Has anyone heard about a new post printing treatment for Zcorp parts. I saw a vid of a Zcorp part being used as a hammer and driving nails. Is this for real? If anyone has heard of this please let me know.
Where did you see the video? We just bought a base level Z machine…we’re receiving it in a few weeks. One of the things I didn’t like about it was the durability of the parts. If I could make a hammer with it…wow!
Wow that’s amazing, especially the spring video.
So can I assume that the resin is elastic that creates the springing capability?
Will I be able to “sculpt” it after I apply the resin?
Man I don’t know. I will be calling monday morning to find out. I just hope it is not a hoax. I stumbled accross what you saw.
Let me know what you find out. I can imagine all kinds of stuff to do if it is real. If it is I want one. They could not charge enough for it. It looks to good to be true.
we looked at a z corp machine about a year ago, they showed us some parts that were post processed with cyanoacrylate that were incredibly strong and parts that were processed with a flexible rtv urethane that were “rubbery”
We were particularly interested in flexible parts, but the flexibility of the urethane coated parts was not very uniform and more of a novelty than a refined process.
This xla process looks like it could be a big improvement
the xla site says their process isn’t rtv and they clearly show a vacuum system and mention the part “evolving overnight”
sounds like, you put your parts in a bucket of goop, turn the vacuum on let the goop soak in and at some point the part is lifted from the goop and heat cured.
If they truly get the properties they show I don’t care if they soak it in you know what. The problem with Zcorp parts has been how delacate they are and how dificult they are to coat with the CA or Epoxy.
This sounds so much easier and the results look great from what I can tell.
Has anyone seen an xlaFORM part? Did they go to the Zcorp users show?
If this stuff is true I could make prototypes and bolt them on for use testing not just to look at.
this could be very cool for the Zcorp. You will still have the inherent tolerance issues of the machine.
We have the 310, and nothing beats the ability to crank out 3 or 4 quick surface studies and have them in your hand the next morning.
To get cosmetic type models out of it, There is still a LOT of hand finishing needed to get it there.
If you’re needing fit and finish on something that resembles an electronics part…fuhget about it.
From what I see you could print to near net shape them machine the critical nimensions???
Sure…you could do that. But why? It takes several hours to print and set the cure overnight. If you can machine it why not just machine the whole thing?
You can machine standard prototyping materisls over night but not something that gives you a part you can use to drive nails. My stuff can take a week to machine. If I can drill the mounting holes ect??? and get an operational test it would be good.
This “LOOKS” to me like it goes beyond prototyping type materials that I have seen??? It would be worth it to me to machine the tight deminsions and you are not working while it is in the oven.
But we shall see shortly.
Anybody know how Zcorp is involved?
What is “your stuff”? Curious, as I work with electronics and can’t really see justifying this. I would purchase a desktop CNC before this, I think. Although, I am still pretty curious.
I think this looks like a good way to finish z-corps parts provided the resins is reasonably priced, did they quote a price?
From my experience z-corps is a good economical machine a lot of schools are purchasing them, because of the more affordable cost. However they are only so accurate and parts do come out fairly rough and require a good amount of finishing. I would think that you would not use this system for works with tight tolerances.
If you don’t own a machine or plan on buying one, I would just send out work to be grown in sls or sla. I think one of the major selling points for the z-corps machines is that you can have it in the office, I would not spend the money to send out for a z-part.
I understand where you are comming from. My needs are differnt. My stuff is Injection molding cavities and cores.
What I need is not just to look at a part but subject it to tons of pressure at high temp. A very simple injection prototype mold can run $10,000 and take 3 to 4 weeks to machine. If I can do it in 2 or 3 days and get 10 parts out of it, wow. Especially at Zcorp prices.
I spoke to these folks this morning and they have a new resin that will take plastic injected into it at 575 f. I saw a 4"x4"x4" block being hit with a steel hammer over and over again. If you stayed away from the corners, no damage.
I guess you are correct, I relly don’t need a prototype I need a use-a-type.
The spring is something too. Have you been to the website. From what I ccan tell it is way behind what they have.
Thank you for taking the time to be ask, I am trying to learn and negetatives are as valuable as positives.
It looks good! It’s too bad that it takes another machine and more material, sourced from another company to get the results. We are receiving our machine soon. I’m doing some stuff in electronics, but I think with bigger tolerances than what IP is working on. We had them make about 4 models for us. I thought the tolerances were impressive for such a simple machine.
Keep us posted if you end up ordering some stuff from xlaform!