Product category:
Rapid Prototyping
News Release from: Moog FCS | Subject: SLA 250 stereolithography system
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 21 February 2000
Stereolithography surpasses payback
expectations
Time Rapid Prototyping Solutions has taken the production of stereolithography models in-house, with the recent installation of an SLA 250, from 3D Systems Inc. Ltd
Time Rapid Prototyping Solutions has taken the production of stereolithography models in-house, with the recent installation of an SLA 250, from 3D Systems Inc Ltd
Since installing the SLA 250 in July 1999, the company has surpassed payback expectations for the stereolithography system, which has been used almost continuously and is making a significant contribution to increasing revenue.
Based in Ashford, Kent, TIME is involved in three complimentary areas of activity; rapid prototyping and tooling, traditional model making and RIM moulding and casting.
Prior to the installation of the SLA 250, TIME subcontracted its stereolithography requirements to a local company.
However, as the number of projects utilising stereolithography models grew, the company began to look at the viability of taking the process in-house, primarily to give them greater control over quality, turnaround and costs.
"Rapid prototyping and tooling is all about reducing product-to-market lead times," comments Peter James of TIME.
"The faster a new product is available for sale, the quicker it can start to gain critical market share and generate revenue.
Engineers have traditionally built prototypes to assist in the design process and to test new products, however, all too often this process has been time consuming and expensive.
Additionally, while the traditional prototype has helped to validate design intent, it has often proved a bottleneck in the development process.
Rapid prototyping techniques can provide a fast and accurate method of building models for review and testing without investment in production tooling." It is in this area of form, fit and function testing that the SLA 250 has proved particularly valuable to TIME.
Since bringing the facility in-house, the company has been able to significantly reduce lead times on the production of stereolithography components, while ensuring that the high quality standards it has built its reputation on are maintained.
TIME provides rapid prototyping and tooling solutions for customers throughout industry, with a particularly strong presence in the medical, defence, automotive and white goods sectors.
Often their customers require several models of the same component, with TIME finding the most successful method of rapid reproduction to be vacuum casting.
In these applications, stereolithography models produced on the SLA 250 act as masters for the production of silicone moulds, which are typically capable of producing up to twenty castings in a wide range of polyurethane materials.
These castings can be assembled, often with all the necessary electronics, and demonstrated to customers as working models.
Typically the entire process takes between five to ten days, from receipt of the CAD data at TIME, to finished production of the models.
The quality and expertise offered by TIME in this area has proved so successful that, in addition to the investment in the SLA 250, the company is also extending its vacuum casting facility, with the installation of a second casting chamber.
"Some of the larger and more successful manufacturing companies have invested substantial sums of money in rapid prototyping equipment and techniques, however, not all companies can justify such expenditure," comments Peter James.
"By offering a range of rapid prototyping, tooling and short run production services, we are enabling a wider cross section of industry to benefit from the advantages of these technologies and to compete more effectively in their markets.
The in-house installation of the SLA 250, has enabled us to maintain greater control over our production processes, both in terms of cost and quality, while offering an even faster turnaround on the production of stereolithography models than ever before.".
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