Spanish Center for Braille R&D Use Objet 3D Printing System In-House to Accelerate Tactile Testing of Products - Objet - #2

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Objet 3D Printer Solves ONCE’s Dilemma Over time, ONCE-CIDAT installed a variety of tools to improve the various phases of production. However, its largest dilemma remained – the need to make manufacturing of prototypes more time and cost efficient. With designs being sent to agencies for model creation, changes were expensive and time consuming. ONCE realized that it needed a 3D printer in-house to create tactile-realistic models for testing, and that the printer needed to be easy to use in an office environment, with dimensions appropriate for the space available. The characteristics of the products developed in ONCE-CIDAT meant that the machine and materials should be capable of producing both rigid and flexible parts, with sufficiently good mechanical properties to develop prototypes and short series of a product. ONCE conducted a thorough study of rapid prototyping and concluded that a system based on the curing of material by ultraviolet light was ideal. After considering all the options, ONCE chose Objet technology for its accurate model creation and small footprint. The quality, in terms of physical appearance and mechanical properties, obtained with Objet’s resin was repeatedly noted to be better than that of other technologies. Objet Models Eliminate Design Bottlenecks “Before purchasing Objet’s Eden 350V, we worked with outside providers of rapid prototyping services – which meant a long waiting time before being able to test. The unexpected boon of having the Eden350V in-house was the elimination of our biggest design bottleneck, the reduction in response time when introducing modifications into the intermediate prototypes. We can now test and make changes in a significantly shorter amount of time.” Gema Carrillo de Albornoz Nuño: Manager of the Design Office Other benefits include: • Improved decision making – The products currently being developed with Objet by ONCE include prototypes of various kinds: housings for electronic devices, parts for mechanical assemblies, games, and parts made of elastic materials. For all these products, using Objet’s Eden 350V in-house has made the decision-making processes more agile and flexible, as it has enabled immediate confirmation of thedesign by the end user. • Immediate testing – Blind testers are now able to work with ONCE’s models produced by the Eden350V 3D printer immediately, rather than waiting for the prototype to come back from the 3D printing agency. The testers have been very satisfied with the quality of the pieces, stating that their high expectations of accurate shape and feel were met. • More resilient models – Objet’s models have also proven to be stronger than the previous prototypes used by ONCE. They noted a difference with other prototypes which were used before, namely that the thickness of the shell, being greater, used to make prototypes weaker, to the point where the prototype shells would break. This does not happen with models developed with Objet’s technology. The Eden 350V has given ONCE the ability to obtain a prototype directly, accelerating decision making time considerably and eliminating the principle bottleneck in the design department. ONCE creates items which help the blind and visually impaired in their daily life. Thanks to Objet the organization can now design more accurate models faster and more cost effectively – and thus info@objet.com www.objet.com Objet Geometries Ltd. Headquarters 2 Holtzman st., Science Park, P.O Box 2496, Rehovot 76124, Israel T: +972-8-931-4314 F: +972-8-931-4315 Objet Geometries Inc. North America 5 Fortune Drive Billerica, MA 01821 USA T: +1-877-489-9449 F: +1-866-676-1533 Objet Geometries GmbH Europe Airport Boulevard B 210 77836 Rheinmünster Germany T: +49-7229-7772-0 F: +49-7229-7772-990 Objet Geometries AP Asia Pacific Unit28, 10/f, HITEC 1 Trademart Drive Kowloon Bay, Kowloon Hong Kong T: +852-217-40111 F: +852-217-40555 Objet Geometries AP Limited China Rep Office Rm1701, CIMIC Tower, 1090 Century Blvd, Pudong Shanghai 200120 China T: +86-21-5836-2468 F: +86-21-5836-2469 Objet Geometries Ltd., the innovation leader in 3D printing, develops, manufactures and globally markets ultra-thin-layer, high-resolution 3-dimensional printing systems and materials that utilize PolyJet™ polymer jetting technology, to print ultra-thin 16-micron layers. The market-proven Eden™ line of 3D Printing Systems and the Alaris™30 3D desktop printer are based on Objet’s patented office-friendly PolyJet™ Technology. The Connex™ family is based on Objet’s PolyJet Matrix™ Technology, which jets multiple model materials simultaneously and creates composite Digital Materials™ on the fly. All Objet systems use Objet’s FullCure® materials to create accurate, clean, smooth, and highly detailed 3D parts. About Objet Geometries Objet’s solutions enable manufacturers and industrial designers to reduce cost of product development and dramatically shorten time-to-market of new products. Objet systems are in use by world leaders in many industries, such as Education, Medical / Medical Devices & Dental, Consumer Electronics, Automotive, Toys, Consumer Goods, and Footwear industries in North America, Europe, Asia, Australia, and Japan. Founded in 1998, Objet serves its growing worldwide customer base through offices in USA, Mexico, Europe, Japan, China and Hong Kong, and a global network of distribution partners. Objet owns more than 50 patents and patent pending inventions. Visit www.objet.com. © 2010 Objet, Quadra, QuadraTempo, PolyJet, FullCure, SHR, Eden, Eden250, Eden260, Eden260V, Eden330, Eden350, Eden350V, Eden500V, Job Manager, Objet Studio, CADMatrix, Connex, Connex350, Connex500, Alaris, Alaris30, PolyLog, TangoBlack, TangoBlackPlus TangoGray, TangoPlus, VeroBlue, VeroWhite, VeroBlack, VeroGray, Durus, Digital Materials, Polyjet Matrix and ObjetGreen are trademarks of Objet Geometries Ltd. and may be registered in certain jurisdictions. All other trademarks belong to their respective owners. Q1/10