New Stratasys product aimed at continuous 3D printing

Pittsburgh — Stratasys Ltd. has unveiled a new production unit that could lead to greater volume production for 3D printing.

The company debuted its Continuous Build 3D Demonstrator on May 9 at the RAPID + TCT trade show in Pittsburgh. The new platform is composed of a modular unit with multiple 3D print cells working simultaneously and driven by cloud-based architecture.

The Demonstrator is designed to produce parts in a continuous stream with only minor operator involvement. It automatically ejects completed parts and starts making new ones. Each 3D print cell can produce a different job to help enable mass customization.

Additional cells can be added at any time to the scalable platform to increase production capacity. If a single print cell fails, the job will be automatically rerouted to the next available cell.

Target applications include education labs and environments that can benefit from zero tooling production and from a zero inventory supply chain. The Demonstrator isn't yet commercially available, but is being used by several Stratasys customers, officials said.

The Demonstrator can provide "smart, stable, reliable plastic part manufacturing vs. typical injection molding," Americas president Rich Garrity said in Pittsburgh. "Whether you need 100 parts a week or 500 a day, you can capture more of the market with zero tooling."

The system's cloud-connected infrastructure also offers "a new level of automation," he added. "You can eliminate the impact of print failures."

"This isn't just a concept — it's not just printers assembled on a shelf," Garrity said. "It's already being used at multiple locations every day."

Stratasys co-founder and chief information officer Scott Crump added that the Demonstrator "can be characterized as an expansion of automation across our Fortus print engines" and as "a logical extension of our technology."

The firm also has seen "some interest" from the custom injection molding market in areas where traditional injection molding "wasn't as economical," according to Chief Marketing Officer Tim Bohling.

Stratasys, which is based in Minneapolis and in Rehovot, Israel, had three customers at the event that were already making use of the new Demonstrator.

Specialty manufacturer Fathom of Oakland, Calif., is making FDM (fused deposition molding) parts, but prior to the Demonstrator couldn't get production levels "above the hundreds," according to general manager Dylan Oliver.

"There's a need for higher demand, so [the Demonstrator] will fill a niche for us," he said.

InTech Industries Inc., a toolmaker and injection molder based in Ramsey, Minn., often needs to make parts quickly for Tier 1 suppliers, but those suppliers don't always want to pay full tooling costs, said regional account manager Jason Lilla.

The new Stratasys Demonstrator can bridge that gap for InTech, which also does rapid prototyping.

"Now we can run nine stacks of [3D printing] machines and run significant injection molding grades to make thousands of parts," Lilla said. "Mass customization is critical for us."

At the Savannah College of Art & Design in Savannah, Ga., students sometimes have to wait as long as four weeks to access the school's 3D printers, according to design school dean Victor Ermoli.

Scheduling is complicated by the need for students to be present when the printers are running, he said. That's now not the case because of the Stratasys Demonstrator.

"Now our students can print their dreams and increase their professional confidence," Ermoli added. "We get 2,000 new students every year at our four locations, so we need to be able to do volumes."