The Realize Blog

Realize and the Materialise AM Forum

Realize traveled to the Materialise AM Forum in Leuven, Belgium to learn and be a part of something special.

AM stands for Additive Manufacturing which describes technologies that can be used anywhere throughout the product life cycle from pre-production (i.e. rapid prototyping) to full scale production and even for tooling applications or post production customization.

The Materialise AM Forum is for high level owners and decision makers for Internal and External Services Bureaus.  It’s a chance to see the latest in software development for AM and to mingle with experts in AM. Many of the participants learn from each other and really remain in close contact after. The event took place October 21–23. This was the 3rd time the event was offered.

Jamie Milas, the marketing manager for Materialise enjoys the inspirational tone, “I love hosting the AM Forum’s at our Headquarters in Belgium. It’s very rewarding to see everyone talking and sharing ideas. There’s a strong sense of excitement and inspiration in the air.”

Materialise 2012

Abbey Delaney, a marketing manager from Materialise, talks about the scope and experience of the event, “18 companies from all over the globe attended, including 9 from North America, 8 from Europe, and 1 from Asia.  We also asked Realize and others to present on their real life experiences with e-Stage and Streamics.  These testimonials got the audience excited at the potential that both e-Stage and Streamics could bring their business. Prior to the conclusion of the event, each company had the opportunity to sit down in a one-on-one meeting with top management and other key people of RP&M. These meetings were key for creating momentum toward future sales.”

The team at Materialise interacted with Realize, Inc President Todd Reese at the event.

“We are very grateful to Todd and Realize for being an instrumental part of our event.  His presentation talking about their hands on experience with e-Stage helped show other customers how truly beneficial the solution can be. We value our relationship with Realize and look forward to working together more.”

Todd had an amazing experience at Materialise and enjoyed making new connections.

“Realize has been using Materialise software solutions since early 2010, and we’ve become a big fan.  It was an honor and a pleasure to speak about e-Stage, a software solution that has really made an impact in our SLA operation.”

Group photo at Materialise AM Forum 2012.

 

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Realize rockets out to space!

Realize and Rockets

What do Realize and rocket engines have in common?

They are both working with Shirley, Indiana company Tech Castings.

Tech Castings – Shirley, IN

 

Tech Castings manufactures engine parts for rockets!

Realize provides them with stereolithography patterns which they use to cast aerospace engine parts.

Jeff Lantz is the owner/CEO of Tech Castings and we talked with him about the project.

“What’s great about working with Realize is how fast the turn around is in getting the patterns needed for our parts. If we used traditional methods to order these items it would take weeks or months for them to come in, with Realize we send it over and can have it in a few days. That is a huge advantage for us.”

 

Tech Casting CEO/Owner Jeff Lantz displaying an SLA pattern after a coating of shell material.

 

Tech Castings and Realize work together in order to create what will become working components for a rocket engine.

We have produced seven unique geometries, and hundreds of SLA patterns for Tech Castings to investment cast into rocket aerospace engine parts.

“When Tech Castings first approached us about supplying SLA patterns for their investment casting foundry, we were excited about the opportunity, but recognized the challenge in producing the high-quality patterns they required and expected.  Working closely with Jeff and his team allowed us to ramp up rapidly, which was critical in meeting the aggressive delivery schedule his customer required.  It has been a great partnership and we’re proud to play a small part in such a neat program.” says Realize President, Todd Reese.

 

Here are some photos of the process.

A 30lb shell encapsulates an SLA pattern for the engine manifold.

The shell is placed into a furnace where 2000 degrees burns out the SLA pattern.

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Testimonial – CES

“Realize came through for us with a new robot hand design that other companies said they could not build it. With Brian Cazzell’s help inside Realize, not only did they say they could do it, they DID it, and Brian made sure all of the small features and channels were hand-cleared and ready for us to run tendons through. Very complex work and they nailed it!”

President, Custom Entertainment Solutions

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