Tutorials

3D Printing Design Guidelines

195 16 Beginner
3D Printing Design Guidelines ~ 9 Steps to consider while design for 3d Printing.

How to 3D Print Jigs & Fixtures, Part 2: Designing for Print

55 5 Beginner
This is the second part of a four-part tutorial series on how to optimize your manufacturing jigs & fixtures for 3D printing. Today, we'll go over what to do in each design pass as you're optimizing your part, including specific steps to do in your CAD package, your print-preparation tool, and if you're bold, your FEA package. Later installments of this series will deal with FDM material selection and post-processing for jigs & fixtures.

Printing Full-Color FEA Results on 3D Printers

46 7 Beginner
Ever wanted to see, feel, and handle your FEA results in the best way to share them with colleagues and students? This tutorial goes through the steps how to use SOLIDWORKS Simulation and GrabCAD Print to print full-color FEA results on polyjet color printers such as the J750. It's a lot easier than you think!

Designing for FDM Production Parts

36 0 Beginner
This best practices tutorial concentrates on factors that impact the quality, value, and performance of FDM production parts. There are a number of design considerations, material choices and performance objectives that should be taken into account when designing for additive manufacturing. Tailoring these decisions to the FDM manufacturing process allows the benefits of FDM to be maximized.

How to 3D Texture Your Parts for FDM Printing Using SOLIDWORKS 2019!

35 7 Beginner
Instructions on how to create physical, repeating textures you can FEEL and TOUCH on your 3D prints, using a new feature found in SOLIDWORKS 2019. (And this technique will work with ANY type of 3D printer, not just Stratasys!)

PolyJet 3D Printing: How to Assign Colors in GrabCAD Print

34 3 Beginner
When you import a part into GrabCAD Print and you have color options, it'll default to white. This tutorial teaches you how to apply colors using the improved PolyJet panel and Pantone™ Color Library selection tool. This tutorial is great for users with the Stratasys J55, J8 Series and other PolyJet printers.

How to Color Proof Your 3D Prints (Using This Super-Secret Stratasys Website)

32 6 Beginner
If a customer has ever come to you and said, "I need the color of this 3D print to match this RGB or Pantone EXACTLY!" and you've wondered how to do that – this is the tutorial for you! We'll talk about soft proofing (how to make sure your printer can even print a given color) and hard proofing (matching what you see on screen with a physical result) using Photoshop and the most advanced color printer on the market, a Stratasys J750! (You can find a video version of this tutorial here: https://youtu.be/XsollrDbUVc)

How to 3D Print in Full Color (Part 1)

32 7 Beginner
This is a series of tutorials to help printer operators who are NOT graphic artists get the absolute most out of their multi-color, multi-material 3D printers, like the Stratasys J750. We will cover what types of files multi-color printers can accept and how to manipulate colors in Photoshop, Rhino, etc, to get the full gradient texture effects that most color printer users want.

How to Use the Stratasys AR App for the J55 3D Printer

28 3 Beginner
Stratasys unveiled the new J55 full-color 3D printer last month. We wanted to give designers and industry professionals a chance to see it for yourself -- wherever you are -- by offering this augmented reality experience.

Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) Design Guidelines

25 0 Beginner
This tutorial is designed to give you a foundation of what to consider when designing and printing a part for Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM). FDM is an additive manufacturing technology that extrudes thin layers of thermoplastic layer by layer until a part is completed. FDM produces robust production parts in engineer-grade thermoplastic, with the added benefits of speed and design freedom possible with 3D printing. The cutting-edge technology is utilized across industries like aerospace, energy and transportation for production components.

How to 3D Print Jigs & Fixtures, Part 1: Choosing Your Target

24 5 Beginner
This tutorial series will take users who are new to 3D printing and show them how to: - Choose which Jigs or Fixtures from your factory floor might be best improved with 3D printing (Part 1) - Optimize your J&F designs for 3D printing by using stress-analysis tools, CAD tools and new 3D print prep tools (Part 2) - Choose which FDM materials to print in for best performance (Part 3) - Post-process your Jig or Fixture for greater utility with inserts, painting, numbering, etc. (Part 4)

How to Convert Pictures into DXF files without any software in few seconds

24 3 Beginner
In this short laser cutting video tutorial I will show you how to convert picture into DXF file for laser cutting machine

Dialing in a filament and specifying the Max Volumetric E(xtrusion) value

23 3 Beginner
The purpose of this tutorial is to accompany a video I did for our students as to how to dial in a filament the video is here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kugqYO-Jang&t=130s

Finishing Options for FDM and PolyJet 3D Printed Parts

22 1 Beginner
Finishing or secondary operations encompasses a broad range of processes that change a manufactured part’s properties. Engineers can employ finishing simply to improve part’s appearance and reshape it to meet certain dimensions, or use it to enhance functionality, such as increasing strength, chemical resistance, electrical conductivity and more. Secondary operations basically turn raw parts into finished goods and this isn’t limited to traditional manufactured parts. 3D printed parts can also be enhanced with secondary operations, but much like designing for additive manufacturing, different processes and best practices apply. Throughout the product design and manufacturing process, engineers should also be thinking about how 3D printed parts can be finished. Determining the appropriate finishing operations depends on the additive process, material and geometry as well as the desired aesthetics and functionality. This guide explains the primary finishing operations additive manufacturing service providers implement for FDM and PolyJet 3D printing technologies, grouped by possible finishing objectives, and compatible materials and applicable design considerations.

STLs and 3D Printing for PolyJet

20 0 Beginner
This tutorial is the first part of our series about how to prepare and optimize settings for mesh file types supported by GrabCAD Print (GCP). The tutorial explains the building blocks of 3D printing with PolyJet. We will explain the conversion process from a CAD file to an STL file and how to optimize it to achieve the best print results possible. Future tutorials in this series will then explain more advanced types of files and operations.