rapid prototype machines...

[snguyen]

Good morning,

I have been tasked with finding information on rapid
prototype machines to purchase for my company. I am looking at OBJet,
3dsystems, and Dimension. I am looking for people who have one of these
machines or used these machines and if you like it and have any negatives.



Would you recommend that machine? If you had to do it all over again would
you go up in size or did the size you have at your company worked great?



I am looking at the $50,000 under machines and would like to be able to use
the parts sometimes to see if it will fit and function like I hope it will.
Thank you in advance for all the information and I will post a summary with
all the information I received.



Thanks.



Son Nguyen

Great Plains Mfg.

108 W. 2nd Street

Assaria, KS. 67416

785-667-7763 ext. 3477




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[patrick.finn]

We use an Objet 30. It works pretty well but is limited in material choices. We have found the parts to be more brittle then the SLA parts we use to make. We are using the Verogray material. The fact that you have two different surfaces can be a pain at times. The surfaces that have support under them are matte and somewhat rough while the glossy, unsupported, surfaces are smooth. You can make the whole part matte but for what we use it for, we need certain surfaces to be smooth. The cleaning of the parts is a little more involved than the salesman will tell you. When you are done water jetting them, you still have a film on them which needs to be scraped off manually. In a past life, I used an FDM machine. They make much stronger parts with consistent surface finish. The only down side to FDM is the surface is a tight network of lines so is somewhat porous.

[ksauter]

I have used a dimension machine. It's fairly easy to use, but the resolution is not terribly good. It uses a .010" dia feed, so you see striations in everything. If you make big parts with low resolution, it's pretty good. If you want really nice parts with a nice finish, you'll have to do some secondary finishing. For making fixtures and tools, it's great. You can put brass inserts in the ABS very easily and make good, functional parts. You do have to deal with maintenance from time to time.

Ken Sauter