Stratasys Showcases Rapid Manufacturing Technology

By Sara Ferris

Call it putting your money where your mouth is, or is it eating your own dog food? Stratasys (Eden Prairie, MN) is using rapid manufacturing technology to manufacture 32 of the parts in its new large-format rapid prototyping and digital manufacturing system—the FDM 900mc. FDM (fused deposition modeling) is Stratasys’ proprietary process that creates functional prototypes and parts using ABS plastic, polycarbonate, PPSF, and blends.

According to Stratasys, the FDM 900mc machine's touch-screen bezel would have cost an estimated $100,000 for traditional tooling and required a 6-week wait. With rapid manufacturing, production parts can be created on-demand directly from CAD data, so no tooling is necessary. Rapid manufacturing may also prove cost effective when the part is relatively complex or there’s a high likelihood that the design will change.

"Direct digital manufacturing is not for mass production," says Stratasys FDM product manager Patrick Robb. "But if your operations call for limited-run production of certain parts, it’s much more economical than machining or injection molding. Manufacturing engineers can't afford to ignore the savings."

The FDM 900mc features a few departures from previous Stratasys FDM systems. The head gantry is driven by ball screw technology as opposed to previous machines, which are belt driven. This improves predictability and repeatability, according to Stratasys. The resulting positional accuracy and part tolerance are substantially improved over previous systems.

The build envelope of the FDM 900mc is measured in feet, rather than inches—3 ft. x 2 ft. x 3 ft.

Stratasys expects manufacturing engineers in the consumer-product, aerospace, and automotive sectors are expected to be the first adopters of this new technology. The most popular applications are fabrication tools and assembly tools built in the manufacturer's jig and fixture department.

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company's website.