All posts tagged: engineering

3D Printing Instruments

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Realize, Inc. recently was part of a project that created a functioning ukulele using additive manufacturing. This project has generated many questions about how 3D Printing may affect the production of customized instruments in the future.

Realize, Inc. is a Rapid Prototype service provider specializing in Stereolithography, 3D printing, RTV Molding, Cast Urethane Models and Custom Finishing. In this video Realize General Manager Brian Cazzell discusses the future of instruments and 3D Printing.

Have a question you would like answered by our experts on staff? Do you have a custom instrument or another project you want to discuss? Please contact us.

https://www.realizeinc.com/contact/

mereed3D Printing Instruments
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Realize and FSAE

Realize Intake Prototype for FSAE

Realize enjoys working with FSAE Teams. What is an FSAE team? It’s a collegiate design series competition where students build cars and compete against other schools. 

Realize has worked with many schools including: Rose Hulman, Purdue, Washington University, University of Akron, Carnegie Mellon, LSU, Missouri S&T, University of Pittsburgh, and Dalhousie.

Rose Hulman Team

We enjoy working with young minds and educating the students on the latest 3D Technologies and how they can apply them to their team goals.

Formula SAE gives student design teams the task of developing a small Formula-style race car. The prototype race car is to be evaluated for its potential as a production item. Each student team designs, builds and tests a prototype based on a series of rules.

Brandon Hasenour from the Rose Hulman FSAE team enjoyed his experience working with Realize:

“RoseGPE turns to Realize for our intakes because of their dependable build quality, quick turn-around time, and their ability to create parts that we couldn’t normally manufacture. Realize is always easy to work with and we know that they will get the job done right.”

How do FSAE use 3D Printing?

Check out our video and contact us if you are looking to gain an advantage at your next event.

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mereedRealize and FSAE
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Realize Featured Project: 3D Ukulele Prototype

Realize enjoys the many different types of projects that we work on throughout the year, but every once in awhile we get to create something that is near and dear to our heart. Take for example a recent project for Outdoor Ukulele. They wanted us to create a prototype of their new tenor instrument. Brian Cazzell, the lead on the project, talks about the creation of the 3D Ukulele prototype.

“When Scott from Outdoor Ukulele contacted us, he said his biggest challenge was finding someone who could build a full scale prototype of his tenor ukulele using polycarbonate-like resin.  He stated the material that would be used in final production was polycarbonate and we were the only provider that could accomplish this for his prototype version.  We had the perfect size machine and material combination for him, which is the SLA 5000 and Accura 60 resin.  I was extremely excited to be a part of the project due to my personal interest in musical instruments.  This made the project go smoothly because we spoke the same language in terms of the components that were being used in the assembly of his prototype. I look forward to future projects with Scott and Outdoor Ukulele!”

We talked with Scott Seelye from Outdoor Ukulele about the project.

Tell me about your company.

We manufacture ukuleles designed for the outdoor environment. The production instruments are injection molded from glass filled polycarbonate. We sell instruments all over the world. They have been used in expeditions to the Arctic, across the Amazon, and sailing voyages.

How is your company using 3D Printing and how did Realize help you with this project?

Realize helped us create a working prototype for our upcoming tenor ukulele. Realize was the only company that was willing to attempt a part this size, which we would use as a working instrument.

 

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What are the biggest challenges when it comes to your 3D projects?

Our biggest challenge with prototyping an instrument is receiving a part with the tolerances required to make it playable. The scale length and fret locations need to be exact. The parts we received from Realize gave us an instrument so close to the real thing, customers thought they were already in production.

What was the overall experience like working with Realize?

Our experience with Realize was wonderful. Quite often, you don’t receive this level of service from a prototype company unless you’re a Fortune 500 company. Realize is now our only approved prototype company.

If you want to own one of these beauties, here is the link… http://outdoorukulele.com/tenor

mereedRealize Featured Project: 3D Ukulele Prototype
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The Realize Q&A with Buddy Byrum

 

Realize is always seeking out conversations with experts in the additive manufacturing industry. For this Q&A we interviewed Buddy Byrum, 3D Systems’ vice president of product and channel management, personal and professional 3D printers.

What do you feel is the most groundbreaking piece of equipment you’ve introduced? Why?


I think there are a couple, to be honest. We released the ProX 950 at EuroMold 2013, and it’s the type of machine that can vastly increase the capabilities of manufacturers (aerospace, medical devices, automotive, turbine production, casting applications) and service bureaus because of three factors: it’s huge, it’s highly accurate and it’s fast. With PolyRay™ we’re talking print speeds up to ten times faster than other 3D printers. And it can print models as large as a full engine block, so users can spend less time on assembly, produce huge casting patterns faster, produce test models faster and get end products into production and ultimately to the customer.

I’d also say the ProJet 4500 is a big development in 3D printing also because it’s the industry’s only photorealistic, full-color 3D printer that creates durable plastic parts. The 4500 gives consumer products designers, healthcare companies, toy makers, architects, etc. the ability to make gorgeous, true-to-life prototypes that stand up to the real world. They can even make end-use parts quickly, allow manufacturers to customize them and enable whole new product lines.

 

Of the technologies you offer, which is currently receiving the most attention in-house for future development and why?


We cannot really comment about specific developments, but we are always working on new materials for our technologies to expand their use. Today we 3D print with over 100 different materials ranging from food ingredients to waxes to various plastics and even metals so we continue to grow the range of functional materials to bring the benefits of 3D printing to more and more applications.

 

What stands out as the most outstanding use of your equipment?


That’s a tough question. The beauty of 3D printing is that you can produce virtually anything, regardless of geometry, and do it faster and often more accurately.

But I think the strides that we allow traditional manufacturers to make are really exciting. The fact that we can put one of our machines into a traditional manufacturing outfit and give them a way to optimize a traditional manufacturing workflow or a product development method with 3D printing is amazing. And it shows the versatility of 3D printing, that it can constitute the entire manufacturing process or it can integrate into an existing process. Whether it’s making casting patterns faster and more accurately, producing working prototypes for fit and function in a day, or being able to recognize design flaws early.

We recently had a service provider who helped a natural gas equipment manufacturer create test parts of a regulator housing. With 3D printing, using one of our ProJet 3500 printers, they were able to produce patterns and eventually aluminum test parts in only 9 days. Prior to enlisting this service provider, the gas equipment manufacturer couldn’t even create accurate test parts (using CNC machining) that would fit on their assembly! The geometry was just too complicated. But with 3D printing they not only got test parts that fit but they got them fast.

 

What are your thoughts on 3D food and clothing and all the headline-grabbing posts about our Industry that are daily tech stories online?


As I alluded to earlier, this technology may never find a limit. While we’re still in the early stages of 3D printing food and clothing, there’s no reason to think that these applications couldn’t become mainstream or even the norm down the line. Clothing designers have really embraced 3D printing on fashion runways because it offers a way for them to create some complicated forms and novel new textiles.

 

Are there any new applications for Rapid Prototyping you feel will emerge over the next few years?


With our introduction of the first full-color plastic 3D printer (ProJet 4500), real functional prototypes can also have photorealistic color. With this capability prototypes can be both functional and provide the full customer experience feedback as they can have realistic looking test prototypes directly out of the printer.

 

What are the strangest requests or questions you get about your machines?


The strangest questions often come from people who do not understand digital files or 3D designs. We are asked from time to time if we can print directly from a 2D drawing or photograph. This is not as strange as it used to be though because we do have the capability to create our 3DMe figurines starting with just two photos.

 

If you could make a prototype of anything in one of your machines with no care given to time or cost, what item would you like created?


I would have to say life-saving, or quality-of-life improving items such as new medical devices or replacement body parts. We already have customers doing these kinds of applications and it is rewarding to know we are enabling a growing list of such applications that have the power to change the world and have meaningful impacts on people’s lives.

 

Why has 3D Printing become the buzzword for the entire industry and do you think that is a good or bad thing?


I think it’s a good thing, and it’s a term that we have encouraged because it’s the best descriptor for what we do and it doesn’t make the general public believe that it’s just for manufacturers. Regardless of what it’s called, the fact that it is a buzzword at all is a great thing. If 3D printing is in the public consciousness, that’s a win for everyone: for 3D printer manufacturers, professional users, consumers, makers, manufacturers, artists, museums … everyone.

 

What trends should AM business owners be looking to follow over the next century in your opinion?


Two important trends stand out in my view. First is the democratization of 3D printing that opens new entrepreneurial doors for people to start new businesses, design new inventions and manufacture their dreams within their own means and circumstances. 3D printing breaks down geographic, economic and infrastructure barriers and provides ordinary people the opportunity to create without limits. Second is use of AM in real manufacturing applications, either directly or indirectly. Designers are learning to create new levels of product performance impossible within traditional manufacturing limitations and are now designing end products to take advantage of the limitless geometry capabilities afforded by 3D printing.

 

Where do you think 3D Printing will be 50 years from now? (This is just a fun guess, futuristic question)


I hope my ability to still be 3D printing in 50 years will be helped by the advances in healthcare that 3D printing offers! I could imagine colonization of other planets where 3D printing allows people to make whatever is needed, when needed. Back on earth the word “inventory” may no longer be needed!

 

 


3D Systems is a leading provider of 3D content-to-print solutions including 3D printers, print materials and cloud sourced on-demand custom parts for professionals and consumers alike with materials including plastics, metals, ceramics and edibles. The company also provides integrated software and hardware tools including scan to CAD and inspection. Its expertly integrated solutions replace and complement traditional methods and reduce the time and cost of designing new products by printing real parts directly from digital input. These solutions are used to rapidly design, create, communicate, prototype or produce real parts, empowering customers to manufacture the future.

mereedThe Realize Q&A with Buddy Byrum
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Realize Client Profile: Indesign

Realize works extensively with Indesign on a wide variety of projects. We are excited and proud of the long relationship we have established with this fantastic company. We talked with Jerry Gotway, CEO of Indesign, to find out how their business uses Additive Manufacturing and where they are headed in the future.

Tell me about your business…

We are an electronic product design engineering company. We develop a wide variety of electronic products for our customers. We do full turn key product development. That means we do the mechanical design, the electrical design, and embedded software design. We  create all the design information for a product then send it to a factory for manufacturing.

How is Rapid Prototyping used by your company?

In our product development process we go through several steps. In the front end of the process we are working on the development of requirements and concepts with the client, then we move on to the detailed mechanical design. As soon as that is completed we need to take that design which exists in our CAD systems and turn it into a working prototype. It’s absolutely critical that we get working prototypes of the designs for us to validate the design. Those working prototypes include the kinds of things that Realize can provide. The Stereolithography models, the cast models and sometimes the rubber parts are needed for the physical elements of our prototype. The critical need that we have is to get those rapid prototype parts. We need to very quickly get a physical embodiment of what we have designed so we can run that through our testing process.

What types of projects do you partner with Realize on?

We have worked with Realize on a wide variety of projects- from medical to consumer electronics, industrial, and they have provided us with parts to support our clients in many different markets.

How has your experience working with Realize been?

Our experience has been very positive. Everything that we do here has to be done very quickly. We have very rapid product realization intervals. Realize has been extremely good to Indesign in delivering parts very quickly. Speed isn’t everything, the other thing that is very important to us is quality. We have received high quality parts using the prototyping capabilities of Realize. Speed and quality are the two things that are most important to us and we get both of those from Realize.

Where is your business headed in the future?

Our company has been in business for 16 years and it’s been on an evolutionary path. We started exclusively in the telecommunications area and now we are into many different industries. The technologies have changed dramatically over time. When we started we were almost all wired types of products, now half of our business is wireless. We are going to follow where technology leads.

Indesign is an engineering design services firm with a proven track record of helping companies develop new electronic devices. Engineering disciplines consist of electrical/circuit design, RF/wireless design, software/firmware design, mechanical design, human factors design, and testing/validation with a strong emphasis on products utilizing embedded microprocessors and DSPs.

mereedRealize Client Profile: Indesign
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