Speeding Development by Creating Prototypes

By 3D Systems

3D Systems (Rock Hill, SC; www.3dsystems.com), a provider of 3D modeling, rapid prototyping and manufacturing solutions, used its own Viper™ Pro SLA® System and the highly durable Accura® Xtreme Plastic to design the disposable cartridge that packages the modeler material for its revolutionary V-Flash™ Desktop Modeler.

The company was able to easily change cartridge designs to speed development time for the V-Flash™ Desktop Modeler, save hundreds of thousands of dollars by not having to commit to tooling until the end of the design process and confidently turn over the cartridge design at production time.

“We didn't have to look far for a solution that sped our development and bridged the time required for tooling so that we could accelerate the market launch of the V-Flash™ Desktop Modeler,” said Richard Gregory, 3D Systems' V-Flash™ program manager.

Throughout the duration of the development of the cartridge, the V-Flash™ team had the flexibility to make design changes with Pro solutions. The design of the disposable V-Flash™ Cartridge shell evolved constantly as the Accura® Xtreme Plastic prototype was placed inside the modeler for fit, form and function testing.

“This technology is great for multiple quick looks,” Gregory said. “You get the parts within hours, conduct rapid experiments and you end up with a part that closely resembles the plastic part that you will injection mold.”

To start, the team used 3D CAD software to design the shell of the cartridge, which houses the “intelligence” of the modeler with the traditional wear and tear parts such as pumps, dispensers, re-coaters, transporters and routine maintenance elements as well as some of the internal modeler parts.

Needing tough, yet flexible prototypes within hours, the team had the rapid prototyping service bureau Scicon Technologies (Valencia, CA; www.scicontech.com) produce four cartridge shells per build on a Viper™ Pro SLA® System with Accura® Xtreme Plastic.

At the time, Scicon and other 3D Systems' beta testing partners were experiencing exceptional results with the high durability of Accura® Xtreme Plastic. With the look and feel of a durable molded plastic, this material offers an impact strength of nearly 1 ft-lb/in, making it ideal for such functional testing needs.

Each build of four cartridges took about 22 hours. Cartridge shells cost about $600 each with the rapid prototyping technology, compared to conventional molding and tooling that would have cost at least $25,000 for each part of the two-piece cartridge and would have put development behind schedule with a 12-week waiting period between design iterations.   

“It's an ideal solution to use rapid prototyping to develop more rapid prototyping solutions,” Gregory said.

As a result of the comprehensive and extensive hands-on design verification work the design team did using its very own rapid prototyiping solutions, 3D Systems confidently turned over their designs to manufacturer Canon Virginia (Newport News, VA; www.cvi.canon.com) to produce the final V-Flash™ Desktop Modeler.

For more information, visit www.3dsystems.com and www.modelin3d.com.

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3D Systems
333 Three D Systems Circle
Rock Hill,SC   29730
800.889.2964
3dsystems.com