• Who: Wesley Günter Krijntjes
• Industry: Custom Jewelry / 3D Design
• Location: Netherlands
• Challenge: Shapeways’ temporary closure disrupted a long-standing digital manufacturing workflow
• Solution: Rejoined via Thangs to restore production and plan brand relaunch
• Results: More than 25 countries served, media recognition and renewed energy to scale globally 

The designer behind the brand

“I love things that catch the eye, look unique and have never been seen before. To create this I use structures and patterns we see all around us, both natural and manmade. I love to combine patterns I see into new wearable shapes.”

‘Trigon’ necklace and earrings: Inspired by Wesley’s love for the ancient pyramids, made in Polished Silver released in 2024.

Wesley Günter Krijntjes is a Netherlands-based 3D designer and jewelry maker with a background in metal working. In 2012 Wesley wanted to make a keychain for the company he was working for. His knowledge of manufacturing with metals led him on a search for someone that could mill a mould so he could cast his own resins. On that search, he came across Shapeways… and things quickly snowballed.

Wesley explains: “When I came across Shapeways I soon started designing jewelry for my then girlfriend. Back then Shapeways was really working together with designers to set up a nice shop and build their brand. This really got me into building something bigger.”

Proven solutions worth waiting for

For more than 10 years Wesley relied on Shapeways to turn his intricate designs into wearable jewelry. From prototyping to fulfillment anywhere in the world, Shapeways worked behind the scenes to allow Wesley freedom to design and build his brand. When Shapeways was briefly unavailable, Wesley didn’t switch platforms. Instead he doubled down on launching his independent business and hoping that he’d have access to Shapeways again soon.

“I was trusting that Shapeways would eventually come back. In the roughly fourteen years I have been busy with design for 3D printing I have only once ordered from another provider,” explains Wesley. The allure of a reliable and proven partner, based locally was enough to keep Wesley committed to a return. “I just kept on designing new things and only made 3D renders preparing for the inevitable relaunch!”

‘Seed of life squared’ pendant: The seed and flower of life are sacred symbols used by humans all throughout history, the designer left out some leaves to make the design open and unique. Made in natural bronze, also from the 24 collection. 

Reinvigoration and new ambition

When Shapeways acquired the Thangs platform, Wesley was among the first to rejoin the community. The tools and platform features he relied on — as well as the proven manufacturing expertise of Shapeways — was immediately available, making for a seamless transition back to business. “For me it is a return to the more distant past that I missed, where the marketplace was the main focus. Under the previous ownership the Shapeways marketplace faded more into the background, so I really like it returning to the forefront through the acquisition of Thangs,” says Wesley. 

The combination of Thangs as a marketplace and discovery system for his designs, combined with the hard-won trust in Shapeways’ manufacturing capabilities has reinvigorated Wesley’s journey. “I loved reconnecting with Shapeways through a new channel, it gave me new energy and will set everything up this year to relaunch my jewelry brand back into its original glory!”

‘Convolute’ pendant and earrings: The Convolute pendant inspiration came from the DNA helix. Wesley shaped the helix in the shape of a teardrop visualizing the DNA we share with every drop shed. This is one of the first designs he made and is the all time best seller. First published in 2012 under the name DNA Teardrop pendant, made in Polished Silver.

Set for the future

While this reinvigoration is just starting, Wesley has already seen the value in the combination of Thangs and Shapeways. “Previously I sold successfully to more than 25 countries, with Shapeways handling the production, finishing and shipping seamlessly. The integration with Thangs is really exciting, and provides the discovery platform, collaboration space and genuine community I am looking for while maintaining a proven delivery partner handling the 3D printing, finishing, QA, shipping, and more. I am excited to focus on creating and seeing what comes next!”

The post How Wesley Krijntjes Leverages Shapeways’ On-Demand Production to Power His Jewelry Brand appeared first on Shapeways Blog.

Create a First-Rate 3D File

Quality designs lead to quality parts, but it’s not always an easy process. Some very important steps must occur before it is possible for a 3D model to make it into a 3D printer. A healthy dose of inspiration and motivation is required first—leading to the ideation phase—which must be accompanied by tools meant to streamline the process from modeling to manufacturing.

Shapeways works with customers every day who are dedicated to designing unique 3D models for a tremendous range of projects, varying in requirements that affect options in terms of settings, materials, and technology. This is why the ongoing design partnership with ZVerse has been so positive for simplifying the customer experience. ZVerse was a logical partner due to the massive scope of 3D printing going on at Shapeways—leading to the need for a professional design team with broad resources.

The ZVerse platform is uniquely AI-enabled, allowing for better automation in file creation workflow, along with helping Shapeways scale to customer needs better. Every customer has access to comprehensive design solutions offering the most streamlined path from concept to 3D model.

3D printing experts from the Shapeways User Application Team are also available for one-on-one consultations to discuss the best fit for materials and manufacturing methods, as well as finding ways to overcome typical issues with printability.

“We are here to help with any and all questions about design, materials, or the processes that make our customers’ models come to life,” says Zach Dillon, User Application Team Lead at Shapeways.

Get the most out of product development

While 3D printing allows for incredible creativity, innovation, and the ability to make products with complex geometries that simply were not possible previously, this technology lends itself to superior product development processes, beginning with rapid prototyping. Models can be designed and 3D printed, offering detailed visualization of products, along with the ability to test and validate parts according to project specifications. A good example would be checking for proper fit in new automotive parts or aerospace applications where there is absolutely no room for error. Rapid prototyping has played a major role for customers like Tilt Hydrometer, with CEO Noah Neibaron designing and 3D printing over a hundred iterations with Shapeways before settling on the final design for his free-floating monitoring device used in homebrewing.

Shapeways 3D prints products in over 90 materials and finishes, with over 11 technologies to choose from. Thermoplastics like Nylon 12 [Versatile Plastic] are extremely popular for a wide range of applications, from drone technology for customers like Quantum-Systems, to a luxury jewelry series of cuff bracelets for Dutch designers Groen & Boothman. All of these companies have used Nylon 12 [Versatile Plastic] for both extensive prototyping to ‘get it just right,’ along with making it the final choice for high-performance, functional products. That does not mean, however, that as longtime customers they haven’t delved into a variety of metals, to include other thermoplastics like MJF Plastic PA12 or precious metals like silver. Along with these materials come a variety of different colors and finishes, along with our latest offering in Nylon 12 [Versatile Plastic] Smooth.  

Get to market fast—and effectively

Products that are already in high demand can be 3D printed in customized bulk orders, and for businesses experiencing higher volume in orders, Shapeways recommends that they work with the User Application Team directly for streamlining production and bridging the gap from concept to printability and ultimately, quality manufacturing.

“Our goal is to make the customer experience as seamless as possible,” says Matthew Nadler, User Application Materials Specialist at Shapeways. “We unlock all that Shapeways has to offer for our customers, and enable them to leverage our full capabilities.”

Add-on services are available in manufacturing also, to include product assembly. Shapeways customers like LuxMea have been able to pass on the benefits of customized, on-demand printing and assembly to their own clients as bespoke masks—which include an ergonomic valve system design—are measured to fit with AI software and then completed with a personalized label.

Scale for success

Shapeways 3D prints the masks and also ships them out for LuxMea too, offering total order fulfilment that includes customized packaging for continued brand recognition, along with the opportunity to take advantage of other marketing opportunities at the same time, like adding custom inserts or promotional materials. Shapeways ships orders out to over 160 countries, with bulk pricing available. Proprietary software also makes it easy for other manufacturers to offer 3D printing with fast turnaround, including secure uploading and ordering, instant quotes, and streamlined ordering.

Scaling production is critical to modern businesses of all sizes serving a wide range of applications, and Shapeways is always ready to assist in helping customers grow—whether through 3D printing or other traditional manufacturing methods. In some cases they may begin on the smaller scale with low-batch production in highly customized, 3D printed products and then move on to more traditional methods like injection molding for precise mass production due to customer demand. In other cases, customers may want to navigate manufacturing processes in reverse, or begin employing a hybrid combination of additive and traditional manufacturing.

About Shapeways

Contact Shapeways now to enjoy the benefits of advanced technology and materials for 3D printing creations for the classroom with accuracy, complex detail, and no limits in terms of mass customization or single part orders. Shapeways has worked with over 1 million customers in 160 countries to make over 21 million parts! Read about case studies, find out more about Shapeways solutions, and get instant quotes here.

The post Inclusive Manufacturing: Streamlining & Scaling Production for Customers appeared first on Shapeways Blog.

Developed in the mid-80s, 3D printing began as a way for engineers to make small prototypes. For decades, it was also quietly embraced behind the scenes by research labs, aerospace organizations like NASA, and a handful of automotive companies with deep pockets who realized the immediate potential for prototyping, making spare parts, and manufacturing jigs and fixtures. As major patents began to run out around 2014, 3D printing was thrust into the consumer spotlight. Spectacular headlines began to take over the press, garnering worldwide attention over a technology that to the average layperson seemed nothing short of magic.

The 3D Printing Industry Continues to Accelerate

For designers and manufacturers, the floodgates were opened. Advances in applications like medicine were some of the most highlighted applications due to transformative medical models, medical devices and implants, and surgical tools leading to life-saving and cutting-edge surgeries. They were joined by companies engineering drones, robotics, embedded electronics, and a long list of others. Recent market research now projects that the global 3D printing market will reach $62.79 billion USD by 2028, with a 21 percent compound annual growth rate from 2021 to 2028.

With the advent of expiring licenses which had been held so long, accessibility and affordability were cited as the ongoing reasons for the explosion in 3D printing technology, materials—and captivating innovation. 3D printing at the desktop became much more common, quickly catching on in primary and secondary schools, as well as for college and university labs. Suddenly 3D printers were in common use at the professional level in design firms, as well as architectural offices and medical research labs.

Industrial Parts Still Require Industrial 3D Printing Hardware

Desktop and professional-grade 3D printers can be purchased painlessly, but that is often where the ease ends as the technology is not always as simple as it sounds or looks. Many of the cheaper models may draw in consumers with hype, including kits that could cost less than a typical grocery shopping bill, but often present challenges for operators without significant tinkering or engineering experience. While much can go right, and it is very exciting, much can go wrong too, including the level of quality in manufacturing for prototypes and parts.

Harkening back to Ken Olson, co-founder of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC), who famously said “There is no reason for any individual to have a computer in his home,” parallel contradictions may certainly prove to be true within the 3D printing industry. Desktop units may continue to become more user-friendly and higher in quality; however, they cannot take the place of their industrial counterparts in most cases, which is why so many businesses reach out to Shapeways for 3D printing—rather than taking on challenges such as the following:

• The expense of purchasing expensive equipment, along with making room for such items, and providing ventilation too.
• Hiring staff knowledgeable about 3D printing or instituting training programs.
• Dealing with the limits of non-industrial equipment.
• Handling scalability issues—especially trying to use desktop printers meant for small production jobs when parts need to be 3D printed in larger quantities.

From a Prototyping Tool to Production of End-Use Parts

With so many modern professionals worldwide realizing the truly infinite potential in 3D printing for new products, and the ability to make complex geometries like never before, the collective whole has continued to experiment and push the limits. As a result, newer and more industrial hardware and materials continue to emerge, along with the ability to go far beyond prototyping, and onward to the production of customized, quality parts meant for long-term functionality and high performance.For example, technology like Selective Laser Sintering (SLS) at Shapeways allows the transition from low-batch volume to much higher production levels with machines that can 3D print thousands of end-use parts at once.

With durable, versatile materials like Nylon 12 [Versatile Plastic], Shapeways manufactures many different types of prototypes and end-use parts, ranging from consumer goods to jewelry to production parts built for those applications. With over 90 different materials and finishes to choose from, customers like beer-brewers Tilt and jewelry designers Groen and Boothman work with Shapeways to manufacture functional, high-performance parts, and luxury keepsakes for their customers.

3D Printing Services Make Manufacturing Much Easier

Although it is not unheard of, most businesses do not have the time to open up their own 3D printing factories, nor the desire to do so as they are busy focusing on their own core specialties. Expense is also a huge factor, and for many businesses, spending precious capital in the wide variety of industrial hardware, software, and human resources required for additive manufacturing may not be a sound investment. 

Shapeways offers the full range of additive manufacturing solutions, including a complete array of manufacturing capabilities to ensure seamless production of quality parts.  The services are reinforced by a global network of manufacturing partners to make custom solutions possible. Production truly spans from end to end too, beginning when a customer creates an account or speaks with a Shapeways business development manager, and continues with:

• Instant price quotes
• Automated printability checks
• Expert support on bulk and custom printing
• Comprehensive quality management 
• On-demand production to include assembly and direct-to-customer fulfillment with customized packaging

Shapeways acts as a reliable manufacturing partner to fulfill requirements in additive manufacturing, and many businesses have chosen to work with Shapeways because they seek a streamlined end-to-end production process. As scaling demands intensify, Shapeways also provides customers with access to traditional manufacturing offerings, including injection molding, urethane casting services, and more.

About Shapeways

Contact Shapeways now to enjoy the benefits of advanced technology and materials for manufacturing creations with accuracy, complex detail, and no minimum or limits in terms of mass customization or single part orders. Shapeways has worked with over 1 million customers in 160 countries to make over 20 million parts! Read about case studies, find out more about Shapeways solutions, and get instant quotes here.

The post Bolstering Manufacturing with 3D Printing appeared first on Shapeways Blog.

Consider the following as you look for a partner to manufacture your 3D printed prototypes and parts.

1. Ability to meet formidable production demands today—and tomorrow.

Does the manufacturer have a robust platform to serve your needs? Whether you are printing parts as an independent designer or as a business owner relying on bulk printing for your own customers, make sure the manufacturer you work with has the production capacity to fulfill your orders as you need them. Consider a working relationship for the future too. Can you grow together?

“I needed the parts ready ahead of the originally given date and Shapeways delivered on this. Quality of parts was as usual outstanding.”

2. Understanding of your business model and strategy

Seek a manufacturer that understands your innovative ambition and the type of business you are operating, as well as your strategy for the future with 3D printing or other types of manufacturing. Shapeways offers uniquely tailored manufacturing and fulfilment services, along with e-commerce opportunities and on-demand 3D printing integrated with Shopify and Etsy.

3. The potential for accuracy and repeatability in production

Accuracy in production means quality for your own customers, and repeatability means a lot less headaches, knowing you can rely on the manufacturer for consistency every time, no matter how many prototypes or parts they 3D print.

4. Expertise through experience

Don’t count a manufacturer out just because they are the new kid on the block; however, there is enormous advantage to working with a company full of people who have extensive knowledge in 3D printing and are able to talk brass tacks with customers when it comes to technical questions.

5. Strength and excellence in technology and material offerings

Here lies the key to accuracy and repeatability, as well as the opportunity for a successful working relationship. You are seeking a manufacturer with the resources to take over production of your designs, and it is critical that they can follow through with their promises. If you require considerable production capacity, make sure the manufacturer can keep up—and then some! Shapeways, as an example, offers over 10 technologies for manufacturing, and more than 90 different materials and finishes.

6. Versatility in production

Industrial applications present vast potential for 3D printed prototypes and components. While the manufacturer you seek to work with should be masterful at the production of parts, it is in your favor if they can pivot to other projects in the future; for example, currently your business may be making mechanical parts, but what if you decide to design lighting systems, architectural fixtures, antenna or drone components, or something more whimsical like jewelry? To be able to work with one partner who can handle all your manufacturing needs isn’t just advantageous—it promotes further innovation and advancement.

7. The reality for on-demand 3D printing of spare parts

This is a tremendous benefit for you, and one that will just keep on giving. First and foremost, if all of the above considerations are falling into line, you will have satisfied customers. Beyond that, the savings to your bottom line is exponential on several levels. You can slash inventory and limit or completely eliminate warehouse space as parts are maintained on digital files rather than sitting around gathering dust. With industrial 3D printing occurring at the manufacturer’s end, you can cut back on equipment, materials, headaches scheduling deliveries, and a handful of middlemen along the way.

8. Industry presence

An experienced 3D printing service company will have worked on thousands or even millions of projects over the years, and is able to monitor the pulse of the industry continually regarding new technology, materials, and important trends that are relevant to manufacturing. Shapeways is a shining example with over 20 million parts printed, and one million customers served!

9. Technical support

This type of assistance is a lifesaver when problems or questions arise. At Shapeways, 3D printing engineers are available to discuss issues centered around technology, materials, and applications, as well as extremely common questions related to printability.

10. Customer service

For most consumers, this is a priority in working with any company. The impact of good (or bad) customer service simply cannot be underestimated. While ordering 3D prints or embarking on a project, you should also be able to speak with a representative one-on-one to discuss material and technology options and understand how the manufacturer’s services can align with your needs.

“As a business owner, I order a lot on Shapeways. They deliver quality prints, and they guarantee it. If something goes wrong, they’ll go miles to set things straight. Superb customer service, which makes me come back every time. Thank you Shapeways for manufacturing our designs!”

Many designers who have been working with Shapeways for years or 3D printing on their own may be expanding into new roles with design firms, starting their own businesses, or working on various independent projects that require advanced technology and materials. Shapeways strives to cover each point on this list for existing and potential customers, along with offering excellent customer service and access to a User Application team that will connect customers with 3D printing engineers to discuss projects.

Shapeways’ digital manufacturing services have empowered more than one million customers worldwide to produce more than 20 million parts. Read about case studies, find out more about our solutions, and get instant quotes here.

The post 10 Things to Consider When Choosing a 3D Printing Manufacturer appeared first on Shapeways Blog.

Shapeways’ bulk 3D printing solution gives you access to high-volume 3D printing using the most advanced manufacturing technology and materials at affordable prices.

Advantages of using additive manufacturing vs traditional manufacturing for bulk orders

While additive manufacturing is on the rise as an end-use production process, often the first thought is that it is a low-volume endeavor. Bringing 3D printing into industrial production, though, can actually offer significant advantages over traditional manufacturing workflows, like on-demand production, fewer kinks in the supply chain, reductions in storage and inventory costs, and reduced waste.

Advanced planning vs printing on-demand

One of the biggest advantages of additive manufacturing is that 3D printing does not require tooling or molding to be made. This can lead to a much faster turnaround time, as well as lower material and labor costs, as a major step of traditional manufacturing workflows — think injection molding — is bypassed completely.

This can lead to relatively immediate on-demand production; all that’s needed is a digital file to be 3D printed. Shortening lead times between design and production means less upfront work for you — so if you don’t have the time for a hefty chunk of time to plan in advance, moving to 3D printing on-demand can kickstart the process.

Supply chain kinks

Traditional bulk production often includes calculated supply chains built on the premise of low-cost supplies, which in many cases means reliance on overseas suppliers. When those supply chains are confronted with unforeseen kinks — perhaps international borders closing due to a global health crisis, for example — operations can completely shut down.

On-demand production with additive manufacturing goes hand-in-hand with decentralized production. 3D printing has been on the rise due to recent global events that have overturned traditional supply chains, as international logistics are unnecessary. Shapeways is headquartered in New York City, with manufacturing facilities in Long Island City and the Netherlands, maintaining a prominent global presence around the world.

Storage and inventory costs

A major need for bulk parts comes from the ongoing need for spare or replacement parts. In many cases, these parts are made at the same time as original parts and physically stored in massive warehouses, ready to be pulled from the shelf and shipped out as needed. That can be convenient — but can also lead to tricky situations when those physical parts take up physical space that needs to be paid for, and when they run out after a design becomes obsolete without regular inventories being made anymore.

3D printing spare and replacement parts on demand removes the need for physical storage. When spare parts are stored as digital files, no shelf space need be taken up, freeing up warehouse floor space and the costs needed for physical storage. Only as many parts as are required at a given time need be made, and so long as that design is available they can be made at any point, even if the original supplier is unavailable, obsolete, or out of business.

Reduced waste

Milling, casting, molding, and other traditional forms of manufacturing broadly require significantly more material than just what goes into a final part. Subtractive processes like cutting and milling carve out parts from larger blocks of material, inherently creating waste in the production stage. That waste ultimately adds up in terms of both cost and lack of sustainability. For molding and casting, additional tools like molds are needed as well.

Additive manufacturing is, well, additive. Many 3D printing processes build up a part layer by layer, using only the material necessary. Even when support structures are required during the build, these are often lattice-like structures that use much less material than would otherwise be cut away on a CNC machine. Using only the material required is a major cost- and waste-saving measure that is unique to additive manufacturing when it comes to production — and especially so when it comes to bulk orders.

Factors to consider when choosing a manufacturing service

Working with a manufacturing service for your bulk production needs can create a smoother workflow. When you work with Shapeways bulk 3D printing, you immediately gain access to expert-driven design, customer service, and production quality. A manufacturing service like Shapeways also comes fully equipped with a broad variety of hardware, software, materials, and — perhaps most importantly — the expert know-how about when and why to choose the best-fit option for each. Making the choice to work with a manufacturing service, though, is still a multi-faceted decision-making process that includes factors like upfront costs, volume, model complexity, material, time-to-market, and future iterations.

Upfront costs

In-house production can often make a lot of sense. Using your own equipment and personnel shortens supply chains, tightens turnaround, and ensures you always know what’s happening. It does, though, limit production efforts to what you have already invested in. New industrial manufacturing equipment requires substantial upfront investment and training, and while that equipment will presumably be targeted toward the process(es) you use most, it may not always be the best choice for a new application.

When you need a run of parts for a bulk order, but that isn’t a standing need that would offer a logical return on investment that would merit buying in to new industrial equipment, turning to a manufacturing service offers immediate access to the appropriate manufacturing capabilities. Costs are limited to the order you place without additional capital investment.

Volume

Outsourcing bulk production frees up your time and team to focus on your own operations. When having parts manufactured at volume, there will inherently be a good amount of time dedicated to that manufacturing. A manufacturing service offers access to an industrial facility designed for volume production.

This includes access to industrial 3D printing equipment. An industrial SLS machine, for example, can produce magnitudes more individual prints than could a desktop 3D printer. Final quality of those parts would also be superior due to post-processing capabilities geared toward handling large quantities of parts at a time. End-to-end fulfillment can be greatly enhanced in a full-scale production facility.

Model complexity

Design for additive manufacturing (DfAM) is a dedicated discipline that requires attention to a new set of design parameters for this new form of manufacturing. While designing a relatively simple geometry for your part may be in your wheelhouse, a more complex 3D design that leverages some of the biggest advantages possible with additive manufacturing — think lattice structures that offer strength but with less material and lighter weight, or reducing part counts — requires thorough DfAM knowledge.

Working with experts in DfAM who work day-in-day-out with these technologies can help you generate the perfect design for your model, as well as gain access to the technology and materials to make it come to life. When you’re in the market for bulk manufacturing, ensuring the perfect design is a critical step before producing that design en masse.

Material

With more than 10 3D printing technologies and more than 75 different choices of material to suit, Shapeways has you covered for plastic, metal, sandstone, and casting needs. Each of these processes and materials can be suited for bulk orders of any size. Our automatic bulk pricing for Nylon 12 makes bulk 3D printing seamlessly easy, for example.

Time to market

If you have a design file ready to go for bulk 3D printing, great! It’s off to the 3D printers and shortly to you. If, though, you need some work in designing, rapid prototyping, and getting market-ready first, we have full workflows in place to ensure that your time-to-market can be fully optimized. Working with 3D printing — and DfAM experts — at every step can streamline your go-to-market process.

What would traditionally take months or even years to be market-ready can be cut down to days or weeks with on-demand 3D printing including for bulk orders.

Future iterations

Many products on the market today can be updated to keep up with new capabilities or new user needs. Think about smartphones and other regularly-updated products — these take the best of an established design and continue to build it into something better, often in response to user demand. This process is made all the easier with digital designs.

Rapid prototyping isn’t just for the prototyping stage; iterating to update for future designs can be done at any time. This is one of the key benefits to working with a digital manufacturing technology like 3D printing. Your next-generation update — complete with access to bulk production — is just an updated design file away!

Customer example

As popular wisdom holds that “show, don’t tell” is the best way to prove a point, we’d like to share an example of customer work achieved through the Shapeways platform.

Voytek Medical

Voytek Medical offers a service often sought-after in the medical field, though perhaps not discussed very often. The company develops products that lock patient cables to appropriate bedside or roll stand monitors, ensuring the safe performance of untangled cables — without potentially voiding warranties or needing to modify the equipment itself. These carefully designed products benefit from being 3D printed as they can be designed to keep up with market feedback and needs, all without the increased overhead costs inherent in injection molding.

“Voytek has always been a big proponent of desktop 3D printing, it has its benefits and limitations. Desktop 3D printing is great for prototyping and making changes on the fly and testing different designs. What the technology begins to fall short is in the build quality of the materials, and production times. I would not be able to fulfill orders on a desktop printer, the labor of which would sink the turnaround time. Shapeways allows me to get large batch orders quickly and without cosmetic or build quality flaws,” Voytek explains.

Working with Shapeways’ bulk 3D printing offering, the company experienced professional solutions at necessary volumes.

Please contact us today to learn more about our bulk 3D printing service and how we can help you every step of the way for your next project.

The post What Is Bulk 3D Printing? – A Complete Guide appeared first on Shapeways Blog.

What is rapid prototyping?

Rapid prototyping, to put it simply, takes you from napkin sketch to final product rapidly. A major bottleneck in the product development cycle is in prototyping. Traditional prototyping workflows often include outsourcing the creation of each prototype, waiting weeks — and spending significantly — for every new iteration, however tweaked or overhauled design changes may be. With rapid prototyping, those weeks between iterations may become days, taking months or years for standard prototyping cycles down to weeks, and getting your new product to market in a much more agreeable timespan.

What Is 3D Printing / Additive Manufacturing / Rapid Prototyping?

Rapid prototyping today often means bringing in 3D printing technologies — or are they rapid prototyping processes, or is that additive manufacturing? It may help to understand just what additive manufacturing is (and Shapeways has a guide for that!) and how these technologies fit into the prototyping workflow.

What Is Additive Manufacturing?

Additive manufacturing (AM) is a digital manufacturing process in which a CAD model is used to create a solid object. A variety of technologies are defined as being additive, as these processes add material over the course of the build, rather than subtracting it as seen in many traditional manufacturing methods (e.g., CNC milling). Materials are deposited, often in a layer-by-layer process, using a 3D printer to build up the geometry of the model in three dimensions. AM processes can handle a variety of metals, from simple plastics to various metal alloys, from food pastes to biomaterials.

What’s The Difference Between 3D Printing, Additive Manufacturing, and Rapid Prototyping?

There are several ways of referring to these technologies, most commonly “3D printing” or “additive manufacturing,” though “rapid prototyping” is also used. For a fuller explanation, we dive into technology terminology in this article, but in short:

3D printing and additive manufacturing are often used interchangeably to refer to effectively the same processes. Additive manufacturing is recognized as a more industrial term, and tends to encompass expensive professional machinery being used in applications from prototyping to end-use product production. 3D printing can refer to the process of layer-by-layer building of an object, or more generally to refer to any usage of this technology, from hobbyists using inexpensive desktop systems to professionals using industrial equipment. Rapid prototyping was one of the first terms used for these technologies, which in the 1980s were geared toward the rapid production of prototypes and for a few decades so dominated usage that this application was synonymous with the tech itself.

For the purposes of this guide, 3D printing is a technology suite used for the application of rapid prototyping.

Rapid Prototyping Materials

Now that we know what rapid prototyping is, a good follow-up question is straightforward: What are some of the material options for rapid prototyping with 3D printing?

When using 3D printing from prototype to production, the same technology can be used throughout the product development cycle. That does not, however, mean that the same materials are necessarily the best choice at every step. Early stages of prototyping may focus more on speed and rough idea than on a “final look” quality, so inexpensive plastics are often the best fit here, when several iterations may be made in fairly quick succession. Each refinement in prototype may call for a better-quality material, and staging material selections can help cut costs, keeping the finer-detail options for only later-stage planning.

During initial prototyping stages, a low-cost material can be used with low infill and thicker layers, lowering material costs and speeding print time to create a rough-and-ready first look at a new design. Whether plastic or metal, 3D printing can quickly fabricate a product that will come to look and feel just like the desired end result.

By starting with a low-cost plastic material and moving after a few iterations to metal, for example, a product that will eventually be conventionally fabricated using metal can come to market much more quickly than would be the case by machining each iteration — a traditional pathway that ultimately costs much more in terms of time, money, and labor.

Material options in additive manufacturing may not run the full gamut available in traditional technologies, but new formulations are becoming available all the time.

Among Shapeways’ broad 3D printing materials portfolio, the most commonly used for rapid prototyping is Nylon 12 (Versatile Plastic). This material is a durable nylon plastic that can be used for a wide range of applications, both for prototyping and for end products. The SLS material can be 3D printed thin for flexibility — think hinges and springs — or thicker to build up structural components. Nylon 12 is affordable, has the fastest lead time (shipping as quickly as three business days from order), and is available in a wide range of colors. It can also be bonded with other materials, electroplated, or otherwise adaptable to your specific application’s needs.

Other well-suited offerings for rapid prototyping include Multi Jet Fusion Plastic materials (PA12 and PA12 Glass Beads) for added stiffness and durability, and SLA (Accura 60, Accura Xtreme, Accura Xtreme White 200) for fine details.

For more in-depth information on any of these materials, see Shapeways’ Materials Guide (pdf).

Benefits Of Rapid Prototyping

That’s all well and good, but when it comes down to it, is there an actual business case for prototyping with 3D printing?

This question gets a resounding YES! Using 3D printing from product concept to creation can help reduce the time and costs needed to get your new idea to market and into the hands of your eager customers.

In broad strokes, the product development cycle includes the need for physical prototypes at several stages of design including:

• Concept
• Assembly / Fit
• Functional
• Life Test
• Regulatory

3D printing these different iterations offers the benefits of digital manufacturing — think speed, agility, and lowered costs for one-off production — to every stage of product development.

Taking a 3D model directly to a 3D printer for fabrication speeds the process of prototyping. Digital models can be made quite quickly using a variety of 3D printing technologies, removing the needs for many steps in other, more traditional fabrication technologies. No tooling is needed, for example, nor is there a waiting period while molds are made and filled. It’s also much faster and more precise than hand-fabricating.

Following review of each prototype for the parameters necessary, subsequent versions can be made quickly to get to just the right look and fit before moving into more finessed prototypes. Tweaking a digital file to adjust for better look, fit, appropriate scale, or other needs can be done quickly, with a next iteration 3D printed potentially same-day.

Some 3D printing options, like HP and Carbon, enable the capability of prototyping and producing on the same system or family, as different materials and parameters can move ever closer to a market-ready product. By iterating on the same system that will be used for the final product, quality control can be kept in-hand every step of the way, meaning there are no surprises when the first end-use production begins.

When working with a service bureau like Shapeways, additional expertise and access to different technology suites comes into play for a high-quality experience every step of the way.

Shapeways’ rapid prototyping services offer:

• Fast Turnaround
• Variety of Materials
• Reliable Quality

We go over the full business case for 3D printing prototypes in this article for more depth.

Rapid Prototyping Pricing

Once the decision has been made to rapid prototype using 3D printing by engaging a service bureau, one large question remains: pricing.

Shapeways lays out clearly its pricing structuring, from engaging a designer to simply uploading a model for an instant quote.

Among the considerations for our pricing are:

• Materials:
  • Material Volume
  • Machine Space
  • Number of parts
  • Production
  • Bounding Box Volume
  • Support Volume
• Manufacturing Speed:
  • Priority
  • Economy
  • Rush
• Shipping cost
• Taxes

Bulk pricing is also available for large orders. For full details, see our pricing overview here.

Customer examples

As popular wisdom holds that “show, don’t tell” is the best way to prove a point, we’d like to share some examples of customer rapid prototyping achieved through the Shapeways platform.

Just a few of our customer successes include:

Atlas Games

Innovative tabletop gaming mainstay Atlas Games has plenty of decades of experience in creating card games, board games, and roleplaying games. The company turned to Shapeways to bring its new dice-based game to fruition for a release through Kickstarter, creating a realizable visual of Dice Miner for potential backers to see prior to sale. The 3D printed prototypes of game pieces helped carry the new game from early design through a playable final product.

Jeff Tidball, Chief Operating Officer of Atlas Games, says of working with Shapeways: “Dice Miner’s Deluxe Edition will have a plastic PVC mountain, so we used Shapeways to prepare early prototypes of that component. We used Shapeways for two purposes. First, to playtest using components as close as possible to the final version, to make sure they performed as we expected at the table. Second, to evaluate their producibility while holding physical objects, as opposed to needing to evaluate them only on screen, or in our imaginations.”

LuminoGO

Using 3D printing to prototype a comfortable, reusable new face mask helped the LUMINO team quickly respond to pandemic needs. Developing the LuminoGo mask for full facial visibility as well as wearer safety features including UVC light or an integrated filter to sterilize breathing air was no mean feat, requiring significant prototyping — and the team turned to Shapeways to 3D print almost every part of the mask to get it all ready for safe wearing on the market.

LUMINO CTO Bernhard Neuwirth says: “Almost all parts are 3D printed. The main reasons for us have been fast prototyping, fast production, choice of materials and colours, which is important for branding and personalization. The big difference with competitors is that we have already working prototypes.” And: “Shapeways was helpful in every way from early on in the project. I especially liked the very fast production options, the choice of materials and the amazing quality of the product. Traditional production methods would be injection moulding. We will certainly do that in the future. Meanwhile we produce already, while optimising the product. We use 3D-print as a production method.”

SNOOZ

Working with Shapeways to 3D print dozens (and dozens and dozens) of designs to reach the ideal sound system, the SNOOZ team cut substantial time and costs in their production process by rapidly prototyping. The savings over traditional machining was major enough that this Las Vegas-based startup has now been working with Shapeways for more than five years — and still has more product work with us in the pipeline for the next devices.

SNOOZ CTO and Co-Founder Eli Lazar explains: “Without 3D printing, I am not sure we could have ever developed a viable product, or at least one that people actually liked. Our fan blade is entirely custom, and small details make a huge difference. A 1-degree extra twist in the blades or 1mm extra length or width of the blades, and it generates a whole different set of tones. You can use software to simulate the acoustics for a fan blade design, and we did do quite a bit of this. However, these simulations can take up to a few weeks to run, and they are really not accurate enough to predict the subtleties that we were interested in. The best way I can explain this is that a stringed piano is always acoustically superior to a digital keyboard, because the timbre (perceived sound quality) of real sound is just better than any digital replica. With that said, we had to make actual parts. Having parts machined was always an option too, but from our experience, that is 10-25x higher cost, and perhaps 10x slower, which was just not an option for us.”

Please contact us today to learn more about our offerings and how we can help you every step of the way for your next project.

The post What is Rapid Prototyping? – A Complete Guide appeared first on Shapeways Blog.

What are the types of additive manufacturing?

At its simplest, additive manufacturing is the opposite of subtractive manufacturing. That is, rather than subtract material such as is often seen in traditional means of production — think CNC milling, cutting, carving — additive manufacturing adds material to build a shape.

3D printing is a part of the additive manufacturing workflow, though the two terms are often casually used interchangeably. Seven ASTM-recognized 3D printing processes are the most common forms of this technology suite, and include:

• Material extrusion
• Material jetting
• Binder jetting
• Sheet lamination
• Vat photopolymerization
• Powder bed fusion
• Directed energy deposition

The history of additive manufacturing began with rapid prototyping applications — but the future is squarely in end-use manufacturing.

Design for Additive Manufacturing

Design for Manufacturing (DFM) is a well-established discipline; Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) is a new set of skills specific to additive manufacturing.

Simply using an existing design file to 3D print a part will not likely result in a successful product. New ways of making have new design parameters, and existing designs can be optimized to better fit those new parameters to create a product tailored to the manufacturing technology used to create it. Additive manufacturing offers a freedom of design unprecedented in subtractive or molding processes. Geometries can be more complex, mass customization is possible, and internal structures can be created for complex one-piece designs.

DfAM leverages the unique capabilities of additive manufacturing including lightweighting, part reduction, and reduction of material and labor time and costs. When properly applied, DfAM allows for new ways of design — holes don’t have to be round anymore, and lattices can help provide the right amount of strength with less material, for instance.

Working with experts to design files offers immediate access to DfAM know-how.

Additive Manufacturing Materials

Plastic, metal, ceramics, and even food and living cells are among the materials that can be 3D printed. Most often, plastics and metals are used for the prototyping and production of new products.

Plastics

From early prototype to finished product, plastics are the most common material set in the additive manufacturing toolbox. These polymer materials may come in the form of filament, powder, resin, or pellet, depending on the 3D printing technology being used.

Some of the more common 3D printable plastics include PLA, ABS, TPU, and nylon. Reinforced and composite materials offer versatility and additional capabilities, such as strength or flexibility. Engineering-grade polymers like ULTEM and other high-temperature plastics also allow for high-performance end-use product creation such as might be seen in the aerospace industry.

The choice of plastic for a given project should take into account characteristics like finish, color, feel, and flexibility. Shapeways offers a large variety of polymer materials, like Nylon 12 (Versatile Plastic), which meets needs from prototyping to finished product, and Fine Detail Plastic, an acrylic material capable of extremely high detail. Flexible TPU, reinforced MJF Plastic PA12 Glass Beads, rigid polyurethane,  and visually appealing Multi-Color Polyjet are just a few other options for extended capabilities.

Metals

An ever-widening selection of metals are also 3D printable, in the form of wire and, most commonly, powders. Metals like stainless steel, steel alloys, aluminum, and Inconel are becoming common in additive manufacturing. Metal-infused plastic filaments are also enabling metal production on desktop 3D printers. Metal materials require sintering after being 3D printed, and often smoothing processes to shine surfaces to the right finish.

Both directly 3D printing and lost-wax casting capabilities expand Shapeways’ portfolio to bring you the right choice in metal for your project. 3D printed stainless steel or aluminum offer the geometrical freedom to design in familiar metals, while lost-wax casting expands offerings to precious metals like platinum, gold, and more using 3D printed wax molds.

Ceramics

Whether for medical, high-temperature, or artistic applications, ceramic materials like porcelain are 3D printable. Ceramic materials are typically heat-resistant and/or biocompatible, lending their use to a variety of industries. Post-processing procedures like firing will generally be required to finish a ceramic 3D print.

Pastes

Paste materials can be extruded in often more experimental applications. Concrete 3D printing, for example, is becoming prominent in new construction approaches. Food such as chocolate or purees can also be extruded to create unique takes on food.

Bioprinting

While for the most part a future-looking area, bioprinting — that is, 3D printing using living cells — is a rising area of R&D. With an eventual goal of functional 3D printed organs for implant, to date most research has been on a much smaller scale, with successes seen with liver and kidney cells, as well as a small beating heart.

Additive manufacturing workflows

The full additive manufacturing workflow comprises design, print preparation, 3D printing, and post-processing. Design, leveraging DfAM know-how, creates the file from which the 3D printer will operate. Slicing prepares that file for the 3D printer, as each “slice” of the design will represent a layer of the additively laid-down material. The actual 3D printing is the stage in which a 3D printer produces the three-dimensional object, typically in a layer-by-layer process. Post-processing may involve very little work or a comprehensive several-stage finishing process to take the finished 3D print job to completed additive manufacturing project.

Post-processing/finishing

Often referred to as the “dirty little secret” of additive manufacturing, post-processing is a necessary step that follows the work of the 3D printer. Depending on the 3D printing process and material used, as well as desired end properties, any number of steps may be involved. Shapeways continues to expand on post-processing options for the right finish every time.

Among some of the most common post-processing steps are:

Unpacking

Powder bed 3D printing, as the name implies, uses a powder bed. Parts made in these processes must be unpacked from the full “cake” of powder, a process that generally involves manual excavation to “dig them out” as it were.

Powder removal

Once out of the powder cake, each part made on a powder bed fusion 3D printer must be cleaned of all excess powder.

Support removal

Supports are required for FFF and SLA 3D printing processes, allowing for the three-dimensional building of each part. These supports are needed only during the 3D printing itself, and must be removed cleanly from each part after the build is complete, including sanding down or otherwise smoothing the points of connection.

Curing

Resin-based processes like SLA require parts to be cured to “set” the resin completely following 3D printing. Parts are only complete once they have been fully cured, often with UV light.

Firing

Just as traditional ceramics must be fired in a kiln, 3D printed ceramics must be fired to firmly set and solidify design geometries.

Sintering

Metal 3D prints must be sintered to firmly fuse all metal content, as a “green” part comes off most metal 3D printing processes. Sintering in a furnace removes all non-metal content, shrinking the part down by a known percentage from the 3D print to the final size.

Assembling

Any multiple-piece builds 3D printed part-by-part must be assembled manually. This most often applies to large builds that exceed the size of a single 3D printer build volume and instead have to be broken down into parts to be put together after printing.

Polishing

Metal 3D prints requiring a “shiny” appearance require polishing to remove the look of layering or other surface roughness.

Smoothing

Similar to polishing for metal prints, chemical smoothing processes remove the look of layer lines from polymer prints, creating a smooth surface finish.

Dyeing / Painting

Color is typically the final step in post-processing, through batch dyeing, painting, or other application of colorfast dye.

Applications of Additive Manufacturing

Rapid prototyping was the first application area for 3D printing. So tied together was this application to the technology that it was frequently called “RP”. As the technologies have developed, so too have applications. “3D printing” often referred to the work of makers and hobbyists using desktop 3D printers to create projects outside of prototyping, from game pieces to functional household items. “Additive manufacturing” is often used for industrial usage including end-use part production.

When to Use Additive Manufacturing vs. Conventional Manufacturing

The best application for additive manufacturing is complementary to conventional manufacturing. While in some cases additive manufacturing may displace conventional processes, additive and subtractive or molding technologies work best together.

Additive manufacturing can be applied effectively to low-volume manufacturing, mass customization, and highly complex, high-value parts. Conventional manufacturing processes are still best suited for mass production of alike parts, for instance.

Just as sometimes a hammer is needed and other times a wrench, it’s all about using the best tool — or process — for a particular job.

Ideal use of each type of additive manufacturing technology

Each 3D printing technology has its best-fit application areas. While some are well adapted for individual usage to create one-off parts, others can be scaled to manufacturing applications. Where and when are some of the most common applications for each technology?

Material extrusion

Perhaps the most common 3D printing technology, material extrusion — often referred to as FFF, or fused filament fabrication — uses an extruder to lay successive layers of material, most often in the form of plastic filament. Many desktop 3D printers use this technology; it is the most widely available for personal use. FFF 3D printing is well-suited for all stages of prototyping, from rough idea to functional prototype; for making tooling, jigs and fixtures; and for use among makers, hobbyists, and designers. Engineering-grade polymers, metal- or ceramic-filled composites, and other advanced materials also make extrusion-style 3D printers appropriate for some end-use production applications.

Material jetting

Most material jetting processes use liquid photopolymer droplets, which are then cured layer-by-layer with UV light. This process is best understood as being somewhat similar to inkjet (2D) printing. Material jetting is an industrial additive manufacturing process typically requiring a large 3D printer, and can be used for prototyping and end-use parts. Some material jetting systems enable color 3D printing.

Binder jetting

Binder jetting uses a liquid binding material to bond powder materials. The process can be thought of as an intersection between SLS and material jetting technologies. Binder jetting can be done with metal or sand materials to create, respectively, prototype or finished parts, or sand molds.

Sheet lamination

Sheets of metal or even paper material can be bonded together using sheet lamination 3D printing processes. For metal materials, ultrasonic additive manufacturing uses ultrasonic waves and mechanical pressure to bond layers. Laminated object manufacturing uses an adhesive coating to bond sheets of paper or plastic. Especially when using paper, material costs are quite low for sheet lamination. Geometries are not often highly complex given the methodology in these processes, gearing them more toward prototyping usage.

Vat photopolymerization

Stereolithography (SLA) and digital light processing (DLP) processes are classified as vat photopolymerization processes, in which liquid photopolymer in a vat is selectively cured by light-activated polymerization. These processes can be quite complex, down to the micro scale (microstereolithography) and can create some of the most detailed 3D prints. Applications range from prototyping to mass production. Nearly every hearing aid and orthodontic aligner on the market today is produced using SLA technology, as are many jewelry molds.

Powder bed fusion

One of the most common industrial additive manufacturing processes, powder bed fusion (PBF) uses thermal energy to selectively fuse regions of a powder bed. PBF processes include selective laser sintering (SLS) — using a laser — and electron beam melting (EBM) — using an electron beam. Plastics, metals, and ceramics can be 3D printed using PBF processes, creating prototype and end-use parts.

Directed energy deposition

Directed energy deposition (DED) melts materials, generally metals, as they are deposited. This process has the capability to repair and maintain existing structures, as a laser mounted on a multi-axis arm can move around relatively freely to lay down focused material. Maintenance and repair (MRO) applications are the most common for this process, which often requires post-processing to smooth the generally large layers.

Additive Manufacturing Pricing

Once the decision has been made to use additive manufacturing by engaging a service bureau, one large question remains: pricing.

Shapeways lays out clearly its pricing structuring, from engaging a designer to simply uploading a model for an instant quote. 

Among the considerations for our pricing are:

• Materials:
  • Material Volume
  • Machine Space
  • Number of parts
  • Production
  • Bounding Box Volume
  • Support Volume
• Manufacturing Speed:
  • Priority
  • Economy
  • Rush
• Shipping cost
• Taxes

Bulk pricing is also available for large orders. See our pricing overview here for full details.

Customer Examples

As popular wisdom holds that “show, don’t tell” is the best way to prove a point, we’d like to share some examples of customer work achieved through the Shapeways platform. Just a few of our customer successes include:

Quantum Systems

Taking to the sky, drones are already high-tech — but 3D printing brings them to new heights. Quantum Systems specializes in making advanced eVTOL (electric vertical take off and landing) drones. These are anything but hobbyist toys, as the Quantum Systems team recently tested their Trinity F90+ to deliver medical samples. These machines must be robust, complex, and lightweight, lending their manufacture ideally to incorporating 3D printing.

Quantum Systems’ CEO, Florian Seibel, explains, “The complex geometry of 3D-printed parts saves weight by using synergy effects. With synergy effects we mean that with 3D-printed parts we are able to reduce the total number of parts by designing multiple-use parts with integral functionality.”

My Track Technology

“All-terrain vehicle” may not be the first application to spring to mind for 3D printing, but My Track Technology (MTT) used the technology to slash time and costs in their production process. Rapid prototyping and strong end-use 3D printed parts brought their eco-friendly, electric remote-controlled track vehicle to life for use in extreme terrains.

Michael Martel from MTT sums up the experience of working with Shapeways to develop the machine in three key benefits: “Speed, cost and simplicity. When our 3D drawing is finished we don’t have to produce fabrication drawings. We just upload the 3D file on Shapeways’ website. Very simple. We also do not have to build a mold for 1 up to 50 parts. It’s very great cost saving. Later when the design is perfect we can build a mold and be confident that the mold will meet our requirements. We are also not limited to a particular shape with 3D printing, practically every shape is possible. Finally, the precision, repeatability and tolerances are better than most of the others manufacturing methods.”

Cityscape Rings

Unique jewelry design is an excellent showpiece for 3D printing. The Cityscape rings emerged from designer and trained goldsmith Ola Shekhtman, who loves architecture and travel, and sought to capture iconic landmarks in a wearable way. She debuted her Cityscape collection in 2015, and has sold well over 6,000 rings through her e-commerce shops.

She says of 3D printing, “3D gives me three kinds of freedom: 1. Geographic freedom. I can live where I want and travel all year long, and the only tool I need to have with me is my laptop. 2. Freedom of creativity. Details rule! Customers adore buildings with columns and tiny statues, which I create in 3D software. It is tricky to pierce windows [by hand] and 3D lets me make it easily. And, 3. Freedom of time – To make 1000 rings by hand I would spend nearly 100 years. Shapeways can produce this amount in 2-3 weeks. Using 3D modeling I can make a city once and it is available to order in any quantity, forever, which frees me up for new designs.”

LuxMea

A standout design case for 2020 emerged from LuxMea Studio, which specializes in computational design and fabrication. The company developed its customizable Nuo Masks, intended for comfortable, durable, reusable fit for each individual’s face. Rapid prototyping and reliable bespoke mask manufacturing showcases 3D printing for mass customization — and for pandemic safety with style.

The LuxMea team explains: “We have been working with Shapeways since early 2016 and Shapeways has always been our trusted and go-to partner for commercial 3D printing production. We had a meeting last year and discussed the possibility for mass customization. The Shapeways API allows certain software platforms to export files directly to Shapeways, without the need of manually uploading each file. Without Shapeways’s API, we would have to limit the quantity and increase the cost to account for manually uploading and checking for each file.”

Please contact us today to learn more about our offerings and how we can help you every step of the way for your next project.

The post What is Additive Manufacturing? – A Complete Guide appeared first on Shapeways Blog.

Partnered with Shapeways, the makers of MTT were able to use 3D printing to cut substantial time and costs in their production process by rapidly prototyping designs and printing strong, end-use ready parts that can resist the elements.

We interviewed Michael Martel from MTT to find out how MTT has utilized Shapeways’ 3D printing technology to ramp up production with speed and efficiency.

What is your name and your role at My Track Technology?

My name is Michael Martel and I’m in charge of the MTT product development.

How did My Track Technology start?

10 years ago my father and I were discussing a product that can enhance human power but as small as possible to be able to go where a person can walk. The main goal was to be able to get someone that is injured out of deep forest and at the same time bring reduced mobility persons to extreme places.

What kinds of customers can MTT benefit?

Our customers are very broad. First, there is the military for rescue and material carrying. Mining for carrying material underground without any fumes and CO2 that has to be ventilated out of the mine. Wildfire suppression help, carrying water pumps and equipment. Also fat bike trails grooming, for agriculture use on wet fields or carrying a freezer in the field for fruits and vegetable harvesting. Replacing a generator on construction sites with MTT-154 onboard 2000W inverter, and much much more. 

How did you find Shapeways?

Four years ago one of my electronic employees bought a cheap FDM printer that he assembled himself. At that time I was very skeptical of 3D printing, I was thinking it was only for toys and figurines. Nevertheless I let him try some joystick parts. I was at the time building it with a laser cut aluminum sheet, bent and welded to make an enclosed case. His part with FDM (PLA) was so successful that we used it for our vehicle for about a year, very amazing. The problem with this part was the surface finish, time to print and resistance to wet environments. I was so impressed by this test that I decided to learn more on 3D printing methods, suppliers and more. This is when I came to Shapeways’ website and was very impressed by the technical information and production capabilities.

I then decided to manufacture a couple of parts at Shapeways and I have never been disappointed since. Shapeways is not the least expensive but I tested many suppliers over the years and I did a lot of cold temperature testing. Shapeways always has the strongest and nicer finished parts. 

Unless you have $100,000 or more to invest in an SLS or HP printer you will never have the quality, robustness, precision and surface finish of a Shapeways part.

What are the benefits of using Shapeways over an in-office printer?

When buying a printer you have an amazing amount of choice offered to you. The problem is to have a printer for all of the applications. The size of the parts, the surface finish, the resistance and the productivity of this printer are all to be considered. Unless you have $100,000 or more to invest in an SLS or HP printer you will never have the quality, robustness, precision and surface finish of a Shapeways part. Shapeways is a one-stop shop for 3D printing projects. They have multiple machines to accommodate all the requirements of all special projects. So for us Shapeways has been a great partner to reach all of our goals, present and future.

What are the benefits of 3D printing with Shapeways over other manufacturing methods?

Speed, cost and simplicity. When our 3D drawing is finished we don’t have to produce fabrication drawings. We just upload the 3D file on Shapeways’ website. Very simple. We also do not have to build a mold for 1 up to 50 parts. It’s very great cost saving. Later when the design is perfect we can build a mold and be confident that the mold will meet our requirements. We are also not limited to a particular shape with 3D printing, practically every shape is possible. Finally, the precision, repeatability and tolerances are better than most of the others manufacturing methods.

“The precision, repeatability and tolerances [of 3D printing technology] are better than most of the others manufacturing methods

What aspect of My Track Technology production do you use 3D printing and Shapeways for?

We are right now moving to production and most of the parts that had previously been tested with 3D printing are now thermo or injection molded. 3D printing saves us an amazing amount of money by testing different designs quickly. When the design is confirmed the mold can be built with the peace of mind that this part works perfectly well.

The other 10 parts that are needed for an MTT-154 2020 will continue to be built with 3D printing technologies. Up to about 100 MTT-154 units per year it totally makes sense to print parts in Nylon. We save the initial cost of the mold and we can design parts that are impossible to manufacture with a traditional mold.

What materials do you use?

Right now we mostly use SLS, with Nylon PA12 (Versatile Plastic), dyed black. We also use rubber like TPU to create custom grommets.

How does working with Shapeways affect the speed of your manufacturing?

In our MTT machine there are about 20 plastic parts. Last year we were in a very big rush to do a test with the US military and we had no time to build 20 molds for every single part. We saved at least 6 months (concept, drawing for molding, mold building and parts production) by 3D printing with Shapeways.

How about any cost savings?

For 20 plastic parts the average cost of a mold is $3500 * 20 = 70,000 USD. This money would have been a very big gamble knowing that we were unsure if these parts would meet the functionality, design and resistance we needed. $70K is a lot of money for a startup. It’s manageable, but $70K without any guarantee that this mold will be useful in the future is unacceptable.

What is the most important aspect of working with Shapeways for you?

First, when we want a strong part I know that Shapeways will not disappoint us. Also the website is very easy to use, and I like the freedom to choose the shipping you want depending on the requirement of a particular project. The quality control is also excellent because I never return a part. Finally, the service when I need information is excellent.

Can you share any current or future goals for My Track Technology?

The goal right now is really to move to production and send machines to the customers that have reserved these vehicles in the past. The product we sell right now is our MTT-154 2020, with the possibilities to have only one unit with a trailer/sled or with the flip of a switch multiple units coupled together for special military and industrial applications.

Finally, we have orders for some small MTT-like robots. The frame will be built entirely in SLS printing at Shapeways very soon.

The next stage in 2021-2022 will be remote control with satellite or 4G and autonomous capabilities.

Efficient Manufacturing with 3D Printing

My Track Technology’s vast range of potential applications will see it become an essential tool for assisting humans in navigating challenging terrains and environments. Using 3D printing has made MTT’s production process much more efficient and affordable and shows how 3D printing can contribute to smarter manufacturing.

Find out how Shapeways can help with your rapid prototyping and robotics manufacturing needs.

The post How My Track Technology Uses 3D Printing for Their Remote All-Terrain Vehicle appeared first on Shapeways Blog.

The Kespry Aerial Intelligence Platform, which allows users to design and launch autonomous aerial surveying missions

When you’re pioneering a new technology, affordable iteration and scalability are key. Kespry needed a partner and a process that would help them do something that’s still extraordinary: develop parts using 3D printing, and then integrate those parts into end-use manufacturing. Reliability, repeatability, and proactive support would underpin the success of the collaboration. “We were a very small company trying to scale up our product and get it out to market as quickly as possible. We were looking for a supplier who had reasonable scale and the right combination of lead time and cost,” remembers Jordan Croom, Kespry’s lead mechanical engineer.

Croom came to Kespry, appropriately, from the aerospace industry, where he did additive manufacturing research and development with both metals and plastics. This background prepared him to apply 3D printing in a relatively novel way. “I had a good understanding of what was possible. We were in a unique place to be able to incorporate additive manufacturing into full-scale production, which I think is somewhat rare, even though it’s becoming more common these days. So that was new for me — to be making multiple hundreds of something per order and incorporate them into our production line.”

“We were a very small company trying to scale up our product and get it out to market as quickly as possible. We were looking for a supplier who had reasonable scale and the right combination of lead time and cost.”

Shapeways offered the kind of scalability and reliability that Kespry needed. “When we started with Shapeways, it was before we even had our first customer, and now we have hundreds of drones going out every quarter. And it’s been a smooth transition to get to that point. That’s definitely not true of all of our vendors. Shapeways is one of the few that’s held out throughout that scaling process.”

A look at Kespry’s 3D mapping software, part of their Aerial Intelligence Platform

Affordability and speed play equally important roles in the 3D printing-for-manufacturing calculus. “Leveraging 3D printing and Shapeways allowed us to get things out there faster without paying an exorbitant premium to do it. And it also allows us to make modifications and improvements to our product without interrupting shipping them out to customers. So we can make a change and incorporate it in production in a few weeks, whereas if we were doing injection molding, it would take maybe a couple of months to make that sort of change. Especially now at production scale, Shapeways can handle the quantities that we’re dealing with really well, without long lead times.”

“We do look for that teamwork and responsiveness in a partner, and Shapeways has shown that to us. I would definitely recommend Shapeways to other companies.”

This became particularly important when it came to the aesthetic covers that enclose the drone’s delicate inner workings. “I know for sure that if we’d tried to make an injection mold for that, it would have been exorbitantly expensive for us. We’ve been able to modify it relatively frequently without much cost impact at all because we’re not investing in fixed tooling,” making it possible for Kespry to bring the best possible product to market, faster. “Getting the right partner is definitely important to us. Somebody with repeatable quality, where we know we can prove a design once. We don’t have to worry about it changing or breaking in future orders.”

“Leveraging 3D printing and Shapeways allowed us to get things out there faster without paying an exorbitant premium to do it. And it also allows us to make modifications and improvements to our product without interrupting shipping them out to customers. Especially now at production scale, Shapeways can handle the quantities that we’re dealing with really well, without long lead times.”

Along the way, of course, there have been a few hiccups, but, “If we do have an issue, Neil, our account manager is very responsive, very proactive and patient. I’ll get an email, photos, a description, etc. asking us if it’s ok to ship, if they should reprint them. We do look for that teamwork and responsiveness in a partner, and Shapeways has shown that to us. I would definitely recommend Shapeways to other companies,” said Veronica Espiritu, Kespry’s production buyer.

In the end, the Kespry drone wouldn’t exist without Shapeways’ prototyping and manufacturing support. As Jordan put it, “We’ve been ordering Shapeways parts basically since the beginning. It’s been helpful to work with Shapeways because you’ve been able to scale with us, going from just a few parts a week to hundreds per month. Shapeways has been able to absorb the increase in demand. I think it’s reflective of both Shapeways and the state of the industry and technology that we’re able to do that in a reliable and repeatable way — without having any negative effect on usability and reliability as a product.”

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So you’re launching a physical product. Maybe it’s just a simple object, maybe it’s a hardware product with integrated electronics, or maybe it has mechanical functionality. You’ve built one (or probably many) prototypes, you’ve launched a successful crowdfunding campaign in order to manufacture your first batch, and now you need to do just that.

This is the point at which many entrepreneurs run into trouble – how do you scale from 1 to 1,000 units? Or 10,000? Maybe even 100,000 if you’re lucky. There are many factors to consider when scaling your manufacturing, but one of obvious concern is the method with which you’ll create the physical components for your product.

So how does someone go about choosing the right method that will scale along with his or her business? Here we’ll explore the pros and cons of two popular types of plastic part manufacturing: injection molding and 3D printing.

Background

When focusing on plastic components and products, there are traditionally few manufacturing methods available, the oldest and most common being injection molding. While injection molding has dominated the manufacturing landscape for decades, new techniques, such as 3D printing, have begun to gain traction by offering an alternative at costs competitive with injection molding for low-volume runs.

Unfortunately, there is no single manufacturing method that is perfect for every part and situation. As you’re thinking about creating a new product or scaling up the production of an existing one, it’s critical that you take special care to understand the advantages and disadvantages associated with both methods.

Injection Molding

Injection molding is one of the oldest high-volume manufacturing processes, wherein a molten material (such as a thermoplastic) is injected into a metal mold. Once injected, the thermoplastic takes on the mold cavity’s shape, is cooled, and is ejected as a solid part.

Injection molding is typically used for producing high volumes of the same object. For instance, if you’re looking to manufacture 100,000 pairs of identical plastic sunglasses, injection molding would be a great way to go about doing that.

The method does have its pitfalls, however. First, there is a large upfront investment involved in making a mold. Molds can be reused to make hundreds of thousands, if not millions of parts, but can cost anywhere from a few thousand dollars to over $100,000. As a result, there is an inflexibility that comes with needing to create a new mold for every new or modified part. That said, injection molding is a complex but powerful process that has been the go-to solution in the plastic part manufacturing market for years.

3D Printing

3D printing, or additive manufacturing, is a 30-year-old technology that has picked up a lot of steam in recent years. Unique to 3D printing is the process of adding material together to create the end part. This is opposed to cutting material away, like in milling, or reshaping it, like in injection molding.

There are many benefits inherent to this process, such as the ability to produce completely custom parts with virtually no upfront cost. With 3D printing, rather than needing a new mold for every new part, all you need is a new digital file. Additionally, 3D printing is capable of producing shapes that are impossible, or very uneconomical, to produce with any other manufacturing method.

Like injection molding, 3D printing also has its downsides. Today, many 3D printing processes are expensive, slow, and may produce parts that are not up to industry quality or material standards.

So, what process should you use to manufacture your parts – 3D printing or injection molding? When considering both methods, deciding between the two can become rather complicated and case-specific.

Considering Unit Cost & Order Volume

As previously mentioned, the prerequisite to injection molding any part is creating the mold itself. Mold costs vary greatly, but the cheapest ones typically start at around $5,000. Once you have a mold, the cost to make each unit is very little considering it really only includes the plastic used (which is very cheap), and perhaps a tiny bit of labor. This means that the upfront cost of making a mold gets amortized over your production run; with each additional unit you produce, the unit cost decreases since the initial mold cost is being spread across another unit.

3D printing is a different animal. Because 3D printing is a digital manufacturing technology, there is virtually no upfront cost to making a new part. At the end of the day, 3D printed part costs can be attributed mainly to material cost, manufacturing time, and labor. All of these are more expensive for 3D printers than for injection molding, but again, without an upfront mold cost the barrier to entry is a lot lower.

So, looking purely at unit costs, which method is more economical? There is always a point at which injection molding becomes more price competitive than 3D printing. Today, this point is usually somewhere between 1 and 10,000 units for parts that could be made to satisfaction with either method.

The figure below shows the relative unit cost for runs of the same theoretical injection molded and 3D printed part, plotted logarithmically. This model assumes a mold cost of $10,000 with each injection molded unit adding $0.20 of material cost. It assumes the 3D printed unit cost for the same part to be $20/unit for any run volume.

This logarithmic graph shows the theoretical unit cost for the same part manufactured separately with 3D printing and with injection molding. Using 3D printing, the unit cost remains at $20, regardless of the number of parts produced. Using injection molding, a $10,000 mold must be made prior to making the first unit. From there, each unit can be made for an additional $0.20, thus making the effective unit cost equal to $0.20 + $10,000/# of units produced. From the above graph, we can see that due to the upfront mold cost with injection molding, it only becomes the more cost effective production method if you are producing more than 500 units.

Other Considerations

Outside of unit cost and order volume, there are other considerations that come into play when choosing between injection molding and 3D printing:

Complexity – Whether an object is organically shaped or has ultra-sharp edges, its type and degree of complexity can help inform which manufacturing method you choose. Ultimately, you should choose the method best suited for making what you’ve designed. When thinking of “creative” or organic shapes as complexity, 3D printing wins. When thinking of hard engineering constraints and tolerances, injection molding [ed. note: most often] wins.

Production Time – Production time is typically determined by the manufacturer’s capacity and and the size of the production run. The many steps required to get something into production can factor into this timeline, from sourcing a manufacturer, to making a mold, to quality control, shipping and eventual delivery. You should always consider the manufacturer’s location, steps to getting to production, and guaranteed delivery time.

Iteration & Change – As with all competitive products and services, being able to iterate often and maintain agility is key to innovation. If you’re at the beginning of a long product development journey, spending a few thousand dollars on a mold that cannot be changed will most likely slow down your innovation cycle. However, if you’re at a point where your focus is scale and repeatability, then injection molding may prove to be more fitting than 3D printing.

Into the Future

As we look towards the future we’re seeing exciting developments within the realms of both 3D printing and injection molding. These advancements are making it easier and faster to get things made, and will hopefully lower the barrier so that more and more people can make the products they dream up.

Next time you find yourself on the journey to get something manufactured, consider the above factors and make the decision that will increase your chances of success in bringing a new product or part to life.

Looking to explore what 3D printing can do for your business? Get in touch with the Shapeways for Business team.

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