Applied Architecture

7 Jan 2019

Building sand table model with 3D printing technology

Shortcomings of traditional production methods:Taking the construction industry as an example, the traditional sand table production needs to make a graphic design sketch firstly, the production company designs the structure of the building according to the proportion according to the sketch, then decomposes it into different plates, adds architectural details according to the design requirements, and then sends it to the engraving machine to carve all plates on the PVC plate, finally ,assemble and bond them. The whole production cycle usually takes 1.5-3 months. Advantages of 3D printing architectural sand table: the production cycle of the whole sand table (from design to printing and molding) usually takes only 6 calendar days, which is only 1 / 5 of the time required by the traditional production method (1 month), and the production cost is only about half of the traditional production method. The sand table made by 3D printing technology has the advantages of short cycle, low cost and high precision.

7 Jan 2019

3D printing building sand table and Industry

3D printing building sand table is used for industrial manufacturing, looking down at the dynamic system from a macro perspective, controlling the operation mode and grasping the overall trend; Considering the precise time, distance, speed and size from the micro level, accurately grasp the operation model at all levels.So that the real production line can be perfectly reproduced in the virtual environment, the operation of each process is stable, the operation of online and offline is perfectly connected, the production beat is balanced and orderly, and the production line flows smoothly. 3D printing sand table and construction industry

7 Jan 2019

3D printing technology is a rapid and integrated technology. Its biggest advantage is fast forming speed and high precision, which can almost perfectly present the designer's design. This technology not only benefits architectural designers, but also the whole real estate construction and marketing process is inseparable from 3D printing sand table. Construction personnel can refer to it for construction layout, and marketing personnel can make sand table for marketing publicity, so as to bring users the most direct pre-sales experience.

7 Jan 2019

3D printing sand table and education

Education is an important field of 3D printing sand table application, whether for basic education or higher education, whether for students or teachers.

For basic education, 3D printing sand table can not only develop children's imagination and enhance practical ability, but also exercise children's spatial combination ability.

7 Jan 2019

For higher education:

Students of architecture department can use it to easily print out their own architectural solid model. Geography students can use it to draw real topographic maps and population distribution maps. Students in the Department of industrial design can use it to print out their own designed workshops and production lines. For teachers, 3D printing sand table can make teaching more vivid and effective and Increase the absorption and cognition of classroom knowledge.

Why you need SLA industrial 3D printer.

With affordable desktop 3D printers, temperature resistant 3D printing materials, and injection molding machines, it is possible to create 3D printed injection molds in-house to produce functional prototypes and small, functional parts in production plastics. For low-volume production (approximately 10-1000 parts), 3D printed injection molds save time and money compared to expensive metal molds. They also enable a more agile manufacturing approach, allowing engineers and designers to prototype injection molds and test mold configurations or to easily modify molds and continue to iterate on their designs with low lead times and cost.

SLA 3D printing technology is a great choice for molding. It is characterized by a smooth surface finish and high precision that the mold will transfer to the final part and that also facilitates demolding. 3D prints produced by SLA are chemically bonded such that they are fully dense and isotropic, producing functional molds at a quality not possible with fused deposition modeling (FDM). Desktop and benchtop SLA resin printers, like those offered by Formlabs, simplify workflow as they are easy to implement, operate, and maintain.

Formlabs Rigid 10K Resin is an industrial-grade, highly glass-filled material that serves as an ideal molding material for a wide variety of geometries and injection molding process conditions. Rigid 10K Resin has an HDT of 218°C @ 0.45 MPa and a tensile modulus of 10,000 MPa, making it a strong, extremely stiff, and thermally stable molding material that will maintain its shape under pressure and temperature to produce accurate parts.

Rigid 10K Resin is go-to material for printing sophisticated molds for injection molding, which we showcase with three case studies in our white paper. French industrial technical center IPC ran a research study and printed thousands of parts, contract manufacturer Multiplus uses it for low-volume production, and product development company Novus Applications has injected hundreds of intricately threaded caps with a single Rigid 10K Resin mold.

High Temp Resin is an alternative material that can be considered when clamping and injection pressures are not too high and Rigid 10K Resin cannot meet the required injection temperatures. High Temp Resin has a heat deflection temperature (HDT) of 238°C @ 0.45 MPa, the highest among Formlabs resins and one of the highest among resins on the market, allowing it to withstand high molding temperatures and minimize cooling time. Our white paper goes through a case study with Braskem, a petrochemical company that ran 1,500 injection cycles with one mold insert printed with High Temp Resin to produce mask straps. The company printed the insert and placed it inside a generic metallic mold integrated in the injection system. This is a powerful solution to produce medium series quickly.

High Temp Resin, however, is quite brittle. In the case of more intricate shapes, it warps or cracks easily. For some models, reaching more than a dozen cycles can be challenging. To solve this challenge, It has a lower thermal conductivity than High Temp Resin, which leads to a longer cooling time, but it is softer and can withstand hundreds of cycles.