Fused Deposition Modeling, also known as FDM is one of the most widely used additive manufacturing processes in use today for creating prototype and functional production parts for industry. By depositing layers of molten engineered plastic through a fine tip, parts are created out of thin air from a computer generated 3D rendering. The process requires a support structure which acts as a nest to hold the 3D printed item in place during the construction process. How you remove this support structure is the last hurdle in creating the finished product.

Support structure comes in both non-water soluble and water soluble materials. The only way to remove non-water soluble structure is to literally crack and peel it off, similar to what you go through to eat crab legs. This same procedure can be used for water soluble materials, but there are several easier, more efficient removal methods

Agitation washers swirl hot water with a mix of highly caustic sodium hydroxide/ carbonate formulas at a high rate of pressure and flow. The advantage is that these units are quiet and can live in any office environment. The limitations include possible breakage on delicate parts due to the high pressure and banging against tank side walls, the length of time needed to remove the support, the parts take longer to dry due to lengthy immersion, the moderately high cost of purchase, and the lack of precision cleaning detail.

High pressure spray washers dramatically shorten drying times because they are showered, not submerged in a bath, so the parts don’t become saturated. Parts damage is controlled by applying even pressure across all surfaces, thus parts aren’t banged around. Spray washers are better suited for larger FDM prints and lose effectiveness on smaller intricate parts. The main disadvantages to this technology are its large footprint, higher noise and extremely high price point.

Ultrasonic washers are submersion baths, so parts take as long to dry as an agitation wash, however they are quicker and gentler than agitation or pressure washing for removing support material. They don’t need special plumbing either and are moderately priced. The limitation of an ultrasonic washer is it is loud and can’t exist in some office environments.

The last style washer available for post processing combines ultrasonics and agitation. These hybrid washers give you the dual cleaning advantages of pressure agitation and the precision ultrasonic cavitation for 30-50 percent faster cleaning times. They are plc based allowing users to select support material recipes. Though the ultrasonic cycle is still louder than the agitation cycle, these units are built with better sound dampening allowing them more acceptance in an office environment. The cost is higher than an agitation or an ultrasonic only washer, but still less than a pressure wash cabinet.

Omegasonics makes a full range of ultrasonic, agitation and hybrid agitation washers. Visit www.omegasonics.com

This new process has come into its own over the last decade and is now being used for a myriad of applications across many industries, including the aerospace industry.

Below are a few of the ways the aerospace industry benefits from 3D printing:

3D Printing Complex and Innovative Designs

3D printing offers incredible flexibility in terms of geometry, enabling designs not previously possible to be manufactured. Essentially, if it can be designed and tested in a virtual 3D environment, then it can be “printed” with additive manufacturing. This allows for innovation and exploration of new designs, with imagination leading the way.

Quick Turnaround and Flexibility

Designs can be produced using a variety of substrates, including metal. Designers in the aerospace industry are no longer just producing prototypes, but finished working parts for everything from airplanes to rocket engines. Additive manufacturing allows designs to be quickly produced, tested in the real world, and then refined for further testing. Additive manufacturing allows this critical turnaround to be shortened to hours and days instead of months, potentially saving millions of dollars in development costs and time.

Weight Reduction

Weight reduction is one of the biggest consideration in aerospace development and manufacturing. Lighter aircraft components translate to both lower fuel consumption and therefore, lower CO2 emissions. This in turn, means less cost for aircraft manufacturers and airlines, and better airfares for consumers. With 3D printing, many different designs for lighter weight structures can be printed and quickly tested, starting with prototypes and moving rapidly to final parts production.

Since the design begins in a virtual computer environment and can be quickly produced and tested, 3D printing enables engineers to design parts with intricate geometries that can reduce a part’s weight while maintaining its strength, as opposed to traditional manufacturing design.

This weight reduction leads to reduced material costs and fuel savings. For example, the Airbus A350 has over 1,000 3D-printed and weight-reduced parts, resulting in 25% fuel savings, overall.

Improved Strength and Durability

The mechanical properties of metal powders such as Inconel 718 and titanium Ti6Al4V lead to improved strength and exceptional resistance in high temperatures and corrosive conditions, encountered in aircraft engines.

Major Savings

Additive manufacturing creates great ROI for aerospace industry companies. It reduces the traditional time involved in the “idea to design to prototype to manufacturing” cycle. What formerly took months of time, including time wasted with mistakes and oversights, now can be reduced to hours and days.

This translates to major savings for the aerospace industry in labor, materials and time. It also means that smaller aerospace companies and smaller governments have the ability to compete with the traditional “big boys” of large government and corporation-sponsored aerospace manufacturers.

This can, in turn, revolutionize the aerospace industry, passing along both innovation and cost savings to consumers.

Virtual Warehouse

One of the most exciting innovations resulting from practical 3D printing is the ability to simply choose designs from a virtual warehouse. In a way, this is a little like the “replicator” on Star Trek, but available here and now instead of the far future.

Not only can engineers choose from a vast catalog of pre-created designs to be manufactured in the manufacturing facility, but this concept has incredible potential outside the manufacturing center. For example, say the part is transported to a remote testing facility but is found to need modification.

In the past, testing and development would need to shut down until another part could be made and then shipped. Instead, with a 3D printer and the right substrate on site, printing a new or replacement part can be easily accomplished.

This could even take place in one of the most remote places possible, such as the International Space Station, where a needed part could be printed, thereby saving the mission and lives.

3D Printing and Ultrasonic Cleaning

One step in additive manufacturing can involve cleaning the newly printed part. In some types of 3D printing, a support substrate is used to help ensure the most precise printing and to support the most delicate objects as they dry. This substrate is designed to be cleaned away completely using a specific cleaning detergent and ultrasonic cleaning. Omegasonics produces both the detergent and the devices to make this part of the additive manufacturing process possible.

Want to know more about how Omegasonics can assist with your additive manufacturing process? Contact your Omegasonics representative at 888-989-5560 or email us at omegasonics@omegasonics.com

Some types of PLA can be removed with water and a surfactant, and decent results can be achieved using solvents and an agitating tank. However, the best and more thorough method is via cavitation formed by ultrasonic waves. The sound waves easily reach into all surfaces of the object, no matter how small or intricate the mold may be, clearing off PLA plastic without affecting the underlying ABS plastic that forms the intended molded object.

Many 3D-printed objects must be completely clean of PLA support or they will not work as designed. For example, artificial knees or teeth must be cleaned perfectly, or they may cause dangerous complications for the patient. Only ultrasonic cleaners can clean away PLA support structures and leave behind the pristine molded object.

Omegasonics’ ultrasonic cleaners gently remove PLA support structure materials from ABS, Polycarbonate, Nylon 12, PCABS and other thermoplastic types, providing thorough cleaning with even very intricate parts. Furthermore, ultrasonic cleaners are less expensive than recirculating tank-style washers, are easy to use, and require very little setup or training.

How do Ultrasonic Cleaners Work?

Omegasonics’ cutting-edge ultrasonic cleaners use electric generators to create high-frequency sound waves in water. As these waves travel through the water, tiny vacuum bubbles form and repeatedly implode upon any surface they encounter, an effect called cavitation. Cavitation releases enormous amounts of energy at microscopic levels, removing even the tiniest dirt particles. Cavitating bubbles reach into grooves, cracks and hidden crevices more effectively than alternative methods, cleaning them more thoroughly than solvents and other harsh chemicals could ever do. Furthermore, ultrasonic cleaning technology only uses water-based soaps and solutions for a “greener” cleaning approach.

Plastic Absorbs Ultrasonic Waves

Getting the right wattage in your tank matters, especially when it comes to plastics. Unlike metal, which can easily reflect cavitation bubbles off its hard surfaces–even at lower wattage levels of ultrasonic waves, plastics absorb larger amounts of ultrasonic energy. This means that lower wattage tanks may not achieve the desired result. Balancing the proper amount of ultrasonic energy with the audible noise they create is the trick. While it is true that more ultrasonic power will clean faster, it will also create more ambient noise. Operators using these devices in an office environment may not tolerate the higher dB levels.

Ultrasonic Cleaning of 3D Printed Molds Means Faster ROI

Companies that choose ultrasonic cleaning of their 3D printed molds experience faster and more thorough cleaning. This translates to faster production and saved money and time for workers. Where before, parts would have to be cleaned by hand or inspected carefully after being agitated and then perhaps cleaned again, printed molds can be loaded into an ultrasonic cleaner, left to clean, and collected later. This means that employees previously engaged in cleaning and inspection of parts can now be reassigned to other revenue-generating activities.

Labor and money saved translates to a quick ROI (Return on Investment) for the expense of purchasing ultrasonic equipment–good news for purchasing managers! Companies that have purchased ultrasonic cleaners from Omegasonics have later returned to buy more after discovering their ease of use and benefit to their production line. In some cases, production time from concept to client has been moved up 24 hours!

Your company has invested a lot in 3D printers–for maximum ROI don’t skimp on the PLA cleaning part of your production cycle. Call us at 888-989-5560 or email us at omegasonics@omegasonics.com

While the size of the screens on our mobile devices keeps growing, the intricate electronics on the inside keep getting smaller and more powerful.

The shrinking technology is a trend for many other industries as well. This is particularly true in the medical field, where small parts are essential for being used inside the body.

Breakthroughs in technology, like 3D printing, are leading to breakthroughs in medicine. Scientists and doctors are using 3D printers in very exciting ways. 3D Printers Are The Future Of Technology

3D Printing and Cardiovascular Studies

Heart disease is still the number one cause of death in the United States for most ethnicities. Because of this, scientists and doctors are always looking for new and innovative ways to study the heart and learn more about it.

One of the things that still baffles medical science professionals is how the tissue in the heart and blood vessels work at the material level. For years, researchers have been attempting to understand the material properties of the different tissues that make up the heart. One method they use in research is called biaxial testing.

Biaxial tests attempt to understand the strength of the materials that make up the cardiovascular system. This is done by taking small samples, typically about four inches in size, and then stretching it in one direction and the other direction at the same time. This reveals a lot to the scientists about the properties of the tissue, particularly arterial tissue.

Some scientists prefer to work with smaller samples. Most commonly, the samples are taken from mice. Because mice are much smaller in scale than humans, testing these samples requires a device that can stretch tissue that is only a fraction of an inch. This is where 3D printers come in.

A team of doctors and scientists have contacted computer modeling experts to create a device that can perform the biaxial test on small mouse samples. These devices consist of very small, precise devices that can be used by the scientists to gather data from samples taken from mice. The parts are designed using 3D modeling software and then created using a 3D printer. The result is a very small and precise instrument.

Using Ultrasonics to Clean the Very Small

Of course, in order to clean these devices, you cannot just pull out a scrub brush. Some of these devices are so small that any rough treatment could literally tear them apart, not to mention ruin their sensitivity. That is where ultrasonic cleaners come in. Because Ultrasonics uses cavitation and not vibration to clean, parts will not be subject to forces that can damage them. The small bubbles will also be able to get in and clean the tiny parts to ensure they remain accurate.

Omegasonics has a wide variety of ultrasonic cleaners that can be used in the biomedical field for a range of applications. Browse our ultrasonic cleaning catalog today!

FDM 3D Printing

One of the most popular types of 3D printing is called fuse deposit modeling, or FDM. This process uses a machine that makes droplet-sized beads of a resin material, and slowly builds the form of the product or part that needs to be printed. These beads fuse together to form a cohesive component.

Materials used in this process are resins, such as:

• ABS plastic
• Polycarbonate
• Polycarbonate-ISO (used in medical fields
• Nylon 12
• PC ABS

When the printer is building the desired product, it must first create a support mold to allow the product to retain its shape as it is being built and hardening. Once the product has been completed, the support mold must be removed. To do this, the product and mold must be placed into an ultrasonic cleaner and dissolved.

Ultrasonic Cleaners and the FDM 3D Printer

Dissolving a mold requires a solvent, time, and preferably some amount of agitation to penetrate the solute as well as speed up the process.

Two of the most popular FDM printers are the Stratasys MC360 and MC400. These machines can create full-size parts in a healthy range of sizes, while still fitting inside of a moderately sized room.

Omegasonic’s 1900BT ultrasonic cleaner is the ideal partner for the MC360 and MC400. The 1900BT’s tank is large enough to handle and possible part that is manufactured in those two machines. The 1900BT also has an illuminated digital control panel that makes the process of removing the support mold easy, fast, and thorough. Its medium-sized form factor additionally makes it perfect for an office setting.

What’s more, the 1900BT comes with a customized submerging basket, complete with a unique hinging lid that makes placing and removing parts a breeze. The basket ensures that any placed parts will be fully submerged, ensuring the maximum amount of cleaning.

The 3D Printer and the Ultrasonic Cleaner: A Partnership Made in Heaven

Thanks to the engineering marvel that is FDM and the convenience of the Omegasonic ultrasonic cleaners, rapid prototyping is possible. When your parts are thoroughly cleaned and ready for assembly, you’ll be able to refine your concepts and bring new ideas to the marketplace faster than ever before.

The 1900 BT and the SST4030 utilize precision ultrasonic technology to accurately and methodically remove all support material from 3D prototyped parts, one layer at a time. These innovative units effectively clean ABS, polycarbonate, polycarbonate-ISO, Nylon 12, and PC-ABS parts, regardless of a part’s geometry and complexity.

“Our engineers have been working for some time with one of the top 3D printing equipment manufacturers to develop ultrasonic cleaning units that deliver superior parts cleaning,” said Frank Pedeflous, President of Omegasonics. “The advanced technology of our 3D ultrasonic cleaners help make the prototyping process more cost effective and allows manufacturers to get ideas to market faster than ever.”

The new Omegasonics cleaners designed for 3D printing are fast, easy to use, and designed for the office environment. They are designed with all solid state components, Plug & Play construction, and require no regular maintenance. A stainless steel parts basket with a unique lid ensures that parts are fully submerged in the ultrasonic bath for maximum cleaning throughout the entire cleaning cycle.

Other features include:

•     User-friendly illuminated control panel
•     Digital temperature control
•     Digital timer controlled ultrasound
•     Large tank capacity
•     Stainless steel drain valve
•     Insulated tank for reduced noise
•     And more

No other existing process removes support materials from 3D printing prototyped parts as quickly, easily and precisely as the Omegasonics 1900 BT and the SST4030 ultrasonic cleaning units.

About Omegasonics

Omegasonics, the West Coast’s leading manufacturer of ultrasonic cleaning systems, designs and manufactures a complete line of ultrasonic contents restoration cleaning systems, biodegradable cleaning agents, supplies and accessories. Additional info about the company is available at https://www.omegasonics.com or at their blog, “Mighty Bubbles,” at blog.omegasonics.com.

Very intricate and delicate objects, as well as complex tools and machines, can be printed with 3D printers, but require a special material known as 3D mold support to make this type of printing possible.

Mold support enables 3D printers to achieve the elaborate shapes that in the past could be made only by casting or machining processes. When the final printed part is complete, ultrasonic cleaners help remove the mold support quickly and completely, reducing the time needed to manufacture the part and have it ready for the next step in the assembly process or ready to ship to the customer.

3D printing is a very effective method of building complex components because they can be designed and manufactured rapidly, going from computer-aided drawing to completed part in one step. Parts are built one paper-thin layer at a time, using plastic, metal, or ink from a print head and distributed onto a printer table in the shape of the object.

When the process was initially developed, 3D printing had one drawback—it couldn’t print a part with overhanging shelves, ledges, or cavities because there was no way to support them while they printed. That problem was solved with mold support, a material that dissolves easily in ultrasonic cleaners.

Mold support works as a reverse image of the finished part; a placeholder, so to speak. It is a type of resin, deposited from a second nozzle in the same print head used to print the actual part.

Where a space, gap, or hole exists under the print head, it is filled in with the resin mold support material, while the rest of that same layer is filled in with part material. It gives the finished part the appearance of having been poured into a mold to shape it, thus its name (imagine making a golf ball. The mold would be a hollow sphere with raised bumps inside, while the golf ball would be round with dimples. It would be impossible to make a golf ball without a mold).

Once the part is completely printed, the resin mold support must be removed from the part. Ultrasonic cleaners are used for this purpose. The cleaning could be done by hand scrubbing or with a hot water spraying system, but both of these methods are slow and could potentially damage the part.

High-alkalinity detergent and hot water are placed in ultrasonic cleaning machines along with the part, and the resin dissolves in short order. No manual labor is needed, and the resin is cleaned from even the most inaccessible cracks, crevices, and blind holes and passageways.

The intricacy of some of the components that have been made with 3D printers virtually requires the use of ultrasonic cleaners to remove all of the mold support. The more complicated and involved the part, the harder it would be to clean by any other method. Ultrasonic cleaning is an integral part of the 3D printing process, and is almost as important as the printer itself. No other machines can clean as quickly, thoroughly, and deeply into the recesses of a part the way ultrasonic cleaners can.

Contact us for more information on ultrasonic cleaners. You can also find us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

The printer head stays on the same plane at all times, while the part is lowered a fraction of an inch on a table to allow the next layer to be printed on top of the previous layer.

FDM provides great results for many applications, but it has one drawback—since the part is built from the bottom up, it can’t produce a part with an overhang, shelf, or internal cavity because there’s nothing to support it while the layers above it are built.

Some 3D printer manufacturers have resolved this issue by using a “mold support,” which is a water-soluble material that can be removed from the finished part using ultrasonic cleaners.

It is distributed by the printer head through a different nozzle than the one that distributes the material for the part, and acts as a kind of “placeholder” for the suspended part until the part requires that layer to actually be built (think of it like printing with red ink for the part, and green ink for themold support.

Red and green ink both get printed on each layer, and when the shelf or overhang is actually called for on the part, the red ink prints over the area where the green ink was applied).

When a part requiring the use of mold support is done being printed, it looks nothing like the finished part should look. The mold support must be cleaned away using ultrasonic cleaners, leaving only the actual part behind.

Since mold support is water-soluble, a simple solution of detergent and water is all that’s needed for ultrasonic cleaning. The mold release is gently and completely washed away, and the part is not damaged in any way because ultrasonic cleaners work by using non-damaging high frequency sound waves to remove any residual materials.

3D printing, whether the next industrial revolution or just another tool in the manufacturing and technology sector’s toolkit, opens up a whole new realm of design and manufacturing possibilities for the commercial world.

This technology makes it possible to quickly build full-size parts or components out of a variety of materials without expensive machining processes.

With enhanced FDM processing, parts can be made quickly and inexpensively. Using ultrasonic cleaners to remove the mold support, as well as clean the wetted parts of 3D printers, makes the entire process cost effective and gets ideas to the marketplace quickly.

Contact us for more information on ultrasonic cleaners. You can also find us on LinkedIn and Twitter.