Desktop Engineering - Objet Geometries Offers the Alaris30 Desktop 3D Printer

DE- Desktop Engineering – Technology for Design Engineering

Objet Geometries Offers the Alaris30 Desktop 3D Printer

Printer jets proprietary photopolymer materials in 28μ layers.

by Margaret S. Gurney | Published October 29, 2008

Objet’s new Alaris30 Desktop 3D Printer

Objet Geometries Ltd. (Rehovot, Israel) says that its new Alaris30 brings high-accuracy and high-resolution 3D printing to your desktop. The company asserts that its first-of-its-kind desktop model “sets a new standard” by allowing designers and manufacturers to create durable, high-quality models that are true-to-life easily and at minimal cost.

“The Alaris30 will enable firms to enhance their competitiveness by applying the most advanced in-house rapid prototyping capabilities available,” said Adina Shorr, CEO of Objet Geometries.

“This system allows enterprises to create models with an unprecedented degree of detail while shortening design cycles, reducing cost of errors, promoting team creativity, and further ensuring confidentiality — all from the desktop,” she added.

Precise Parts for Functional, Fit, & Form Testing
The office-friendly Alaris30 can print parts in such detail, says the company, that its models offer finished-quality smooth surfaces for complex geometries with both moving parts and text that stands out as needed.

The foundation of the Alaris30 is Objet’s PolyJet Photopolymer Jetting Technology, which achieves high accuracy and build resolution (600 x 600 dpi) by jetting proprietary FullCure photopolymer materials in thickness layers of 28µm (0.0011 in.). Similar to a line printer, the jetting head slides back and forth along the X-axis depositing a single layer of photopolymer onto the build tray.

Each layer is immediately cured and hardened by UV light, producing fully cured models that can be handled right away without additional post-curing.

Each part of this cross functions independently, which, says Objet, demonstrates the level of accuracy for small moving parts that the Alaris30 can achieve.

Models can be made using multiple assembled parts to validate that the elements fit and that moving parts interact correctly. Additionally, electronic components can be inserted to emulate the final product.

Materials
Using a VeroWhite FullCure830 modeling material and FullCure705, a gel-like support material, the Alaris30 printheads synchronously jet identical amounts of materials onto the tray. The support structure material enables complicated geometries, such as cavities, overhangs, and undercuts as well as delicate features and walls as thin as 0.6mm (0.023 in.).

Smooth surfaces and the strength of the model material create models that are said to be suitable for vacuum forming.

When the build is finished, the non-toxic support material is easily removed by water jetting or by hand, and the model is ready for fit, form, and function testing — or for other applications such as painting, drilling, chrome-plating, or use as molds for tooling. Model accuracy is typically 0.1– 0.2mm (0.0039 to 0.0078 in.).

Its net build size is 294 x 196 x 150mm (11.57 x 7.72 x 5.9 in.).

Other Technical Specs
Designed for high productivity as well as high accuracy, the Alaris30 operates like a network printer, enabling it to serve multiple designers throughout a firm. Plus, the system’s 300 x 200 x 150mm (11.81 x 7.87 x 5.9 in.) build tray allows large models or many small parts to be built simultaneously — saving time and money.

Printed models cure fully on the build tray. The Alaris30 uses sealed 1kg cartridges of resins, and its four-cartridge loading system enables it to operate for up to 36 hours unattended.

The Alaris30 requires simple printer management with no special electricity requirements (110 – 240 VAC 50/60Hz and 1.5KW single phase). Like other Objet models, it also uses the Objet Studio software to ensure easy operation and allow designers to turn a 3D CAD file into a model with just a few mouse clicks.

While there are clearly no special facility requirements, the Alaris30, which retails for less than $40,000, weighs 83kg (183 lbs), has two units for printing heads and measures 825mm x 620mm x 590mm (32.25 x 33.85 x 40.94 in.). It offers input formats of both STL and SLC files.

The Alaris30 operates in environments ranging in temperatures from 18 degrees C to 25 degrees C (64.0 degrees F to 77 degrees F) with a relative humidity of 30-70 percent. It can be networked via LAN or TCP/IP.

Additional information on the new Alaris30 is available at Objet Geometries Ltd.

Read why DE’s editors chose this as a Pick of the Week.

Readers can view a short video showing the actual process of the Alaris30.

Read over Objet Geometries Ltd.’s Alaris30 brochure.

Download VeroWhite Datasheet A4 (PDF).

For recent DE coverage, see “DurusWhite FullCure430 Material Now Available for Objet’s Eden Printers,” (Oct. 2008).

For previous DE coverage on Objet, see "Objet 'Digital Materials' Combines Various Mechanical Properties," (Nov. 2007).

Margaret S. Gurney is the editor for new products at Desktop Engineering magazine.