The Nexa3D XiP 3D resin printer is revolutionizing the additive manufacturing industry with ground-breaking speed and precision. Built on Lubricant Sublayer Photo-curing (LSPc) Technology, users can print at speeds of up to 18 cm per hour! These high printing speeds, superior build quality, and intuitive user interface have positioned it as a great option for both hobbyists and professionals alike.
In this blog post, we will discuss the benefits, disadvantages, and our honest Xpert first impressions of the Nexa3D XiP.
The Benefits
First, let’s take a look at the things we love about this 3D printer. The Nexa3D XiP is an attractive option for both prototyping and end-use prints with a user-friendly interface and automated maintenance features, so anyone can get started quickly and produce great results. One of the most notable benefits is the printer’s high-speed printing capabilities. The printer can produce parts in a fraction of the time of competing models, making it ideal for those who need to produce parts quickly.
The XiP’s speed and precision make it ideal for prototyping and short-run production, as well as complex and intricate designs. It can produce parts with accuracy comparable to injection molding, and its open material platform makes it uniquely compatible with a wide range of materials and can even print in a variety of colors. Plus, it’s incredibly energy efficient, helping to reduce costs and environmental impact.
In addition to printing quickly, the XiP is incredibly easy to set up and use. Plug & Play features make it easy to install and operate without specialized training and its removable pieces are easy to adjust or replace, including its resin tray membrane which you can buy separately without needing to purchase an entirely new print tray kit. The printer also features a user-friendly interface and easily navigated print software, allowing users to effortlessly set up and monitor their prints.
Post-processing with the XiP is a breeze. The 2-in-1 Wash+Cure lets users move from finished print to wash to cure without requiring the space or manual maintenance of comparable printers with separate washing and curing post-processing machines. Simply place your print in the wash basket after removing it from the print platform or submerge the entire print and platform with the specialized wash basket attachment to minimize contact with the unprocessed part. Select your timing and hit ‘Start”. Then, replace the wash bucket with the curing platform, remove any remaining supports, set your print on down on the rotating platform, and turn the machine back on to cure.
Finally, and arguably most importantly, the printer has a high-quality build, making it a durable and reliable machine that you can count on for accurate, repeatable prints over its entire extended lifetime.
The Disadvantages
Despite its many benefits, the Nexa3D XiP does have some drawbacks. For example, the printer’s user interface is somewhat limited, making it easier to navigate for beginners and more accessible for prints that don’t require complicated settings, but less suitable for those who need more advanced features or customizable support structures.
Also, it’s normally not a good idea to try to cure thick pieces with traditional SLA printing, and even with advanced LSPc technology thicker parts may not cure properly on the inside. This is a common trade-off with laser printing and slowing down your print speeds may lead to better results with thicker parts, but we recommend keeping your prints as lean as structurally possible. Furthermore, resin printing is notorious for its lingering smell, which can make these printers questionable to operate in closed spaces. We recommend setting it up in a well-ventilated area with windows.
Finally, as typically seen with SLA printing, clean-up is sticky, time-consuming, and boring. Parts must be moved manually from the printer to the Wash+Cure, supports must be removed by hand, and resin maintenance can be awkward and potentially messy if you’re not careful. Unfortunately, the printer doesn’t automatically keep track of resin usage. Our Xperts recommend wearing gloves whenever handling uncured prints and using extra care when refilling the resin basin, swapping resins in the machine, or storing unused resin.
Our First Impressions
The Nexa3D XiP has made a hugely positive impression on our team of Xperts. Its industry-leading high print speeds and high-quality build make it a strong option for those who need to produce parts quickly with reliable repeatability. Additionally, the printer’s user-friendly interface and intuitive design make it easy to learn and operate with minimal required maintenance. Overall, the Nexa3D XiP printer is a great choice for anyone who wants to quickly and accurately produce high-quality 3D prints.
Any questions? Need help? Ask one of our experts.
Whether you’re ready to get started or just have a few more questions, you can contact us toll-free:
SolidXperts, a full-service CAD and 3D printing solution provider, to offer full Nexa3D range of ultrafast, industrial resin 3D printers.
Nexa3D resin printers deliver high print speeds without compromising accuracy or material stability to the dental, engineering, and product design industries.
Quebec, CA, December 15, 2022 – SolidXperts is excited to announce a new partnership with Nexa3D®, a leading provider of ultrafast photopolymer 3D printers that offer high print speeds, smooth surface finishes, and reliable repeatability, all on an open material platform. SolidXperts will officially offer Nexa3D’s full range of resin highspeed 3D printers, including the XiP desktop printer and industrial NXE Pro series printers, to designers, engineers, and businesses across Quebec, Ontario, and New England U.S.A.
“My dad always said to me ‘Time is money,’ and that was the first thing that came to mind when I was introduced to the Nexa3D products. I have a routine when I leave the office at night, I always look into our Additive Manufacturing Lab to see what’s printing and then the next morning to see how far it’s gotten. Now, with ultrafast Nexa3D printers, I’ll have to change my routine. I am truly thrilled to be partnering with Nexa3D on our Additive Manufacturing journey.”
-Alex Habrich, CEO and Founder of the SolidXperience Group
SolidXperts offers a comprehensive 3D design product portfolio that helps companies and engineers move seamlessly from conception to production by leveraging industry leading CAD software and a full range of 3D printers and scanners. Nexa3D printers enable manufacturers and designers to achieve better print quality and up to 20x productivity gains in-house, using patented LSPc® (Lubricant Sublayer Photo-curing) technology, that is significantly faster than traditional stereolithography and digital light processes.
“Nexa3D is thrilled to partner with SolidXperts to make our technology even more accessible to the Quebec, Ontario and New England regions. Their team is strong, with significant knowledge of 3D printing solutions, and they have built an incredible relationship with their customers over the last 25 years founded on trust and exceptional service.”
-Patrick Sullivan, Vice President and General Manager of Industrial Products at Nexa3D
As an authorized reseller, SolidXperts proudly offers not only a comprehensive product portfolio of curated 3D printing options, but also offers printer materials, technical support, training, learning resources, consulting, and 3D design and printing services. Browse productsand services, or reach out to the Xperts directly.
Any questions? Need help? Ask one of our experts.
Whether you’re ready to get started or just have a few more questions, you can contact us toll-free:
Located in the heart of the UK’s auto industry, Vital Auto is an industrial design studio with deep expertise in automotive design. The company’s illustrious clientele includes many of the major automotive manufacturers, such as Volvo, Nissan, Lotus, McLaren, Geely, TATA, and more.
“Clients typically come to us to try and push the boundaries of what’s possible with the technology available,“ said Shay Moradi, Vital’s VP of Innovation & Experiential Technology. When manufacturers don’t have time for experimentation themselves, they rely on Vital Auto with any kind of challenge to turn ideas, initial sketches, drawings, or technical specifications into a fully realized physical form.
Read on to learn how Vital Auto—a customer of Formlabs’ fastest growing UK reseller, SolidPrint 3D—creates high-fidelity prototypes and concept cars, rapidly working through iterations using a variety of advanced tools, including a large fleet of Form 3L and Fuse 1 printers.
The Making of a Concept Car
Vital Auto was founded in 2015 when three friends got together, quit their jobs, and decided to set up a shop—fittingly—in a garage. One of the first contracts the company took on was for the NIO EP9 supercar concept, which instantly set the team on a course to producing extremely realistic, high-fidelity vehicular prototypes.
Depending on the client’s request, the team will start anywhere from simply a sketch on a piece of paper to an already designed vehicle. They develop cars from a blank sheet and design all the mainframes, all the exterior and interior elements, open/closings, and interactive elements. With five to 30 people working on a single concept, a typical project could take anywhere from three to 12 months.
During this time, a typical show car goes through up to a dozen core design iterations, and within those, there can be further iterations of smaller components until the design meets the expectations of the customer.
“It’s all well in our industry to look at virtual properties as a means of evaluating a product before it goes to market. However, I think there’s always going to be a place for physically manufactured objects as well. There’s nothing that beats the sensation and feeling of holding an object in your hands with the correct weight, with the correct proportions, and the dynamics of how the physical environment changes your perception of that physical object,“ said Moradi.
“Most of our customers will come to us with a new idea, an innovative idea, and something that’s never been done before. So the challenges for us are new every single day and they’re endless,” said Anthony Barnicott, Design Engineer in charge of additive manufacturing. “These challenges can range from, how can we produce this number of parts in this amount of time to, how can we make a sustainable product or how can we make a part that achieves a particular weight while still achieving a particular performance.”
While traditional show cars are normally made just from milling clay, the team also uses three- and five-axis CNC milling, hand forming, hand clay modeling, and GRP composites. These traditional processes are, however, often not ideal for producing the custom parts required for one-off concepts.
“We’ve used 3D printing from day one. We wanted to introduce it to our manufacturing processes, not only to reduce costs but to give the customer more diversity with their designs and their ideas,” said Barnicott.
Today, Barnicott runs a whole 3D printing department, including 14 large-format FDM printers, three Formlabs 3L large-format SLA printers, and five Fuse 1 SLS printers.
“In terms of capacity, all those printers have run 100%, 24/7, pretty much since day one. We use these printers for all areas of our concepts and designs. Typically, we would use the Fuse 1s for our production-based parts and we would use our Form 3Ls for our concept-based parts,” said Barnicott.
Manufacturing Complex Designs From Multiple Materials With the Form 3L
“We use the Form 3L machines for anything that is an A-class finished surface. So typically in an automotive environment, and interior where you have parts that are not being trimmed with leather or Alcantara or some sort of cloth material. Formlabs materials give us a nice, smooth finish for our painters to work with, we can use these parts straight out the printer, straight onto a vehicle,” said Barnicott.
“What interests me most about the Form 3L machines is their versatility, the ability to do a material change in less than five minutes and the variability of those materials going from a soft, flexible material to a hard and rigid material for us is priceless,” said Barnicott.
The team uses the Form 3L’s with multiple materials for a wide array of applications, for example:
Air Vents
“It’s a common challenge for us as a business where customers will approach us with a proprietary product and want to encase it in their own design. Once, a customer approached us with a proprietary air vent from another vehicle that they wished to have inside their own interior. We used 3D scanning technology to reproduce this part digitally and then created an external skin. We first produced this in the Draft material to test out the design and allow the customer to verify it. From there, we moved to the White material to produce a production-ready part.”
Switch Packs
“When working with incredibly intricate designs, such as small switch packs, what we’re able to do is use multiple materials to achieve a mechanical product that not only functions correctly but can be used in a real-world environment. [For these switch packs], we combined harder materials, such as the Tough 2000 for the top surface, with the lighter, more cost-effective materials for the internals.”
Door Seals
“Typically, door seals for automotive applications can be incredibly costly to produce. there’s simply no other way other than extrusion molding to produce them. This comes at, not only a very large tooling cost but also a long lead time as well. We were able to experiment with one of Formlabs’ newest materials, the Flexible 80A. The Form 3L enabled us to produce sections of this door seal overnight to test various geometries and was printed within 50 microns of the actual design.”
Having the Form 3L empowers the team to produce multiple iterations of parts in most cases within 24 hours. They ended up buying three different machines so they could produce up to three different iterations of a part at the same time, even using three different materials. They can then pass on the cost savings to the customer or offer more value by showcasing multiple design options for the same price.
“One of the beauties of using additive manufacturing is the compression of a timeframe. So what do you do in that span of time that you have freed up? We sort of seeing it as extending the possibility space into imagining alternatives, into adding more iteration loops in the process,“ said Moradi.
“There are many products we produce that we simply wouldn’t be able to without our Form 3Ls. With some of the most advanced manufacturing techniques, such as seven-axis CNC machining, we’d be able to produce these parts, but it would come at a huge compromising cost,” said Barnicott.
Complementing CNC Machining for Mechanical Parts With the Fuse 1
“The Fuse 1 one was our first venture into SLS technology. As a small business, this is a technology we thought we would never be able to have on-site. With the Fuse 1, not only do we have one of the machines, but we actually have five of the machines on the site. What these machines enable us to do is produce structural mechanical parts very quickly, not only for testing but for physical applications in most of our concepts. This process would have typically been done by CNC machining, either on our site or off-site, depending on the geometry, and we would have to wait two to four days to get the parts in our hands. The Fuse 1 enables us to cover all of this on-site and have parts in our hand in most instances, less than 24 hours,” said Barnicott.
The team mainly uses the Fuse 1s for mechanical parts, such as door hinges, door handle inners, door internals, and structural applications. They can use these parts straight off the printer, with minimal finishing. Some of the applications where the team used the Fuse 1s include:
Air Duct
“A lot of automotive interior parts can be incredibly tricky to produce without going down the traditional injection molded route. Items such as internal air ducts and vents, items that are never seen, but yet require a large cost to produce. We use the Fuse 1 to produce these parts. It allows us to be much more versatile with the designs we put in the vehicle without incurring the large costs that they would typically have.”
Brake Caliper
“Sometimes we produce parts whereby the customer simply wants to see what their brand will look like on a specific part. That means we have to produce a part rather quickly so we can apply their brand to it. We use the Fuse 1 to produce these parts, such as a brake caliper, and we can produce the logo in different areas of the caliper in different colors for the customer to review.”
Interactive Concept for a Supercar
“3D printing has allowed us to combine both the SLA and SLS materials to work our way through design iterations on a specific project. This allows us to quickly produce multiple iterations, combining both processes, using them for their specific properties, to achieve a final design. This can be anything from mechanical parts to clear parts to check their optical quality and output.”
While it’s often said that additive manufacturing is here to replace subtractive manufacturing, the Vital Auto team sees benefits in combining different technologies to leverage their best qualities.
“We use the two processes together to help support each other. We have many parts where we would use subtractive manufacturing and then use additive manufacturing to produce all the finer details. This allows us to have a much more cost-effective way of producing a lot of our concept models,” said Barnicott.
Creating High-Fidelity Concept Cars With 3D Printing
“The progression in technology and 3D printing over the last 10 years is phenomenal. When I first started, producing low-volume, niche vehicles, some of the products that we produce today would simply have been inaccessible. And not only am I able to produce these parts today, but I’m also able to produce them very cost-effectively, very quickly,” said Barnicott.
3D printing not only helps the team create better products faster but also attracts new business. They found that many of their customers turn to them because they want to have access to the latest technologies and they want to have their components made using the latest cutting-edge materials.
“There are certain things that you just can’t class as emerging technologies anymore. 3D printing is one of those things. It’s advanced to a point where everything that we produce is good enough for use in the final presentation stage with all the layers of making that we apply on top of that. 3D printing has gone from almost a novelty to becoming an absolutely inseparable part of what we do,“ said Moradi.
Despite the many advances in 3D printing technology, additive manufacturing continues to be a monochromatic industry. Conventional FFF (FDM) and SLA printers are limited to printing one color at a time, but what do you do when you need more? Adding a splash of color to your model improves aesthetics and highlights key details through the pre-production phases.
Today we are looking at the printing and post-processing of a Mars Rover replica. Since 2014 NASA has been releasing 3D models to their public database, including files optimized for 3D printing. Some of our favorites include the 1:200 scale SOFIA, also known as the “black-hole hunting” Boeing 747SP, and the conceptual Titan Submarine tasked with exploring the methane seas of Saturn’s largest moon.
Despite these interesting models, our favorite must be the Mars Curiosity Rover. Launched in 2012, the Curiosity Rover has been researching the Gale crater in search of microbial life and water. The 3D models are free from NASA and can be found on their “3D Resources Page”.
Detailed Curiosity Model (Large) – Build Instructions
The file set includes twenty-one unique components and four pre-nested files for your printing convenience. The models are designed for FFF printing and include “support free” features, e.g. diamond/arched cutouts angles less than 45°, and pre-oriented parts.
Curiosity Rover Body (no support needed!)
Our go-to printers for the rover replica were the Markforged Mark Two and the Industrial X7. Note: The 200 µm resolution and filament used for this print can also be accomplished with the base series Onyx One. The flagship material for Markforged printers is a nylon-carbon fiber blend called Onyx, which is known for its rigidity, matte black appearance, and strong chemical resistance. To make this print more manageable, we fit as many parts as possible on the X7’s massive build plate and fine-tuned the settings. The default Eiger settings work best, but the resolution was reduced to 200 microns for a faster print. In total, the “time to part” was 39 hours with a cost of $58.36.
Eiger X7 Buildplate
Build Volume: 12.9in x 10.63in x 7.87in
What made these models ideal for additive manufacturing? Minimizing the amount of support material necessary keeps the surfaces smooth and requires minimal cleanup. Strings and excess material were removed with a fine point blade, and rough surfaces were given a light 220-grit sanding. While the 200 µm layer height prints more quickly than the higher resolution layers, the striations become more apparent on angled and domed surfaces which can be filled with filler or primer as necessary. Geometry with greater curvature should be printed at a much smaller layer height (50-125 µm).
Assembly and disassembly before painting are recommended as part interference or further clean-up may be required. Blue painter’s tape can be used to mask off a specific section or features retaining the black appearance underneath. Since Onyx is carbon black, a base layer of plastic primer is a must! Paint will adhere to the primer and will enhance lighter colors on the black surface. Our choice of paint is Krylon Fusion All-In-One which has both primer and paint and adheres well to Onyx. If the part will be subjected to harsh outdoors, a satin or glossy clear coat can help protect the finish.
After drying in a well-ventilated area, carefully remove your masking tape and begin assembly. Many of the dowel pins included have a retaining lip and rotate freely. Other components such as the mounting bracket should be anchored with super glue. In general, gel super glue performs better than liquid as it fills gaps and has a longer set time. Markforged recommends Loctite 4861, but we’ve had success with many brands of gel super glue.
Tip: If you desire further detail in your model, skip the spray paint and color the bolts and wiring with a fine-tip paint brush or paint pen.
Finally, enjoy your print and take some photos!
SolidXperts offers you the solutions to meet your needs and help you in all your daily challenges. For more information about Markforged 3D printers, contact us.
Any questions? Need help? Ask one of our experts.
Whether you’re ready to get started or just have a few more questions, you can contact us toll-free:
Markforged transformed the 3D printing industry back in 2013 with the ability to create functional industrial parts. While this 3D printing powerhouse innovates with metal 3D printing, we want to take a moment to recognize the powerful features offered by the composite printers that keep them at the top of the FDM world. Here are our top seven Markforged composite features:
1. Fiber
This is the go-to innovation for the Markforged printers – the ability to print with Continuous Fiber Filament (CFF) using Fiberglass, Kevlar, and everyone’s favorite, Carbon Fiber.
Impact:
3D printed parts 8x stronger than ABS with comparable traits to 6061 Aluminum unlocks design possibilities. Lighter parts with low cost and fast production can be a valuable proposition for many manufacturers. This feature single-handedly allows 3D printing to be a comprehensive solution rather than a prototyping tool.
2. Expand Thin Features
What exactly does “Expanding Thin Features” do? Enabling this feature will thicken your part geometry to meet the minimum wall thickness requirements of the printer. It will automatically take any layer that is too thin to print and adapt it to meet the minimum requirements. Easily overlooked as it only takes one click to activate, you can see the part salvaged in the slice views below!
Impact:
This feature really excels at taking parts not designed for additive manufacturing and adjusting their geometry to be 3D-pintable. You need to be careful when using this feature as changing the geometry does not maintain the dimensional accuracy of the original CAD model. The major upside is that the majority of legacy parts can be printed on Markforged printers without any major redesign. This level of automation and intelligence is a huge jump in innovation in an otherwise stale industry.
3. Pause & Remove the Print Bed
The print bed itself is fastened by three neodymium magnets, allowing the user to remove the build plate during any layer. This also means that you can replace the print bed and continue the print from where you left off. This process has a repeatability of 10 microns, meaning there are no issues in continuing the print from the new position.
Impact:
Being able to pause and remove the print bed opens up many design options such as embedding hardware or enclosing secondary parts (eg. LED, magnets, or RFID). The repeatability and consistency of the print bed enables many tricks and are well documented in the Markforged blogs.
4. Adaptive Bed Leveling (X7)
The X7 Industrial printer utilizes a built-in laser micrometer to create a contour map of the print bed with 1µm accuracy. While it will alert you to the bed not being leveled correctly, more importantly, the printer will dynamically adjust the extrusion of the first layer to increase the consistency of your print.
Impact:
The application of the laser measuring system eliminates many of the bed leveling issues that occur with standard FDM style printers. Not only are the parts flatter than traditional FDM printers, but the initial compensation means significantly fewer failed prints.
Bonus: Blacksmith
Check out the Blacksmith AI that takes advantage of the same laser micrometer to adjust the physical part based off of inspection results. The end result is a tight feedback loop that makes extremely accurate parts that become more accurate over time.
5. Turbo Print & Turbo Supports [BETA Features]
The Turbo BETA features allow for support and infill to be printed at twice the layer height of the print. By taking advantage of the support structure, Markforged has increased opportunities to save time and material on your prints.
Impact:
The turbo features allow for faster print times and reduces material. Fundamentally, it shows that Markforged is committed to improving and implementing solutions. They are willing to continuously improve their product, and will continue to add BETA features.
6. Eiger Dashboard
With a versatile cloud based software, there many metrics tracked for your convenience. The Eiger Dashboard allows for both management and users to track printer statistics such author and material usage. Not only does the portal include integrated graphics, but the data is also available as a CSV.
Impact:
In traditional manufacturing, material and time management are a huge part of resource management. Using Eiger, it is incredibly easily track material usage, up-time, and other valuable metadata to make your operation more efficient.
7. Eiger Internal View
With the Eiger “slicer”, users can view the internal features of your part in both 2D and 3D. These views also include the thermoplastic structure, infill, use of fiber, and removable supports. Additionally, the slicing view includes a live slider, which reflects print time and material usage by layer. The best feature when using the internal view is the ability to add and adjust fiber layers (blue sections).
Impact:
When enabling fiber usage in Eiger, the standard automation of fiber reinforcement does an exceptional job. However, the ability to control fiber layer placement gives you, the user, the option to add strength to the part without overcompensating with fiber or increasing unnecessary part cost. With clever orientation and fiber layouts, you can create very strong, yet cheap parts! Need bolt holes strengthened to resist shear stress? No problem! Want to take advantage of beam bending theory to reduce cost? Takes only a few clicks. This adaptability and maneuverability in the internal view make this one of the highest impacts features with the Markforged printers.
So there you have it – The key features Markforged composite printers have to offer. Even though FDM style printing is a known quantity, Markforged has managed to innovate on key features that keep the technology fresh.
There are many new uses for industrial quality 3D printers. The strength and part quality from plastic or composite printers and the price point for metal 3D printers has improved significantly over the last 5 years.
Largest in the World
Recently in the news, the UMaine Advanced Structures and Composites Center achieved 3 separate Guinness World Records related to producing an entire full scale boat with world’s largest polymer 3D printer.
The boat is a 25 foot long model 3Dirigo, that weighs 5000 lbs and has already undergone initial testing in the Alfond W2 Ocean Engineering Laboratory.
Reaching new terrain
Similarly, BowHead Corp produces the Reach adventure cycle that allows disabled persons to enjoy mountain bike or similar trail systems. The steering and suspension components are composite 3D printed and some power train components are metal 3D printed.
Christian Bagg is wheelchair bound himself and developed the first explorer cycle for his own use to better enjoy the Rocky Mountain area by the Bow River where he lives.
Better Robots
Several BattleBots teams use 3D printed components as weapons, drive systems, and chassis parts. Robots such as Overhaul and Sawblaze have been competing and winning with 3D printed parts since the 2016 season.
3D printed end effectors are a popular user upgrade or customization for traditional manufacturing pick & place robots. Also, several makers of warehouse robots and systems are incorporating 3D printed components within their end products.
A Smarter Dummy
The crash test dummy that certifies your next new car or truck has the proper safety design to protect you, has ribs and other parts that are 3D printed. The printed part design provides strengths similar to bones and allows wires and sensor electronics to be incorporated easily without interfering with the behavior in a crash.
3D printed molding fixtures are also used in the production of flexible crash test dummy neck rings. The printed molds are much more durable than other soft mold options and much less expensive than machined metal mold forms.
Forming new music
Wind instruments are generally hand formed by bending hard brass and similar tubing into the proper shape. The bending tools need to have the proper strength but not introduce any scratches which may ruin the sound of the finished product. 3D printed bending fixtures with internal reinforcement perform the job and are much faster and less expensive than traditional wood form production. For the French Horn shown, even some levers and finger pads were 3D printed.
The technique can be applied to more industrial applications such as rigid tubing pieces or microwave waveguide sections.
Several designs also exist for various sort of electric string instruments. The variety extends all the way from professional quality electric violins to a home built ukulele or guitar.
These amazing products are just a sampling of what is being accomplished recently with higher quality 3D printers and improved, lower cost materials. The SolidXperts website has several 3D printers with capacities for the inventor at home, all the way to the large firm producing metal components for test and end use.
We are always striving to find new ways to leverage the flexibility of additive manufacturing, so when a toilet seat hinge decided it had been slammed for the last time there was only one thing to do!
After modeling up the bracket in SOLIDWORKS, I couldn’t stop thinking if there was a good way to know if a 3D printed component was going to be strong enough? Conventionally, 3D printed components have a bad reputation for being brittle. So with nothing to lose, I dove into SOLIDWORKS Simulation: The Results?
The first thing I looked at was comparing a conventional 3D printing material such as ABS to the Markforged Nylon White material, and the results are pretty straightforward (let’s just say if I don’t want to be remaking this part again in the near future – I used the Nylon White!)
I also approximately simulatedusing the Markforged continuous fiber material with the chopped carbon fiber thermoplastic Onyx– but it was frankly overengineered. Once I realized that I was designing the bracket for a professional weightlifter to “clean and jerk” lift with the seat at 8,000N of force, I decided it was time to move on to printing the original Nylon White design!
Drop the STL model into the MARKFORGED Cloud EIGERsoftware, and it is ready to be printed! And even though I simplified the simulation process with assumptions, the worst-case scenario is I have to reprint the part for a couple of hours!
And just like that, I replaced a household component in no time. Take a look at the end result:
Additive manufacturing is reshaping the way that conventional device repair works- by decreasing the time waiting for parts, you can get back to the truly important tasks in life. And that applies to machines and fixtures just as much as it applies to a toilet.
For more information on our Simulation software solutions or our wide range of 3D printers and materials, contact an Xpert today!
Any questions? Need help? Ask one of our experts.
Whether you’re ready to get started or just have a few more questions, you can contact us toll-free:
Seamlessly transition from SOLIDWORKS Desktop to 3DEXPERIENCE SOLIDWORKS, and experience a new dimension of design and collaboration. With secure cloud data management, increased collaboration capabilities, and reduced IT administration, 3DEXPERIENCE SOLIDWORKS empowers your team to work smarter and faster.
Option 2: Upgrade to SOLIDWORKS TERM w/Cloud Services
Opt for SOLIDWORKS TERM with Cloud Services, a flexible and convenient option that combines the power of SOLIDWORKS with the benefits of cloud-based solutions. Say goodbye to traditional licensing hassles and welcome easy deployment and automatic updates for a seamless design experience.
Promotion Perks:
This promotion covers both Standalone and Network licenses (SNL), making it suitable for businesses of all sizes.
Take advantage of the promotion price and add as many new licenses (3DEXPERIENCE SOLIDWORKS or SOLIDWORKS TERM w/Cloud Services) as you need on the same Purchase Order, with no limit on extra seats.
Enjoy the promotion discount for 3 years, whether purchased annually or upfront.
Even after the promotion period, you’ll continue to benefit with a 25% discount on successive years.
Option 1: For licenses <1 year expired( Pay 2 Years Forward Upfront )
Get back on track with SOLIDWORKS CAD w/Cloud Services. By paying upfront for the next two years, you not only regain access to the powerful features of SOLIDWORKS but also enjoy cloud services to boost collaboration and efficiency.
Promotion Perks:
No need to worry about backdating and penalties. We’ll waive them for you!
Regain access to your design projects and continue where you left off, without any interruptions.
Option 2: For licenses >1 year expired ( Pay 3 Years Forward Upfront )
If your license has been expired for over a year, we understand the urgency to get back in the game. With this option, you can secure SOLIDWORKS CAD ALC w/Cloud Services.
Promotion Perks:
Our team is here to support your reintegration process, and we’ll waive backdating and penalties for a smooth transition.
Take advantage of the comprehensive SOLIDWORKS suite and unleash your creativity with the latest tools and features.
