follow a similar path to mass adoption.

I’m an optimist, and I wouldn’t work in this industry if I didn’t think ‘everyone’ would use 3D printers at some point. So the question is not whether 3D printing will ever reach broad adoption, but rather ‘when, why, and how?’

In general, I think there are a few key factors that are likely to determine how quickly 3D printing achieves broad adoption. They include price, part quality, 3D CAD adoption, and the emergence of new applications. Unlike many in the industry, I’m 100% convinced that price is not the key driver. Price will have to come down, but low price alone will not be close to sufficient. Is a low cost 3D printer the path to broad adoption, or a highly capable system that makes great parts and is operated as a service?

What’s on your list? What are the key events, applications, enabling technologies likely to drive broad adoption of 3D printing?

We’ll go into some more detail on these ideas and others based on your feedback over the next few weeks.

http://www.zcorp.com

Restoring My Grandfather's Lamp

2011-03-09T07:45:00.000-05:00

I remember my grandfather as a jack-of-all-trades and an engineer of sorts. I’m not sure if he ever earned a degree in engineering but he was one of the most technically competent people I have ever known. He was a pioneer in thermoforming GE’s new “Lexan” (polycarbonate) in the late 50’s and early 60’s. I remember when I was a child in the early 70’s, going with him to Sweetheart Plastics where he was an innovation and technical troubleshooting consultant. Around that same time he tinkered with a window box solar heater and designing and fabricating plastic injection molds.

Years later, after he passed away, my mother handed me a bag of stuff. One of the things in the bag was an old broken lamp that was from my grandparents' house. It used to sit on a corner table in their den. I remember it well because, as far as lamps go, it was the kind a young boy might be interested in - dark brown, bronze, and black with an etching of a colonial era sailing ship. The ship was back lit with a low wattage bulb that gave it a soft glow. I recall flipping the switch so that first the back light clicked on, another click and the back light went off and the main light under the shade went on. One more click turned both lights on.

What I never fully appreciated was that my grandfather built the lamp himself. Long before I can remember he must have come across the copper etching used for making prints of the ship. Somehow he came up with the idea to turn the copper plate into a lamp. Copper etchings are sometimes attached to cylindrical drums, coated with ink, and rolled across paper to transpose the image. It is likely that the copper plate was cylindrical when he found it. From there, the construction was fairly simple, two pieces of turned wood for the top and bottom, a standard lamp kit, and some sort of fake wood patterned plastic strip to close the back side of the copper plate.

By now you are probably wondering what this story has to do with 3D printing. As it turns out, when the lamp was given to me it was in pieces because over years of use the internal lamp melted the fake wood plastic strip enough so that the spring force of the copper plate broke everything apart. It seemed a simple enough fix. I’d have to find a new plastic strip to rejoin the ends of the copper plate, tighten up all of the parts, replace the blown bulbs and buy a new lamp shade.

As with most things, it wasn’t quite that easy. I never paid any attention to the cheap plastic wood looking strip because it was always in the back, facing the wall. It didn’t detract from the lamp’s attractiveness at all. Now, it became the biggest challenge to putting the lamp back together. After a few trips to various hardware stores and home improvement warehouses, I realized that this simple looking part wasn’t going to be easy to find. To this day I have no idea what the actual purpose of it was because I never found anything like it. It never really matched the colors of the rest of the lamp and the assembly required wood shims in order to match the thickness of the copper plate, so it didn’t take long for me to shift gears and consider a better solution.

The picture above on the left shows the fake wood plastic strip. In the picture on the right, you can see the wood shims used to match the copper plate thickness. You can also see the melted plastic toward the bottom. Also note how thin the web is between the two edges of the copper plate. Ideally, this part would be a bit smaller, not require shims, and match the dark brown and black colors of the plate.

I knew that creating the right profile in SolidWorks would be a snap. I was also sure that I could find a texture map that matched the colors better. If not, I knew I could apply a dark brown or black color to the part before printing. I created two different profiles in SolidWorks. I exported them as .stl files. I opened these files in ZPrint and applied several texture maps to them using ZEdit. I put all of the parts into one build file and printed it on a ZPrinter 650.

The picture on the left is the profile and color option I used. The one on the right has a wood grain but the color was too light to be a good match. This part measures 3/8” wide by 8” long. The slot is 0.040” and the center web is 0.060”

I can’t say that I was surprised, but I was very happy that the assembly went together the first time without any issues at all. The most difficult thing was finding a new lamp socket to control both lamps separately. They aren’t rare, but not all hardware stores carry them. Without the ZPrinter 650, I would have been at a loss as to how to fix that lamp. I could have machined a piece of aluminum, purchased an SLA (although I’m not sure the material properties would have been sufficient), or I might have been able to fabricate a piece of real wood. I would have had to paint the aluminum and SLA parts and stained the wood. There are other methods, but to me ZPrinting the part seemed like the best option. I think my grandfather would be pleased. Here are the pictures. You be the judge.

The first picture shows the edge of the copper plate inserted in the slot of the new ZPrinted part. In this picture you can see the natural curvature of the plate forms a half cylinder. This is an indication of the spring force when forming a full cylinder. The second picture shows the ZPrinted part holding both edges of the plate.

The first picture shows the ship backlight on only. The second picture show both backlight and main light on.

The last two pictures show the lamp from behind. Compare these to the first picture in this blog. With the new ZPrinted part, the lamp is no longer relegated to the corner of the room.

http://www.zcorp.com

Can You Teach Innovation?

2011-03-02T07:30:00.000-05:00

Today's guest post is by Scott Harmon, Z Corporation VP of Business Development.

“We need to out-innovate, out-educate and out-build the rest of the world”
-President Obama
State of the Union, Jan. 25, 2011

For years, leaders across business, government and education have expressed increasing concern about America’s continued decline in fields like engineering and manufacturing. Student performance continues to lag other developed nations, especially in math, science and engineering fields. Companies continue to ship engineering and manufacturing jobs overseas. Government efforts to counteract these trends do not appear to be working.

Everyone seems to agree that there’s a problem. Everyone seems to be trying to solve it, but for some reason we continue to lose ground in critical innovation competencies like engineering and manufacturing. Why? Because Thomas Edison was right. He said:

“None of my inventions came by accident. I see a worthwhile need to be met and I make trial after trial until it comes. What it boils down to is one per cent inspiration and ninety-nine per cent perspiration.”

Trial after Trial. 99% Perspiration. Real innovation is hard. Engineering is hard. Math is hard. Science is hard. It’s no wonder kids don’t like learning these subjects. They see all the trial and hard work, but don’t get to experience the joy of innovation, the inspirational aspects until much later.

Z Corp. developed a basic curriculum of materials that will help students derive the most educational benefit from their ZPrinters. The curriculum is oriented around the National Science Education Standards for Technological Design as developed by the National Research Council. The members of the National Research Council are drawn from the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering and the Institute of Medicine.

In the hands of great teachers, Z Corporation 3D printers and the accompanying curricula provide the kinds of inspirational experiences that motivate students to explore tough subjects like engineering and architecture. Low cost, easy to use 3D printers in the classroom help kids experience the joy of making things, the thrill that comes from creating something that works. With 3D printers, kids can experience engineering and architectural design all the way through to the physical solution they designed. They’re not simulating. They’re not pretending. They’re not looking at someone else’s work. They’re creating.

“Showing off their innovations in the trophy case is a point of pride for SITHS students and keeps them inspired to continually improve their work.”
-Frank Mazza, Instructor, Staten Island Technical High School

“When students hold parts in their hands, they’re closing the loop. Until then, it’s all conceptual, virtual and 2D. Completing the circle is important. It turns kids on.”
-Bruce Weirich, Instructor, Ontario High School, Mansfield, OH

Innovation, invention, and engineering may be 99% Perspiration, but if we can help kids experience the 1% Inspiration, the joy of creating, maybe we can get back to out-innovating, out-educating and out-building the rest of the world.

http://www.zcorp.com

What Does 3D Printing Have To Do With Sustainability?

2011-02-23T07:30:00.002-05:00

This week’s guest blog is by Scott Harmon, Z Corporation Vice President of Business Development.

Over the last several years there has been a global push to improve sustainability. Sustainability in general seems like a pretty complex topic. It seems to combine efficiency, environmentalism, renewable energy, recyclability, etc., etc. I think back to my days camping as a kid. The motto was ‘leave it better than you found it.’

Rapid prototyping in general makes strong contributions to corporate sustainability. Reducing waste represents one of the key objectives of most sustainability efforts. Smart companies are doing everything possible to reduce the amount of waste material generated throughout their supply chains. Improving quality, reducing packaging and miniaturization are all methods that companies use to reduce the waste they generate. Interestingly, architectural designers have created specific certifications to improve how architects approach challenges in sustainability.

Intelligent use of 3D printers to make prototypes and scale models reduces waste in many different ways. By pushing errors and changes earlier in the design cycle, prototypes and scale models reduce the waste streams caused by those errors. When you catch an error in the prototype, you cut less steel and waste less plastic. In architecture for example, the savings are even more dramatic because the scale is so large. When you use prototypes and models to create better designs, you reduce the number of final products that get thrown in the trash.

However, despite the positive contributions that rapid prototyping systems make to corporate sustainability efforts, there are enormous differences in the waste streams created by these processes. I have heard stories of companies whose RP systems generate more waste than printed part material, at enormous dollar costs. Support material, shaving uneven surfaces, dissolving chemicals, etc. contribute substantially to the total cost of prototyping. These systems generate significantly larger hidden costs as those waste streams get flushed down the drain.

Z Corporation obviously prides itself on having the most efficient 3D printers in the industry: no support structures, no cleaning material disposal, no disposable build platforms, no chemical waste water, recycles 100% of the build material. Less waste today, better world tomorrow.

Is your company is starting to think about a more sustainable design process?

See Al Dean's Develop3D blog: Z Corp's Recycling Smarts

http://www.zcorp.com

Engineering Challenge Part II - 3D Printed Rockets

2011-02-16T08:00:00.011-05:00

A few months ago I wrote about an extracurricular rocket design activity that a number of Z Corp. R&D team members took part in. I finally had a chance to sit down and write the update which is timely given that Apollo 13 heroes Gene Kranz (Mission Control Director) and Jim Lovell (Astronaut) recently took the stage at SolidWorks World 2011 to tell their story of that famous NASA mission.

Many lessons were learned during our Z Corp. rocket design project. One of which is that just because you can print it doesn’t mean it will fly straight, or in some cases, fly at all. On the other hand, a surprising number of unconventional rockets did fly, and few straight. An oversimplification of designing a rocket for stable flight is that the center of gravity must be above the center of pressure or the central point of aerodynamic forces on the rocket. In other words, the cg should be closer to the nose and the cp closer to the tail. When designing rockets with crazy geometries, figuring out if it will have stable flight is pretty straight forward and relatively quick. By tying a string at the center of gravity and swinging the model around, the rocket will flies nose cone first if the cg – cp relationship is correct. If not, an adjusted model can be quickly 3D printed on a ZPrinter and tested in the same manner until stability is achieved.

Here are some photos of the rockets we designed, 3D printed on a Z Corp. ZPrinter:

Surprisingly, some of the designs above that look like they should not fly actually do, and some of the designs that look like they should fly don’t. Then again, the opposite is also true in that some of the designs that look like they have no business flying live up to their expectation. What is noteworthy is the number of rocket designs that went from design to test flight in a very short amount of time due to the ZPrinter's incredibly fast speed.

These two videos represent the extremes of success and failure:
https://zcentral.zcorp.com/attachments/1555_Derek.wmv
https://zcentral.zcorp.com/attachments/1555_Nick.wmv

http://www.zcorp.com

Pixar Brings Digitized Characters to Life with 3D Printing

2011-02-09T08:00:00.004-05:00

In a blog last year I mentioned how Pixar created a Zeotrope of Toy Story characters printed on a Z Corp. Spectrum Z510 3D printer. Although this was not the first Z Corp. color printer, it was the first 3D printer with truly amazing color quality.

A recent Time Compression blog reminded me about one of the exclusively unique capabilities of 3D printing, and more specifically, color 3D printing. In my blog last year I wrote that Toy Story characters were “trapped” inside the digital world. The only way to release them into the real world is to 3D print them. To be clear this is not the only way. After all, you can buy a character doll at most toy stores. What I mean is that color 3D printing is the only way to reproduce exactly what the creator intended, right down to the last crease of an eyebrow or the exact cow skin pattern on Jessie’s chaps because 3D printing uses the data directly from the digital character.

Photo Credits Woody, Jessie and Spanish Buzz, all 3D printed from original data on Pixar's ZPrinter.

Photo Credits Lotso 3D printed from original data on Pixar's ZPrinter.

A similar example is video games, such as World of Warcraft, where not only are the characters locked in cyberspace, they are also unique to each player. It is hard to imagine any other way to bring a character to life than through 3D printing. Check out http://www.figureprints.com/ to see some of these amazing ZPrints.

For a typical design process where the intended result is a physical object, 3D printing is often used to create prototypes. In the examples above, the final product is not intended to be a physical object, but is intended to remain digitized. 3D printing is a way to bring them to life. I wonder how many other examples exist where 3D data is the intended final product yet can be brought to life by 3D printing.

Video of the Zeotrope in action.

http://www.zcorp.com

MCAD and 3D Printing as a Sales Tool

2011-02-02T08:00:00.011-05:00

This week's guest post is from John Kawola, Z Corporation CEO.

I had the pleasure of attending SolidWorks World 2011 last week in San Antonio. I have attended many of these events in past years and SolidWorks always does a great job in providing a complete agenda for engineers and designers to learn new skills, learn from other users and share ideas. As usual, the first day kickoff included an introduction by SolidWorks management. As many have heard, there have been changes at the top at SolidWorks. Congratulations to Jeff Ray for his new position within Dassault Systemes and Betrand Sicot for his new role as SolidWorks CEO.

In that first day session, Dassault CEO Bernard Charles and Jeremy Luchini from SolidWorks previewed a new technology called “Post-3D.” In the demonstration, they showed the power of using 3D data as a sales tool. For complex products, ones that don’t transport well and/or ones where some type of product demo is key to sales success, this concept can prove invaluable. They simulated a sales process, presenting a product called “CAD-Chair” in a virtual environment to a sales prospect in China. They were able to describe the product and outline features and benefits. But, most importantly, they were allowing the prospect the chance to “experience” the product. Impressive.

SolidWorks CAD-Chair

So, this brings me to the use of 3D printed parts as sales tools. Historically, prototypes and 3D printed parts have been primarily used by engineers, testing designs and checking form, fit and function. However, the number of use occasions and applications for printed parts is rapidly expanding into the customer-facing, sales environment. Z Corporation has numerous customers using the technology in this way. Here are just a few examples:

Spirax Sarco: Leader in steam-related products and services

Spirax Sarco ZPrinted model

-Sales models of 1,000 lb. products reduce time, shipping, labor at tradeshows
-Sales staff is able to bring models of large products on sales calls
-3D printed model of a heat exchanger helped seal $600,000 sale, beating companies with only 2D drawings

Continental Tire: Largest tire maker in Germany, and fourth largest in the world

Continental Tire ZPrinted models

-Generated new revenue by putting early prototypes into hands of sales force
-Helped close sales on existing products because salesmen had physical models to help communicate product advantages to customers in sales meetings

Converse, Inc: A wholly-owned subsidiary of NIKE, Inc. offering men’s and women’s footwear and apparel

Converse ZPrinted model

-Among many other uses for 3D printing, Converse uses ZPrinted models to visualize design ideas with sponsored athletes in order to sign top athletes as sponsors

OBM International: highly prestigious design-consulting firm specializing in master planning and architecture for luxury hotels, resorts and mixed-use developments globally

OBM International ZPrinted model

-Dramatic 3D printed models make a deeper impact on prospective clients than 2D renderings or computer animations
-3D printing is galvanizing OBMI’s long-standing reputation as a leader in the global architecture community
-The 3D printer’s positive impact on securing business and minimizing redesign makes it a “bargain”

Gilberts: Gilberts, 16 person architectural practice

Gilberts ZPrinted models

-ZPrinted models improve the quality of proposals being produced which has a positive impact on business won
-3D printed models enhance the understanding of proposals and improve public perception of proposals
-Organizations presented with high quality 3D printed models appreciate the effort put in, hence subconscious reception is improved

These uses have been enabled by the rapid improvement in performance, ease of use, cost and full color capability. While virtual environments like “Post-3D” may prove to be powerful for some sales processes, it can be argued that the ultimate virtual experience is actually holding the product or part in your “real” hand.

There's nothing like holding a 3D printed model in your "real" hand

Related Resources
To learn more about how digital and physical prototyping work best together in specific applications, including sales and marketing, I highly recommend a white paper by By L. Stephen Wolfe, P.E. called, “Physical and Digital Prototyping Belong Together.”

If you’d like to learn more about other departments and applications within an organization where 3D printing can be used for strategic advantage, see this free Webcast called “3D Printing Across the Organization.”

http://www.zcorp.com

Winter Lights

2011-01-26T08:00:00.003-05:00

I thought this was an appropriate topic for the long dark days of winter. Sara Freed is one of our talented Mechanical Engineers who created the following blog about a pet project entitled Winter Lights. Projects such as this provide critical insight to design engineers about how our printers function and their capabilities in order to enhance future products.

Putting color on surfaces unreachable with paint is a snap for a 3D printer. Inspired by glass lampshades, I designed thin-walled parts with color on hidden surfaces. I wanted the parts to look white in daylight but glow with color when lit from within. I made votive candle holders with hollow sides, figuring I could put LEDs inside instead of candles. I modeled them in SolidWorks®, playing with sweeps and shells. I printed several iterations on a ZPrinter® 650 before I was satisfied.

Infiltration makes powder somewhat translucent, so color shows through thin walls. To achieve a white exterior, the walls need to be thicker than the color shell generated by ZPrint®. I found that walls of 1.3 mm (.050 in) were too thick for translucence and settled on a thickness of 0.8 mm (.031 in). I colored the parts directly in the solid modeling software. This allowed me to export to a VRML file rather than an STL. The VRML export produced smaller facets, which made the blob-like shapes smoother. I printed with a custom powder type consisting of zp150 at 120% saturation. This made it easier to depowder the bowl-like parts without sinking my thumb through the shelled-out walls when they were still green and heavy with powder. Bleed compensation was selected along with the default layer thickness of 0.1 mm (.004 in).

The parts were most translucent when infiltrated with Z-Max™ 90, but then the color was so visible that white and colored surfaces looked similar. I preferred the snowy, candy-like appearance of uncolored powder on the exterior produced by putting pastel color on the shell interior and infiltrating with Z-Bond™ 90. Most of my coworkers preferred more intense colors and Z-Max™ 90 infiltration. I missed my initial aim of hidden color, but I did get some fun parts that glow on my foray into extreme color 3D printing.

Figure 1. Infiltration makes the color inside visible, even through a 1.1 mm (.045 in) wall.

Figure 2. Z-Bond 90 (left) gives a frostier look than Z-Max 90 (right) in these 1.1 mm (.045 in) wall parts.

Figure 3. Thinner-walled parts (0.8 mm or .031 in) glow more, but the effect of a white exterior is almost lost.

Click here to download the files and give it a try!

http://www.zcorp.com

Is a Desktop, Sub-$5K 3D Printer Necessarily a Consumer 3D Printer?

2011-01-19T08:00:00.001-05:00

What’s the difference between a consumer 3D printer and a commercial desktop printer? And furthermore, what’s the difference between a desktop printer and a low-cost 3D printer? One more question might be what does a 3D printer have to cost to be considered low cost?

A few blogs ago I raised the question: How far-fetched is consumer 3D printing? The majority of response was that consumer 3D printing is probably a ways off. Some, however, took my blog to mean that desktop and low-cost printers are far out in the future as well. Since there are currently sub-$5,000 printers on the market (low cost) and several that fit quite nicely on a desktop, I believe that my previous blog posting on the subject was misunderstood.

So I ask the question: Is a desktop 3D printer a consumer printer? Is a sub-$5,000 3D printer a consumer printer? My option is that while both criteria might be necessary for a consumer product, neither makes it so. A consumer 3D printer is one purchased and used for, well, consumer use. The assumption is that a homeowner, for instance, would purchase the 3D printer and use it for printing whatever they might have a need for. On the other hand, a commercial 3D printer could be low cost, desktop, or both. So, if low-cost desktop printers are not slated for the average consumer in the next few years, at least not in 2011, who are they for?

One of the debates today is about the part quality and resolution produced by the very low cost offerings on the market. Is this quality good enough for commercial use? I would argue that in some industries and for some applications it might be. But higher resolution, surface finish, accuracy, etc… are more useful to more designers in far more applications. While the current low-cost devices might be suitable for limited applications, a high-quality low-cost printer would make the technology more accessible to a much greater number of designers, engineers, architects, and other professionals.

That leaves the last question. What price does a fully featured 3D printer have to be in order to be called low cost?

http://www.zcorp.com

2011 Top Ten 3D Printing Predictions

2011-01-12T08:00:00.003-05:00

Happy New Year everyone! It is the time when many of us are trying furiously to start that New Year’s resolution, some news outlets are capping off the old year with their top 10 lists, and still others are making their predictions for events and happenings for the new year. Here are mine:

Resolution

- I resolve to write more interesting and engaging blogs in 2011

Top Ten (in no particular order)

- Introduction of Z Corp. MCAD and AEC blogs
- Z Builder Ultra product launch

- Slow climb back from global economic crisis

- LeBron James “The Decision” on live TV (did anyone really care?)

- Flying car goes into production (Terrafugia)

- ZScanner 700 CX wins 2010 Golden Mousetrap Best Product Award

- iPad

- 3D Bioprinter

- ZPrinted model helps visually impaired couple “visualize” their new home on TV’s Extreme Home Makeover

- ZPrinting helps JPAC identify POW/MIA remains

Predictions
- 3D printing growth rate will return to 2007/08 levels as the industry emerges from the depths of the global economic crises. One of the primary drivers for all 3D printing is to increase speed, improve communication, and reduce cost in the product development cycle. For many industries, the need to cut expenses came at the cost of fewer new product development activities. As economic conditions improve this trend will begin to reverse. Smart companies will look to increase output from development activities while at the same time reducing cost. 3D printing is poised to be a significant part of that equation.

- 3D printing will be used in at least one completely unique application that nobody is currently thinking about. In 2005 Pixar used the Spectrum Z™ 510 to create a zoetrope of Toy Story characters. In 2010 Moody Nolan Architects created a model for TV’s Extreme Home Makeover to help a visually impaired couple “visualize” their new home. If you think long and hard enough you can imagine 3D printing being used for these purposes but for most, until you see them in practice, you wouldn’t know it was coming. In 2011 there will be a number of new and unique applications for 3D printing but one will stand out above all others.

I would like to wish everyone a happy, healthy, and prosperous 2011.

http://www.zcorp.com

10 Uses for Color 3D Printing

2011-01-05T08:00:00.000-05:00

Guest post by Julie Reece, Z Corp. Director, Marketing Communications.

1. Design and engineering labels

2. Texture Mapping

3. Finite Element Analysis (FEA)

4. Realistic design prototypes

5. Distinguish parts of an assembly

6. Distinguish anatomical parts

7. Marketing

Sales presentations

9. Packaging

10. Art and entertainment

Do you have additional uses for color 3D printing? Let us know and send us photos of your multicolor ZPrinted models.

http://www.zcorp.com

Color 3D Printing Improves Communication

2010-12-29T08:00:00.001-05:00

A number of years back I needed to make a simple change to a simple part. The part was injection molded which meant that a change to the part required a change to the tool. Typically, I would send the new STL file to the mold maker and explain the changes in an e-mail. They would plug the STL file into their software, analyze the changes and provide a quote for the modifications. In this particular case I highlighted the changes in red color, printed a model and handed it to the mold maker. Even simple changes to an injection molded part can require complicated tooling changes depending on where cooling lines, ejector pins, rings, and gates are located. Having the actual part with highlighted changes helped the tool maker quickly understand what it would take to successfully modify the tool. A picture of this part, used in our 3D Printers, is shown below.

I recently visited a Z Corp. customer who uses a ZPrinter®650 in a similar way. He frequently uses multiple colors to identify different fabrication processes required to complete a part. His parts are complicated shapes from exotic materials. For example, he will highlight the first process with one color, a second process with another color and might add a third or fourth color to show other areas of interest on the part. Because the parts are so complicated and expensive, poor communication can lead to costly mistakes. His main purpose for creating color models is to improve communication throughout the design and fabrication process.

http://www.zcorp.com

Memorable ZPrinted Holiday Ornaments

2010-12-22T08:00:00.006-05:00

Every year around this time Z Corporation holds its annual holiday party. It is usually memorable in many ways but one thing that stands out for me is the Z Corp. holiday ornament. David Russell is one of our most senior engineers and for years now he has taken on the task of designing and printing one for every employee. Below is the chronology in pictures. It is interesting to note that over time color was introduced and features became smaller and more delicate as both the hardware and materials technology improved. I want to take this opportunity to thank Dave and I hope this tradition continues for many more years.

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

Happy Holidays!

http://www.zcorp.com

Consumer 3D Printing? Part II

2010-12-15T08:00:00.014-05:00

Thanks for the great responses to last week's blog posting: Consumer 3D Printing? I agree with many of the comments. One in particular I agree with is that open source FDM 3D printers are not for the average consumer.

Open source goes a long way toward lowering cost, increasing awareness, and advancing 3D printing technologies. These are all important in order for 3D printing to become a consumer activity.

In my opinion though, in order to break through to this market it must also be fast, have simplicity and elegance. I think of the average person coming home from work (not a technical person) and finding that broken knob on the stove. What would it take for 3D printing to be the preferred method of replacing the knob?

At the very least it would have to be as easy as going to the manufacturers website, picking out the replacement knob, placing an order with a credit card and waiting a few days for the “original” knob to arrive in the mail. 10 to 15 minutes of time online, 2 days waiting, and no technical experience necessary. Open source – and all commercial 3D printers have a ways to go before they can compete with that.

One of the reasons it is difficult to imagine consumer 3D printing is that most everything in the home, office, or car has been mass-produced. That means a tool most likely exists that can turn out replacement parts by the thousands at a very low cost. 3D printing is ideally suited for printing “snowflakes”. The theory is that no two snowflakes are the same. So, if you wanted to produce just a single piece of a one of a kind object would you produce a steel tool and injection mold it?

This is the sweet spot for 3D printing and why it is used for concept models, early stage design verification, architecture, art, low volume prototype parts, etc… Yes, consumers would most likely use a 3D printer to make one or two of any particular part but that part most likely already exists somewhere by the thousands or even millions.

http://www.zcorp.com

Consumer 3D Printing?

2010-12-08T08:00:00.001-05:00

A question I get a lot lately is what do you think about consumer 3D printing ? The premise is that someday 3D printers will be as prevalent in people's homes as color inkjet printers are today. Is this far-fetched? If not, how far off is it? And, most importantly, what needs to happen in order for it to become a reality?

The answer isn’t simple. In fact, if there are a dozen or more issues that need to be resolved, the solution for each issue will depend on the solution for the other variables. The first thing you might consider is to lower the cost of a 3D printer to a point where the average consumer could afford one. It might seem obvious that if millions of units are sold every year the cost would come down and be affordable to the consumer. However, if there was a stack of 3D printers on the street corner free for the taking, how many people would take one home with them? And remember, we are talking average consumer, not average design engineer. If they all found homes, what would people print with them? There is no doubt that 3D printers add tremendous value to a commercial enterprise and that color inkjet printers add significant value to most homeowners. But the applications are quite different. The concept that a homeowner would need a 3D printer is based on the idea that they could print final parts at a reasonable cost.

For comparison I’ll use a single part, a control knob for a residential gas stove top. The stove manufacturer would most likely design the knob, prototype it to make sure it looks, feels, and functions correctly. They might even print a tool and cast a limited number of urethane, or metal parts for further evaluation. Once they are comfortable with the design they would order tooling and injection mold the knob using a high temperature flame rated material. Let’s say the homeowner somehow lost the knob for their gas stove top. The first thought would be to use a 3D printer to make a new one. To do so, the homeowner would either have to find or create the 3D data before they could print the part. They would need some type of design software to design a new one. Or maybe they could scan one of the remaining knobs and import the data. But, let’s say there was a database of parts free to download over the internet.

The next step would be to make sure the material properties were adequate for the knob. We know from the application that the material should be high temperature and have a high flame rating – possibly V0. Even if this material existed, the homeowner would have to have it on hand or locate and purchase some. The next part they want to print might require a completely different material. Keeping a stack of document paper and a stack of glossy photo paper isn’t all that difficult, but having all the different materials that might be needed for “real parts” off a 3D printer would be next to impossible for a homeowner. Ordering the right material as it is needed might be the only option. In the time it takes to locate, purchase, setup, and print the knob, would it be easier, cheaper, and faster to order the actual knob from a local stove repair shop?

So, is the idea far-fetched? How far off is it? Weigh in and let me know what you think!

http://www.zcorp.com

Six Steps to Assess the True Cost of a 3D Printing System

2010-12-01T08:00:00.005-05:00

There’s been a lot of hype over the past year about low-cost 3D printers. All of the rapid prototyping (additive manufacturing) companies have either introduced low-priced systems to the market or lowered the price of existing systems and promote how they are making the technology more accessible to designers, engineers and even the hobbyist. Editors, industry analysts and even the New York Times have jumped on this trend which seems to be the focus of nearly every article and report.

But what is a low-cost 3D printer? When people talk about low cost, they seem to refer only to the purchase price of the 3D printer. Sometimes machines that are billed as low cost are actually much more expensive than most other machines when all variable costs are factored into the equation. We’ve had customers tell us that they purchased another system because of the low initial purchase price of the printer itself, only to quickly discover that they couldn’t afford to keep the system operating. It became an expensive paper weight.

So, how can you cut through the hype and determine the real cost of a 3D printer? Here are six easy steps.

First, let me provide a disclaimer that I’m only referencing industrial- or professional-quality 3D printers. Industry experts seem to universally agree that open source systems that have been receiving quite a bit of publicity recently are not suitable for professional use from a quality, accuracy, throughput or speed standpoint.

1. Yes, affordability starts with a low-priced machine. But look beyond the price of the machine itself. Check to see if the system requires expensive lasers, complex thermal controls or special facility requirements. All of these items can add thousands of dollars onto the price of a machine.

2. How expensive is the build material? Find out how much build material is included in the purchase price of the system. Be sure to base this cost on volume rather than weight (i.e.; how many prototypes will that amount produce?). Then learn the on-going replacement cost of the material.

3. What about waste? Is all of the unused build material from a build completely recycled for future builds and therefore unwasted? If not, make sure you factor the cost of the wasted material into your cost calculator. And, does the system require you to build supports? Some systems require you to build supports, others don’t. Building supports requires expensive build material that can really add up over time, so be sure you factor this ongoing cost into your estimate.

4. What about the cost of post-processing? All prototyping systems require some sort of post-processing. Check to see if you must purchase additional equipment, chemicals, ventilation and special hazardous waste handling and disposal in order to post-process parts. Compare those systems with systems that provide you with the low-cost option to cure parts with tap water and Epsom salt.

5. Assess maintenance costs. Some systems use standard, off-the-shelf inkjet printing technology and a modular design in order to make component replacement quick, easy and cost efficient.

6. Considering all of these variable costs, estimate the total expense per finished model.

Example:
Total cost for Z Corp.’s finished ZPrinted models runs about $2 - $3 USD per cubic in ($0.12-$0.18 USD per cubic cm). An 8.75 cubic in (143 cubic cm) model like the one below costs about $22 USD to produce.

If low-cost 3D printing is important to you, “Buyer beware.”

http://www.zcorp.com

Is 3D Scanning Entering the Consumer Market?

2010-11-24T07:00:00.000-05:00

Guest post by Scott Harmon, Z Corp. VP Business Development.

One of Z Corporation’s strengths is that the our technology is based on highly reliable, mass manufactured consumer technology, specifically HP print heads. You would have to be hiding under a rock not to notice that a number of 3D technologies are entering the consumer space. 3D TV’s and movie screens are wide spread, and much has been made of 3D printing kits. But what about 3D scanning? It appears that the time has come.

Many of you have probably heard of Microsoft’s new Kinect. Kinect is a game controller for Xbox, or perhaps the replacement for a game controller. Fundamentally, Kinect can see what you are doing, and it uses your body motion as the interface to games. Technically, Kinect consists of an infrared chip that projects images on a surface and reads them back to determine 3D shape. It also has a camera for capturing color. If you put these together you get a device that can capture color 3D data - for just $150 (USD).

Clearly the data resolution and quality are not going to be anything near what you get with a professional-quality 3D scanner, but at $150, there are going to be a lot more people able to create 3D data very soon. The first hackers have already adapted the Kinect to work on a regular computer and generate 3D data. You can see an example of this at http://www.youtube.com/user/okreylos#p/u/5/7QrnwoO1-8A.

If you know someone who’s creating 3D data using the Kinect, let us know; we’d be happy to make a full color 3D ZPrinted model from the Kinnect data!

http://www.zcorp.com

Physical and Digital Prototyping Belong Together

2010-11-17T08:00:00.007-05:00

Guest post by Julie Reece, Z Corp.'s Director of Marketing Communications.

Makers of 3D CAD software for digital prototyping sometimes claim that their systems eliminate the need for physical prototypes. However, physical and digital prototyping complement one another. Both should become an integral part of your product-development processes.

In fact, physical prototypes are much in use today because they are essential to creating great designs. Thanks to the speed of 3D printing systems, innovative product developers use more physical prototypes than they did when each prototype was hand crafted, and combine them with digital prototypes to accelerate design.

Digital prototyping tools allow detailed 3D models to be conceived and changed quickly. But computer graphics is no substitute for reality. When combined with additive manufacturing technologies, physical prototypes can be made from digital models quickly and with much less labor than was traditionally required.

Deciding when and how to use physical prototypes in addition to digital prototypes requires knowledge of both digital and physical prototyping methods. Engineering executives and managers need not become additive manufacturing experts. However, they or their designated staff members should familiarize themselves with the various physical prototyping system capabilities, materials, costs, building speeds, and accuracies. With this information, managers will have rational bases for deciding if and when making a physical prototype is more cost effective than analyzing or simulating product behavior with digital prototypes.

Whether you are evaluating physical prototyping technologies in order to purchase a system for your company or employ a service, keep these points in mind:

1. Faster systems with higher throughput to produce multiple models simultaneously are desirable for iterative, conceptual prototypes or visual prototypes that support detailed design, manufacturing engineering, or marketing.

2. If you plan to make many prototypes, low material costs may be more important than buying a low-priced system.

3. Color systems eliminate the need for painting and finishing.

4. Strong but flexible materials may be needed for evaluating snap fits.

5. Some technologies are well suited to making patterns for metal castings while others are not.

6. Higher-strength materials may be necessary for physical testing.

7. Systems with fine surface finish may be required for working prototypes or final advertising shots, but can take longer to produce.

Companies that make wise choices about both digital and physical prototyping technologies will have competitive advantages compared with companies that don’t. The effective combination of both CAD and engineering software with 3D printing and rapid prototyping assures that your company will deliver products that are desirable, affordable, reliable, and safe.

Excerpt of a white paper entitled, “Physical and Digital Prototyping Belong Together,” by L. Stephen Wolfe, P.E. Read the full white paper.

L. Stephen Wolfe, P.E. is a professional mechanical engineer based in San Diego, California. For more than 20 years, he published the newsletters Computer Aided Design Report, Rapid Prototyping Report, and Product Data Management Report as well as books on these topics. These publications filled the role of Consumer Reports for engineers seeking objective information about product-development technologies. He currently assists buyers of CAD/CAM, CAE, PDM, and rapid prototyping systems with defining their requirements, conducting independent research, identifying and negotiating with suppliers, and implementing new methods efficiently. www.cadcampub.com

http://www.zcorp.com

Engineering Challenge

2010-11-10T08:00:00.009-05:00

This week I’m going to write a teaser. Stay tuned for results, pictures, and with luck (edited) video. What happens when a Z Corp. design engineer starts talking about model rockets with other design engineers? Before you know it, custom designed rockets begin to emerge from ZPrinters®! Rockets are not something I spend a lot of time thinking about but the image that comes to mind are of the NASA Mercury and Apollo rockets. They have a nose cone on top of a long cylinder and maybe a set of fins at the bottom. There were a few of those and a few that you would think had no business launching off a pad at a thrust of 10 – 30 Newton. This activity pushed limits of rocket design as well as 3DP capabilities. Simple cylindrical rockets were produced with average wall thicknesses of .025” in order to keep the weight down. More creative designs placed the rocket motor closer to the top instead of at the bottom. Another can be most easily described as a skeletal design having no skin or shell whatsoever.

Challenges like this one help our engineers more fully understand the limits and capabilities of our 3DP technology. They provide a creative environment that fosters problem solving and innovation.

http://www.zcorp.com

Iterative Design - As Easy As 1, 2, 3D Print

2010-11-03T08:00:00.001-04:00

This week’s guest post is by Leo Kiefer, Z Corporation Mechanical Engineer

I found a good definition on Wikipedia.org the other day:

Iterative design is a design methodology based on a cyclic process of prototyping, testing, analyzing, and refining a product or process.

This could not have described my recent design exercise better.

In an effort to minimize the number of molded parts on a particular 3D printer, I was tasked with the redesign of one of the service stations used in this printer. During the printing process, powder and binder gradually build up on the face of the print head. The role of this particular station is to keep print heads clean by periodically “servicing” or removing the build-up. It is a simple, yet important, process that requires the print head assembly to push down on a spring-loaded cam, set the correct height, and then slide along the cam to perform the proper cleaning procedure.

I was able to consolidate the design into a single injection molded part. I wanted to print a prototype to ensure the design was correct before investing in a molding tool. Due to some design limitations for molding, I was not able to achieve a tight interface between this base part and my cam part. This caused the parts to bind, and not return to their original position in certain scenarios.

Figure 1 - Original model - Shown exhibiting the racking problem and without the rubber wiper.

After some testing and analyzing the cam action, I decided to change the interface to a 2-post and 2-collar design. Essentially the posts would act as guides for 2 collars on the cam part. Since I no longer had to deal with tooling shut-offs in the interface areas, I was able to minimize the draft angles and reduce the amount of clearance between the parts. I retained the single base part requirement, but had to add 2 plastic screws in exchange.

So I printed another model on our ZPrinter® 650. The new iteration did achieve a slight performance increase, but not enough. So, back to the drawing board. I decided to move the bosses further apart, assuming that wider is better, and quickly made yet another 3D printed model. This time I almost had it, but I wanted to make a small tweak in order to get it to be 100% perfect. The binding was completely eliminated in the back to forth direction, yet it still caused problems left to right. Instead of increasing the clearance between my boss and sleeve, I decided to make the holes slightly oval in the left to right direction. Another 3D printed model fresh from the printer proved to have all the requirements I was looking for.

Figure 2 – Cross-sectioned SolidWorks CAD model of final assembly

Admittedly CAD software is a good tool for getting parts to fit together, but when it comes to moving components, nothing beats a good physical prototype. The whole design process could have taken a single day if that was all I was working on, but I was able to cut considerable time off the design process by 3D printing models along the way, versus machining the prototypes. With the help of a ZPrinter, the Iterative Design process is a fast and extremely useful tool in any designer’s bag of tricks.

Figure 3 – Iterative Design summarized in one image

CAD Software: SolidWorks 2010
Printed On: ZPrinter® 650 using zp150 powder
Print Job: 432 layers, approx 2.5hrs

http://www.zcorp.com/

Considering Feature Set Value in the Product Development Process

2010-10-27T08:00:00.001-04:00

I spend a lot of time thinking about how to enhance our ZPrinter® product line in ways that truly add value to the end user. In fact, when I think about the end user I consider both the person using the printer and the person in need of the printed model. Of course there are other stakeholders but none are impacted by a feature enhancement more than those two. The person who needs the part might be more interested in how fast he can have his model, how accurate the part is, or maybe how close the model’s material properties are to the intended material of the production part. On the other hand, the person running the printer is probably more concerned with ease of use features, such as auto-alignment, cartridge loading, and comfort and visibility while interfacing with the printer.

The design challenge is that often in order to improve one feature, another is impacted. Let me give you a hypothetical example: we might be striving to improve part accuracy, but doing so might slow the print speed. In order to make that decision, we have to understand how to measure the value of further improved part accuracy against reducing print speed to the end user. I would think about this problem in the same way we approach our own product development process where making a single change in a late stage of the process is far more costly than frequent changes in the early stages. Using 3D printing early and often can not only reduce the risk of late stage changes, but will often lead to better decision making and reduced overall cost of development programs. So feature set enhancements that allow for more iterations in the same amount of time and for the same cost are feature sets that add real value.

It doesn’t stop there though. In my example, having more models in the early design stage improves decision making by improving the way the design is communicated. Therefore feature set enhancements that improve the model as a means of communication also add significant value. It is well known that our color printers can be used to create life-like models. Consumer products can be modeled in the intended color combinations or with graphics printed right on the part. Often overlooked is the ability to label models with part and revision numbers or by color coding differences between on model and another, all with the intent to improve and speed up the decision making process.

My question this week is, do you agree with my assessment of value? What do you value in 3DP?

Related reading in Develop3D: http://develop3d.com/profiles/prints-charming

http://www.zcorp.com/

Extraordinary 3D Printing

2010-10-20T08:00:00.005-04:00

The recent blog written by Z Corp.’s firmware engineer Andrew Berlin about how he used 3D printing in a non-traditional way to encode information generated a great deal of interest. I think that is fantastic and I am grateful that Andy took the time to write about his efforts. I thought you might want to see a brief video of the ZPrinted record album working. We are working on an audio file, but in the meantime, enjoy the short video.

The level of interest his blog generated got me wondering about other “out of the ordinary” ways that 3D printing is being used. For example, there is Enrico Dini who was featured in Popular Science magazine. He believes that someday entire buildings will be “printed.” For now, he is creating large intricate architectural elements that could not have otherwise been created: http://www.blueprintmagazine.co.uk/index.php/architecture/the-worlds-first-printed-building/.

There is also the work being done in Bio-fabrication by Thomas Boland of the University of Texas, Paul Calvert of U Mass. Dartmouth and others. This is a fascinating and diverse field of studies that includes printing biological materials in order to create 3D living tissues. An Internet search will result in pages similar to the following. http://iopscience.iop.org/1758-5090/2/1/010201/pdf/1758-5090_2_1_010201.pdf. This is very far removed from a typical design cycle where 3D printing is commonly used. If successful, this work could lead to 3D printers designed specifically for “building” human organs!

Another example outside the norm is Pixar’s Toy Story Zeotrope. The full color Spectrum Z™510 made this project possible. Because the Toy Story characters were digitally created they were “trapped” inside the computer. Without 3D printing it would not have been possible to accurately translate them from virtual to actual characters. Click the following link for a description of the Zeotrope: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByimDfnq_Fg and click the following link for a higher resolution video of the Zeotrope in action: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKPtmXK--bA&feature=related.

Also check out this YouTube video of two artists who make musical instruments from ZPrinted parts. Audio files and even a music video are currently in development and will be posted when they’re complete.
(Courtesy Elasticbrand [Christie Wright & Arjen Noordeman]
Project: AudioWear
Music by Skooby Laposky
Produced at the new EKWC (European Ceramic Work Centre) CAD/CAM facility, August - September 2010

So, from architectural structures to bio-fabrication to digital arts, new uses for 3D printing are being explored every day. Some are whimsical and some may have very practical applications. Regardless of their utility, what they all have in common is that they have been made possible by 3D printing technologies.

Do you have an interesting, creative use for 3D printers? Let me know about it and I just might feature you here.

http://www.zcorp.com/

ZScanning Any Object at Any Resolution With ZScan 5.0

2010-10-13T09:00:00.003-04:00

Today's guest post by Julie Reece, Z Corporation Director of Marketing Communications

Today Z Corporation announced a powerful 3D scanning software upgrade that makes using our ZScanner® handheld 3D laser scanners even faster and easier than ever.

What does the new ZScan® 5.0 release (available October 20) mean for you? In a nutshell:

• Scan any size at any resolution within the scanner’s range; no more restraining bonding box

• Merge scans in a single accurate and optimized mesh without any post-treatment

• See your entire 3D surface in real time

• Fill holes, filter boundaries, decimate your model and much more!

Scan any part at any resolution, within the scanners’ range, without any limitations due to part size.

In a word: no more scanning volume. As you can see in the image below, the only parameter that you need to choose is the resolution of your scan. Once you select your resolution, you're ready to scan.

For you scanning volume junkies, this option is still available through the Use Manual Reconstruction Volume checkbox. This option also enables clipping planes.

A user or multiple users can merge scans and reconstruct surfaces using different session files.

This interface is used to merge different scans which have been scanned in the same reference model. This is particularly useful when multiple scanners are used for the same scan or when individual session files are too large for the computer on which the scan is located.

It is important to note that the merge of the scans is made on the raw data, so it's not merely stitching STL files. There is no boundary between the different scans and you still benefit from the powerful surface reconstruction algorithms from ZScan® 5.0.

Automatic hole filling.

Filling holes is controlled with a slider in the facets node, just like the decimate triangles or remove isolated patches slider. This tool focuses on smaller holes that can be filled easily and automatically, and does not offer an interactive mode. It eliminates the time-consuming job of cleaning STL files.

Automatic hole filling also accounts for the texture of the scanned object (with the ZScanner® 700 CX) which was scanned but not projected onto the surface. It does not interpolate the texture. Rather, it applies the object’s texture onto the filled hole. The other holes will appear grey, similar to when you scan without the texture of the ZScanner® 700 CX.

To read today’s ZScan 5.0 press release.

Also, be sure to register for Geomagic’s Points Beyond Tour, free, worldwide conference, training and networking event.

• EXPERIENCE tools that are changing the way companies design, engineer and manufacture – faster, better, greener, more customized.

• INTERACT with Geomagic developers, expert users and your peers who are breaking down barriers to productivity, innovation and customer satisfaction.

• IMMERSE yourself in the new features of Geomagic Studio 12 and Geomagic Qualify 12 with exclusive training sessions and live demos.

• TAKE AWAY information, contacts and knowledge that will help deliver you to points beyond your competitors.

http://www.zcorp.com

Timber House

2010-10-06T08:00:00.001-04:00

One of the things I love about working here at Z Corp. is when I am able to help someone discover the unique capabilities of 3D printing, specifically how ZPrinting can help solve real problems.

A few weeks back I ran into an old friend, during a wine tasting event at a local vineyard, who I had not seen in many years. As is often the case during these chance meetings, we both talked at length about what we had been up to over the past few years. The last time I saw him I must have just recently started my career at Z Corp. because he seemed to remember me telling him something about models. My friend is a local architect specializing in high-end custom homes.

Like many individual or small firm architects that have been around for a while, this guy hand draws most of his concepts and many of his detail drawings. His early design decision process involves sketching concepts, reviewing them with the customer, and re-sketching until they both agree on what is to be built. This is time consuming and at the end to the day there is always a risk that the sketch did not accurately represent the final building. How close the end product is to what is expected depends upon the quality of the sketches, as well as the customers’ ability to interpret them or to visualize the final building from the sketches.

Recently some of the younger architects working with my friend started using 3D software to turn early concepts into more realistic renderings in an effort to better communicate and make decisions at this early design stage. As luck would have it, they were in the midst of a project with a client where the husband was in the building profession and, because of his experience, could easily interpret drawings. The husband and wife were in disagreement about a particular detail - whether an entire wall in their new great room should be made of stone or just the section above the fireplace. The architect had rendered the room and shown them the renderings on the computer screen, but a decision had yet to be made.

I offered to take the 3D data from their software and print a model for their next client meeting on the following Thursday. I was able to export the 3D data, including texture map images for the wood, stone and other surfaces. I delivered the completed ¼” scale model in full color on Wednesday afternoon. My friend was amazed, his client was amazed, and I was very happy to help. The husband was finally convinced that his wife was right. Through a chance meeting at a local vineyard, I was able to help a friend solve a real issue by improving communication using Z Corp. 3D printing technology.

Click here and scroll to the bottom of the page to see a sampling of ZPrinted architectural models.

Groovy.exe

2010-09-29T08:00:00.001-04:00

This week's posting is by guest blogger, Andy Berlin, Z Corp. Senior Firmware Engineer.

3D printing of appearance models is used to convey visual information. For this project, I explored a non-traditional way in which 3D printing could be used to encode information. I wrote a program that converts an audio file into a printable 3-dimensional model that vaguely resembles a record album, and hacked a record player to generate an audible signal from the printed model.

Before getting started, a quick calculation revealed that for the resulting model to reasonably fit on a record player, the audio file would have to have 8-bit sample depth, limited by the .004” Z-resolution of the printer. And to play the record at 45 rpm, the best sample rate I could hope for out of a 10” diameter record would be about 6 kHz. The resolution would suffer even more as the record played, because the samples towards the center of the record are closer together that those near the outer edge. This might work, but it wasn’t going to be high fidelity.

Version 1 of the program created a monochrome .STL file. The outer edge of each groove is smooth, to provide a surface for the tracking needle to ride along. The inner edge contains peaks and valleys which correspond to the audio data.

In version 2, the program outputs a .ZPR file, where each sample is both coded by color as well as height. High amplitude signals could then be lighter color that low amplitude signals, further enhancing the signal for the optical playback mechanism.

Craigslist provided a cheap, hackable turntable. The tone arm was modified to accommodate a 1” tall printed model. A pin replaced the needle to provide mechanical tracking, and an LED and optical sensor, remarkably similar to the LED/sensor module the ZPrinters use for auto-alignment, provided the playback signal.

While this modern version of a 45 may not be directly useful, perhaps it might inspire other creative or other non-obvious uses for 3D printing.

If you’re wondering whether it was a success, well... if you listen really hard and apply the aural equivalent of squinting, you can just about hear over the noise the Beastie Boys belting out a rhyme from the 21 seconds of ‘Time To Get Ill’ that I printed.

http://www.zcorp.com