Challenge
Reduce costs of 3D Printing while maintaining a high accuracy
Solution
Creating honeycomb structures
Software used
Insight
Honeycomb structures reduce weight and material usage while preserving strength and functional use
Industry
Service bureaus
Design of SLA master with honeycomb structure in Materialise Magics
Reducing Nearly Half the Weight
Midwest Prototyping used honeycomb structures to drastically reduce volume on 3D-printed master patterns that they use for silicone casting. Any design that has at least one large plane will largely benefit from the conversion to a honeycomb structure, Jijón explains.
“Honeycomb structures helped us reduce the weight of several SLA molds by an impressive 42.38%! We’re very pleased with the results. This feature is a prime example of Materialise’s cutting-edge innovation.”
- Alfredo Jijón, AM Specialist at Midwest Prototyping.
The benefits of this new feature and the incredible results reached by Midwest Prototyping are not limited to Stereolithography, but can be achieved with various 3D printing technologies. For example, RapidFit+, a Materialise company, successfully prints fixtures and jigs with honeycomb structures for the automotive sector with Laser Sintering.
Mutual Benefits
Midwest Prototyping is a service bureau in Wisconsin that offers seven distinct 3D printing technologies on 20 machines, as well as low-volume production and a diverse range of post-processing techniques, all from their ISO 9001:2015 certified facility. It has established a longstanding relationship with Materialise. We deliver 3D printing software and Midwest Prototyping shares their user feedback.
“We really appreciate the opportunity to help Materialise develop new features of Magics. As 3D printing technologies continue to advance, having a way to match those innovations from the software perspective is tremendously helpful. Magics is a very powerful tool that helps us do our job faster and more accurately. Every new release gives us better, stronger features to keep up with our customers’ demands.”
- Alfredo Jijón, AM Specialist at Midwest Prototyping.
The entire Midwest Prototyping staff, 34 full-time employees
Are you sure you are producing 3D models with the lowest cost and highest accuracy? Try the latest version of Materialise Magics.
All images courtesy of Midwest Prototyping.