Category: Blog

For this week’s blog post, we’re featuring the launch of our latest White Paper that addresses support removal on one of the most commonly utilized 3D print technologies – Fused Deposition Modeling, or FDM.

This White Paper will discuss how throughput may be limited with traditional submersion support removal systems. We’ll review why current “default” mechanical and chemical post-print methods for FDM are inadequate along with details of the revolutionary Volumetric Velocity Dispersion (VVD) automation technology. See how VVD utilizes different forms of mechanical energy to increase FDM support removal efficiency, reduce drying time, and mitigate the risk of damaged parts.

Access the White Paper here.

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You and your team have worked hard on a new production-ready FDM design with intentions of avoiding the purchase of a costly mold. From feature strength and tolerances through functionality and aesthetics, everything looks great on your computer screen and expectations are high. Next, you run it through some default parameters within your slicing software, press print, and walk away, right? This critical step is often taken for granted. If you overlook design and file processing upstream, you may experience unexpected results or settle for poor quality that will not survive your required finishing process downstream.

In order to achieve that ‘injection-molded finish’, a sound part structure is essential. Here is an example of a part build that was not optimized, leading to warping and separation. By reorienting the build path, the gaps created by the default raster parameters were filled and strengthened. The part is now stronger and porosity was eliminated to take on the appropriate finishing needs.

Left: Raster gaps (before); Right: Gaps eliminated (after); Fix: Reorienting Build Path

In addition, critical geometries such as mating surfaces and load-bearing features may not achieve sufficient density or detail. Here you can see that a critical mating feature was essentially glossed-over in the printing process due to printer limitations in the initial build orientation. By rotating the build, you can build the appropriate contours and accurately print the desired feature.

Left: Poor print orientation, lack of detail (before); Right: Proper orientation, accurate detail (after); Fix: Adjusting Build Orientation

Another consideration is wall thickness. There will be instances where default parameters will leave your walls hollow. During support removal in traditional dunk tanks or baths, this space will allow solution and contaminants to get in between your build material, leading to a weakened or damaged part. During design, the interior wall can be thickened or the contours can be rotated to eliminate those gaps. Additionally, if you are subject to porous part builds, an automated PostProcess spray solution like the BASE or DECI that was used to finish the parts shown here will avoid the ‘soaking’ effect that can cause support material within hallowed walls to swell and cause damage.

This example FDM part (click for full screen) that was printed with the intention to be finished with injection-molded quality was achieved in two steps with a combination of PostProcess’ automated, intelligent solutions – 1) one minute of technician attendance time in the DECI Support Removal solution to finish a batch of 16 parts in 1 hour process time, and 2) five minutes of technician attendance time in the NITOR Surface Finish solution to finish a batch of 50 parts in 6 hours process time. The combination of PostProcess’ proprietary chemistry, highly engineered hardware, and AUTOMAT3D® software creates a complete solution that allows for just minutes of touch time instead of what would have previously required many hours of manual technician labor.

By including the above design practices into your process, you will set your part up properly for the required finish. Without these design considerations, you will find yourself hard-pressed to achieve that ‘injection-molded’ finish you are striving for. And when you are ready, contact PostProcess for a complete automated finishing solution to take your additive manufacturing workflow to full production.

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So you’ve decided to get a Continuous Liquid Interface Production (CLIP) printer. Congrats, this technology can print up to 100x faster than comparable stereolithography printers with similar or higher resolution. One critical step to be aware of in the CLIP process is cleaning the resin after printing. If you don’t want to waste valuable engineering and technician time hand-cleaning parts, you’ll have to consider the part washer add-on for CLIP resin cleaning. However, this is probably going to set you back tens of thousands of dollars just for a three-year lease. Additionally, this equipment can only clean one build at a time, making it difficult to run production or even small batches.

Fortunately, there is another option. PostProcess Technologies has developed automated and intelligent solutions that offer a more attractive ROI as well as improved efficiencies. The DEMI family of solutions can clean resin from CLIP parts and printer components. They deliver precise, hands-free support removal.

The DEMI family of solutions includes:

• The DEMI 400 Series
• The DEMI 800 Series
• The DEMI 910
• The DEMI 4000 Series

All of our solutions include the additive-formulated chemistry developed for resin removal that replaces the need for unsafe and unpleasant alcohols which were the previous standard. Along with our proprietary chemistry, our solutions offer additional control through our automated and intelligent software.

To request more information or see a custom ROI cost savings calculation, contact PostProcess.

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For this week’s blog post, we’re happy to share with you a deep dive into an area we regularly see exciting results with the implementation of our automated, intelligent systems.

PolyJet has grown to become one of the most utilized 3D printed polymers since its inception two decades ago and for most of that time, post-printing was only achieved through tedious manual cleaning or ineffective traditional finishing equipment. This white paper talks a little about how we approach this task differently – with a comprehensive solution that synchronizes hardware, chemistry, and software to revolutionize process.

Access the White Paper here.

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You use a software design package to create your 3D printed part. Data and analytics validate your design. A complex robot prints your part. And to ensure your part repeatedly meets specifications, you rely on yesterday’s labor-intensive tools for post-processing? A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. But there is a solution that leverages software and data through the finish line to fully optimize your additive manufacturing operation.

Operators have a keen understanding of what a final part should look like, feel like, and how to get there. But they are human – they get tired and their ‘look and feel’ will vary. At PostProcess, we have digitized tribal knowledge for all 3D print technologies to minimize human error with an automated solution delivering repeatable and predictable cycle with minimal attendance required.

Our AUTOMAT3D™ software is proactively sending ‘directions’ to our hardware every 60 seconds and reading key indicators every 30 seconds to ‘check its work’. This is like having an expert team surrounding your skilled labor performing a continuous quality audit. Our comprehensive solution of software, hardware, and chemistry work together offering a proven investment that will allow you to utilize those human experts more effectively.

These are just a few examples of how PostProcess’ technology maximizes your upstream technology to stabilize quality, rebalance your workflow, and free up skilled labor downstream. If you thought your 3D printer would get you out of the dark ages, but you are still relying on tools from yesteryear, PostProcess has a solution for you.

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If you’re as geeky about 3D printing as we are, you love seeing innovative applications of 3D print technologies in the news every day. This week’s story of the US Olympic Luge team utilizing FDM technology to manufacture prototypes of its racing sleds is another example of ingenuity in the application of additive materials.

The Team USA story reinforces the extensive use of FDM technology. FDM reigns as the most used 3D print technology for good reason – it offers advantages with its excellent strength-to-weight ratio and durability, low cost, and range of material options. However, with FDM prints, you are left with support material and seam lines between layers, requiring additional processing to become a functional part.

Today’s current methods of post-printing FDM parts certainly don’t align with the creative nature of the application of the technology…hand-held picks, pliers, sandpaper, and tubs using harsh chemicals requiring face masks and chemical-resistant gloves are the results you will return with a quick web search.

That’s why we’ve pioneered efficient and effective automated and intelligent support removal systems for advanced polymers like FDM. Our Support Removal Spray machines utilize multi-directional nozzles at high mass flow rates to provide an environment best suited for additive materials – hands-free, effective removal of support materials with low damage rates. Our systems adjust parameters such as speed, distance, direction, temperature, pressure, and pH all under software control. Driven by an intuitive software program, the system purposefully varies the levels of key parameters such as changes in spray pressure, duration of pause, and speed of travel to clean even the most complex geometries seen in additive manufactured polymer parts.

The PostProcess solution doesn’t end with hardware. In the constantly growing field of additive manufacturing, agile and responsive chemical development is constantly needed to optimize operations. Using a unique blend of eco-friendly detergents (aqueous in nature) at low concentrations in water, generally less than 10%, and a comparatively low pressure, the PostProcess solution is a faster, easier to use, and more production-oriented solution.

Our Support Removal Spray machines routinely achieve a 75% reduction in support removal cycle times when compared to old-school tub systems, largely due to our tireless chemical development. This is all achieved with an eye on the bottom line. Efficient support removal on FDM, SLA, and Polyjet parts is possible without exposing the workforce to harmful solutions, at a price that is marginal compared to the cost of traditional operations.

We promise to keep innovating to alleviate the post-printing bottleneck, so you can free up your precious time and resources and fill up our news feed with the newest and neatest applications of 3D printing.

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Who loves spending hours hand-sanding parts? After seeing a 3D printer bring a design to life with little to no manual intervention required, this tedious post-printing step seems counterintuitive. Often times, modeling or prototyping personnel are required to achieve a very high level of surface finish quality on additive manufactured parts. Sometimes referred to as “class-A” or “mirror finish”, this level of smoothness is realized through a laborious process using many different grits of sandpaper and literally hours of a technician’s time that sometimes results in very inconsistent end parts.

Taking FDM models with obvious build lines and processing in large batch quantities resulting in unnoticeable build lines in a few hours of unattended run time and a few minutes of technician time is indeed possible. Moving away from tedious hand-work, PostProcess’ software-driven, intelligent surface finishing solutions and finishing consumables can help get close if not completely to that prized “class-A” finish, eliminating the first several post-printing steps.

Imagine if there was a machine that a technician could simply put a batch of freshly printed parts into, turn on, and in a matter of hours (unattended) could have parts representative of a 300-400 grit sanded finish. The good news is that such an automated machine, or rather, a suite of machines, does exist. One of the more popular versions in our surface finish family is our RADOR surface finish solution.

Using a modern take on vibratory action and with intelligent software controls, PostProcess is able to mitigate hand-finishing labor hours and cost, leaving a freshly printed part undamaged and sufficiently prepared for the final high-level fine finishing needed to create realistic models and prototypes. The FDM example shown here, printed with a layer height of 200 μm, demonstrates the initial surface finishing process achieving an Ra reduction from 800 to 40. This batch of parts is now ready for the final step of dying, painting, or even plating.

Time is one of the most precious commodities for a technician in any manufacturing operation. Freeing up some of these valuable labor hours for higher-value tasks is one of the most important advantages of automating the finishing process. We’re focused solely on additive manufacturing, so contact us today to talk about optimizing your post-printing for any print technology.

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One of the things that gets our team most excited is showing customers how automated post-printing can transform their business. While a full analysis of the ROI requires a rigorous quantitative approach, we’ve narrowed down the investigation to a few key drivers that help frame the value proposition for a company to invest in automated 3D post-printing.

The benefits that can be realized with automation go beyond “show me the money”. Customers begin to think about the limitless possibilities that additive manufacturing promised. Their throughput can be scaled to reach their business goals faster. Overall operational productivity can be increased with reduced manual labor and resource utilization in other critical areas.

So today we’re sharing a real example from a consumer goods customer who’s had that “aha” moment. Their implementation of our DEMI 800 Production Series submersible support removal system (formerly named the DECI 4) has opened up a whole new world of productivity for their PolyJet print operation:

-decreased technician touch time per part 90% from 35 to 3.25 minutes
-reduced total cost per part 86% from $31.04 to $4.83

Want to learn more about how the DEMI 800 works? Check out this video of automated Polyjet Support Removal with yet another customer application. You can also contact us anytime and we will help you walk through our ROI calculator to learn more about the benefits to your unique additive manufacturing operation.

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We’ve found with years of talking to customers about 3D post-processing, very few have taken the time to quantify the cost of their post-print operations. With most attention paid to the design and build stages of additive manufacturing, this is understandable as post-printing is often an afterthought. But when parts do not depart the printer in a final finished state, there’s an additional cost to make it “customer-ready” that many have not taken into consideration. Today we are seeing more and more customers realizing just how important this post-print step is to getting to consistent part production.

Taking on the task to quantify current post-print costs is where the journey towards the benefits of automation starts. This includes labor rates, cost of damage, and technician and process times. This data frames the current state picture to then calculate the transformative benefits that an automated post-print operation can offer.

Here at PostProcess, we’ve developed a software-based ROI Calculator to help manufacturers step through this analysis. Based on years of experience and hundreds of thousands of benchmarked parts, we’ve built a tool that considers all of the customer’s operational factors and outputs how quickly they can see a return on an automated solution investment as well as realize gains in productivity and cost savings.

First, it starts with current print costs and volumes to help frame how beneficial automation can be depending on scale of operation. The second step is defining current post-print costs. Whether using manual labor or traditional finishing solutions, there are costs to consider regarding technician time, damage rates, and overall process times. From our experience, 95%+ of the time, post-printing is completed with labor-intensive, non-automated processes where inconsistent results don’t meet customer-ready requirements and time-consuming manual labor doesn’t scale.

Step 3 is understanding the impact of automation on post-printing. During this phase, using the customer’s benchmarked data for sample parts run in PostProcess’ machines in our FINISH3D lab, we input cycle times, batch sizes and labor rates for the minimal amount of technician time required. This brings us to step 4 where we see, based on investment cost including machine and consumables, the timing for break-even and then return on the investment. In our experience, customers have seen return in as little as a few weeks with implementation of our automated post-print solutions, and cycle times at a fraction of their non-automated processing.

Intrigued? You should be. Many companies, whether in prototyping or production scale operations of additive manufacturing, have much to gain in productivity and cost savings in the implementation of automated post-printing. Contact us today to learn more.

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Happy New Year to all, as we give you this week’s blog post as a reflection of this time of year when we celebrate the past and make plans for what lies ahead…

As we look to 2018, the impact of Additive Manufacturing seems to be reaching that exciting inflection point. Here at PostProcess, we’re seeing tremendous demand in production-scale post-print inquiries as one proof point of the market’s growth. In believing that the industry will finally put the “M” in AM in 2018, we aim to add our voice to the conversation in 3D printing … it’s not just about getting it printed, but how do you make 5000 customer-ready parts in a week?

Industry experts are echoing this same message. This week’s 3D Printing Industry “What’s Next for 3D Printing in 2018?” article highlights mass customized production, automation, software, and more. The awakening to the need for software-driven automation in post-printing to transform additive manufactured parts into finished goods is arriving.

We’re excited for what lies ahead this year, primed and prepped to solve the post-printing bottleneck with the world’s only automated, intelligent, comprehensive solution. To help the market realize its full potential, we’ll be spreading the good word about our ability to finish all 3D print technologies and materials with a unique combo of software, hardware, and chemistry across a range of part sizes and print volumes.

Looking forward to 2018 as the year we bury the dirty history of post-printing and elevate it to its proper position as an integral part of Industry 4.0.

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