ESCATEC’s recent investment in a Stratasys 3D printer has provided a decisive advantage in flexibility and ease when designing and developing customer products. A variety of colours and materials can be combined to create highly realistic and detailed prototypes for ESCATEC’s Design & Development (D&D) engineers and our customers. The 3D printer can quickly turn design concepts into easy-to-understand models that bring customer ideas to life.
Speeding up design revisions, giving convincing presentations
With an exact replica of the finished product on hand, these 3D models are invaluable in helping customers realise their ideas and give convincing presentations. Fast prototypes also help speed up design revisions, testing and refining phases in D&D, and save valuable lead time and material costs.
Complex shapes with intricate details of up to 0.1 - 0.2 mm are easily achieved by the 3D printer, with model size possibilities of up to 255 x 252 x 200 mm. Rubber or plastic-like materials of different strengths and hardness can be combined in any colour combination to visualise engineering CAD data like no computer document ever can.
People actually have their idea in their hands – something tangible. This can help to locate exactly where the critical points are. The 3D printer moves the whole design process forward much faster and more effectively; from revisions, to refining, to testing."
Dominique Schönauer, D&D Engineer at Escatec Switzerland AG
Flexible and durable: prototypes can also be used for manufacturing
Tough duroplastics used to make 3D printed parts are suitable for use in manufacturing and assembly environments and also to produce accurate moulds. This adds up to tremendous savings in time and costs. Highly flexible customisation of jigs and fixtures can cut the time needed for manufacturing by half.