Large production runs have long been the holy grail in the additive manufacturing industry, so how can we move this technology from prototyping and one-off applications into something capable of mass production?
In the video above we speak with Cullen Hilkene, CEO of 3Diligent, about how this change is coming about.
“Additive is in the process of evolving to be able to tackle that level of run,” Hilkene explained. “Initially, you might think molding and casting as appropriate paths, but we’re now seeing that bridge being covered more with additive technologies.”
3Diligent employs the latest in technology, Hilkene explained, as well as tapping into a large partner network to provide its customers with the greatest production runs capable with the technology. Customers can organize their production requests with RFQ forms.
“We really strove to create a user-friendly experience, where you can create a keyword-driven RFQ form on our secure platform, where we have proprietary algorithms that analyze what you’ve described. We have a team that analyzes the RFQ as well, to say what the optimal solution is for your particular project. We’ll come back to you and bid what we recommend as the optimal solution.”
3Diligent advocates for which member of their partner network would be the best choice to produce your parts, as well as ensure faster cycle times, Hilkene explained.
“We can stitch our partners’ capacity together for multiple sources if you needed a lot of parts. We can attach dozens of machines across a number of our supply points and have it all tied up in a single RFQ for you, so you don’t need to juggle all that.”
In respect to material availability, 3Diligent currently has pure modeling technologies, gypsum printing, resin technologies, thermoplastics and metals, Hilkene explained. For CAD design formats, 3Diligent accepts STL, STEP and IGUS, as well as PDF drawings.
For more information about 3Diligent’s additive manufacturing capabilities, visit their website.