3D Printing Applications
In Manufacturing Industry
Jigs & Fixtures
Manufacturing relies on tools, including jigs, fixtures, templates and gauges, to maintain quality and production efficiency – now you can quickly manufacture them with a 3D Printer.
3D Printing Benefits
- Lead times reduced by 40 to 80 percent.
- Cost reduced by 70 to 95 percent.
- Eliminate assembly and improve performance and accuracy.
- Design freedom for improved function and ergonomics.
Blow and Injection Molding
Prototyping enables designers to validate parameters and accelerate design approval. For instance a small change in the design can be costly when a change in the mold is required.
3D Printing Benefits
- Lead time reduced by 30 to 70 percent.
- Prototype mold cost reduced by 40 to 80 percent.
- Stability, eliminating distortion with heat.
- Durability through hundreds of cycles.
- Little or no need for post processing.
In Architecture
Study Models: Quickly materialize your ideas
Save time and stand out of the crowd with amazing study models.
Forget Foam core, we produce white architectural models in any format you may need for an improved representation or to showcase multiple alternatives on the initial phase of your project.
Our plastic and resin materials are strong and durable enough to be easily transported and safely handled. The multicolor material is also a great alternative to represent your ideas and accelerate your design workflow.
Competition models: Give your project the best chance of success
Present effectively your ideas to a jury or other professionals with a 3D printed Competition Model additionally to your Proof of Concept Model.
We 3D print architecture monochromatic models in large sizes: up to 27” in a single run and we can carefully section your model if it is bigger than that.
The main advantage of 3D printing is that we can produce any model regardless its shape, even for one single unit. It is the ideal fabrication method for Competition or Graduation models.
Promotional scale models: Visualize your clients on your imagination
Promotional 3D printed models are a key component on virtual tours to promote your real estate project. They allow your investors or future clients to project themselves on your Programme.
Three-dimensional plans, cutaway drawings, city scale models.. Sculpteo prints realistic scale models of a wide range of sizes according to the promotional needs of your sales department, showroom or during a professional trade show.
In Mechanics
Topology optimization: Maximize your mechanical systems’ performance by optimizing their structure.
Create mechanical parts with complex shapes that are impossible or difficult to create with other manufacturing methods. Additive manufacturing (or 3D printing) opens broad design and topology optimization possibilities, allowing you to find the best compromise between strength, weight and production cost for your mechanical parts. From a 3D file we can print your parts regardless of their complexity. Plastics and metals printed in 3D retain very good mechanical properties. We also provide many finishes to meet your needs.
Assembly reduction: Improve your systems’ mechanical properties
3D printing enables production of a batch of parts that are traditionally made of many components. This minimizes assemblies and welding steps that may cause impurities and areas of weakness.
Reducing the amount of assembly results in significant time savings in terms of decreased production time, quicker product design and less time spent searching for manufacturing methods.
Small quantities and spare parts: Improve your supply chain
Save time and reduce production costs with 3D printing’s responsiveness and flexibility.
Prototypes, spare parts or small quantities: get your parts quickly and reduce your inventory by producing on demand.
Using a model, we can manufacture many thousands of mechanical parts and components in just a few days. We also provide online tools to optimise the production cost of your parts.
In Aeronautics and Aerospace
The Aeronautics and Aerospace industries push the limits of geometric design complexity; the evolution and consistent improvement of the vehicles demand that the parts become more efficient and accurate even as the size of the vessels become smaller. This is why design optimization is essential to the progression of the industry. Optimizing a design can be challenging when using traditional manufacturing processes, and that’s why most engineers have turned to 3D Printing. The complex shapes allowed in 3D printing are a substantial benefit that drives innovation in the aeronautics & aerospace industry.
A cost-effective and little series production adapted technology
The high cost of aeronautics development is partially explained by ineffective amortization of tooling costs over a low production volume. With 3D printing, whether your print one piece or a bigger series, there is no impact on the amortization as you don’t need to create a mold. Thus, this technology is perfectly tailored for short series production.
The Buy-to-Fly ratio, or the weight ratio between the raw material used for component and the component itself, is often very low during the part production. This means that the traditional machining processes create material waste which is cost-ineffective. This is something that 3D printing can alleviate: there is little or no material waste, due to the fact that this technology is additive (rather than subtractive) and all unused material can be recycled.
Master the prototyping process
The aforementioned benefits: design flexibility, no tooling requirements and cost-effectiveness are keys to successful prototyping process. But there is more! To make the prototyping process as quick and painless as possible, one of the key elements is the quick turnover between iterations. With Sculpteo’s online service, your parts are printed and shipped within a week, allowing you to quickly move forward in the development process.
3D printing can help you save precious time by removing the unnecessary steps for assembly. With the freedom to design items with integrated assembly, you are not bound to creating separate pieces that take time to put together.