News and Updates

CDG in pole position at Develop3D Live

17.03.2018

CDG are at the Develop3D Live Show at Warwick University on Tuesday 20th March. See the award winning ProJet 2500, plus the latest Omni, Intamsys and Zmorph 3D printers. You can't miss us!

3DXpert for SolidWorks

09.02.2018

Market leading 3D printer manufacturer 3D Systems has announced the launch of 3DXpert for SolidWorks, a 3D print preparation software package that optimises 3D designs for additive manufacturing. 3DXpert is available exclusively to SOLIDWORKS customers as part of their annual subscription. The upgraded 3DXpert software includes a new range of tools to create a direct path from SOLIDWORKS designs to both metal and plastic additive manufacturing.

Helping designers fulfill technological potential

Despite the importance of more of the workforce reorienting their existing skills in light of the growth of additive manufacturing, 3D Systems suggests that the difficulty of this is preventing some designers taking full advantage of 3D printing technologies.

With the new 3DXpert software, SOLIDWORKS users will have the design freedom to deliver complex geometries, light-weight parts without compromising strength, and to apply surface textures that deliver functional or aesthetic benefits.

“We’ve seen a tremendous increase in the adoption of additive manufacturing,” said Gian Paolo Bassi, SOLIDWORKS CEO. “As a result, we collaborated with 3D Systems to provide SOLIDWORKS users with the tools to help them design specifically for additive manufacturing, which requires a different set of operations and rules than more traditional, subtractive manufacturing.”

The key features of 3DXpert for SOLIDWORKS

As part of the design workflow in 3DXpert for SOLIDWORKS, designers can import native CAD data without the need to convert it to STL, and maintain the integrity of the original design until 3D printing it.

Another important feature is the ability to optimize the object structure. This can be done through freely altering lattice structures or infill designs, modifying surface texture, and implementing automatic adjustments based on 3DXpert’s FEA linear-stress analysis.

Similarly, support structures can be designed to simultaneously deliver quality prints and save material by minimizing supports. In 3DXpert for SOLIDWORKS, automatic analysis inserts supports where they are needed, but these can also be tilted, scaled, or reconfigured to facilitate their removal.

Preparation time well spent

Finally, print preparation time is streamlined with automatic features such as tray setup, estimations of material usage, and calculations of build time.

Hybrid CAD tools, automatic best fit options, build plate positioning, and multiple format export options also ensure minimal divergence from the CAD design and the 3D printed result. 3D Systems CEO Vyomesh Joshi commented that:

“This collaboration enables SOLIDWORKS users to create more shapes, more ways, and accelerate product development cycles while lowering costs.”

“We are offering designers a true competitive advantage while re-defining the design and manufacturing process,” Joshi added. 

Carbon-filled Nylon filament

04.02.2018

CDG are stocking the new super strong Carbon-filled Nylon filament. But even bigger news is that it is now certified for use on the Omni Factory 2.0 large-format Production filament 3D printer. This is a major development in for companies requiring optimum mechanical performance for 3D printed parts. The Omni enables batch production and XL part printing.

Krzysztof Kardach, Principal 3D Printing Technologist at OMNI3D, comments, “CF-PA-12 is a polyamide 12 (PA 12) based composite, reinforced with carbon fibers. It has exceptional durability as well as high stiffness and tensile strength. The last feature is especially worth noting, because carbon fibre has over 2.5 times more strength than the popular ABS-42.”

Carbon-filled Nylon specification:-

• Tensile Strength is 105 MPa
• Heat Distortion Temperature is 160 degrees C

Please ask for a free sample.

Call: 01420 88645

Email: info@cdg.uk.com

Shining launch Discovery & Prime 3D Scanner Plug-Ins

04.02.2018

SHINING 3D presents two exciting new accessories for it's EinScan 3D scanners...

The EinScan Discovery Pack and HD Prime Pack upgrade SHINING’s existing hardware with color and further detail, contributing the company’s complete 3D scan to CAD solution.

Oscar Meza, SHINING 3D’s V.P. of Global Sales comments, “We successfully launched EinScan-Pro+, the multifunctional handheld 3D scanner and EinScan SE&SP desktop 3D scanners last year, which offer our customers more choices to meet their most varied demands.”

Discovery Plug-In for Full Colour 3D scans

The EinScan Discovery is a tripod 3D scanner based on the EinScan-SE (Elite) and EinScan-SP models.

In addition to a 3D surface, the Discover is capable of capturing color by using an Ultra-FineTM Hardware ISP video processing engine.

At a rate of up to 3.0 megapixel per operation, color texture is captured at 12.0 megapixels – similar values as a digital camera. To help with the process, the 3D scanner also has a built-in 24-bit true-color display.

SHINING recommends the Discovery pack for customers creating “virtual reality, online shopping (eCommerce) virtual display, online museum, 3D exhibition and more.”

Prime Plug-In for Rapid Scanning in HD Mode

The handheld EinScan HD Prime has two modes – one for rapid 3D scanning, the other for capturing finer “high definition” details.

Essentially a souped-up EinScan-Pro+ the HD Prime’s Rapid Scan improves the speed of its predecessor by 30%. This mode is perfect for quick capture of objects that will later be refined in 3D design software.

Captured data is smooth, and small details are skipped in favour of the overall shape of an object.

HD mode, by comparison, picks out an object’s details, ideally working indoors. According to SHINING the HD Prime is ideal for applications such as “Reverse Designing, Cultural Heritage Preservation, Archiving [and] Restoration.”

Installed with SHINING’s latest 3D scanning software update, the Prime is also capable of capturing a object without the need for using stick-on light markers, make the process less labor intensive.

The HD Prime operates at a rate of 10 frames per second and, like the EinScan Discovery the distance between scanned point data is typically 0.09-0.12 mm.

CDG at Southern Manufacturing on Stand N220

29.01.2018

Southern Manufacturing & Electronics returns to Farnborough from February 6-8, 2018 for its 20th anniversary event.

Two decades is a significant achievement for any exhibition, but 2018 marks another landmark for the show and one which perhaps heralds a true coming of age for the longest-running, and arguably one of the most popular annual engineering production shows in the UK.

From its earliest beginnings at Thorpe Park, through to a move a decade later to its present site in Farnborough, the show has been housed in a temporary structure which has, given the timing of the show in early February, on occasions proved to be somewhat of a challenge for organisers, exhibitors and visitors alike.

However, from 2018, all that will change as the show moves into a new permanent home, currently taking shape on its former site. The brand new £30 million Hall 1 development at Farnborough is a 20,000m² state-of-the-art exhibition centre, featuring world-class facilities, easy access, onsite parking for 3,000 cars and comfortable modern surroundings. Situated at the birthplace and epicentre of the UK’s massive £20 billion plus aerospace and defence industry, Hall 1 looks set to become one of the most important showcases for UK manufacturing expertise and the diverse supply chain that supports it.

A new venue

Southern Manufacturing will be the first major event to be held in Hall 1, and, given the show’s well-established profile as a favourite with manufacturers and industrial buyers, it’s difficult to imagine a more appropriate inaugural event for the largest exhibition venue development in the UK for 20 years.

Its location, too, is highly appropriate for the big machinery vendors whose support for the show has been one of the major driving forces behind its consistent growth, particularly over the last decade. Southern is the first big engineering show of the year and the earliest opportunity for serious buyers looking to expand their capacity to check out the latest offerings. With deals closed at Southern worth millions in an average year, it’s an event that is taken equally seriously by vendors.

The new Hall 1 at Farnborough

A theme that appears to be developing for 2018 amongst machinery vendors is bringing the versatility and efficiency of 5-axis within the reach of many more firms, particularly those looking to move into 5-axis for the first time. Machines on show from Matsuura, XYZ Machine Tools and Dugard all promise very competitive routes into 5-axis or cost-effective upgrade paths to increased capacity.

Matsuura Machinery will be exhibiting the Muratec Murata MT200 turning centre and the single table, entry-level Matsuura MX-520 5-axis machine. The MX-520 has proved popular with firms making the transition from 3- to 5-axis machining. The MT200 is for machine shops running complex parts and various part types through one machine. An optional 3-axis CNC gantry loader provides multiple options for automation.

XYZ Machine Tools will focus attention on its UMC-5X simultaneous 5-axis, gantry-style, machining centre. The high-specification and competitive pricing of the UMC-5X is, according to the company, introducing a whole new group of potential customers to the benefits of simultaneous 5-axis machining.

Dugard highlights its XP range of vertical machining centres, with five models, ranging from 762 to 2,060mm X-axis travel. Fanuc, Siemens or Heidenhain control options are available, and Renishaw probing and toolsetting. Both Heidenhain and Renishaw are also exhibiting at Southern 2018, the former showcasing an optional variant of its TNC 620 control, which replaces the soft keys at the side of the screen and numeric keypad below with a large GUI touchscreen; the latter showing its new, improved surface finish measurement probe (SFP2) for use on its Revo-2 5-axis measurement system.

Browsing bonanza

Those with less lofty aspirations will also find plenty of interest at the show, with enough tooling, metrology and other technology on show to easily fill several days’ worth of browsing.

Wilson Tool introduces several new products at Southern 2018: its new Smart-X Storage 4.0 addition to its Industry 4.0 manufacturing environment integrates tool storage with management software; a new QuickTap tapping tool for thick turret punching machines, capable of accurately tapping up to 200 holes per minute, and its new Express Rail 2000 and Express Air press brake clamping systems designed to reduce set-up times and increase productivity. There’s also hundreds of other production hardware products on show, ranging from workspace lighting, oil filtration and storage to workholding, materials handling systems, laser marking, labelling and ergonomic workstations.

Southern is also a great place to explore the latest advances in areas such as 3D printing. One of a number of 3D printer vendors at the show, GoPrint3D will be exhibiting a range of machines from manufacturers such as Formlabs, Markforged and Ultimaker. On the stand will be metal parts printed on a Markforged Metal X, which uses an innovative technique to produce functional, pure metal parts at a fraction of the cost of traditional machining methods. This technique also allows for much greater freedom in design, and allows engineers to print geometries that are too complex to be machined in other ways.

One of the other well-known names in 3D print exhibiting at the show is TriTech 3D, whose Colin Cater will be one of the expert speakers presenting as part of the show’s firmly established free technical seminar programme. Mr Cater’s case study-illustrated talk on the seemingly boundless possibilities of 3D print is one of no less than 34 sessions running in two theatres over all three days of the show. Some of the other sessions will cover topics such as Lean, implementing ERP systems, Industrial IoT and the future of collaborative robots in the workplace.

More immediately, some of the most hotly-anticipated sessions include a practical look at the forthcoming GDPR legislation which comes into effect in May 2018, and how, post-Brexit, existing UK product regulation and standards for manufactured goods and electronics are likely to be affected. All the sessions are free to both visitor and exhibitor alike, but pre-booking is strongly recommended as spaces for the more popular sessions fill up fast. Full details can be found at http://seminars.industrysouth.co.uk.

Co-located shows

Finally, it’s important to mention that Southern Manufacturing and its co-located Electronics and AutoAero shows, are one of the busiest marketplaces in the UK for engineering subcontracting. Once again, the show’s location means that precision engineering is particularly well represented. Many of the companies present are actively involved in aerospace, automotive and medical technology, in a variety of capacities from machining to surface finishing, through to electronics assembly and testing.

A full breakdown of the products and services on show at Southern Manufacturing 2018 can be found at http://exhibitors.industrysouth.co.uk. Visitors registering online will also receive a free 12-page preview magazine and comprehensive show guide, containing full details of what’s on at the event.

Southern Manufacturing & Electronics 2018 opens from February 6-8 and admission to the show is free. More information and tickets are available from the website. Farnborough Exhibition and Conference Centre offers free onsite car parking and is easily reached by road, air or public transport.

Southern Manufacturing & Electronics
www.industrysouth.co.uk

CDG job vacancies

05.01.2018

To apply for any of the following job vacancies, please send your CV to grant.cameron@cdg.uk.com with all relevant experience and qualifications.

We are recruiting for the following positions:-

• Sales for 3D Printers, Additive Manufacturing (South)
• Technician (Alton)
• Field Service Engineer (North)

Strictly no agencies.