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Category » Design Considerations

There were 7 articles found in this category:

1. Metal Casting Tips
   Pull Direction The first thing to consider when designing a part or modifying an existing design to be cast is the orientation of the part within the mold. This is defined as the direction in which the two halves of the mold separate. When the two halves of a mold move apart to reveal the c ...
2. Living Hinge
   Typical SLA materials do not work well with living hinges. A typical solution would be to simulate the living hinge on the assembly by attaching a piece of tape to the part. If the functionality of the living hinge is crucial to the prototype we can utilize urethane casting techniques or 3D Sys ...
3. Point, Knife Edge, and Thread Design
   On occasion parts are designed with points or knife edges in them. Current SLA technology cannot produce these parts. They will round them off to a feature size of .020 inches. The most common place is featured if he found it in thread design. We advise that you do not include threads in the ...
4. Minimum Feature Size
   The minimum feature size for SLA part is typically .020 inches. However there are many variables to take into consideration when designing these features. Some of these variables are wall thickness, feature orientation, feature function, and machine that the part will be grown on. If you have ...
5. Hollow Parts
   Creating a hollow part is a good technique to use to cut down on the volume of the prototype. This is important because volume is one of the main factors that play into the price of the prototype. Apart with a lower volume can be created quickly and more cost effectively. Below shows a solid p ...
6. Faceting & Stairstepping
   Coarse Faceting (click to enlarge) Coarse Faceting is almost always caused by an angle setting being too high, the deviation/chord height setting being too large, or a combination of both in this case the deviation is set to 0.05" with a 30 degree angle. In the example, the cone apperas as ...
7. Text & Logo's
   Text and logos follow the same rules as small features do. If your text and/or logo is a important part of the prototype please let your project manager know. The reason is that some times th best orientation for the part to grow is not the best for the logo. When possible keep spacing between ...