Dimension adds “Elite” model to family of best-selling
3D printers
During
the last week of January, I attended the annual partner
meeting for Dimension, called Dimension World. During this
event, Dimension unveiled the latest addition to their
family of affordable, office friendly 3D printers, called
the “Elite.” Prior to the release of Elite, Dimension
offered four 3D printers which differed in size and the
technology of support removal desired by the end-user.
Why
Elite?
Although Dimension is already well known for having the most
durable build material in the affordable 3D Printer industry
(products $50,000 and under), they have gone a step further.
The Elite printer will offer even stronger, more durable ABS
material. The reason for this offering is to help provide
better solutions to industries which build very small parts,
such as electrical connectors, medical instruments, small
consumer products, etc.
Elite Specifications
Elite printers will be available in the 768 product size (8”
X 8” X 12” build envelope), with the SST (soluble support
technology) option only. Elite will offer a .007” layer
slice option which will greatly improve the resolution and
finish of the models it builds. The Elite printer uses
newer, stronger ABS material has vastly improved tensile and
flex strength, as well as improved tensile and flex modulus.
This allows for not only a better surface finish on parts
built, but also stronger builds on very small parts which in
the past may have easily broken.
Dimension Magics
Also introduced at Dimension World is a new software product
which should be a very popular application for Dimension
customers around the world called Dimension Magics.
Dimension Magics was brought to market for the following
reasons:
1.
Teeth Cut option” -
gives the end user the ability to insert “teeth cuts” into
their models for sectioning larger parts. Some of our
clients build parts with Dimension in “sections” because the
build size is much larger than the work envelope. So they
essentially section the part as many times as necessary,
build the sections, then glue the pieces together with ABS
glue for the completed model. The teeth cut option creates
somewhat of a male/female joint between parts so when you go
to glue it together, there are nicely fit sections to use,
rather than gluing straight edges together which is quite
difficult. This also creates a much stronger overall part
when creating the larger models.
2.
Magics has a “fix
wizard” built in which improves the STL file quite a bit
prior to printing the model. This prevents sending a poor
model to the printer and wasting time and material (garbage
in – garbage out).
3.
Magics also allows
for better visualization of the part, as well as measuring,
prior to printing.
Dimension Success
While at Dimension World, I also learned some very
interesting facts and figures about the success of
Dimension, and its parent company, Stratasys. Stratasys has
shipped more than 6,000 systems (different levels of 3D
printing technology) since its inception in 1988. More than
half of those systems, including Dimensions, have
been shipped in the past two years alone. Stratasys realized
growth of 24 percent in 2006, and is number one in the Rapid
Prototyping industry, with more than 52 percent market
share.
The
Dimension division of Stratasys (the 3D Printers we
represent) are a major part of the recent success. Dimension
shipped more than 1,500 systems last year alone. Dimension
has grown more than 30 percent year over year since 2002,
and grew at nearly 50 percent this past year. In addition,
Dimension has become highly successful selling 3D printers
into education. Dimension is used at hundreds of colleges
around the world, and recently has become extremely popular
in high schools (with more than 200 printers sold last year to
the high school market)
and junior highs (more than 20 sold). The engineers of tomorrow will
have higher expectations for technology as they enter the
job market, but they shouldn’t be disappointed-more than 70
percent of Dimension’s business is commercial, and growing by leaps and bounds.
Contact
your local Hagerman & Company account manager to schedule
time to visit one of our local offices to see Dimension
printers in action.
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