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3D printing and rapid prototyping technology (RPT) is on the verge of improving product availability for consumers. The technology once employed only by manufacturing industries is about to become available for consumer use in their home or small business. Rapid prototyping technology will give an almost unlimited ability for production to the average consumer. Just imagine that you have lost a button to your favorite shirt or dress and there’s no time to purchase another. Is there a solution? Once produced you sew it on and you are on your way. 3D printing is able to apply this rapid prototyping technology for the consumer and in a diversity of applications. The technology for 3D printers is computer aided design software instructing the printer to build a 3 dimensional model layer by layer until an exact reproduction is produced. Just think of the possibilities for customers that 3D printers using rapid prototyping technology proposes, they are too vast to number.

3D Printing used for 3D Toys and Models. The use of 3D printing for making toys and models for the customer right in their home is only one of many applications of rapid prototyping technology. In this application the consumer would buy or download a (CAD) software package for the toy they wanted to make and upload it into the hard-drive. One of many models of 3D printing could then begin to manufacture the toy or model for the consumer. Options for example customizing monograms or colors for the fortunate recipient of the toy would be available to the customer. In a short period of time a customized toy would be ready for packaging, wrapping and gift giving. That special train or model car that you couldn’t locate for purchase could be made by 3D printing and rapid prototyping technology. 3D printing would really open up a lot of alternatives for consumers if it comes to producing just the right toys or models.

3D printing: the advantages of rapid prototyping in the home. As the implications for 3D printing and rapid prototyping continue to unfold the ramifications for the customer to manufacture products at home are immense. If a new household product is desired by the consumer they can simply purchase a CAD file, upload it and reproduce it. Maybe that new kitchen tool seen on television appeals to the consumer, 3D printers have the capability to create it right in the home. Or maybe a birthday is coming up and you saw the ideal gift, 3D printers can create that gift with rapid prototyping technology (more illustrations can be see at www.materialise.com).

As we show it at materialise.com/rapid-prototyping, rapid prototyping technology and 3D printings open up a whole host of new options by allowing the consumer to play a larger role in the design and production of products they wish to purchase. Please visit materialise.com/rapid-prototyping to see how 3D printing allows consumers to customize, design and manufacture a lot of products on their own and in their own homes.

Abstract Mobile application growth has become more and more important during the previous couple of years since the number of devices increases quickly and the capabilities of phones enable a new variety of services. This trend needs new opportunities for creating innovative software in an efficient and easy manner. With Python for S60 (PyS60), Nokia brought the Python programming language to S60 mobile phones, which offers new ways of mobile application development and rapid prototyping. This article gives an introduction to PyS60, deals with the development process of applications and identifies differences to common approaches when using the native Symbian C++ or JavaME platform.

The quantity of smartphones on the market has been increasing continually over the last couple of years, due to the changing way that people communicate, interact and work. There is a need in small mobile devices and the ability to give anytime, anywhere access to information in an easy and effective way. According to iSuppli1 analysts, there have been 2.7 billion cellular subscribers globally in 2009 and forecasts about 3 billion subscribers by end of 2010. Perhaps this market is growing faster than every other technologic sector. This increasing amount of devices associates the requirement of new services and applications along with platforms on which they are developed and used. As you can see at materialise.com/rapid-prototyping, nowadays the mobile phone has turned out to be a multimedia all-rounder, which enables the user to make photos and videos, enter the world-wide web or using it as a music player.

Since the beginning of this trend, far-sighted software developers began to write software for mobile platforms, to benefit from an upcoming industry of rapid prototyping. The disadvantages of the huge amount of possibilities offered by the mobile platforms are recognized. Limited hardware-capabilities, low CPU speed and small displays need clever software concepts and remarkable development skills, to make an application be efficient or suitable. At materialise.com we may show you how different software platforms can be established among the variety of phone manufacturers. Some build on their personal proprietary operating system whereas others employ published platforms, which enable third party developers to use native APIs to access phone-specific capabilities for their applications. Among these, Symbian OS, developed by the Symbian Ltd.2, happened to be one of the key players on the market. But this powerful mobile platform comes along with the drawbacks of handling high-performance idioms of the C++ programming language, which is used to write the operating system itself.

The solution was Python for S60 (PyS60), an interpreted script language port for Symbian OS phones. As you may see at materialise.com, Python is known for its simple concepts and slim language specification of around 100 pages. But not only beginners should benefit from this opportunity of rapid prototyping. The simplified approach could make fast and conceptual development possible for even the experienced ones.

What has happened? How did we lose the process view? Specialization! Since the beginning of this century, specialization has made barriers between the different functional fields. Everyone has become a specialist. This is owing to the incredible amount of knowledge an individual must utilize in their function. What have we lost because of this specialization? We have lost the ability to look at a problem from a broader viewpoint. This myopia, this single minded purpose in automotive industry created the wall between Design Engineering and Manufacturing.

What have we re-discovered? Multi-functional teams can create a better product in shorter time and lower total cost than each of the individual groups working separately.

An example is the automotive industry which brings product, process, and production people together at the beginning of the design phase. Equipment and part vendors, marketing, sales and distribution are also included on the team. They collaborate on each phase of the design process. A sample result of the rapid prototyping utilization: GM Canada manufactured a new sports car engine in 4 years rather than the customary 7 years. An example from a Hewlett-Packard team effort produced a new printer, conceived and brought to a high volume market in under a year from the traditional 3 year development cycle period.

“… the single most important reason for delays in development activities is the absence of multi-functional (and outsider) representation on development projects from the start”, Quote from Tom Peters book Thriving on Chaos ­ Handbook for a Management Revolution.

One objective of DFM is improved communication, either through electronic means or face-to-face. A benefit of the flow of information from a CAD system is that the geometry is delivered directly to a post processor that creates the program for a arithmetical control (NC) machine and the tooling used to verify the part is done correctly. Alternatively, the information can be passed to a rapid prototyping instrument (aka 3D Fax machine) or a simulation program to verify component design. This electronic communication can happen side by side or around the world. It helps improve the communication between the designer, the manufacturing engineer and the machine operator.

Output from the CAD system can also be developed through a Computerized Process Planning (CAPP) system to produce operator instructions for the rapid prototyping instrument. At materialise.com we can demonstrate how these may be displayed when needed at the operator’s computer or via a wireless interface to a portable device. No more lost or obsolete drawings!

A product that pulls all the information in the manufacturing knowledge base together with the other factors mentioned above with reference to materialise.com/rapid-prototyping, achieves DFM via another acronym, CIM (Computer Integrated Manufacturing) or otherwise CAM (Computer Aided Manufacturing) or else PIM (Product Information Management).

There are many products in automotive industry that provide excellent examples of this state of art integration. Visit materialise.com to see how the artificial intelligence and natural language are being used to simplify their use.

Innovate Faster. Today’s economy, particularly, compels innovation and a rapid series of new models in order to remain vital and profitable in the market. The aptitude to reduce development cycles and development costs can be achieved by sharing expensive engineering capabilities, and dynamic, cost-effective teamwork to design quickly and efficiently more and multiple products. Effectively using the latest rapid prototyping technology including 3D design to suit your specific needs can help produce more accurate, more complex designs at the automotive industry in much shorter lead times at an average of 22% and reduce non-conformance issues up to 40% when compared to standard 2D methods.

Collaborate Better. Effective and early collaboration is totally critical, with up to 70% of a product’s total lifecycle costs being defined during the early phases of product development. Having a vendor that understands the demands and challenges of the product rapid prototyping development process and is able to help meet those challenges lends itself to faster innovation capacity and capability. Even when you are already implementing the latest CAD in-house, a professional design services company can provide the ability to increase your capacity by seamlessly integrating with your team to manage the demand with focused expertise.

Manage data efficiently. The development of new automotive industry products and methods is no easy task. A host of design, product, and process data should be captured and managed. The better managed, and more this data can be condensed into an easy-to-search repository, the higher the quality of development process that can be achieved and the more this data can be influenced for future designs. Vital to this end is the creation of completely associative 2D production drawings, 3D solid models and 3D visualizations, rapid prototyping models, BOM’s, products with several configurations and model variants, simulations and investigation reports, and project management documents such as revision lists and drawing lists.

Manage Engineering Changes. Engineering changes naturally occur at a rapid rate during the design, assembly, and testing phases. A change to the project can affect many documents. Utilizing the latest CAD technology can help avoid costly mistakes by ensuring that changes made anywhere within the process automatically update all product information, including parts, assemblies, and systems drawings.

With engineering services proposed at Rapid Prototyping Website you can analyze the physical performance of designs through simulation to improve time to market and decrease errors later in the development cycle, conduct quick stress investigation to make sure that parts can carry anticipated loads, improve automotive industry drafts by reducing weight without sacrificing strength. Collision detection can be invaluable, particularly in the engine area where clearances can be a major problem. These capabilities help reduce developments cost by reducing the number of required physical prototypes.

At materialise.com/rapid-prototyping we effectively harness the parametric design solutions and sound engineering principles to minimize costly mistakes. Driven by passion, materialise.com is focused on creating long term relationships that provide value for our clients and ourselves. Please contact us if you are interested in such a relationship or any of our services.

Children find toys continually fascinating and derive hours of fun from playing with them, and parents are keen on giving them. Hardly any adult or child will give much thought to how the toys came to be made. Parents are happy to know that their siblings’ toys are made to the highest standards and leave it at that, while children’s information of toy making is usually limited to the kindly toymaker Geppetto, the “creator ” of Pinocchio. But the real-life story of how today’s toys are produced is just as fascinating.
Due to rapid prototyping technology, the toy industry has developed significantly over the decades. European artisans development of toys made from wood parts slowly evolved into an industry. Handmade wooden toy parts were carefully mastered to appear life-like. Historians are still discovering toy wheels from ancient cultures proving the weight toys carry in society.

Like all other production industries, the toy sector has experienced profound changes over the past 30 years due to the massive growth of the global economy. Large-scale manufacture in the UK, and much of the rest of Europe has all but ceased. These days, components for a single product can be made in several different countries, with China fast becoming a major rival in the international toy trade.

The manufacture of any toy, no matter how traditional, begins at the design stage. Designers are either employed in-house, or an outside team of professionals is engaged. At materialise.com we explain why and how computer aided and mechanical design processes are often utilized before the prototype formation proceeds. The toy company itself then subjects this to product review, molding, test production, evaluation, and finally full production.

When it comes to making the parts or the toys themselves, however, the process is practically always outsourced to a third party.

A very wide range of raw materials are used in the toy manufacturing process- resins, wood, fabrics, paperboard, plastics and card, metal, zinc alloy and electronic components.

The manufacturing process on its own depends entirely on the sort of toys being made. As you can see at Rapid Prototyping Website, dolls and action figures are usually made from injection-molded plastics using the rapid prototyping technology, while toy cars and trains tend to be manufactured from die-cast metals, and hand or spray-painted afterwards. Components for self-assembly kits and board games will need a professional printer, while dolls and stuffed toys are practically always sewn and stuffed by hand. Many toy makers buy components from one vendor and then assemble the final product at another facility.

Nowadays the emphasis is on conventional toys made from high-quality, durable, traditional materials. The large majority of traditional toys are made from wood, metals, fabrics and environmentally-friendly plastics, and are made to meet, and in many cases exceed, international regulations on quality and safety.

Visit the materialise.com/rapid-prototyping to learn that in a more and more globalized economy and the use of rapid prototyping methods in both design and manufacturing processes, it is important to combine great value with great quality and a number of toy manufacturers are able to do just that.

Having the ability to rebuild items using rapid prototyping has made a difference in many ways. The Buddha, for example, was the inspiration it took to build another one using rapid prototyping. Adding the missing decorations s was one of the purposes for doing this. The use of selective laser molding made the reconstruction process possible and permitted very high definition. It was constructed in one part. The original is displayed at the World Culture Gallery. Other artists have used the technological advances made in the world of rapid prototyping to make other sophisticatedly detailed pieces for displaying in art galleries the world throughout.

By means of computer aided design (CAD) to acquire the designs of the model for rapid prototyping, the layers are getting collapsed. This is the model that is used to create the nearly identical physical model. By breaking down the layers, this allows the user to create the layers needed to build the actual model. They are put together to form the shape desired. The main advantage to the process is that any shape can be obtained simply by using this method.

Using the processes of rapid prototyping models normally can be performed in a matter of hours. This does however, depend on the number of models being produced together and the size of the model. The intricate detail of the model being made is another aspect that must be considered. In addition, the machine being used can affect the time it takes to make the model.

Rapid prototyping is not always rapid. As you can see, there are many factors that influence on the time it takes to construct a form using this technique. There are many companies in the technical field that are available for rapid prototyping. The big difference is the method used to build the layers when creating the model.

The boundary that is present between the CAD software and the machine being employed is the STL file format. This is what predicts the shape of the model with the use of facets that are triangular in shape. The smallest facets generate the best quality. While some technologies use a softening or melting process to generate the layers, there are others that employ liquids such as thermosets that have already been cured.

One of the kinds of rapid prototyping service is freeform fabrication. With this technique the use of two materials- one for constructing the model and 1 for the support- is used and the support material is later dismantled. With the employment of stereolithography process it is possible to automatically build objects using the technology of additive development. This allows the creation of two objects- one virtual and one physical- that are typically identical. Using this fairly new technology, the sky is the limit. Please as well kindly examine the software piece to copy blu ray that we recommend out of those we found lately.