Inside the Stratasys Mojo 3D Printer

One of the benefits of attending an event like Rapid 2012 is the ability to see, touch and literally get inside the latest 3D printing equipment. At this year's show we were able to examine Stratasys's most recent announcement, the sub-USD$10K Mojo 3D printer, for which we wrote a detailed analysis when it was announced earlier.

  

The Mojo build chamber. It's a bit smaller than its sibling, the uPrint, but still able to accommodate eighty percent of the prints made on the larger machine. How large is it? It's five by five by five inches - yes, large enough for many prints. 

 

Detail of the Mojo's revolutionary "Print Engine". The ABSPlus plastic filament has an extruder motor always attached to the end of the filament. You need only drop this into the heating element at the top of the Mojo here (in blue). Also notice the accordion-style roof of the heated chamber that allows the print engines to move around the chamber. 

 

Swapping material is very simple. The extruder portion of the Print Engine lifts out of the heater and you'll also need to lift the sealed spool out of the material rack here. Easy!  

The Mojo 3D Printer

Today Stratasys announced a new FDM 3D printer for designers, architects and other professionals  - but it's very different from anything you've seen before. It includes a couple of revolutionary features that we're certain you'll find very interesting. 

 

The Mojo 3D printer is more like a 2D paper printer than anything we've seen. The USD$9,900 device is approximately the size of a large personal laser printer, about half the size and weight of Stratasys' previously smallest device, the uPrint. At only 27Kg (50 lbs) and 63 x 45 x 53 cm (25 x 18 x 21 inches), the Mojo must be one of the smallest commercial 3D printers available. 

 

The most noticeable aspect of the Mojo is ease of use. Stratasys has vastly simplified several key user interaction points, both in hardware and software.

 

Swapping filament is done by lifting a cartridge (now called a "Print Engine") into one of two chambers in the machine. Attaching filament is massively easier in the Mojo, since the Print Engine now includes the print head right on the end of the filament. You need only insert the print head into the extruder assembly and you're done. No mess, no filament cutting, no need to mush out leftover filament - the entire filament path is now part of the Print Engine. They've been able to manage this by ingeniously locating the extruder assembly above the heated build chamber so it isn't subject to massive heating and cooling. Empty print engines, which include the extruder motor, are recyclable through Stratasys.

 

Software is simplified. The Mojo is controlled by a USB-attached dedicated PC, through which networked users can access the machine. The user interface is also simplified and includes a "Wizard" with easy-to-comprehend graphics that illustrate operator decisions as well as simplifying job control for multiple copies: If you specify more copies than can fit on a build tray, it automatically sets up a new job for you!

 

The USD$9,900 Mojo system includes not only the printer itself, but also a starter kit of print engines for material and a new small-sized cleaning system to remove support structures. 

 

The Mojo has a smallish build size of 5 inches on a side (127 x 127 x 127 mm), but Stratasys says a statistical analysis indicated some 80% of prints on their machines would fit within this volume. We tend to agree with this approach. Besides, larger prints take much longer to complete.

 

Mojo has excellent layer resolution: 0.17mm (0.007 inches), so we expect very smooth-looking prints. For some reason Stratasys permits only Ivory colored ABSplus plastic on this device, but perhaps more colors will be offered in the future. 

 

Only solid printing is permitted, ensuring very strong printed parts, but also using more material. The software does not provide an option to select a density percentage. This means more material will be used, but to compensate Stratasys has increased the capacity of the Print Engines to 80 cubic inches of material, compared to only 30 cubic inches in the uPrint cartridges.

 

The price of a Print Engine is USD$399 for 80 cubic inches, indicating a unit price of slightly under USD$5 per cubic inch.

 

The Mojo isn't available yet, but it ships on June 15th. Stratasys is expecting to sell quite a few of them, and we wouldn't be surprised if that happens.  

 

Via Mojo

The Beginnings of FDM 3D Printing

While visiting Stratasys' HQ in Minneapolis, we were able to meet CEO and Founder Scott Crump, who told the story of how he invented the Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) process many years ago. 

 

He was inspired by two things: the need to be able to make prototypes inexpensively and two-dimensional plotters. He had the idea that if a 2D plotter could be persuaded to create incremental layers, one would be able to gradually create arbitrary objects. 

 

He began by trying to simulate the process on his kitchen table using a handheld hot glue gun on wax paper. Once the fundamentals of the process were understood, he modified a 2D plotter to perform extrusion of wax.  

 

The approach worked, but software had to be developed to drive the machine. AutoCAD version 2.3 was the first design software used by Crump for designing models. After seven prototypes, a reliable unit was produced and shipped in 1991. In 1992 Stratasys shipped four units, and it's grown exponentially since then. 

 

Of course, the resulting wax models weren't particularly strong and Crump switched from wax to ABS thermoplastic in 1993, which is still used today in Stratasys' machines. 

Extreme Redesign 2012 Winners Announced

The 2012 Extreme Redesign Contest is completed and the winners have been announced by sponsor Stratasys. Winners were selected in four categories: Middle/High School, College Engineering, Art & Architecture. Winners received USD$2500 scholarships and runners-up received scholarships of USD$1,000 each. 

 

As usual, the winning ideas (as well as those placing second and third) were totally brilliant. Of the nine First, Second and Third winners in each category, these caught our eye: 

 

• Scissors designed for both left AND right handed people!
• Diagonal Slice Rubik's Cube, providing many more possible solution scenarios
• A 3D printed flower model, suitable for giving to your mom
• Continuous Supply Handpump that provides water flow on both the upward and downward stroke

 

And there's many more. Please check the link below to see all the winners. 

 

Via Dimension Printing

A Visit to RedEye

Recently we had the privilege of visiting Stratasys' Minneapolis-based 3D print service: RedEye On Demand. Wait, we shouldn't call it a "3D Printing Service" anymore. This facility performs much more than just 3D printing, although that forms a large portion of their work. In addition to Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM), they offer cast urethane and polyjet services. Once a part is manufactured, they also offer a variety of finishing services including improvements to look and finish, painting and plating. 

 

These manufacturing services were added as a result of direct customer demand, and one would suspect they may add additional manufacturing services. The result is that RedEye is really a "Digital Manufacturing" facility and not just a "3D Printing Service". It's not merely making prototypes; it's actual low-volume digital manufacturing of finished products. This fits a "sweet spot" for customers whose requirements are insufficient to warrant the costs of full-on mass manufacturing setup but need more than just a prototype.

 

And it's big. RedEye operates 85 large-format FDM machines at the Minneapolis site (some of which are seen above). In total they have 125 FDM machines if you include their multiple international partner manufacturing sites in Belgium, Turkey and Australia. These distant sites can operate as a single unit, with the ability to send work where ever machines are available to balance capacity. 

 

Will it get bigger? No doubt. RedEye's Business Development Manager, Jeff Hanson (left) believes their approach will do a lot to bring manufacturing back from offshore locations. We observed rooms full of very busy manufacturing machines making all manner of items. With demand increasing for innovative and highly personalized products, we suspect there may be quite a few facilities like this appearing across the land in the future. 

Massive News: Objet and Stratasys Merge

Stratasys announced they've merged with the largest remaining large commercial 3D printer manufacturer, Objet of Israel, creating the now-largest 3D printing company with a market capitalization of USD$1.4B. 

 

The newly merged company was created by merging stock such that Stratasys shareholders will own 55 percent and Objet shareholders 45 percent. The new company retains the Stratasys name, unfortunately missing out on the exciting "Stratajet" and avoiding the questionable "Objasys".

 

It's not a takeover by Stratasys; management is merging right up to the top. Stratasys CEO Scott Crump moves to Chairman, while Objet's CEO David Reis becomes CEO of the new Stratasys.   A new board of directors will be composed of selections made by both original companies. The merger activities themselves will be overseen by an executive committee led by Objet chair Elchanan Jaglom. Even the company's headquarters will be shared between Eden Prairie MN and Rehovot, Israel. 

 

It's rumored that Objet had been planning to offer shares publicly in an IPO, but evidently Stratasys' offer to merge provided more return to Objet shareholders. 

 

We had been wondering what might happen to Objet after 3D Systems' recent acquisition of ZCorp, which put the industry on notice that major consolidation was underway. Objet was a big target, with its interesting technology and large size. Was 3D Systems was interested in acquiring Objet? With their recent pattern of acquisitions, probably. However, in this case Stratasys prevailed and now is the largest 3D printing manufacturer in the world today. 

  

Technically, Objet offers its unique PolyJet technology, which enables multiple materials to be printed in a single print operation. For example, you could print an item with hard and soft parts. This could be a very interesting addition to Stratasys' digital manufacturing operations. 

 

Via Stratasys (Hat tip to James)

How To Screw Your 3D Print

We don't mean ruining it! We mean being able to successfully insert screws into your 3D printed model for attaching other components. Let's be clear: you can make much more interesting objects when you use multiple components. But how do you fit them together? 

 

One could resort to designing matching slots in each piece or even glue, but those approaches don't result in anything particularly strong. If you need a robust attachment for your design, what should you do? Can you use screws? 

 

Yes, you can simply drill a hole of appropriate size, but can you actually have screw threads in your 3D print? The answer is yes, according to Stratasys, who published a list of techniques for including screw threads in your design and print. They include the obvious (tap and drill) tp the less obvious (employ heli-coil inserts). 

 

If you're seeking a way to screw your print, check out their ideas. 

 

Via Stratasys

3D Printing Plastic AND Metal

Whoa - 3D printing plastic AND metal at the same time? There are many kinds of 3D printers in the world these days, most printing only plastic and some able to print metal. But printing both? That's exactly what a joint initiative between ABS plastic 3D printer manufacturer Stratasys is doing with metal 3D printer manufacturer Optomec. 

 

According to a story in PCMAG, the two companies have produced something "between a proof of concept and a joint business initiative", which sounds like they have something working pretty well. The test object for this project was the wing of a UAV containing both plastic and metal elements (see image above). 

 

How does this work? It's actually less impressive technically than it might sound. Evidently the plastic part is printed first at Stratsys' facilities and then it is shipped to an Optomec facility where the metal bits are printed directly onto the plastic part. The result is a hybrid plastic-metal object that was actually produced in two different 3D printers. 

 

Not quite the breakthrough we expected, but from a client point of view they push "Print" and get back a plastic and metal object as if it came from a single 3D printer. Instead it's essentially coming from a single 3D print service. 

 

Small steps, progress is achieved. 

 

Via PCMAG