CATI Tech Notes

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

Join CATI for our first annual Design Innovation Summit! The CATI Design Innovation Summit is an interactive learning experience focusing on how you can design and make better products. The information covered at these events is too vital to your organization's success to put a price on, so registration is FREE.

>Register Today

Event Highlights:

• FREE hands-on SolidWorks Training
• Presentations from top SolidWorks World Presenters
• User focused content
• Multiple presentation tracks to customize your experience
• The latest SolidWorks Solution offerings
• 3D Printing from Objet Geometries
• See real products designed in SolidWorks
• Network with fellow SolidWorks users
• Contests and prizes

>Suggest a presentation idea

When & Where:

October 4, 2011 - The Wisconsin Auto Museum, Hartford, WI
October 5, 2011 - Harper College, Palatine, IL
October 11, 2011 - The Moto Museum, St. Louis, MO
October 13, 2011 - Indiana State Museum, Indianapolis, IN

More information will be released in the coming weeks.

>Register Here

We hope to see you there!

 

Jim TeDesco
Marketing
Computer Aided Technology, Inc.

Objet announces the release of the Objet260 Connex 3D Printer

Objet announced today the release of the new Objet260 Connex multi-material 3D Printer.  With this announcement Objet continues to revolutionize the rapid prototyping industry.

>Click here for the full press release

Watch this great video!

For more information on the Objet260 Connex, Click Here to visit the Rapid Prototyping section of the CATI Website.

 

Jim TeDesco
Marketing
Computer Aided Technology, Inc.

Trek Bicycle Accelerates Design Cycles With Objet 3D Printer

Last Month Objet and Desktop Engineering hosted a webinar discussing Trek's improvement to their design cycle by incorporating Objet 3D printing.  Objet and Desktop Engineering have made available a recording of the webinar. If you missed the presentation here is your chance to catch it.

>Click here to view the recording

During the webinar you'll learn from Mike Zeigle, Manager of Trek's Prototype Development Group, how Objet's 3D printing technology:

• Cuts prototyping costs, allowing for multiple iterations and a superior product;
• Accelerates design cycles, bringing better products to market faster;
• Provides a competitive advantage, allowing Trek to continue as market leader in development, design and manufacturing of bikes.

  >Click here to view the recording

Jim TeDesco
Marketing
Computer Aided Technology, Inc.

Objet 3D printing helps doctors provide medical treatment for children

Join Objet Geometries and Dr. Mike North of Miracle Feet for a webinar discussing how Miracle Feet utilized Objet's Connex 3D printer to help create corrective braces for children with clubfoot. Rapid prototyping with the Connex 3D Printer played a big role in developing the optimal brace design. There are currently 1 million untreated cases of clubfoot in the world -- 175,000 new cases a year -- with limited affordable solutions.

Date and Time
Thursday, June 16, 2011
1:00pm Central Time

>Register for the Webcast

• Learn about challenges of designing a brace that is universally adaptable yet low cost.
• How prototyping helped Dr. North overcome these design challenges leveraging Objet’s Connex 3D Printer
• Hear how past prototype design projects helped Dr. North determine the correct solution for the brace
• Other advancements in prototyping

>Register for the Webcast

 

Jim TeDesco
Marketing
Computer Aided Technology, Inc.

Top 5 Reasons To Integrate 3D Printing Into Your Design Cycle

Why should you consider using 3D printing technology as part of your product development process?

Objet surveyed its’ base of users from various markets including consumer goods, consumer electronics, medical device, education, research, entertainment and others, why they made the investment, and based on their responses crafted these Top Five Reasons to Integrate 3D Printing into Your Product Development Lifecycle.

1. Designers can prototype more iterations without blowing the timeline or budget - 3D printing – particularly when done 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 machining or outsourcing.
 
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.

3. >Download a white paper for the complete list...

 

Visit www.cati.com for more information on 3D Printing from Objet.

 

Jim TeDesco
Marketing Coordinator
Computer Aided Technology, Inc.

Objet releases new revolutionary materials for 3D printing

Today, Objet Geometries announced the release of 3 new advanced materials: Objet ABS-like, Objet Clear, and Objet VeroWhitePlus.  With the addition of these new materials, the number of Objet 3D printing materials is brought to a total of 65 (including digital materials),  for a wide range of rapid prototyping purposes, from realistic product visualization all the way to advanced functional verification.

Objet ABS-like is a high-impact, high temperature resistant material made for simulating products made of ABS-grade engineering plastics ideal for snap fit parts or durable and movable parts.

>Watch the Video

Objet Clear provides clear optical and visual transparency combined with great dimensional stability enabling designers to simulate PMMA in glass-like applications such as lighting cases, lenses and cosmetics containers.

>Watch the Video
 
Objet VeroWhitePlus is an all-around general purpose material with a wide range of applications.

>Read the Full Press Release Here

 

Jim TeDesco
Marketing
Computer Aided Technology, Inc.

 

*Press statement written and prepared by Objet Geometries.  Vist the Objet Blog for more information.

See 3D printing in action at CATI's Product Development Forum event

Join CATI at one of our Product Development Forum Events in May and see 3D Printing in action!  This open house style event will showcase 3D Printing Solutions from Objet Geometries.

In addition to having our 3D printing experts on hand, our award winning SolidWorks Technical Team will be discussing the various ways to utilize SolidWorks tools in your product development process.

This is a FREE event.

Event Details:

• Complimentary lunch
• Onsite demo of 3D printing technology from Objet Geometries
• CATI SolidWorks World 2011 Presentations - "Red Neck Workarounds" and "How to Prepare For Your PDM Implementation"
• All attendees will receive a complimentary SolidWorks 3D Skills Lesson from SolidProfessor as well as a copy of DraftSight, the no-cost 2D CAD Program from Dassault Systemes
• Speak one-on-one with a member of the CATI Team 
• and more...

Date	Time	Location
May 5, 2011	9am-3:30pm	Buffalo Grove, IL - CATI Headquarters	Register
May 12, 2011	9am-3:30pm	Indianapolis, IN - CATI Indianapolis Office	Register
May 18, 2011	9am-3:30pm	St. Charles, MO - CATI St. Charles Office	Register
May 25, 2011	9am-3:30pm	Brookfield, WI - CATI Brookfield Office	Register

We hope to see you there!

Jim TeDesco
Marketing Coordinator
Computer Aided Technology, Inc.