One of the benefits of being a manufacturer of 3D printers for prototyping is that we can use our own machines to do 3D printer prototyping in-house. This is especially useful for developing add-ons for our 3D printers.
The most recent plastic prototype parts we 3D printed was designed to cover the lens of the projector in a Gizmo 3D printer.
It specifically needed to cover the lens of the projector between printing layers of an object.
The following photos show the current version of our 3d printed working prototype in action! We call it an automated lens flap or lens cover.
It allows us to increase the power of the projector to cure resin faster when printing a layer and covers the lens in between printing layers to avoid the curing of more resin than needed. The 3D printing rapid prototyping process we followed demonstrates the following reasons why a Gizmo 3D Printer could be the best resin 3D printer for prototyping:
DIFFERENT 3D PRINTING METHODS TO SUIT YOUR RAPID PROTOTYPING NEEDS The Gizmo 3D Printers feature three different printing methods that offer flexibility for achieving your desired result - they are the standard speed, hybrid continuous and full continuous printing methods. We used the hybrid continuous printing method while producing these 3D printed prototype parts.
THIS PLASTIC PROTOTYPING 3D PRINTER PRINTS SUPER FAST! We printed the prototype parts we needed for our lens cover in only 55 minutes. The same parts would have taken 6 hours and 39 minutes to print on another a popular SLA 3D printer. In this case, the Gizmo 3D Printer printed 7 times faster than one of its main competitors in the 3D printer market.
IT'S A HIGH RESOLUTION 3D PROTOTYPE PRINTING MACHINE Being SLA 3D printers, high-resolution results are easy to achieve on a Gizmo 3D Printer if needed. We set the printer to print the parts at 100 micron Z which was good enough for this particular use case. Had we been prototyping jewelry designs or other finer detailed parts, the Gizmo 3D Printers would be capable of printing at a resolution of up to 0.07 micron Z (calculated).
OUR 3D PRINTER FOR PROTOTYPING FEATURES LARGER BUILD VOLUMES In this case we only printed a small prototype part but being that the Gizmo 3D Printers have larger build volumes than most SLA 3D printers - up to a maximum build area of 400mm x 225mm (15.7in x 8.8in) and build height of 800mm (31.49in), we had plenty more space to fill on our build plate for larger or more prototype parts if we needed it.
EXPECT EXTREMELY LOW FAILURE RATES, CONSISTENT RESULTS, AND REMOTE REPEATABILITY WHILE PROTOTYPING PARTS Using a Gizmo 3D Printer meant the part printed the first time. Not having to worry about prints failing often, means less material gets used up and less time is wasted during the 3D printing of the prototype. Once we've finalized our 3D printed working prototype, it will be easy to send the model of this new add-on to our customers around the globe to print on their Gizmo 3D printers and we can trust that when they print it using the same settings, the 3D print will look and feel the same as the print we produced in-house. Having such remote repeatability is invaluable in such instances.
REDUCE YOUR 3D PRINTING RAPID PROTOTYPING COST
- A 3D prototype printing machine that requires no replacement parts In a world where many 3D printing manufacturers make their profits from selling overpriced replacement parts, it's almost unheard of to have a printer that genuinely requires no replacement parts. Where other SLA 3D printers have plastic vats, for example, the resin tank on a Gizmo 3D printer is unbreakable as it is made of quality stainless steel. Note that many other 3D printing technologies for prototyping and production make use of PDMS or Teflon layers that need to be replaced often during the lifetime of the printer at a cost that adds up to a significant amount. Getting a Gizmo 3D Printer that has no replacement parts is not only a saving of money long term, it's also a saving of the time it would take to maintain other printers that require some parts to be replaced as often as after every 2 liters of resin used.
- Access to a wide range of affordable materials can also lower your 3D printing rapid prototyping cost In addition to saving costs on not having to worry about replacement parts, Gizmo 3D printer users are free to use resins from different resin manufacturers to suit their budget. Other industrial prototyping 3D printer brands tend to charge premium prices for their resins and make it difficult to use any other resins on their machines. The material we used to print our lens cover is the Fun To Do Standard Blend resin which sells for USD 50 per liter where the resin prices of some other 3D prototype printing machines start at USD 149.00. Click here for testimonial from one of our customers that have used their Gizmo 3D printer for prototyping.
So please, if you're looking for a 3D rapid prototyping printer for sale - do yourself a favour and book a free call with one of our advisers to discuss why the resin-based Gizmo 3D Printer could be the best 3D printer for prototyping.
Click on the image below to save this blog to Pinterest.
