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HI Brandon-
I work for a Stratasys dealer, and also run a service bureau that has 20 Stratasys printers covering the entire Stratasys FDM and polyjet portfolios. To speak to your project specifically, you need to consider what mechanical properties will be required by the application. Keeping in mind that all polyjet materials are acrylic-based, there are oftentimes limited uses for the materials as end use parts, while FDM is a different story all together, as FDM uses industrial grade thermoplastics suitable for unlimited end use applications.
That being said, you are going to find that the type of volume that you are looking to get out of the machine is unrealistic from a both a cost and timing perspective. Your most cost- and time efficient path with this will be to have the part injection molded- the part itself looks like a very simple two part mold and you will be able to do your production run at literally a fraction of the cost, fraction of the time, and also with better materials.
My two cents…
Shawn
Hi Brandon,
It all depends on the size of the part and the material properties you are looking for. The resin from an Object30 does not create the strongest parts and the cured resin can be susceptible to UV. An FDM printer will print a part in a much stronger material like ABS or ABS+.
I would consider something more like a 3d printed tool or an aluminum tool for 10K parts. A 3d printer is good for printing a few hundred pieces, if small (I have done 300 pieces on a Dimensions 1200). A 3d printed tool can bring that number up to around a thousand or so. But after that, I would recommend tooling for that part, its faster and cheaper. Even the best the 3d printers still have some post-processing to deal with and they all go down at some point.
If you are going to invest 10-20k in a new printer, that is pretty much the cost of a small tool for injection molding. The parts will be stronger and the material cost would be lower.
Hi Brandon,
We have an Objet500 Connex3 which uses the same materials as the Objet30 system although in larger cartridges along with the ability to run flexible and colored materials.
I agree with many of the comments offered here – 10,000 pieces is typically a much larger quantity than can be produced economically by 3D printing – unless there are part features which make injection molding impractical. Support removal is really no longer an issue as soluble support is now available across all of the PolyJet platforms.
Whichever Stratasys dealer you are working with should be able to run a sample part for you and provide material cost and run time information. If that does not work out for you and you are willing to send me an STL file I could at least let you know what your material cost would be to produce the part.
Regards,
Ray
Brandon,
I wouldn’t recommend investing a machine to mass produce 3d printed parts. There are better ways to produce large volumes of parts using traditional methods and with superior end results. A 3d printed parts is always going to have its weaknesses. The volume your are looking at you could injection mold the parts and be way ahead of the game. You could even CNC machine parts and do better. Our Objet 30 pro was near 60K all said and done. Materials will cost you $600-$770 per cartridge and have expiration dates. Then you have to factor in maintenance contracts which are basically forced or service on your machine becomes a nightmare around 4K per year. We can help with production for CNC and Molding if you end up choosing an alternate path. Good Luck.
20k price is for the objet 24 only. I don’t think they do that for objet 30 above.
Thank you everyone for all the useful information.
We actually build and repair injection molds at our shop and this particular part is out of our league. I am not saying it’s impossible but it would be a very expensive mold for only 10k parts.
Here is a better look at the part that shows why it would be difficult to mold.
I am starting to think we’ll just hammer by purchasing several more FDM style printers.
Thanks again for all the input.
I wanted to think a polyjet would work because they can do some really cool stuff, but I don’t think its the right fit for this job.
Brandon
Do you know any small injection molding systems? I’ve been thinking about getting involved in injection molding, but haven’t found much. Most of what I’ve seen are huge machines for industrial manufacturing. I’m operating out of an at home garage shop, so a crazy big or complex system that requires 480V is out of the question. This is the closest thing I’ve found to meet my needs, but the die size is a bit small and I’d like to see something a little more automated.
That’s a good question. I don’t personally know of any machines like you are describing. When plastics were huge in the 80’s there were a lot of smaller presses but they weren’t automated. I’m sure if you look long enough you can find something!
Brandon
Hi Brandon. I recently completed a 10,000 part order using 3d printers over the course of several months. Like you the mold was too expensive, the original lost in China. The end use was a replacement box for smart meters out of UL94 ABS. I made custom machines for the jobs with oversize nozzles, custom slicing and a special de-plating sub-routine routine, invented a special coating for the bed that releases the prints %100 at the cycle end, and a climate controlled cabinet to run the machines in with an attached dry compartment for filament storage. Once the system is running a worker would visit the print room 3 times a day for monitoring and restarting prints etc. I am at the University of Windsor in Canada, running a Fortus 400mc plus our own machines. The Fortus is what you want for those parts I think. I can set up a factory here for you at a very reasonable cost. I would love to give you a quote for the that run. I think it would be a great learning experience for our students. PS I’ve been starting to see unmoldable parts in million quantity for quotes. Its coming fast.
Cheers,
Chris