The Franco-German software pioneer, CoreTechnologie, has further optimized the nesting module of its 4D_Additive 1.6 software for the automatic placement of parts in the virtual build space of a 3D printer. This new nesting function delivers significantly higher efficiency while maintaining very easy usage.
High Efficiency that is easy to use
Thanks to intelligent pre-sorting of the parts to be nested and further improved calculation accuracy, the new version of the 4D_Additive software now achieves unprecedented packing densities. This leads to a 30% reduction in printing time with the same number of parts thanks to a lower packing height. The increased packing density and lower overall height lead to shorter machine running and cooling times. In practice, this increase in productivity means a considerable competitive advantage for all users.
To avoid heat pockets and to achieve optimum surface quality, it is important that the nested parts are optimally distributed. After the actual nesting, an automatic optimisation process takes place, which ensures that heat pockets are avoided by slightly rearranging the components in the X, Y and Z direction. The lowest height achieved during nesting is also maintained during heat optimisation.
The calculation speed of the new nesting function is significantly reduced by 50 percent and more thanks to better utilization of the multiprocessor calculation and optimized memory management.
Optimized Nesting of large parts
Thanks to the new nesting function, large parts can now be nested more precisely and will be optimally distributed in terms of the utilization of the available space. Gaps between the big parts can then be efficiently used for the smaller parts. As the new nesting technology enables very high packing densities, a limiting parameter can be used to limit the maximum packing density and thus the temperature development.
Real competitive advantageÂ
An exemplary printing process with the HP MJF 4200 printer with a build height of 380 millimeters and 16 hours is nested with a reduced build height of just 283 millimeters instead of 357 millimeters thanks to the new nesting function. With the 1.6 version, the overall height is reduced by 74 millimeters and the resulting printing time is reduced by three hours. The packing density increases from 8% to just over 10% and the duration of the nesting process is reduced from 8 to 3.5 minutes. With 250 production days per year per machine, an increase in efficiency or reduction in running time of three hours results in additional productivity of around 750 hours. The reduced cooling time resulting from the shorter printing time potentially saves up to an additional nine hours. The effective production time and production costs are significantly reduced by the new function. This makes additive manufacturing even more attractive for many applications thanks to the enormous time and cost savings.
In the highly competitive service sector and for the increasingly important additive manufacturing in mechanical and plant engineering as well as in the electronics and consumer goods sector, the higher efficiency that can be achieved through a performant nesting process is an important competitive factor.
Further information on the software is available at www.coretechnologie.com/products/4d-additive.
About CoreTechnologie
The software manufacturer CoreTechnologie (CT) was founded in 1998 and is headquartered in Germany near Frankfurt am Main with subsidiaries in France, Japan and the USA. The company is the leading provider of 3D CAD conversion software, known as 3D_Evolution (conversion, repair, simplification, analysis), 4D Additive (3D printing software suite), 3D_Analyzer (CAD viewer with analysis tools) and 3D_Kernel_IO (CAD Interfaces SDK). The company’s mission is to optimise MCAD interoperability in the design value chain and to develop customised solutions for PLM integration and process automation. CoreTechnologie’s customer portfolio includes over 600 internationally active companies worldwide from the automotive, aerospace, mechanical engineering and consumer goods industries as well as leading manufacturers of 3D software.
