The Story Behind The Idea

With the recent hype on iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 plus, we decided to shower some love for its predecessors, and no, we are not doing any bend test.

Just in case you didn’t know, we just ended our nationwide SolidWorks Innovation Day few weeks ago. However during the planning of the event, we were stuck with few things:

• What innovative lucky draw gift can be given out? It needs to be unique to the receiver (none in the market) yet innovative.
• It needs to be relevant to the mass participant profile (we wouldn’t want you to receive something that you have no use of).

While we were having casual discussion (still struggling with the lucky draw gift), we realised that most of our customers are using iPhone 4 during our sales visit & past events attendance. That is how we started off with doing something for iPhone 4.

Our Issue With iPhone 4

Most often than not, we “the iPhone” users over here find that the audio speaker seems to be lacking, it is definitely better than majority of the phones where speaker is placed behind, however, placing it bottom doesn’t provide the best experience either. We need an iPhone speaker amplifier.

We did our research and realise that there were many amplifier being sold online. but surprisingly, we didn’t find a 3D printed one. There you go, that’s how we came up with 3D printing an iPhone 4 amplifier.

Here is what we did:

File Source: Own design
Technology:  FDM
Printer:  Idea Series – uPrint SE
Materials: ABS Plus Orange
Build Time:  7 hours 16 minutes

Screenshots in CAD file:

#IME #SWID2015 3D Printed iPhone Amplifier

It was designed in a way to conveniently stand on its own, you can just simply slot in your iPhone into it vertically and play the music. Hence the printed model needs to be able to support iPhone’s weight (specific endurance).

Outcome:

#IME #SWID2015 3D Printed iPhone Amplifier Functional Test

Here you go! While we hope the lucky draw winner is happy with this, more importantly this proves the concept of direct digital manufacturing – where you can simply design & print on demand.

Wind tunnel test is an integral part of the design process in many industries, especially for aerospace. This is used to verify and study the aerodynamic properties of solid objects such as air velocity and pressure.

Traditionally, concept model made for wind tunnel testing relied heavily on CNC machining. Common materials are metal, plastics and compisites. These operations require programming, machine setup, operator supervision which adds to lead time and cost.

This is where 3D printing comes in. The printed concept model is durable, yet faster, less expensive and more efficient. This is especially useful when it comes to doing hollow printing to simulate internal passages where this would complicate the CNC milling process. Embedding testing equipment into the model is also accessible with 3D printing.

Here is the file source & technology we used:

File Source: Client
Technology:  Polyjet
Printer:  Design Series – Objet30 Pro
Materials: Vero White
Build Time:  4 hours

Screenshots prior printing:

Outcome:

3D Printed Aeroplane for Wind Tunnel Testing.

Implications:

• In comparison with traditional manufacturing method, 3D printing this concept model will only take a fraction of the original cost in terms of lead time and money.
• Having more time allows more refinement/improvement  to happen. The potential for improvements is bigger as we take shorter time to produce concept model for testing purposes.
• Another important factor is the availability of model material. Aerospace and automotive industry in particular study about how weight reduction can assist in overall efficiency. Light weight material from Polyjet machine is able to simulate such environment for a better study result.