All posts tagged: rapid prototyping

Realize Employee Profile- Jennifer Voyak

What is your role at Realize?

Office Manager is the title but I prefer office guru. A Lot of accounting work, quoting, answering phones and run errands. I do pretty much anything that’s asked of me. I reek havoc on this place.

Name some of your favorite things in the world.

My daughter Reagan who is 9 years old…working out…I do a lot of cardio and love to run outside, 5-6  days a week. My husband is pretty cool…16 years of bliss this year in October…spending time with the fam is my fav.

How does Realize do things differently than the competition?

Staying up to date on technology and what is going on in the RP and 3Dprinting world. There is a focus on keeping things running like a fined tuned machine.

Favorite meal?

Vegetable fried rice from Mark Pi’s, Diet Mountain Dew and an egg-roll. For dessert tuxedo cheesecake from The Cheesecake Factory..and a Miller Lite beer.

What music are you listening to right now?

It depends on my mood…this morning it was 80’s hair bands…GNR, Motley Crue. My fav all time are the Crue, Jason Aldean, and Bon Jovi in leather in pants.

You can take two movies with you to space…which do you bring?

Sixteen Candles and Rock of Ages with Tom Cruise..

One word that describes you?

Outgoing.

What impresses yo most about the Rapid Prototype Industry?

The fact that it even exists its amazing! What it can do..is just incredible to me.

How do you explain to friends what Realize does?

I say that I work for a company that builds prototypes….and the say, “what is that?” My answer is something like, “we get files and then create something in a machine.”

What is the most challenging part of your job?

Right now quoting is the biggest challenge…the process is smooth but making sure its solid and correct is the toughest part.

One personal thing you would like to Rapid Prototype?

Our black lab that passed away a few years ago Bocephus.

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mereedRealize Employee Profile- Jennifer Voyak
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Realize visits the AMUG 2013 Conference

Realize President Todd Reese recently attended the AMUG conference in Jacksonville, Florida. The conference was celebrating it’s 25th Anniversary. We asked Todd to recap the overall experience. What were the attendees buzzing about this year?

Realize President Todd Reese meets Iron Man!

This group has morphed over the years. It started off focusing on one technology, stereolithography, but the industry was growing so the group thought it would be a good idea to include emerging, different and competitive technologies. AMUG is all inclusive now, anyone that has additive manufacturing machines, regardless of technology, is invited now. It’s developed into more of a technical forum with the people actually running the machines and solving problems while pushing the technology to the next big thing. The dream for many is to quickly print production parts off of these machines, and even do so from home. For example, a knob on your blender breaks, well the idea is that you could just download the file for that component and make the part yourself on your personal 3D printer rather than go to the store and buy it. Discovering the appropriate materials, and engineering more consistency and repeatability into the machines to create production parts is where the trick is. At Realize we are more focused on prototypes, helping clients early in their product development cycle, and that will remain an important step in the process.  I expect designs will change as additive manufacturing technologies become used to make production parts, because the limitations or restrictions you would see with traditional methods, such as injection molding, don’t exist in that realm.  Think, building a whistle with the ball already inside it.  Again, the trick lies in developing appropriate materials and machines with better repeatability.  From a pure production standpoint, I think we are still a ways off from that. The AMUG group continues to grow in size but even just a few short years ago you really did not hear about the technology outside of the industry. Now with the 3D printing buzzword the media has brought to the street it’s really come to the masses.
It’s incredible there are all these innovative people making machines in their garage and coming up with new ways of doing things. Right now there are two groups out there; guys like me who have been at it for 20+ years on an industry side, and then a new brilliant, social media generation who have recently been introduced to 3D printing.  I talked to many people at AMUG on this very topic, and the common thread was that it will be a challenge to bring them together, or can you even bring them together? The new generation has done a heck of a job creating a buzz, and a cool factor, and the national media has grabbed and run with it…is it a bubble? I don’t know.
Realize is primarily a stereolithography and rubber tooling service bureau but we do offer 3D printing services as well.  I’m excited to see what’s next in the evolution of the industry.   AMUG is a great event for witnessing and participating in the evolution, as it’s where the technical leaders to come together.
It’s a conference unlike anything else I’ve been to. The networking and information exchange is such a priority for everyone and the board does a phenomenal job of structuring the event to keep people engaged throughout the entire event experience. There were many fascinating elements during the conference but the highlight for me would be the presentation from Jason Lopes from Legacy Effects. It was very exciting to see how the technology I work with every day is applied to costumes and special effects in the movies.  It is used a lot more than you might think!  By using these technologies they can bring back some realism and not completely rely on the computer animated graphics, the results are pretty special. I was especially impressed with learning how rapid prototyping was used to make the Iron Man mask. A big thanks to the AMUG board. That group of passionate volunteers does an incredible job of putting the event together and improving things each year to make the conference the premiere event it is today, hats off to them.
Bottom line this is a great conference to attend. You will talk to your peers and competitors. Sharing knowledge will help us advance. I certainly walked away with some great information this year.

mereedRealize visits the AMUG 2013 Conference
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Realize Client Profile: ChordBuddy

 

Realize your potential on the guitar!
One of our clients kind of went all “Hollywood” on us.
ChordBuddy is a product that makes learning to play the guitar easier than ever.
Travis Perry is the creator of the device that’s been featured on the television show Shark Tank and is also endorsed  by country western star John Rich.

 

 

Realize President Todd Reese fancies himself a bit of a guitar hero and this project was right in his wheelhouse.

 

“ChordBuddy was a very fun and challenging project for us. From our early conversations with Travis, everything clicked. Rapid prototyping (stereolithography specifically) was used to produce several iterations of the ChordBuddy. It was important to produce each iteration with a high attention to detail, tolerances, functionality, and appearance. Detailed features and tight tolerances were very important to maintain in order to demonstrate how the device properly attaches to a guitar and also to demonstrate the correct feel of the removable tabs as they slide in and out of the device. The prototypes were also required to be functional and we had to make use of more than one material to accomplish this, in addition to incorporating metal hardware. On top of that, the models needed to look like the real deal, and that required paint. To balance those requirements was challenging, and necessary for Travis to prove his concept. In the end it worked great and one of the final prototypes we produced is even featured in an early ChordBuddy commercial. We are so happy to have played a role in the development of the ChordBuddy and it has been a real treat to watch its success via Shark Tank and Travis’s hard work.”

 

We caught up with Travis to find out how Rapid Prototyping helped with his product development.

 

Tell us about your business?

We make and sell “Chordbuddy” the fastest way to learn guitar.

2- How is Rapid Prototyping used by your company? 
 
We had several prototypes made to make sure we had the design right before spending the money to have the molds made.

3- What services and projects did you partner with Realize on? 
 
SLA and prototypes.
 

4- How was the experience working with Realize?
 
 GREAT!!!! VERY Professional

5- Where is your business headed in the future?
 
 We are starting to develop other products to support our base product.
 
If you could select one personal item to be created or duplicated using Rapid Prototyping technology, what would that be?  
 
TIME!
 
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Realize Employee Profile – Tami Tomey

What do you do at Realize?

I work in accounting. Accounts receivable and payable, I also track how are customers come to us.

What challenges do you face during a typical week at Realize?

Managing changes that come up. Gathering all the details that go along with client invoices.

How does Realize do things differently than the competition?

I think they are really connected to their employees and clients in a unique way, more than most companies. They are just in tune with what is going on at all times with projects.

What are some of your favorite things in the world?

My children. I have three kids…12 ,10 & 7. I’m a single mom so most of my free time is spent with them. But I do love the beach and gardening. Some of the items I grow include watermelon, corn, cucumbers and strawberries.

Favorite meal?

Filet from Ruth Chris, broccoli, glass of white wine …strawberry cheesecake.

You can leave work right now and do anything you want, where are you going?

Bora Bora with a friend…scuba…relax…layout…explore the island.

What music are you listening to right now?

I listen to everything…something country most of the time…Prince was a favorite growing up.

What fascinates you most about Rapid Prototyping?

I can’t believe how you just plug information into a machine and out comes the product!

You can take two movies with you to space…which do you bring?

Tombstone and Dumb and Dumber.

One word that describes you?

Sassy.

One personal item you would like to Rapid Prototype?

A black Lamborghini.

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mereedRealize Employee Profile – Tami Tomey
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Realize Client Profile – Zipp

There are many exciting things going on at Realize. The focus of our business is advancing the excellence of our clients projects. Zipp Speed Weaponry, based in Indianapolis, serves a select group of elite companies and athletes, globally located and committed to bicycle & wheelchair competition. Zipp meets customer’s needs for the highest performance, superlative quality components through innovative design and manufacturing utilizing the best material and technology available. Basically, really cool bike stuff! Check out this video about how we work together.

We talked with Design Engineer Ben Waite about the latest happenings at Zipp.

Ben Waite – Design Engineer

1- Tell me about your business?
Zipp is a manufacturer of the highest end bicycle components for road riding and triathlon.  Our parent company, SRAM, manufacturers a wide variety of bicycle components for all types of riding.  We have 2500 employees worldwide and our mission to enhance the rider’s experience through comfort, speed and reliability.

 

2- How is Rapid Prototyping used by your company?

We use rapid prototyping for a variety of reasons.  We use them to perform form and fit testing that we cannot do in the 3D CAD space.  Rapid prototyping is obviously quicker than getting parts CNC’ed, but it is also exponentially cheaper.  We can iterate a design a few times and get a rapid prototype each time for a fraction of the cost of machined parts.  This expedites time to market and allows us to be fully confident of our designs when we invest in very expensive molds. For some products, namely handlebars, rapid prototyping allows us to test out ergonomics that are nearly impossible to understand in CAD.  Comfort and bike fit is a key part of the rider’s experience and we want to make sure that they are getting the most from their invest in Zipp products.

Seatpost prototypes

3- What services and projects did you partner with Realize on?

I think the better question is what projects do we *not* partner with Realize on.  I believe every handlebar project I have worked on has made use of rapid prototypes in some manner.  In fact, there are many projects that did not come to fruition that we used rapid prototypes on. For wheels, we also use Realize to make rapid prototypes that we can take to the wind tunnel and test the aerodynamics of a particular design.

 

Zipp Wheel

4- How was the experience working with Realize? Realize is top-notch.  Their delivery is lightning fast, the quality is amazing and it is quite obvious they value their customers.  And they are just good guys (and gals!) that you would like to hang out with on the weekends.

 

5- Where is your business headed in the future?

We will continue to use Realize in many capacities to further our product development.  I hope that one day we can work with Realize to make functional rapid prototypes that are strong enough to ride and test.

6- If you could select one personal item to be created or duplicated using Rapid Prototyping technology, what would that be?

Easy question – I would rapid prototype an updated design to one of the fastest bikes ever produced – the Zipp 3001.  Zipp started making this bike decades ago but it still beats many of today’s “super bikes” in the wind tunnel.  With a couple of tweaks, the wind wouldn’t even be able to come close to seeing it!

Zipp 3001

mereedRealize Client Profile – Zipp
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