Igus is a well known for their linear motion systems. The high quality and long term durability have been proven in the manufacturing industry for years. A very common part of this are the DryLin Polymer Series of products. These bearings and bushing are used in equipment all over the world.

Historically these components were manufactured using an extrusion process. This is very efficient for large scale production of a ubiquitous part. But it does not lend itself to optimization beyond a certain point. This is where Slant 3D comes in.

Igus has recently released the iGlide series of 3D printing materials for the manufacture of polymer bearings and other wear pieces. Combined with Slant 3D's high volume production capacity it is now possible to manufacture 100-10,000 bearings or bushing with geometries that were impossible in the past.

Slant 3D has verified the material by designing a new type of bushing that uses rings rather than the traditional slats of extruded bearings. This new design is able to keep out contaminants that could reduce the life of the bearing and shaft. It also can be varied to increase or decrease the contact area of the bearing.

It now also becomes possible to optimize bearings for the load that they are to be put in. Such as increasing material on the one side of the bearing that will support the most load.

Lastly the overall geometry can be changed. Since shrinkage is no longer a factor, bearings can be made with very thick walls to prevent compression on the shaft and allow press-fitting bearings into place. Or they can be made square or triangular to ensure properly assembled orientation.

​All of these are just a few of the options that are now available with these additively manufactured bearings.

The 3D Printed bearings will find first use in the Slant 3D factory as a component on our production 3D Printers. The material will also immediately be made available to all Slant 3D production clients as an option for custom motion systems that need bearing and bushings with very specific requirements.

If you would like to explore the design and production of custom 3D Printed bearings more. Please submit your project through our quoting form or simply contact us. We are happy to help you from design to production.

Republished from the Verge

Teenage Engineering launched its Ikea Frekvens line of speakers and home items earlier this year, and now the company is offering free 3D printing files so customers can create their own Ikea hacks. The Frekvens (which translates to “frequency”) line features a modular system of speaker combinations that work as a perfect base for 3D-printed accessories. Some designs feature handles, wheels, and cupholders to make the speakers even more portable and party-friendly; others let you add “chicken legs” to turn your speaker into a rooster, which is equally, if not more, important.
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The speakers, which range in price from $149 for a subwoofer model to a $69 model and a $19.99 portable option, are compatible with all of Teenage Engineering’s synths, including the OP-1 and its excellent pocket operators. The Frekvens range includes other accessories to help you put on a cool house party, like LED light panels that react to sound, a speaker base with light, and reflective raincoats. Ikea sells a separate $17 accessories set that comes with LED spotlights, but Teenage Engineering hopes that the free 3D CAD files will inspire customers to come up with their own Ikea hacks. “We want this to work as a starting point for people that are interested in 3D printing their own tools,” Teenage Engineering CEO Jesper Kouthoofd told Wired UK. “Perhaps some people will get inspired to improve our designs and then will go on to do their own.”

These types of files can also be printed on demand by companies like Slant 3D. This lets customers that do not have access to 3D printers get these accessories, without forcing companies to pay for tooling and inventory. Slant 3D could print accessories as they are ordered by customers. To find out more submit your project through our quoting form and an engineer will be in touch.

Twin Toys makes colourful, safe, and engaging toys for children – designed and 3D-printed in the UK with recycled bio-plastic.

Twin Toys’ aim is to make children’s toys that are fully circular from using recycled bio-plastics and 3d printing, to being able to return them end of life to be remade into something new. All toys are designed, 3D-printed, and sold in the UK to reduce impact on the environment and ensure materials are recirculated where they are created.
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• Uses 50% recycled content
• Non-toxic plant-based material
• Suitable for 12 months +
• Certified and tested to UK and EU safety standards
• Can be returned end of life
• Reuse, return, remake

The idea for Twin Toys was created by Director, Susie Page, who is a mum of three years old twins, and an environmental professional working in the corporate sector.

She says, ‘plastic can be a great material for children’s toys as its versatile and brightly coloured. There are very few toy makers offering alternatives to virgin based plastic toys, and while wooden toys are great and we have plenty of those, I wanted to create products with plastic that are fully circular and aim to reduce environmental impact’.
Susie Page, Director, Twin Toys Ltd

Twin Toys are launching with three shape-based toys targeted at 12+ months to support children’s skills with building, stacking and identifying different shapes and colours.

For several weeks during the Chinese spring holiday manufacturing in the country was on a hiatus. Now with the coronavirus outbreak the Chinese government is very sensibly asking manufacturing to remain slowed to prevent its spread. But unfortunately this means that components are not being made that might be time sensitive in the US and other countries. 3D Printing offers a flexible and affordable alternative to getting your parts manufactured while China is slowed due to health concerns.

Production Additive Manufacturing (3D Printing), is able to produce 10,000's of parts each week. Ir is particularly useful when producing functional plastic parts. These included brackets and braces for furniture and gears and knobs for industrial equipment.

All that is needed to start production of a part is a 3D model. There is no tooling cost and now minimum volumes. This offers a quick and affordable alternative to injection molding.

If your company or project is delayed because of the shutdown of Chinese manufacturing please reach out with 3D model of your part and we will work to get you back on schedule quickly and efficiently.

Tim Ruffner of 3D Printing and Production recently ran a test of nearly 10 separate 3D Printers that he recently got into the shop. He was comparing speed, visual appearance, and dimensional accuracy. Guess which printer won for dimensional accuracy. That's right the Mason Metal-end printer. Would have won it all if the filament wasn't wet.

Of the printers in Tim's group he has had the Mason the longest. It has been supporting his Covid-19 efforts reliably from the very beginning helping to making face shields

Ducting and cooling create very complex plastic components for consumer and industrial products. Historically these parts have had to be roto or injection molded. The problem is that many of these parts are for limited production runs. So the cost of tooling can be very high. This is an area where production 3D Printing can make a very large difference, by completely eliminating the cost of Tooling while manufacturing plastic ducting and venting.

A Project that was recently completed at Slant 3D was several hundred cooling vents for a piece of medical equipment. These vents distribute air to multiple chambers during a testing process. Normally a piece like the one below would have to be broken into multiple pieces and then molded. The process could take up to 12 weeks and would still require assembly. At Slant 3D we were able to take the design, perform some slight modifications for 3D printing and then produce 100 sets within 10-14 days at a fraction of the cost. And since there were no molds the client was able to make modification and return with a new iteration of the design several months later.

A Much simpler example is just the covers on Ducting itself. Locally Slant 3D works with a company called Silverdraft Computing, who manufactures high performance machines for VR and rendering operations. 

Silverdraft needed several hundred vent covers for their computers. They wanted to maintain their logo on all hardware so they designed a vent that was custom to them.

Normally such a piece would have cost over 5000 dollars in molding alone, and required several weeks to complete. At Slant 3D we took the 3D model and produced 100 parts in just 2 days so that they could hit their production targets. Production of parts like this now continue, and as Silverdraft grows they are able to take advantage of larger scale pricing. It is likely that parts like this will never be molded.

In the more industrial context ducting is used in factories and large pieces of machinery to move large quantities of air or material.

This large duct made for House of Design on one of their projects was made to move air and actual parts and pieces to a delivery bin. It had to be durable long term. And the part had to be on the shelf in less than a day.

Slant 3D finished the part less than a day after it was ordered and has since produced many of these parts for inventory and new machines.

A large part of this would have cost more than 10,000 dollars to mold, and severl thousand to machine. 3D printing was able to produce the first part for several hundred dollars. And today it can be mass produced by the hundreds for a few dollars.

Production 3D printing is able to produce vents large and small, simple and complex. And it is able to do it faster and cheaper than any other process. Clients get parts fast, at any volume they need, and with any specs they need, all from just a 3D model file.