If you want to increase efficiency, reduce production time and costs, or optimize product time-to-market, now is a perfect time to get started with 3D printing. This powerful technology has quickly become an essential industry tool, with its effectiveness confirmed by Ford, Volkswagen Autoeuropa, and L’Oréal, who have successfully used it to streamline processes and slash production budgets by thousands of dollars.
Desktop 3D printing is driven by hardware innovation in a market that is becoming increasingly professional.
However, software and materials advancements are also making significant contributions. 3D printing software such as Ultimaker Cura is used by thousands of professionals to prepare millions of prints every month, and an increasing range of advanced 3D printing materials make serious engineering applications possible at a fraction of the cost of conventional methods.
Reliable hardware that’s easy to use
Build quality. FFF – or fused filament fabrication – hardware today is supplied as a fully assembled unit. An example of this is the Ultimaker S5, which is manufactured by trained staff at ISO-certified facilities in Europe and the US, and tested under strict quality conditions to be compliant with major governing bodies to ensure maximum safety and solid performance.
User experience.
Today’s desktop 3D printers keep the user at the center of the experience to avoid user frustration. Common operations are automated by integrated touchscreen interfaces and built-in programs. The production workflow is simplified by network connectivity, which enables jobs to be sent and progress to be monitored remotely over your local network.
Dual extrusion printing enables multiple materials in a single print, and print cores for the Ultimaker 3 and Ultimaker S5 make nozzle swapping quick, easy, and tool-free to keep uptime to a maximum and user maintenance to a minimum.
Material choice. Material options have significantly increased as 3D printing has become more application-driven. Respected chemical companies such as BASF, DuPont, Owens Corning, Clariant, and DSM now offer their own materials for high-strength, chemical-resistant, ESD safe, and other characteristics that unlock new applications, solve real-world problems, and undercut the cost of conventional methods.
Multiple materials. FFF technology now has more options thanks to multi-extrusion printheads, which make it possible to make parts with two colors, different engineering properties, or specialized support material. Water-soluble materials have overcome limitations of the technology, enabling parts with complex geometries, or moving components that can be printed as a single part.
Profiles that are preconfigured. Have you ever spent too long configuring settings before you have a successful iteration in your hands? Material manufacturers’ print profiles provide customized hardware settings for 3D printing. This ensures that the most suitable settings for a material are selected and filled in by the slicing software, allowing you to prepare, press “print,” and rest assured that the print you started in the evening will be waiting for you in the morning. Software that meets the needs of every workflow
3D printing software has found a balance between user-friendliness and granular control. Code optimizations use material with increasing efficiency and produce parts with better strength characteristics with each subsequent release, but innovations in desktop 3D printing software do more than contribute to accurate, reliable results; they also add greater flexibility to the 3D printing workflow.
Integration. Slicing software such as Ultimaker Cura ties together different elements of the workflow into a centralized platform. Plugins extend the core functionality in various directions to suit a range of use-cases. One example of this is integration with industry-standard CAD software, such as SolidWorks, AutoCAD, or Siemens NX, which enables users to rapidly export designs without the need for different exchange formats.
Automation. The emergence of printer management software has brought about accessible scalable manufacturing, allowing centralized access to multiple users. A single 3D printer’s low risk means that more can be added quickly and easily when needed.
For better-informed manufacturing and forecasting, these kinds of software solutions also include frameworks for measuring performance and providing detailed reports. This is just a brief glimpse into the trends the industry is experiencing, and anyone entering the 3D printing world today should be well informed of the potential. We provide a range of knowledge and resources, so you can make informed decisions before making an investment.
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