Stratasys High-End FDM Systems Rate Among Most Accurate


Minneapolis, June 20 - (Nasdaq: SSYS) Rapid prototyping and manufacturing system maker, Stratasys, says its customers are choosing its high-end FDM systems over competitive processes for their high accuracy. The Stratasys FDM process has long been known as the leader in durability, and more recently as the unit sales leader. Now the company says that technology improvements in recent years are propelling it to leader status in accuracy too.

"We expected dimensional accuracy when we purchased FDM, but we were quite surprised just how accurate the components actually were," says Max Davison of industrial design firm, Barrows Design and Manufacturing (Pty) Ltd, in Durban, South Africa. "When building components for a Gillette shaver-blade dispenser, Many of the prototypes measured dead-on what the designer specified," he says. "A part designed to be 105.60 mm measured exactly 105.60 mm."

For most design engineers, a part's accuracy - or tolerance - is more important than other considerations. Industry observers often confuse the term accuracy with resolution, believing that if a model exhibits a crisp look and high resolution, it must be accurate. However, accuracy is the ability to hold a tolerance. And the Stratasys FDM process excels at this. That's in part because it models with thermoplastics, which are more dimensionally stable than other popular rapid prototyping materials. Once a part is built, the tolerances are permanently set. This differs from many competitive processes, which begin with a certain tolerance but can change due to environmental factors.

Reverse engineering service provider, REALADI - founded by six former Boeing engineers - frequently models customer designs with FDM due to its high dimensional accuracy. "After a customer experienced poor results from a different prototype process, they came to us mandating tolerances below +/- 0.005 inch in a functional prototype," says chief technology officer Bill Macy. "We assured him that with Stratasys FDM accuracy, feature detail, and material properties, we could produce an accurate functioning prototype. The eight-part assembly functioned as designed and proved that the design was ready for production."

A customer that wished to have its name and industry withheld, reported extremely high accuracy over the length of a 132-inch fixture. After building 12 individual parts with FDM, the user joined them without further processing or finishing. Accuracy across the fixture's 132-inch span was measured at 0.060 inch.

Reports of high accuracy are reinforced by data appearing in the book User's Guide to Rapid Prototyping, authored by industry consultant Todd Grimm and published by SME (Society of Manufacturing Engineers). In the book, a Stratasys FDM Titan achieved the highest accuracy rating in a competitive test of four popular rapid prototyping technologies used to build sample parts for accuracy measurements:
o Titan: FDM (fused deposition modeling) process by Stratasys
o Viper si2: SLA (stereolithography) process by 3D Systems
o Vanguard si2: SLS (selective laser sintering) process by 3D Systems
o Z406: Inkjet-style 3D printing process by Z-Corp

A comparison table on page 182 shows the most accurate system to be the Stratasys FDM Titan, with the best average accuracy-deviation across 12 measured features. The Titan's average accuracy deviation measured only 0.5%. This compares to the Viper si2 at 0.8%; the Vanguard si2 at 1.2%; and the Z406 at 1.4%.

Study author Todd Grimm admits that prior to the testing, he had some misperceptions about FDM. "Because FDM parts don't look as crisp as SLA parts, I didn't expect them to be as accurate," he says. "When I analyzed the tolerances, I was surprised to find FDM was the most accurate of the test parts in this study."

For a book summary or to order the book, User's Guide to Rapid Prototyping, from SME's Web site, click this URL link. It may be necessary to copy and paste this URL into your browser. http://www.sme.org/cgi-bin/get-item.pl?BK04PUB1&2&SME

Stratasys, Inc's RP&M group makes precision rapid prototyping and manufacturing systems. The equipment is used in industries such as aerospace, automotive, defense, medical, and consumer products. In 2005, the company sold 34 percent of all such systems installed worldwide, making it the unit market leader for the fourth consecutive year, according to Wohlers Report 2005. Stratasys patented the rapid prototyping process known as fused deposition modeling (FDM(r)). The process creates functional models directly from any 3D CAD program using ABS plastic, polycarbonate, PPSF or other materials. The company holds 175 granted or pending global prototyping patents. In addition to manufacturing products, Stratasys is the exclusive North American distributor of PolyJet rapid prototyping systems and Arcam rapid manufacturing and prototyping systems. On the Web: www.Stratasys.com

Investor Contact:
Shane Glenn
(952) 294 - 3416
sglenn@stratasys.com

Contact:
Joe Hiemenz
(952) 906 - 2726
jhiemenz@stratasys.com

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