Andrew Chary knew a 3D printer was in his future the minute he saw the intricately detailed models at an ArchiCAD seminar in 2007. The principal of Andrew Chary Architect, a high-end custom residential home designer in upstate New York, recalled how the 3D-printed models conveyed every aspect of the home design, down to the brick and roofing materials.
The firm uses the Z450 to create partial and full models of all types, including homes, outbuildings, and site master plans with land contours. Architects take 3D models of project variations to meetings with clients and public officials. “You always have a holistic view of the plan, Chary said.
A Machine to Call Your Own
3D printing service bureaus are sprouting up around the country as the technology grows in popularity — many offering 24-hour turnaround. For Chary, however, using a service bureau wasn’t an option.
Having a 3D printer in-house offers fast results for the firm and instant gratification for clients, Chary said. Plans are constantly evolving architects are continuously enhancing and updating designs, and the in-house machine can produce an updated model in mere hours. “I’m thrilled to have the ability to turn out models rapidly,” Chary said.
Once a client sees a model, “we usually get client feedback in a day or so,” he said, and recalled a time last year when the firm presented a model to a Lake Placid municipal review board and received rapid approval of a project proposal. Overall, Chary believes the 3D printer pays for itself in the credibility it brings the firm, the increased sales, and more.
The only time-consuming part of the process is preparing CAD files for the 3D printer, Chary reports. Perfecting textures and complex products such as windows, beams, planks, and shingles requires some time and effort.
Tangible Satisfaction
The advent of 3D visualization software was a giant step for architectural firms: “That was awesome,” Chary said. But they soon realized that many clients don’t fully understand what they are seeing in an on-screen walkthrough. For example, Chary explained, “The software doesn’t convey perspective, such as the relative size and locations of rooms. The walkthroughs don’t excite clients. Models do.
The fact that the Z450 can add annotations to a model such as text, arrows, and texture maps has led to another perk that delights Chary clients: seeing their name emblazoned on a model of their home to be.
Chary knows that in the world of 3D printing, he’s a leader among AEC firms. “We went to a Z Corp. user group meeting and found out we were one of only a few architecture firms using a 3D printer throughout the entire design process,” he recalled — for uses including master planning and site adjacency to opening model of a house including windows, furniture, etc. Architects even use the models in-house for roof checking.
Objet Geometries indulged visitors to its ‘À vitesse grand V’ event at Le Mans last week with a demonstration of its latest 3D printer, the Connex350. The event was designed to give attendees a taste of the unique benefits of the PolyJet Matrix technology for rapid prototyping. The Connex350 allows two polymers to be printed as separate entities or mixed during printing, increasing the reality and scope of the models that can be created in a single build.
“The technology suits many different applications perfectly, as illustrated by the diverse range of industries represented at the event,” states Amos Libermann, Objet Geometries Regional Manager for France, “Visitors from the automotive, medical, architecture, education, footwear, aviation and design industries and of course, prototyping bureaux were all there, to see the unique benefits of multi material printing.”
The Connex350, introduced to the market in 2009, is the second 3D printer in the Connex range, which has the unique ability to simultaneously print multiple materials with different mechanical and physical properties. The resultant Digital Materials can simulate overmoulding or create different material characteristics such as variable shore hardness. The Connex350 offers these capabilities at a lower investment, through its build volume of 350 mm x 350 mm x 200 mm, while delivering the same performance as its larger counterpart.
Objet customers from product development company Société CAD indus and rapid prototyping bureau SD3D spoke of the benefits Objet technology has brought to their businesses. “The precision and surface finish of models produced on the Connex500 press is exceptional, that combined with the ability to produce Digital Materials™, allows our customers to test functions such as aerodynamics, joints, overmoulded parts and different shore hardness with reliability,” commented Thierry Schneider from CAD’indus.
According to Stéphane Daniel, the founder of SD3D and an Objet Eden250 user, other benefits in addition to the extreme precision provided by Objet technology, include the excellent surface finish and minimum finishing requirements, “The Eden250 allows me to provide customers with a turnkey solution, so that they can progress from prototype to production in the smoothest possible manner.”
Another highlight for attendees was a sneak preview in the form of a model produced on a Connex500 for the Jaguar’s sponsored GT in Schools Design Challenge. The model is based on the Jaguar RSR GT2 that will take the grid this year at the legendary 24 Heures du Mans event.
Monterrey, Nuevo León, Mexico (February 3, 2010) – Instituto Tecnologico Y De Estudios Superiores De Monterrey (ITESM), one of the largest and most respected universities in Mexico, today announced its purchase of the world’s most robust and qualitative 3D printer: the Connex500™ by Objet Geometries. ITESM is the first academic organization in Latin America to acquire the advanced rapid prototyping system.
Launched in 2007, the Connex500 represents the first-ever system to allow 3D printing of several materials with different mechanical and physical properties simultaneously. Its patented PolyJet Matrix™ Technology jets materials in ultra-thin layers, immediately curing each layer with UV light – a process which yields models that closely emulate the look, feel and function of an exceptionally wide variety of end products. In addition, the system allows users to create composite materials that have pre-set combinations of mechanical properties, also a first for the industry. Today, the only other 3D printer offering these capabilities is Objet’s Connex350™, unveiled in June 2009.
About Instituto Tecnologico Y De Estudios Superiores De Monterrey (ITESM) Tecnológico de Monterrey was founded in 1943 thanks to the vision of Eugenio Garza Sada and a group of businessmen who established a non-profit association called Enseñanza e Investigación Superior, A. C. Tecnológico de Monterrey is a private, non-profit institution independent of and not related to any political party or religious group.
The work of the Tecnológico de Monterrey and of all of its campuses is supported by civil associations made up of a large group of outstanding leaders from all parts of the country, who are committed to quality in higher education. Each year, the trustees of these civil associations meet to establish the goals which will guide the important decisions needed for the Tecnológico de Monterrey to achieve its mission of becoming an engine for the development of local communities and the country.
Tecnológico de Monterrey enjoys the support of the national community, which participates in the lotteries the institution organizes to expand the scholarship program and the investment in infrastructure. To function as an educational institution, the Tecnológico de Monterrey operates under the statute of a Free University. Via:objet.com
Three-dimensional printing may sound like stuff from a sci-fi movie, but so did airplanes and cars when they were first mentioned in history. Today, 3D printers are as widespread as those cars (with bicycle wheels) of old, but they are, in fact, real and are not mere specks from a Harry Potter world.
3D printing technology, in general, works like traditional printers. A typical 3D printer spits out thin lines of plastic or other material, one layer on top of another, and in the process, creating a physical, three-dimensional object.
Most of today’s 3D printers are found in commercial settings, which is quite logical. After all, they cost thousands of dollars. Not for long, though. As some major printer vendors are increasingly showing interest in the technology.
Hewlett-Packard, for one, is partnering with smaller company Stratasys to sell commercial 3D printers. Soon, other manufacturers are expected to follow suit.
Hammered by the economic crisis that began in 2008, the printer and printer ink cartridge industries suffered a first-ever year-on-year drop in profits in 2009. Market research firms have released data showing the sectors’ profits fell by at least 2% from the previous year’s figures.
No wonder some industry executives are often pictured with some unprintable faces and are often heard with unquotable, not exactly filled with optimism quotes. But do not throw in that towel yet. The worst may yet be over, the bad news done and on their way out.
Some industry analysts are saying they have seen signs of recovery for the market. And who are we to contradict them. After all, we are all hungry for some good news.
Research firm Lyra Research, for example, has argued that “print volumes for desktop inkjet printers are expected to begin growing rapidly in 2012 as the technology enters more and more small office environments.” Beyond those technological gobbledygook and jargon, what those market data purveyors are telling us that the bad times are about to end, and the good times (together with their prone-to-overexpansion risks) are upon us once again.
Objet Geometries indulged visitors to its ‘À vitesse grand V’ event at Le Mans last week with a demonstration of its latest