EXONE™ 3D PRINTER FEATURES THERMOFORMED BOLTARON® PARTS
SIMONA Boltaron Collaborates with The ExOne Company and Catalysis Additive Tooling for Latest Mid-Level 3D Printer Model Design
For its newest mid-level model 3D printer X1 25Pro®, The ExOne Company selected Boltaron® 4335 for its outstanding appearance and thermoformability.
Requirements for the Project
- Must meet the UL 94 V-0 fire safety standards
- Must have a high quality surface finish
- Must be able to handle a deep draw in thermoforming
- Must maintain its quality appearance after thermoforming, ie. no texture washout or cracking
- Must consistently match the color of the full system
Why did The ExOne Company choose Boltaron® 4335?
This material was chosen by the OEM for its superior performance over the competitive product.
“The main conflict with the other material was the deeper draw that our molds were designed for which led to some complications with the material handling the forming and still being sturdy enough after being formed and having a good surface finish. The Boltaron material handled that very well. There weren’t any surface imperfections on the Boltaron parts. The other materials we tried resulted bubbles that were not appealing. It also didn’t lend itself well to the process for the finish we were looking for. There was texture washout, uneven glossing and even pitting in some cases. Not only did Boltaron have better quality and performance, it wasn’t as expensive as the alternative material,” said Anthony Dugan, Senior Project Engineer at The ExOne Company.
Boltaron® 4335 with a VL texture was the material of choice because of its fire rating, appearance, and excellent performance during thermoforming trials.
Featured Material
Supply Chain Collaboration
3D printed tools were provided by Catalysis Additive Tooling and then taken through SIMONA Boltaron’s design team for manufacturing and supply chain management program with collaborative thermoforming partner Techniform Industries.
“We were able to provide a huge advantage in terms of the project time to market. We had the capacity to run these quickly, but also took the time to collaborate together to improve the design for thermoformability. We also added things to the tools to make them easier to hand-trim. This provided a low volume cost benefit,” said Mike Robinette, SIMONA Boltaron Director of Product Development.