BACKGROUND

Tharsus, based in Blyth, Northumberland, is one of the UK’s largest manufacturers of commercial robots – and is a true pioneer in its field.
The company works with clients including Ocado, BMW, DHL, and Small Robot Company
Tharsus, designs and builds automated solutions for a wide spectrum of industries and was named as one of the Fastest Growing Private Technology Companies in the Sunday Times Hiscox Tech Track 100 and won the Company Of The Year Award in the 2019 North East Business Awards.
Most recently, it was selected by Tech Nation as part of its latest Future Fifty cohort, as one of the country’s most innovative tech scale-ups.

To support its product development, Tharsus needed a range of parts, but in a much quicker
timeframe than its own in-house 3D printing capability would allow.
This is where we stepped in…

HOW WE SUPPORTED THARSUS

Using industrial quality equipment, coupled with our expertise and strict quality controls, we were able to 3D print and deliver nearly 1000 prototypes in just over a week.
We liaised closely with the CTO at Tharsus and his team throughout the process, ensuring that the project ran smoothly and efficiently.

We helped Tharsus to:
• Make changes very quickly during the prototyping stage
• Resolve unseen issues prior to releasing a part for the next stage of development
• Meet project deadlines
• Overcome the limitations of their own in-house 3D printing equipment

A word from our client…

“They always worked with us to ensure the correct parts were prioritised. Turnaround times were exactly what we needed, and the prototype components had a great finish.”

– Dave Swan, chief technology officer at Tharsus

2) ON-DEMAND/LOW VOLUME MANUFACTURING

Arguably one of the most promising applications for 3d printing, one where manufacturing businesses around the world can re-supply their stocks on an on-demand basis and with lead times as low as 1-2 days.

There are many advantages in adopting a “just in time” manufacturing system and working together with a 3D printing provider can help you improve your production process and reduce or eliminate transportation and warehousing costs altogether, a great way to complement an existing supply chain making it more efficient and cost effective than ever before.

Although a large number of OEMs across all industries are already experimenting with a “digital inventory” solution, home appliances giants like Whirlpool, Electrolux and GE are already reaping the benefits of a more agile and on demand supply chain for their spare parts.

Taking a product to market is never been so easy, gone are the days of committing huge amounts of capital on tooling costs.
With 3D printing you can now manufacture your product in no time with little upfront costs making anything from 1 to 10,000 parts in a matter of days.

This is also a great way to test your concept and adapt to your customer needs easily implementing design changes during the production process at little to no extra cost.

In addition to this, 3D printing can be used to produce customised end user products as Adidas, InvisAlign and GE have successfully demonstrated in the last years.

Of course we cannot forget about medical applications and PPE production where additive manufacturing keeps playing an essential role as we are navigating through the COVID pandemic.

3) JIGS & FIXTURES

From positioning jigs to assembly line components, this is without a doubt one of the most useful  applications for 3D printing.

To understand how important this technology has become on the factory floor we can look at the automotive industry where FDM 3d printing machines are used to produce jigs and tools to assist the factory workers in achieving repetability and precision time after time.

BMW and VolksWagen are just two of the many OEM that have invested in 3D printed tools and jigs with outstanding results.

According to BMW, replacing their machined jigs with ABS 3d printed fixtures has cut their costs by 58% and halved the production time.

The main advantages of using 3d printing on the factory floor are:
– Weight reduction
– Freedom of design for complex parts
– Customisation
– Better Ergonomics
– Overall cost reduction

STEP 1 – SANDING

Starting from a 180 grit sandpaper work your way up to 400. Use circular motions to avoid visible scratches on the surface of your model.
This is by far the most time consuming part of the entire process but the final result depends greatly on this stage.
TIP: A small orbital sander can do miracles and make you spare precious time, even a cheap brand from your local DIY store can speed up this step massively.
Keep sanding until the full model feels smooth to the touch, don’t worry about the deeper layer lines at the moment.

STEP 2 – FILLER

Mix a small quantity of filler and hardener on a piece of scrap paper or board material.

Apply the filler in thin passes to cover the build lines and any defect on the model.
TIP: work with a very small quantity of filler at a time, depending on the ambient temperature it can dry up pretty quickly sometimes leaving you with a big blob of unused material to throw away.

STEP 3 – SANDING THE FILLER

Once the filler is completely dry sand down any excess with 400 grit wet sandpaper. Repeat the last two steps until the model feels completely smooth to the touch.

STEP 4 – PRIMER

Mount your model onto a support to facilitate this stage. Shake the primer for a couple of minutes and start spraying the model with a lateral movement from side to side keeping a distance of roughly 10-12 inches.

The first two coats should be very light we are not looking to cover the model but promote the adhesion for the successive layers.

The third and fourth passes should be wet but be careful to avoid sagging and dripping, keep moving side to side and leave 5-10 minutes in between coats.

STEP 5 – SANDING THE PRIMER

It’s good practice to lightly sand your model after priming, the smoother the surface at this point, the better the results will be.

IMPORTANT: wipe the model clean with a tack cloth before proceeding to the next step.

STEP 6 – BASECOAT

To apply the basecoat follow the same guidelines outlined in STEP 4 with two light coats to start and three or four wet passes to finish, wait 5-10 minutes in between to avoid sagging.

If your model requires any masking remember to remove the tape right after painting to ensure clean sharp edges between the colours.
Let the paint dry overnight and clean the part in the morning with a tack cloth.

STEP 7 – CLEARCOAT

Apply 1 or 2 light coats of clear coat waiting 10 minutes in between passes.

Depending on the look you want to achieve you can further polish the surface with wax or a fine polishing compound to get a super glossy finish.

And here’s the final product, a special shout out to Layerone for this beatutiful model.

Don’t forget to follow us on Facebook and Instagram for more tutorials.

Now that you’re all set for the perfect 3d print upload your model here or get in touch today at info@makeitquick.co.uk and get our design experts to help you out with your project.

STEP 1: CHOOSE MATERIAL AND PRINTING PROCESS

It’s important to start with the end in mind, your design should direct you to the right material and printing process. ABS and engineering plastics are great for the majority of projects, have a look at our materials and pick the right one for your application.

FDM or fused deposition modelling remains the cheaper option by far, but what about the print quality? Worry not, in the next steps we’ll show you how to work around the most common limitations of this technology and most important, keep the bill down.

STEP 2: DESIGN FOR 3D PRINTING

The first thing we’ll be taking in consideration is the size of our model. In this case the longer side of the saddle would stick out the printer platform so we will be splitting the model roughly in the center. To make things easier during the re-assembling we recommend adding pins to your design, this will help a lot to get a perfectly aligned part.

The model also incorporates a couple of rods on the underside of the saddle, we could print this together with the main body but that would require a lot of support material and result in poor surface quality, instead we will be designing these parts as separate components and join them to the main body once printed.

STEP 3: ASSEMBLY

It’s time to join our parts, there are many options out there but we like to use ABS paste or epoxy for the most demanding applications.

Test fit the various components before applying the adhesive, the contact surface needs to be clean and flat, remove any excess material with a sharp knife or a scalpel.

To keep the parts in place during this process we recommend using clamps or straps, if you’re going for a quick drying adhesive you can just hold the model with your hands for a few minutes.

TIP: In some cases it’s easier to sand and paint your components before joining them together. For this model we have joined the main body and added the supporting rods after post processing.

STEP 4: FINISHING

Once the adhesive is dry we can start sanding the model paying particular attention to the joints. At this point we could paint the model but in this case we are looking for a satin finish and quick sandblasting it’s just what we need.

As you can see it’s easy to design beautiful models on a budget. Whether you’re a hobbyist or an experienced model maker we are here to help, get in touch with us or order a print by clicking here

1 – LAYER HEIGHT

This parameter define the overall appearance and “smoothness” of the model, printing with a fine layer will result in a better looking but more expensive part due to the longer production time, there are various factors to consider when choosing between different resolutions:

• Use Case or Application
  Are we talking about a showcase model or a fit and function prototype?
  In the first case we’ll be looking to get the best appearance possible for our parts and a resolution of 0.1 mm is what we’re looking for. On the other hand if we are printing a positioning jig function will come first and picking a 0.2 mm resolution would be the best option.
  We like to recommend a 0.15 mm layer height as standard for all your prototypes to get a good balance between appearance and function keeping the production costs down.

• Model Geometry
  In general curved or detailed models will show layer lines much easier than parts with straight edges. If your part presents curved surfaces and/or intricate details we recommend a layer height of at least 0.15 mm or 0.1 mm to get the best results.

• Post Processing
  If you’re looking to paint or sand your models after printing we suggest going for the cheaper option and a resolution of 0.2 mm will do just fine.

2 – INFILL

In a few words this is the density of your printed model, again a higher infill gives you a much stronger part but since we are using more material the final product will be more expensive.

A standard 20% infill will work for the vast majority of your project but when it comes to end use prototypes and jigs or any part subjected to mechanical stress  the best option will be a 50% infill density.

We can go up to a solid 100% infill but we recommend this exclusively for very small parts as clips, electronic enclosures or figurines.

Get in touch today on www.makeitquick.co.uk for your small batch production!