Captured inserts can add functionality, durability, even a pop of color to FDM prints. But it’s important to have a good grasp on the basics before tackling advanced applications. In this series, I’ll cover everything you need to know about building parts with captured inserts, from the basics to advanced toolpath tweaks. Today, we’ll start at the beginning, with how to make your Stratasys FDM machine pause mid-print. All FDM/FFF machines have some ability to pause, and then resume a […]
Years ago, Stratasys began working on a unified software platform that we now know as GrabCAD print. This is a very powerful slicing engine for 3D printing on most Stratsys printers. Before this, we had several different software packages depending on the printer we bought. One of those was Insight. Insight was used for slicing parts for older “Big Box” machines and some of the newer ones. Today, the F370 as well as the Fortus (F900, F450, etc.) printers can […]
In my last blog post, I went through some of my first impressions of the new Digital Anatomy Printer from Stratasys. In that blog I mentioned the usefulness of the GelMatrix material. I wanted to go more in depth about the material and show some actual part processing. Within GrabCAD, GelMatrix isn’t a selectable material. When hovering over the material, GrabCAD notes that GelMatrix can only be used as a Digital Material. That means GelMatrix cannot be printed on its […]
Using Contours to Save Time With Insight In my previous blog we explored how to save 3D print time by increasing the size of interior toolpaths. While that tip is great for parts with large internal sections it doesn’t help when it comes to parts with lots of thinner walls. When a part consists of a thinner cross-section, the default toolpaths are a back and forth infill that can waste time and efficiency. This blog focuses on a new strategy […]
Infill styles for FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) rarely come up and that’s because there’s not much to talk about, right? Wrong! Sure, in GrabCAD Print we have the classics: Sparse, Sparse Double Dense, Hexagram, High Density, and Solid. They each have their uses and most people know what they do, but are those your only five options? Not even close. With the Insight software (available on F370 and Fortus 3D Printers from Stratasys) you can use a much larger variety […]
Stratasys are requiring a slightly different head calibration procedure than you might be used to with the F123 Series 3D printers(F120, F170, F270, F370). This procedure is now the standard for F series printers and should greatly reduce the message that sometimes pops up on the printer stating “No Material Detected At Head”. Stratasys has begun requiring the manual calibration procedure be done prior to replacing a defective head as they have found that so many users were only performing […]
TPU or Thermoplastic Polyurethane is a flexible 3D printer filament available for most of the Stratasys F Series printers. TPU is an interesting filament with a Shore hardness of 92A. 3D printing TPU is useful for making models of gaskets, seals, dampeners, and any other application where some flex is necessary. Due to the flexible nature of TPU we should keep some things in mind when calibrating our TPU-dedicated print head. The TPU head is blue compared to the regular […]
INSTALLING YOUR STRATASYS J55 BUILD TRAY So you got yourself one of the brand new Stratasys J55 full color 3D printers. One of the many impressive features it has is the build tray size to printer footprint ratio. Today I will cover installation of the build tray into the printer. First open the printer door and locate the build tray turntable. There is a securing nut that is located in the center. Find the dedicated build tray wrench located in […]
The CATI office in Bellevue, Washington had their Stratasys J750 Polyjet printer upgraded into the J750 Digital Anatomy printer recently and I thought I would go through some of my first impressions of the machine and its exclusive materials. The Good Physical Accuracy: One of the first part I printed off the machine was a human heart model. I was stunned to see the accuracy of the heart! The model had the Chordae Tendinae, Tricuspid valve, Mitral valve, Aortic valve, […]
Creating custom machining and assembly fixtures is often a costly and time-consuming process. Using 3D printing, custom fixtures can be created in a fraction of the time at a cost that is justifiable for short run parts and one-offs. To demonstrate this, I have this scaled model for an engine cover. This shape is highly complex and cutting this from modeling foam can be a challenge because of the materials brittle nature. Because of the constraints of the machine I […]