SAF Manufacturing | Ask a 3D Printing Expert | AdvancedTek

Let’s start with the basics. What exactly is the Stratasys H350 3D printer? saf manufacturing

The H350 is a 3D printer produced by Stratasys. It is a professional-grade printer designed for manufacturing and engineering applications. Built for high-volume, short-run production, the Stratasys H350 3D printer gives you control of your materials, workflow, production, and costs while delivering consistency and accuracy print after print.

The H350 is powered by Selective Absorption Fusion (SAF™) technology, a polymer Powder Bed Fusion (PBF) process that uses industrial grade piezo-electric printheads that jet high absorption fluid (HAF™) onto a powder bed to define the area in which to form the 3D printed object(s).

PBF is used in a variety of industries, including:

1. Automotive: production of functional prototypes and end-use parts for cars and other vehicles
2. Aerospace: manufacturing of complex aerospace components such as engine parts and heat exchangers
3. Medical Devices: production of custom medical implants and prosthetics
4. Consumer Goods: manufacture of consumer products such as electronics and toys
5. Industrial: production of end-use parts and functional prototypes for various industries including manufacturing and construction

Overall, PBF technology has a wide range of applications due to its ability to produce complex and intricate parts with high accuracy and repeatability.

In production, Stratasys SAF technology is used to manufacture small to medium-sized parts with complex geometries, high precision, and fine surface finishes. The H350 uses PA11 and PA12 (Nylon 11 & Nylon 12). PBF can also be used to produce molds, tooling, and prototypes for testing.

Tool-less manufacturing is certainly becoming increasingly important across manufacturing facilities and c-suite level titles: engineering, sourcing, purchasing, product development, research and development; the list carries onto the production floor and front office. 3D printing and specifically SAF technology can aid in building a digital inventory for businesses and it gives companies autonomy – allowing companies to control product cost and ultimately improve uptime and save money. Additive manufacturing and 3D printing technology can also be a differentiator in building alternative revenue and opportunity paths that once were not available through traditional methods like injection molding.

How is SAF technology different? Compared to other PBF technologies such as SLS (Selective Laser Sintering) or MJF (Multi Jet Fusion), SAF can produce parts with higher density and finer grain structure (overall look and feel of the part can be enhanced through post processing equipment). SAF can be more cost-effective, have a large build volume, and can produce parts at a faster rate and with a lower cost per part. Additionally, the uptime can be impressive with the H350 due to its limited number of consumables needed and its strong industrial strength.

It is important to note that the comparison between these technologies depends on various factors such as the specific application, desired material properties, and required build volume, among others.

The H350 has tremendous nesting density. This allows a user to fit A LOT of small, complex parts into a single build. Why is that important? It allows for multiple iterations of products – for either prototyping or bridge manufacturing. It also allows for significant time savings – a full build takes right around 13 hours to complete – taking down lead times from months to hours/days!

Check out this Stratasys case study to learn how an innovation driven design & development company in Germany leverages the Stratasys H350 3D printer to revolutionize the cycling saddle.

Tool-less manufacturing is changing the way manufacturers think and produce products/parts. SAF technology specifically is saving manufacturers time and money and it is paving a path to future possibilities that were once not possible.

If you’d like to learn more about the Stratasys H350 3D printer, reach out to us at sales@advancedtek.com or request a demo here.

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Meet Cale Arhart

Cale is a SAF business development rep at AdvancedTek, supporting our customers with the H350 and SAF technology.

Outside of work Cale enjoys spending time with his wife and 6-month old boy. He also coaches hockey at Stillwater High School and loves going to the cabin in the summer and constantly winning in all yard games.

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