AdvancedTek Part of the Week – 1/29/16

Although this week’s part looks rather simple, printing higher quality, more meaningful jigs and fixtures such as this continues to be a very exciting application for 3D printing in the manufacturing industry. Converting assemblies to a single part with pause and insert features is a capability of both the Stratasys Insight Software and Professional FDM 3D printer. This feature gives our customers a new tool that helps them completely rethink the way they recreate assemblies to make the process more repeatable and consistent.

Traditionally, a part that requires multiple materials or part numbers would need to be manufactured separately and then assembled. In this case, the customer can print the part they need without any restriction to design and then insert other materials or parts into the print, mid-build. They can also solve this problem using nothing but the 3D printer.

This part has hex heads built into the ABS block. The customer wanted to do this because the fixture they were creating needed to utilize old tooling, which required use of the preexisting hardware. Printing in ABS allowed the customer to make a more cost effective part, while maintaining the strength and integrity of the material and accomplishing the job in the quickest and highest quality method.

This part very likely would not have be produced without the customer having direct access to a professional grade system. Having a system in-house allowed them to quickly solve a problem by simply pausing a print job mid-build to insert hardware.  Once the part was complete, they were able to use it immediately.

Please contact us if you would like additional information on this application or others!

Posted by Mike Nagle, AdvancedTek Business Development Manager