Stratasys and Objet Complete Merger

Top Objet Reseller Computer Aided Technology, Inc. Authorized to Sell Stratasys FDM 3D Printers

Yesterday Objet and Stratasys announced the completion of a merger that creates a true world leader in 3D printing and additive manufacturing.  At the completion of the merger, the new company will be known as Stratasys Ltd and will be publicly traded on the NASDAQ stock exchange.

At Computer
Aided Technology, Inc.(CATI) we are proud to announce that we will now offer the complete line of 3D Printers
and 3D Production Systems from Stratasys Ltd. Since 2008, CATI has been the
exclusive Objet 3D Printer Dealer, serving clients in Illinois, Indiana,
Wisconsin, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota, and Kentucky. CATI will continue
to offer the Objet Polyjet 3D Printer Lines and 
will join an exclusive handful of Stratasys dealers to distribute both
Polyjet and FDM technologies, adding
to our product portfolio the Mojo,
uPrint, Dimension, and Fortus lines of 3D printers and production systems. 

We will have more information in the coming days, so stayed tuned. You can read the entire press statement on the CATI Website. Visit http://www.stratasysfora3dworld.com or www.cati.com. 

Jim TeDesco
Marketing Manager
Computer Aided Technology, Inc. 

3D Print a Ship in a Bottle With Objet 3D Printers

I'm sure just about everyone has seen a ship in a bottle.  Using traditional methods, the ship is built entirely outside of the bottle with collapsible masts/sails and meticulously squeezed through the opening, raising the sails with strings once placed inside. Enter the 21st Century and the advent of Multi-Material 3D Printers from Objet; we can create a full ship(no assembly required) directly inside of the bottle. 

"The ‘Ship in a Bottle’ created here features a solid bottle, 3D printed in Objet’s Clear Transparent material. And suspended within it we have our traditional sailing ship printed in Objet Rubber-like Black material. Both the black and the transparent materials are inseparably bound together.  (The only way to 3D print a ship in a hollow bottle would be to include a wide enough opening to remove the support material from within - which would sort of defeat the point really. But that’s a challenge for another time."

The original article "3D Printing the Impossible: A Ship in a Bottle" appeared on the Objet Blog on 11/21/2012. 

 

Jim TeDesco
Marketing Manager
Computer Aided Technology, Inc. 

3D Printing for Injection Molding and Rapid Tooling Webinar

This presentation will describe how 3D printed tooling can be used
for injection and blow molding of plastic prototypes. Attendees will learn how
rapid tooling via 3D printing offers fast turn-around of real material
prototypes at relatively low cost, eliminating the need for traditional
tooling.

Date and Time
December 13, 2012
1:00 PM - 2:00 PM CST (2:00 PM - 3:00 PM EST)

Injection molded
products are made of thermoplastics that feature properties difficult to
simulate with 3D printed prototypes. Printing the tool, rather than part,
offers an alternative approach to product development. Rapid tooling via 3D
printing allows the part's actual material to be molded in a tool that is
fabricated within several hours at low cost. Attendees of this presentation
will learn how Objet has developed an ABS-like tooling material offering
high-temperature resistance and a good combination of stiffness and toughness.
The presentation provides examples of tools and molded parts of different
geometries and molded materials, demonstrating the range of industries impacted
by this solution. Participants will also learn how the same approach applies to
plastic blow molding process, i.e. using printed tools for the fabrication of
final-material blow-molded prototypes.

Key Take-Aways:

• Learn how printed injection molding tools save time and
  money in the product development phase


• Learn how printed tools allow real material prototypes
  reflecting the inherent characteristics/properties stemming from the
  injection molding process


• Discover how printed tools also apply to blow molding
  processes, allowing for real-material prototypes


• Understand why the molding benefits using printed tools
  must be examined for each material/geometry combination

Jim TeDesco
Marketing Manager
Computer Aided Technology, Inc. 

If you can draw it, we can print it!

3D CAD continues to grow in capability year after year.  Now so do the 3D printers.  3D printers have taken an attitude that if you can draw it, we can build it.   As long as you can create a room big enough and create enough gantry travel the sky is the limit.   I have recently read an article from Forbes website (http://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2012/07/11/airbus-explores-a-future-where-planes-are-built-with-giant-3d-printers/2/) that discussed how Boeing has started to experiment with printing an airplane.  With the composite materials getting better and stronger we will see more and more of this.   If this technology gets good enough, imagine the possibilities.  We can create seamless designs currently not achievable by todays manufacturing techniques.

Ok, so a printer of that scale is not very practicle, or even very imaginable.  Today's printer are getting larger and more complex.  They have successfully printed complete working model airplanes.  http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn20737-3d-printing-the-worlds-first-printed-plane.html.  I have also seen articles talking about airlines that are able to use 3D printer to use metal material, and they can print custom replacement parts on the spot.   Now you can get your replacement art in hours instead of weeks. 

What will we see next?  Will you be purchasing a 3D printer for you home?  This is an exciting time for this industry and the technology is changing fast.  Keep your eye on this, beacause if you blink you will surely miss something.  And keep those designs comming.

CATI Exhibiting at the Design2Part Show in St. Charles, MO

Stop by booth 326, to see Objet 3D Printing in action.  The Objet30 Desktop 3D Printer will be printing parts on the show floor both days and our 3D printing experts will be on hand to answer your questions.

Show Information:

Design2Part Show
St. Charles Convention Center
One Convention Center Plaza
St. Charles, MO 63303

Booth 326 - Look for the Objet Display! 

About Objet Desktop 3D Printers:
High resolution 3D printing with 28 micron layer thickness isn’t just for big-budget enterprises. With Objet’s family of low-cost desktop 3D printers, designers and engineers can build true-to-life models and prototypes featuring ultra-precision details straight from the office desk.

Don’t let your ideas go to waste. With Objet’s family of desktop 3D printers you don’t have to compromise on quality or speed. Instead, print your ideas into accurate and testable prototypes. Demonstrate them. Improve them. Then get your product to market before your competitors. And all at an affordable price!

Jim TeDesco
Marketing
Computer Aided Technology, Inc. 

Objet Announces the NEW Objet30 Pro Desktop Professional 3D Printer

As promised last week, Objet announced today the release of the newest addition to their 3D printer line, the Objet30 Pro.  The Objet30 Pro combines the accuracy and versatility of a high-end Rapid Prototyping machine with a small desktop footprint that’s easy to use and maintain. It’s also the world’s only desktop 3D printer to be able to 3D print in clear transparent, high temperature, rigid opaque and polypropylene-like materials.  In total, the Objet30 Pro has the ability to print with seven different materials.  View the video below for a unique first look at the NEW Objet30 Pro Desktop Professional 3D Printer.  Read the full article on the Objet Blog.

Jim TeDesco
Marketing
Computer Aided Technology, Inc. 

Objet set to release a NEW Desktop 3D Printer on May 22, 2012

Objet posted on their blog that a NEW Desktop 3D Printer is on its way.  There are still a few unknown details as to the release.  The full announcement will be made on May 22nd.  Until then, enjoy this great video that gives a glimpse of things to come. Head over to the Objet Blog for more info on all things 3D Printing and Rapid Prototyping.

Jim TeDesco
Marketing
Computer Aided Technology, Inc.

Today’s Additive Manufacturing Webinar: Injection molding, living hinges, overmolding and more

Join CATI, along with Objet and MachineDesign.com for a free webinar discussing the use of 3D Printers for Additive Manufacturing.

Date and Time:
Thursday, February 23, 2012
1pm - 2pm Central Time
>>Register

Event Highlights:

• 
  
  Exposing the real range of 60+ materials
  
  


• 
  
  How are companies using these materials for testing?
  
  


• 
  
  See over-molding successes for 3M, Devicix and Sanford.
  
  


• 
  
  How Digital Materials may be your next production part.
  
  


• 
  
  How VistaTek is using additive manufacturing to grow injection molding.
  
  

About the Presenter:

Dan Mishek is the Managing Director and Co-Owner of Vista Technologies.  As a 3rd generation manufacturer he has embraced additive manufacturing along with subtractive manufacturing technologies to help guide product development into production.  Dan has been published in Moldmaking Technology, Injection Molding, Manufacturing Engineering, and Time Compression.  He has also presented at the RP&M Show (‘07&’11) and at Mold Making Expo (’07,’08,’11). 

Vista Technologies (VistaTek) was founded in 1996.  VistaTek is a full-service Rapid Prototyping, Rapid Tooling and Injection Molding Service Bureau. Today, this privately held company has in-house capabilities of Objet Polyjet, FDM, High Speed Milling, Mold Making, and Injection Molding.

>>Register

Jim TeDesco
Marketing
Computer Aided Technology, Inc.

SolidWorks World 2012 Partner Profile: Objet Ltd.

Learn More about Objet's 3D printing solutions by stopping by booth #500 at SolidWorks World 2012.

Who is Objet?
Objet produces and markets high quality 3D printers and 3D printing materials, mainly for the rapid prototyping needs of design, engineering and manufacturing companies. As a company, Objet has its headquarters in Rechovot, Israel and has been operating worldwide for nearly 13 years. Objet offers 3 different lines of 3D printers and almost 70 different 3D printing materials.

Objet 3D printers fall into 3 families: Desktop line, Professional Eden line and Objet Connex line. In total there are 9 different printers, ranging from the smallest, Objet24, to the Objet Connex500, able to print 68 different materials, including two at the same time.

Click Here For More Info

3D Printed Angelina Jolie

Before anyone gets their hopes up, the 3D printer is not printing a perfect Angelina Jolie clone.  As great as that would be, unfortunately the technology doesn't exist yet. However, it is a really great video demonstrating the application of taking a 2D image and creating a 3D model that looks picture perfect.

 

 

Unfortunately this video has been removed.

 

 

 

This video is courtesy of Objet and can be found on the Objet Blog along with the original article.

Top Five Reasons to Integrate 3D Printing in Your Product Development Cycle - Part 5

5. Seeing is believing

Design is both an art and a science that starts with the imagination. 3D printing helps quickly transform something imagined into something that can be seen and touched. Prototypes are often used to help sell new concepts, so the more realistic the prototype, the better.

‘With the Objet Connex500 multi-material 3D printer, we don’t have to rely on imagination to convey how an over-molded part will actually look, feel and operate.’ – Dan Mishek, Co-owner of Vista Technologies.

“No matter how good our 3D graphics are, there is nothing like a model in your hands...” – Henry K. Kawamoto, M.D., D.D.s, UCLA Medical Center.

“You can show someone something on paper all day long, but when you give them a real part that they can touch, they really get excited” –Shawn Greene, Fender Musical Instruments.

Learn more about 3D printing at cati.com.

*Information provided by Objet, Ltd., Republished from Objet"s Top 5 Reasons to Integrate 3D Printing in Your Product Development Cycle White Paper.

 

Top Five Reasons to Integrate 3D Printing in Your Product Development Cycle - Part 4

4. Improve customer satisfaction

3D printing can help improve satisfaction for both internal and external customers. Designers using 3D printing have the ability to quickly produce realistic prototypes for internal decision makers, as well as external clients. Having the ability to touch a real world concept, combined with testing functionality allows all constituents of the design and manufacturing process to make better product decisions.

The bottom line, 3D printing helps organizations get better products to market faster than ever before. “Frequently during a project, clients request design changes or wonder how particular changes may impact the overall aesthetic,” said Piet Meijs, Rietveld Architects. “Our Objet system lets us create a whole new model right away, and that wows the client every time.” “Now that we have it, we tend to use it for all our projects, and the feedback from our customers has been terrific. It’s pretty amazing to see someone’s face when you give them a real model that brings their idea to life. It really blows them away.” -Brian McLaughlin.

Learn more about 3D printing at cati.com

*Information provided by Objet, Ltd., Republished from Objet"s Top 5 Reasons to Integrate 3D Printing in Your Product Development Cycle White Paper.

Top Five Reasons to Integrate 3D Printing in Your Product Development Cycle - Part 3

Part 3. Field test with prototypes that resemble the final product providing insight into potential design flaws

More prototyping means more opportunity to evaluate whether or not a part will function as intended.
Shawn Greene from Fender Musical Instruments describes a recent project to develop a light-up front panel for an amplifier. Using 3D printing, Greene produced prototypes of the panel using a clear material, tested it with different types of lights and discovered that light didn’t deflect the way they thought it would. “We had to adjust the design to make it work,” says Greene. “In the past, we would not have done a prototype for that kind of part because it would have taken too long and cost too much money. So by the time we noticed that problem we would have already paid for tooling, and then we would have had to pay for amendments for the tool. The ability to rapid prototype in house saved us a fortune on that project.”

 

Learn more about 3D printing at cati.com

*Information provided by Objet, Ltd., Republished from Objet"s Top 5 Reasons to Integrate 3D Printing in Your Product Development Cycle White Paper.

Top Five Reasons to Integrate 3D Printing in Your Product Development Cycle - Part 2

Part 2. Better collaboration resulting in improved design and manufacturability.

The ability to quickly produce real working prototypes that teams can see and touch helps bridge the gap between the virtual CAD design and the final product. Design and manufacturing engineers can use these prototypes as a tool to better communicate how a design looks, feels, and operates. This allows designers to better integrate their product designs with manufacturing at an earlier stage in the development lifecycle.

Brian McLaughlin from Orchid Design, a division of Orchid Orthopedic Solutions, says “Often, something the designer sees on a rapid prototype – such as an undercut, or some other area of difficulty – will cause them to tweak the design before it goes to the customer or to machining. Or, a customer will say, ‘You created it just as I described, but now that I see it, I think we need to change X, Y or Z.’ 3D printing has definitely had a major impact on the quality and manufacturability of our designs.”

According to Jon Fawcett from Fawcett Design, his team now uses Objet’s 3D printing system for “Anything and everything. Functional prototype, aesthetic prototypes, rigid molds for urethane cast parts, rapid manufacturing… our Objet 3D printer is very versatile. We can now do same-day turnaround on prototypes, which in turn allows us to do a lot more prototyping. We can very quickly see if something will work; we no longer have to guess or take a chance.”

Learn more about 3d printing at cati.com.

*Information provided by Objet, Ltd., Republished from Objet"s Top 5 Reasons to Integrate 3D Printing in Your Product Development Cycle White Paper.

Top Five Reasons to Integrate 3D Printing in Your Product Development Cycle - Part 1

Rapid prototyping technology has progressed significantly over the years improving on both the cost and quality fronts. Circa 2000, Objet introduced its 3D printing technology to the market, a jetting process of photopolymer resin in ultra-thin individual layers that builds 3D models and prototypes.

This 6 part series will explain why your should consider using 3D printing technology as part of your product development process?

1. Designers can prototype more iterations without blowing the timeline or budget

3D printing – particularly when performed in-house – enables design teams to quickly produce a high-quality, realistic prototype with moving parts, at relatively low cost when compared to other methods such as CNC machining or outsourcing. This means teams can use prototyping on projects where it wasn’t feasible in the past due to time or cost considerations.

“We needed a faster, more streamlined system: one that would let us do the engineering, development and production of clinical trial-ready devices in-house. We had heard about rapid prototyping and were very excited about seeing how it could help us” said Andre’ A. DiMino, Vice Chairman of the Board, Executive Vice President and Chief Technical Officer, Ivivi Technologies. The integration of the Objet Eden350 into the product development and production cycle at Ivivi has been an unqualified success, yielding a positive return on investment in less than one year. “We’ve cut an average of five to six weeks off the clinical trial device production process,” said DiMino.

Ivivi Technologies

Learn more about 3D printing at cati.com

*Information provided by Objet, Ltd., Republished from Objet"s Top 5 Reasons to Integrate 3D Printing in Your Product Development Cycle White Paper.

CATI Design Innovation Summit Sponsor Highlight - Objet Geometries

Objet’s family of 3-Dimensional Printing Systems brings high-resolution, fine-detailed models into the hands of designers or engineers and fits in any office environment. Objet’s patented PolyJetTM and PolyJet matrix technology provides a complete 3D printing solution for virtually any rapid prototyping application.

Join us at the Design Innovation Summit for a chance to learn more about 3D printing and see parts being printed live on the Objet30 Desktop 3D Printer.

Be sure to try your luck at the Model Mania Contest at the Design Innovation Summit for a chance to win a trip to SolidWorks World 2012 in San Diego, CA.  The top winner from the 4 Design Innovation Summit Events will win a prize package including: Airfare, Hotel Accomadations, and Conference Admission. Trip Sponsored by Objet.

>>Click here for more information about the CATI Design Innovation Summit

 

We hope to see you there!

 

 Jim TeDesco
CATI Marketing

Halo 3 Commercial Featuring Objet 3D Printed Models

Check out the latest commercial for the video game Halo 3.  The team at Legacy Effects produced all the action figures seen in this commercial on an Objet 3D printer. Check out the Objet Blog for more information on how Legacy Effects is using Objet 3D Printers.

Knurling: To model or not to model

Modeling knurling is like modeling the threads on a screw or bolt. It isn’t entirely necessary and it will increase the file size and bog down part rebuild. Granted if you are going to export the model to be used for rapid prototyping with a Objet printer then yes you will want to model the knurling or threads but in a normal manufacturing case all you have to do is call out the knurling.

So what do you do if your boss; a non engineer; wants to see the part with knurling. Well the answer is use a knurling appearance.

Below is an example of a part with modeled knurling and a part with a knurling appearance.

 
This is the part with knurling model its file size is 2.42MB

  

 

 
This is the same part only with knurling as an apperance. The file size of this part is 279KB

Although the true knurling is more visually pleasing the file size is almost ten times the size. So next time you need to put knurling in your model, do your computer a favor and make it an apperance.

 

Nicholas Jansen CSWP

Technical Analyst

Computer Aided Technology

Create functional living hinges with Objet's Connex Family 3D Printers

A living hinge is a thin, flexible plastic hinge joining 2 or more rigid plastic parts. The hinge allows the plastic parts to bend on the line of the hinge. When designed correctly living hinges can remain functional through the life of the product.

                    

                                       
>Learn More

The Digital Materials capabilities with the Connex Family of 3D Printers make it an ideal choice for living hinges. Parts printed with Digital Materials have great tear resistance and elongation properties that allow the printed part to withstand repeated bending and flexing.

>Click here to visit the Objet Blog and learn more about this and other 3D printing related topics.

Jim TeDesco
Marketing
Computer Aided Technology, Inc.