Category: Blog

PostProcess entered this year like everyone else: with renewed hope and energy. After the struggles that 2020 had brought upon the world, we were ready and willing to move forward and push ahead. For us, this year brought an abundance of progress: new partnerships, a new board member, and, of course, new and exciting ways to digitize the additive manufacturing workflow. Let’s look at the major highlights from the past year here at PostProcess.

Shaping Additive with Collaboration: Partnership with Carbon
In May, we announced our partnership with major 3D printing manufacturer Carbon. We launched our automated solution, the DEMI 910, to pair with Carbon’s L1 and M2 3D printers. The DEMI 910 optimizes end-part quality, improves safety, and increases throughput for Carbon resin post-processing.

The DEMI 910 can process the entire build platform from a Carbon Large Form L1 printer or two build forms from the Carbon High-Resolution M2 printer. PLM-403-SUB solution yielded improved user experience, efficiency, and throughput compared with cleaning with isopropyl alcohol (IPA).

Combined with our AUTOMAT3D® software platform and our Carbon-specific detergent, the DEMI 910 offers automated resin removal for the most popular Carbon resins: CE 22110, DPR 10, RPU 70, MPU 100, EPX 82, DPR 10, EPU 40, EPU 41, EPX 82, FPU 50, MPU 100, RPU 70, RPU 130, and UMA 90. Carbon DPR 10 resin is a proven material used in dental and orthodontic model production and a range of other applications.

Dinsmore, Inc., a leading California 3D printer service that specializes in design for prototyping, additive manufacturing, and general 3D printing, adopted our DEMI 910 solution. Using Carbon’s L1 and M2 Digital Light Synthesis™ (DLS™) printers for production, the DEMI 910 automates their resin removal process, which has been integral for their growth by speeding up production to maintain the productivity and value they are known for. According to Jay Dinsmore, CEO at Dinsmore, “The DEMI 910 has truly proven revolutionary in enhancing efficiencies and keeping part and production within budget.”

Achieving Biocompatibility Milestone
Along with the success of the DEMI 910, our resin removal detergent PLM-403-SUB achieved compliance with ISO Standard 10993 for evaluation of biocompatibility, as validated by Toxikon Corporation. This detergent serves as an integral part of the company’s comprehensive automated resin removal solution, and creates an impactful new industry standard of post-printing in the medical industry.

Joining Forces with Renowned Fraunhofer IAPT

We kicked off the summer with a major partnership: in June we announced our collaboration with Fraunhofer Institution for Additive Manufacturing Technologies IAPT, part of the world’s leading applied research organization Fraunhofer. Fraunhofer IAPT installed a PostProcess DECI™ support removal solution to aid in the digitization of their fused deposition modeling (FDM) processes. The DECI implements Volumetric Velocity Dispersion to assist in support removal associated with FDM printing.

Along with the DECI being used for their FDM process needs, Fraunhofer collaborated with us on metal surface finishing technology with the PostProcess DECI Duo. They printed high-precision test specimens in various materials and supplied us with highly accurate measurements and analysis of the finished parts.

Teaming Up with Global Metal AM Specialist AddUp
In November, we announced our partnership with AddUp, a metal 3D printing machine manufacturer and producer of parts by metal additive manufacturing. The DECI Duo will be paired with AddUp printers to help the affordability and safety of manufacturing AM parts by reducing the cost of post-printing and improving safety and traceability through digitization and automation.

With the DECI Duo automated metal surface finishing solution, AddUp focused on parts for aerospace, fashion, energy, automotive, energy, and medical industries. Partnering with PostProcess just made sense, according to Frank Moreau, CEO of AddUp, “[we found] the DECI Duo to meet the most challenging requirements of our customers.”

Pioneer of Big Data Analytics Joins Board of Directors
March brought great news for our Executive Board of Directors. We were honored to announce that Dr. Usama Fayyad had joined our board of directors. Dr. Fayyad is a world-renowned expert in data analytics, machine learning, and artificial intelligence (AI). His impressive resume includes: being the world’s first Chief Data Officer at Yahoo, Chairman, co-founder, and CTO at several startups in Seattle and San Francisco, launching the largest technology accelerator in the Middle East/North Africa, and co-founding OODA Health, among many other notable career accomplishments.

Dr. Fayyad has published over 100 technical articles and holds more than 20 patents. Dr. Fayyad joined our board alongside other seasoned executives, who help guide PostProcess with their insights from building and leading a variety of highly successful companies.

So while 2021 might be wrapping up, PostProcess is just getting started. We’re excited to see what’s in store for 2022 and look forward to providing you with even more opportunities to automate and digitize your additive manufacturing workflow.

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What a year it’s been – not just for the additive manufacturing sector or PostProcess Technologies, but for the world as a whole. Between the good, the bad, and the oftentimes very ugly, most of us are probably excited to move on past 2020. Though this year certainly didn’t come without its fair share of challenges, we are proud of our perseverance and the progress we made in further digitalizing the additive workflow

As we wrap up the start of the new decade, we’re taking a moment of reflection to look at our year in review and speak to some of our most notable highlights throughout this strange year.

Innovating with Product Launches
A developing industry calls for unique, novel solutions. In 2020, we launched the world’s first-ever automated post-printing solution for production SLA printing – the DEMI 4000™ Resin Removal Solution. The DEMI 4000 was developed to addresses the growing market demand for a production-ready, software-driven finishing solution for high-volume SLA with the same fast cycle times, exceptional chemistry longevity, and safety features available in PostProcess’s existing lineup.

We also rolled out our fifth technology family, Variable Acoustic Displacement (VAD) for automated powder decaking – specifically for Selective Laser Sintering and Multi Jet Fusion print technologies. Enabled for scalability, VAD optimizes mechanical energy and leverages intelligent closed-loop thermal and displacement techniques to reduce cycle times while increasing part fidelity.

Additionally, we unveiled an advancement to our array of detergents specific to additive resin removal. PLM-403-SUB is not only optimized for safety, but lasts 6x longer than IPA, and bears a heightened flashpoint.

Receiving Distinction with Patents
In the past year, we’ve been issued not one but two new U.S. patents, helping to establish our role in the industry as true innovators. We’re pleased to now be able to call our Volumetric Velocity Dispersion (VVD) technology and Submersed Vortex Cavitation (SVC) technology patented.

Broadening Our Reach with New Channel Partners
Thanks to the hard work of our world-class team, 2020 saw us connect with new channel partners – expanding us into Asia with C. ILLIES & Co., Australia through BV Products, Southeast Europe with Lino, and into countries like Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kirgizia, and Armenia with Z-Axis. Domestically, we joined forces with TriMech and GoEngineer.  As we extend our global reach, we’re helping more customers fully automate their additive workflows.

Emergency Response During The Pandemic
Of course, you can’t discuss this year without touching on the impact of the global pandemic. As the COVID-19 crisis ramped up, we went to work supporting Manhatten-based service bureau Print Parts’ Nasopharyngeal (NP) swab printing efforts with the PostProcess™ DEMI 800™ Resin Removal solution.  Additionally, our PostProcess™ BASE™ Support Removal solution was employed by our longtime customer, the Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD), for Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) support removal on face shield components. Locally in the Buffalo, NY area, we utilized our own in-house FDM 3D printing capabilities as part of a joint effort to produce face shields for first responders.

Driving Thought Leadership Through Virtual Events
With the widespread cancellation of industry tradeshows, virtual events seemed to be everywhere this year. In addition to a myriad of webinars throughout the year, we managed to put on two separate iterations of our virtual tradeshow, UNLOCK AM Live, taking place in March and September. September’s event, UNLOCK AM Live; Today & Tomorrow featured Fortune 100 brands like Google, Ford, and Thermo Fisher, as well as leading additive companies like Siemens, Protolabs, Henkel, Jabil, and more. Recordings from the show are available for download today.

Leading Industry Research
In 2020, we launched our second annual industry-wide additive survey, seeing an exponential increase in participation compared to 2019. Subsequently, we were able to aggregate the resulting data into a comprehensive report – our 2nd Annual Additive Manufacturing Post-Printing Trends Report. This report included key highlights like showing that the majority of respondents in high growth markets like Automotive, Aerospace, and Defense report that their current post-print methods are already a challenge to meeting their current additive manufacturing goals.

Collaborating with Customers
We continually received great feedback from recent customers who experienced transformative benefits as a result of implementing our solutions. Some of this year’s include:

• Finnish crimping manufacturer Lillbacka Powerco Oy incorporated our PostProcess™ RADOR™ Automated Surface Finishing solution into their Direct Metal Laser Sintering (DMLS) operation to better finish custom end-use parts in shorter amounts of time.
• Two mighty, Buffalo-based companies in the dental/orthodontic space; Orthodent Laboratory (using the DEMI 800 Resin Removal solution and RADOR Surface Finishing solution for Continuous Liquid Interface Production printing) as well as Great Lakes Dental, who reduced the bottleneck with automated surface finishing and powder removal capabilities from the RADOR.
• Netherlands-based full-color 3D printer, Marketiger implemented the PostProcess Technologies™ DEMI 400™, which proved gentle and exact enough to effectively finish Marketiger’s Mimaki 3D printed parts.
• As veteran 3D printers, Massachusetts-based service bureau Empire Group optimized their workflow via the DEMI 800 with proprietary SLA-formulated detergent, allowing an increase in their printing flexibility.

We look forward to seeing what the future holds, and more specifically, what 2021 has in store for both PostProcess Technologies and everyone in the 3D printing industry.

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It’s no secret that Additive Manufacturing is a powerful tool, allowing engineers to create organic geometries and build parts in a completely unique process. One factor that enables these one-of-a-kind part builds is soluble support material. However, in an additive technology like Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) soluble support material can increase build time, the material cost of the part, and the amount of time that must be dedicated to the post-processing support removal step.

When designing a part, it is always important to understand the process in which the part will be produced, and the case is no different with Additive Manufacturing. The classic approach to additive is very siloed, sectioning off designing, building, and post-printing as separate steps, with the latter usually left as an afterthought.

However, post-printing is an integral part of the overall additive workflow, so it is important for all three of these steps to be considered in order to effectively streamline production, and ultimately improve scalability. This article will take a deeper look at support removal and how your part orientation, support settings in the slicing software, and part design can affect support material usage and removal. Using these tips combined with PostProcess Technologies’ VORSA 500 or BASE Support Removal systems for FDM will decrease your overall part cycle time.

Part Orientation

Depending on the geometry of your part, orientation can play a huge role not only in the part’s strength but also in the amount of support material that is used during the print step. Below you’ll find a simple example of how orientation can affect the amount of support material required.

Figure 1 shows a L-bracket printed on its end, and Figure 2 shows the same L-bracket printed flat on its side. In the below screenshots from the GrabCAD Print software, the green represents the model material of the part while the orange represents the support material required to print the part in that orientation. As you can see in the example below, build time is reduced by about 58% and support material usage is reduced by about 91% just by changing the build orientation of your part. This translates to a shorter overall part cycle time, as well as a lower part cost for you.

To determine if you have effectively minimized the support material needed for a printed part, you can use slicing software like Stratasys’s GrabCAD Print or Insight (if you have a Stratasys FDM printer) to preview the build and estimate the amount of time and material required. If you use Insight, there is also an Automatic Orientation function that will allow you to select the “Minimize supports” method. By choosing this option, you will see a couple of different orientation alternatives to minimize your support material usage. It’s important to keep in mind that this method in Insight does not always work, but it should always be able to help you figure out if you are on the right track. Especially if you have a complicated part, this software component is ideal for showing you options to minimize your support material usage.

Slicing Software Support Settings

When you cannot alter or change the design of the part, there are still things you can do to help reduce the amount of required support material in your build. In Insight, for example, if you have a part as shown in Figure 4, you can change how much support material is used by altering the “Grow Support” setting. By default, the software is set at “Small only”. However, in some cases you can modify it to “No.” See Figure 5 and 6 for the before and after results (in this case, the red is model material and the gray is support material).

By changing this setting, you eliminate the support material that grows from the bottom of the feature (in this case a hole) to the build platform. In the end, it comes to about a 10-minute reduction in build time (6% overall reduction) and 0.141 inᶟ reduction in support material (15% overall reduction) for this single part.

Part Design

The final option for reducing support removal time is to be strategic with your part design by maximizing on the benefits of whatever print technology you are using. With FDM, you can take advantage of self-supporting angles and, in combination with your part orientation, reduce the amount of support material needed. In some cases, this can help to strengthen your printed part.

So, just what is a self-supporting angle, and how do you know what the value of that angle is? A self-supporting angle is the angle from a line parallel with the build platform, to the feature being supported (see Figure 7).

In general, the angle is 45⁰. With that said, any overhanging geometry that has an angle of less than 45⁰ will require support material. However, to get specific, the actual value is in the support settings in GrabCAD print, and if you are using a Stratasys printer, in Insight. The actual value will vary based on the printed model material and the slice height that the printer is set at. For example, on a Stratasys Fortus 450mc, loaded with ASA material and printing at a slice height of 0.010”, the part will have a self-supporting angle of 43⁰, whereas Nylon 12CF is 50⁰. So that angle could change slightly when changing materials and/or slice heights.

While designing a part to be printed on an FDM printer it’s essential to understand what orientation the part will be printed in, and where you may be able to utilize tricks like self-support angles in your part design. Remember, this will help reduce the support material needed and help make the support removal process that much faster. Below is a self-supporting example that will illustrate how effective this can be in saving printer build time, support material usage, and ultimately reducing the time it takes to remove the support material.

Just like with any tool, it takes time and practice to design parts that take advantage of what Additive Manufacturing can bring to your engineering or design teams. As you start to look at the lifecycle of designing, building, and post-printing, explore the product offerings of PostProcess Technologies, specifically the VORSA 500 and BASE systems as solutions for FDM. Both of these systems are built with our proprietary Volume Velocity Dispersion (VVD) technology, which has been developed specifically for additive manufacturing to remove support material more efficiently and streamline workflows overall.

-> Read automated solutions for FDM Support Removal

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Perhaps the most exciting aspect of the additive manufacturing industry is its scalability. With the capability to manufacture a part pretty much on-demand, 3D printing certainly has the potential to alter the way that manufacturers not only create their products, but also how they manage their supply chains, purchase raw materials, and allocate engineering resources. With an efficient, streamlined workflow enabled by additive manufacturing, companies can save significant amounts of time and money, and scale their operations at a pace they’d perhaps never before thought tangible.

With the knowledge that the concept of scalability is integral to enabling fully automated workflows, PostProcess set out to create an automated resin removal solution to accommodate high-volume stereolithography (SLA) production. Though PostProcess has developed multiple existing solutions for hands-free resin removal, this solution, called the DEMI 4000™, is our largest automated resin removal solution to date. The solution is specifically aligned for SLA print technologies and allows operations to handle high-volume operations with either large-sized parts or large builds with smaller-sized parts. Let’s walk through five of the features that make the UL/CSA listed and CE compliant DEMI 4000 a revolutionary innovation for the additive realm.

1. Patented SVC Technology
Submersed Vortex Cavitation (SVC) is the same type of technology used in several of PostProcess’s other automated solutions for SLA, DLP, and CLIP print technologies. Controlled by the AUTOMAT3D® software platform (more on that soon), SVC optimizes the rate of resin removal with advanced ultrasonics, a vortex pumping scheme, as well as heat and fluid flow.

2. AUTOMAT3D Software
With a user-friendly interface, the AUTOMAT3D software takes the guesswork out of post-printing with pre-programmed recipe formulations. Hosted on a multi-touch HMI interface, the software works to control the agitation intensities, temperatures, process times, and more to produce consistent end part finishings with no breakage. Rather than dealing with trial and error, operators spend less time on post-printing, and simply have to “press play and walk away.”

3. Large Processing Tank
Measuring 890mm x 890mm x 635mm, the DEMI 4000’s tank is able to handle large or heavy loads of parts at one time, effectively increasing throughput and reducing cycle times. The DEMI 4000 functions to align with the following printers:

3DS ProX 800
Max build envelope:
25.6” x 29.5” x 21.6” (650mm x 750mm x 550mm)
RPS NEO800
Max build envelope: 31.5” x 31.5” x 23.6” (800mm x 800mm x 600mm)
SSYS V650
Max build envelope: 20” x 20” x 23” (508mm x 508mm x 584mm)

4. Powered Lift System
The DEMI 4000’s ergonomic powered lift system allows for automatic lowering and heightening of tray loads. The automated adjustable rack system allows users to simultaneously process multiple build trays of various heights and widths. In addition to being convenient, the fully enclosed envelope helps ensure operator safety, as well as a clean work environment. The system itself integrates with the machine’s SVC technology for optimal ease of use.

5. Additive Formulated Chemistry
PostProcess’s detergents for resin removal are specifically developed for additive post-printing, unlike other common chemicals. Each detergent is uniquely optimized for different types of resins, including for specialized applications such as ceramic-filled resins and high-temp resins.

Our latest generation of detergent was found to have better longevity than all typical solvents (e.g. IPA, TPM, DPM), equating to more infrequent chemical change-outs, improved environmental-friendliness, and therefore a safer workplace environment. Having a flashpoint over 200°F / 93°C, this detergent complies with regulatory requirements.

Thanks to this unique blend of software, hardware, and chemistry, the DEMI 4000 is adept at consistently finishing parts with complex geometries and intricate internal channels. You can learn more about what the DEMI 4000 has to offer in an upcoming live tour here.

-> Read about our latest resin removal chemistry innovation in this Application Note

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Today we’re proud to launch our latest innovation for 3D-printed Vat Photopolymerization resin removal, PLM-403-SUB. This new addition to the PostProcess Technologies family of proprietary detergents was developed specifically for PostProcess’s patented Submersed Vortex Cavitation (SVC) technology and improves upon the performance of its predecessor, the previously released PLM-402-SUB (referred to 402 from here on).

Read on to learn how PostProcess’s newly developed resin removal detergent stacks up against common resin removal solutions like isopropyl alcohol (IPA), dipropylene glycol methyl ether (DPM), or tripropylene glycol methyl ether (TPM).

Longevity
Beyond a detergent’s ability to clean parts, perhaps the number one thing that users look at is the life of the detergent, as this typically determines the frequency of laborious cleaning activities. In the case of resin removal solutions, longevity can be defined by the weight that the chemical solution can hold while it is still able to functionally remove resin. As a result of testing capacity by weight of resin in solution at 10 minutes, 403 not only had better longevity than all typical solvents (IPA, TPM, DPM), but it also had a 6% improved longevity versus our previous solution, 402.

In addition to scaling back downtime caused by chemical change-outs, the optimized longevity of 403 can play a role in reducing waste generation, as well. Uncured resins in solution are considered hazardous, making them costly to dispose of. The less frequency with which this hazardous waste must be disposed of, the better – and that’s precisely the benefit of 403’s longevity. Once saturated with resin, 403 can even be recovered for use by distillation. Under a typical vacuum distillation, up to 90%+ of 403 by saturation weight (amount of resin in solution) can be recovered for reuse of the detergent. This factor serves to make 403 an especially sustainable and cost-effective option.

To enable users with a simple way of tracking their detergent’s longevity, PostProcess provides a Hydrometer solution to indicate the amount of resin saturation.

Safety Considerations
In addition to handling hazardous materials as minimally as possible, additive operations make an effort to mitigate inhalation and combustion risks in order to maintain a safe work environment. With a higher flashpoint and boiling point than 402 or IPA, 403 is a critical asset in reducing the risk of flammability and maintaining safety for engineers and technicians. In fact, this heightened flashpoint brought 403 down to the “non-flammable liquid” category.

Additionally, with a vapor pressure of only .2 @ 20 C (mm Hg) compared to IPA’s 33.1 @ 20 C (mm Hg), the 403 detergent is far less volatile to work around. Offering a safer work environment, this game-changing detergent is developed to be user-friendly with a minimal waste output.

Alleviating Storage Concerns
If you’re working in the additive space, you’re likely already familiar with the limitations on the amount of flammable/combustible resin removal liquids that can be kept on-site. While maintaining safety is essential, these regulations can prove troublesome for large-scale resin removal.

In situations where large volumes of chemicals are required to remove resin, 403’s heightened flashpoint addresses issues of storage limitations. The 220°F (104°C) can be stored for use in much larger quantities than other resin removal chemistries that are considered flammable or combustible.

Chemistry is just one part of our comprehensive approach to resin removal. You can learn more about the various components of our full-stack resin removal solutions, as well as see in-depth data on 403’s performance in our latest Application Note.

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Before 2020, it was easiest to look back on the World War II era for examples of times that emergency supply production took place. During this time (about 80 years ago), key domestic manufacturers were called upon by the United States government to shift their production to supply products that were urgently needed, and that could be created without a major dependence on global supply chains. As the saying goes, history tends to repeat itself, and sure enough, the government has been reliant on manufacturers to shift production for critically needed medical products in the wake of 2020’s COVID-19 pandemic.

The good news is that nowadays there is additive manufacturing, which has made the shift in production to medical and testing supplies significantly more expedient. PostProcess was able to contribute towards the emergency supply production and scale-up efforts of Print Parts, a Manhattan-based additive manufacturing service bureau. After securing a contract with New York City for the production of over 1 million 3D printed nasopharyngeal (NP) swabs for COVID-19 Test Kits, Print Parts invested in eight medical-grade Digital Light Processing (DLP) Envision One cDLM 3D printers from EnvisionTEC for their ISO 13485 compliant production lab. While these additional printers enabled scalable 3D printing, post-printing with traditional isopropyl alcohol (IPA) caused a significant bottleneck, as it would have taken over 20 minutes to clean each batch of printed swabs.

By implementing the PostProcess™ DEMI 800™ Resin Removal solution, Print Parts managed to reduce their resin removal process 5x over, as the software-controlled DEMI 800 delivered a completely hands-free cleaning process in a single 90-second submersion [followed by a quick IPA rinse]. Thanks to the efficiencies enabled by the PostProcess solution, Print Parts was able to rapidly scale in a short amount of time, and bring effective testing to individuals across the greater New York City area.

Check out our joint press release with Print Parts to learn more about how our technology-enabled rapid results not possible with previous methods, and more background information on Print Parts and the COVID-19 response contract itself.

-> Read more in a full Case Study

-> Explore our automated Resin Removal White Paper

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Even while our ever-turbulent world has undergone some exceptionally jarring changes in 2020, the additive manufacturing (AM) industry as a whole has managed to persevere through all of the recent ups and downs. While it’s true that the minimal amount of required starting material and quick turnaround times have enabled additive manufacturing to shine as the go-to solution for emergency supply production, there’s a little something else that keeps pushing the industry forward, and we believe that is collaboration, which PostProcess Technologies is embracing by continuing to host industry-wide virtual events. Keep reading to learn more about why these sorts of events are more important than ever before, as well as details about our next big virtual endeavor, UNLOCK AM Live: Today & Tomorrow.

Additive Manufacturing may be considered a relatively new industry, but it’s a rapidly growing one. The 2019 Wohlers Report estimated the worth of the entire industry at $11.867 billion, with a 21.2% growth from 2018 – 2019. Though additive has stood its ground as a whole, the recent economic downturn has still resulted in missed tradeshow and networking opportunities for many. And yet, collaboration and solidarity within the industry is the factor that keeps driving AM forward, regardless that it is still such a fresh sector. Additive’s intrinsic forward-thinking nature paves the way for Industry 4.0, the future of manufacturing, and the increasingly digital road ahead.

PostProcess Technologies set out with the intention to pioneer an entire sector of the AM industry that did not previously exist; software-driven post-printing. Even as relative “newbies”, we’ve held strong and steady over the curveballs that 2020 has thrown our way, and have done so by embracing this new remote “normal” and hosting a series of major virtual industry events. Recognizing that industry connection might be lost this year with the cancellation or delay of all major tradeshows, we put on our own week-long virtual tradeshow experience, UNLOCK AM Live in May, complete with an interactive virtual booth. We’ve even hosted major brands like The Toro Company for additional standalone online presentations. Since April, these virtual events have brought in hundreds of attendees, allowing us to spark connections and reach audiences that we may not have had the chance to otherwise.

This September, we are taking this collaborative spirit a step further. Our upcoming virtual event, UNLOCK AM Live: Today & Tomorrow will be pulling in executives from Fortune 100 companies like Google and Ford, as well as additive experts from cutting edge technology brands like Siemens, Protolabs, 3D Gence, Henkel, Jabil, and more. These guest panels and webinars will be taking place in addition to internally-hosted presentations and demos that showcase the ins and outs of our automated post-printing technologies. The event will be split into two tracks, with the “Today” track taking place on September 15th, and the “Tomorrow” track occurring on September 16th. We are thrilled for the opportunity to hear from these experts and look forward to being joined by forward-thinking attendees from a variety of industries.

Learn more about the event or sign up for sessions here.

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Yes, even companies who have been utilizing additive manufacturing for more than two decades can face challenges with the third step of the 3D printing process – post-printing. Empire Group, a service bureau specializing in rapid prototyping and industrial design/engineering, has long functioned to bring fast delivery times to its clients. They especially pride themselves on understanding the nuances of each material used within their shop, as well as the best finishing techniques for each, to ensure high product standards.

As veteran users of stereolithography (SLA) 3D printing, Empire Group reaped the benefits of the technology’s accuracy and flexibility. However, the lengthy and tedious resin removal process associated with this workflow soon proved problematic, as it became clear these inefficiencies would escalate into a more critical issue as the workload and number of printers grew. Without an automated solution, the amount of time dedicated to post-printing would only expand as well.

To stay ahead of these looming bottlenecks, Empire Group recently introduced significant time savings to its operation with the incorporation of the only full-stack digital post-printing approach on the market – the PostProcess™ DEMI 800™ Resin Removal solution. The DEMI 800, in combination with PostProcess’s proprietary detergents developed specifically for resin removal, transformed their workflow in a short amount of time. Subsequently, Empire Group was able to leverage shortened post-printing cycle times, refined high-volume production operations, and reallocation of their energy towards more value-added tasks.

View the full case study now to find more out about:

• The scalability issues Empire Group was facing with traditional post-printing and how the DEMI 800 achieved an average time savings of 50%.
• How these optimizations have improved overall productivity as well as Empire Group’s bottom line.
• The details of PostProcess’s patent-pending Submersed Vortex Cavitation (SVC) technology, and how its cutting-edge software intelligence can be revolutionary for additive operations.

Access the Case Study here.

-> Learn more in our SLA Resin Removal White Paper

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Why Think Post-Printing During the Design Phase?
As a whopping 23% of the average part cost for polymer 3D printing is attributed to the post-printing step alone (Source: 2019 Wohler’s Report). It is essential to take every provision possible to keep your post-printing process efficient and cost-effective. If this step doesn’t keep up with the rest of your workflow, it will be nearly impossible to support a sustainable additive manufacturing operation, much less grow your production.

One of the most essential factors in ensuring efficient post-printing is actually at the very first phase of the additive workflow – designing the part. If you’re not mindful of the post-printing step early on in the design phase, it’s very likely you’ll end up having wasted time, material, and resources on an iteration that you’ll have to alter anyways.

By having a more concrete understanding of what sort of processes your 3D printed parts will go through during the post-printing phase, you can incorporate simple design tweaks to ensure your workflow remains as streamlined as possible – therefore limiting the potential for design failures. Though this blog post will specifically discuss four different design tips and tricks for Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), keep an eye out for upcoming blogs on these same sorts of tips for PolyJet, as well as Resin-based (SLA/DLP/CLIP) additive workflows.

1) Aim for Maximum Fluid Access
Traditional support removal and surface finishing methods for FDM post-printing typically encompass a significant amount of manual labor or the use of dunk tanks. To reduce the need for hands-on toil and let the detergent, or abrasive media in the case of surface finishing, used in automated solutions do more of the grunt work, you’ll want to design your part with maximized fluid access in mind. Exposing parts to detergents for the least amount of time possible will cut down on drying time, and as a result, help to speed up your entire printing production. To improve detergent flow, you’ll want to avoid incorporating any dead-end channels within your FDM part, and instead, look for logical places to add drain holes and improve detergent flow without compromising the design.

2) Limit Support Material
Another hallmark of FDM printing is its ability to complete “sparse builds” as opposed to solid-filled parts. This low-density style of part design is often self-supporting, requiring less support and material usage overall. Part orientation is another facet that directly impacts the amount of structural support needed. Keep in mind that the default parameters on design software often overcompensate with more overhangs than necessary. Specifically, limiting the number of overhangs within a part will notably reduce the amount of support material required.

3) Use The Build Envelope to Your Advantage
With FDM printing, you can also use the height of the build envelope to your advantage by stacking parts. Stacking parts will help to simplify post-printing down the line as build material from the other parts will act as support casings, therefore minimizing the need for excess supports.

4) Don’t Forget About Surface Finishing!
When it comes to optimizing an FDM part particularly for surface finishing, many of the same recommendations regarding support removal apply. Much like you’d design a part to have optimal fluid access, ensuring that circulating abrasive media has maximum contact with the part helps to guarantee a uniform finish. “Filleting”, or rounding internal corners, is a simple way to allow for better media contact. Similarly, printing surfaces perpendicular to the build plate, as opposed to parallel, will initially create a much smoother finish, allowing a part requiring a low Roughness Average (Ra) to be more achievable. Areas printed parallel to the build plate, known as the surface’s “rasters” or “upskin”, tend to have much rougher surfaces, so it’s best to try and keep these as small as possible. Finally, taking care to limit part angles to 45 degrees or less will optimize surface finishing, as angles greater than this can be quite difficult to smooth, even with an additional surface finishing step.

Like most things in life, becoming adept at designing for post-printing and additive manufacturing in general simply takes time and practice. The more time you dedicate towards experimental printing, the more you will understand the nuances of your FDM printer, and the better you can optimize part builds. As the first to innovate automated post-printing solutions tailored specifically to FDM printing, PostProcess Technologies has an array of resources to help you unearth the tribal knowledge within the 3D printing industry, including white papers. Explore our product offerings to learn how our proprietary intelligent post-printing solutions are critical to further post-printing optimization, improve additive workflow efficiencies, and save on time, labor, and energy.

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In the midst of COVID-19, organizations are prioritizing mitigating risk, cost-effectiveness, and automation in general. As the world continues to place a progressively greater emphasis on efficiency, it’s safe to assume that many of these initiatives are here to stay. Compared to traditional methods like subtractive manufacturing, additive manufacturing excels in efficiency, enabling fast lead times, and more.

That’s not to say this is always a seamless process, however. Even additive leaders like Protolabs have experienced bottlenecks and inefficiencies during the final stage of additive workflows – the post-printing step. Previously notorious as a labor-intensive job requiring hours of picking, sanding, or soaking, post-printing is now able to be digitized for the first time ever, with the help of PostProcess Technologies. Our automated post-printing solution deploys a proprietary blend of software, hardware, and chemistry to revolutionize the post-printing step and streamline additive workflows as the industry currently knows them.

Particularly in the case of Protolabs, the PostProcess™ DEMI 800™ solution was able to reduce manual labor time spent post-printing their PolyJet parts by as much as 50%. These time savings allow Protolabs to focus on more value-added tasks and helped the company accelerate their speed to market. Our recent Guest Blog Post with Protolabs goes into much more detail on this case study in particular – read it now to learn more about:

– The value in fully digitized workflows and the role of additive in “lights out” manufacturing.
– Details about our post-printing technology and the benefits it can unlock.
– Protolabs’ own experience with implementing an automated PostProcess solution into their workflow.

Check out the Protolabs Blog Post

-> Learn more in our latest PolyJet Support Removal White Paper 

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