Within just a few short years, improving 3D printing technology has helped reshape the way we design and test our products
On October 27, our ST Imaging division announced the new ViewScan 5 digital microfilm reader, its first new flagship scanner in several years. You can read all about its new features and improvements in the official announcement if you like – but we think the VS5 also provides a great opportunity to talk about 3D printing, the unseen powerhouse that’s helped make the designs of our most popular products so much better.
Starting out small: Remaking a specialized film adapter
One of the first places that 3D printing came into play with the ViewScan 5 was on a tiny adapter for loading specialized types of film cartridges. On the ViewScan 4, that part was an odd-shaped metal wheel that had to be custom-made in a machine shop. With the ViewScan5, we started redesigning that component with 3D-printed prototypes – and quickly realized that we could actually turn out a better adapter that way, not to mention the fact that it required much less effort and expense.
“A great thing about 3D printing is that you can print functional shapes that would be nearly impossible to machine out of metal. You can have parts that are much more unique and complex, but better shaped for the job,” Victor Mimken, our design engineer for the project explains. “If I made the ideal design for a 3M cartridge mount and took it to a machinist, he’d look at it and go ‘Really?’, and then I’d change the design down to something that could actually be manufactured. But 3D printing allows you to explore the limits of design. You’re not limited to flat, boxy shapes for the sake of production – and it’s less expensive!”
The hunt for more efficiency with difficult-to-make parts
ST Imaging and nextScan, our microfilm divisions, produce large scanners that are usually ordered in small numbers and therefore made to order. That can put you in a tough position sometimes if you are looking for a special part and there is no off-the-shelf equivalent that does the job.
For example, if you needed a batch of, say, 10,000 specially shaped plastic rollers, you might be able to go to a plastics manufacturer and have them design what you need. But if you are working with small batches at a time, then you have three choices: Change your design to work with what is available; find a local shop that can custom-build the component for you; or make it yourself.
Until recently, it was always one of the first two choices, because the third was not really an option.
“Up until a few years ago, the technology just wasn’t there,” Victor says. “We’ve used 3D printing in the past to quickly make components in prototypes, but in previous generations they would be rough parts that were more suitable for a test build. With the newer professional-grade 3D printers that are available, you can produce parts of the same quality you would get from an outside supplier – sometimes better! With that capability, we don’t have to compromise on design or on the quality of the product.”
After the success of the 3M adapter, the ViewScan 5 engineering team started looking at other parts that had historically been a challenge, to see if they could improve upon past results.
“A good example is the take-up reels that collect the film on our ViewScan readers. Those are plastic parts that we used to get from outside suppliers, and it was a regular occurrence for batches to come in warped or out of spec. So that was an ideal part that we could 3D-print on our own and end up with a component that was more reliable than the one we used to have.
“Of course, plastic doesn’t always replace metal – so as engineers, we are always looking carefully at where we can solve a problem or make an improvement without risking the integrity of the product. But you will find several places in the ViewScan 5 where we were able to deliver a component that was simply better, both for ourselves and in terms of the customer experience.”
3D printing in prototyping: Where planning meets practicality
On the check scanner side of the business, our use of 3D printing looks a bit different. We are dealing with production runs in the thousands or tens of thousands at a time, and similar-sized batches of components. That is the point at which it is worth having suppliers make your components in bulk, whether they are standard parts or your own designs. And in fact, we have relationships with suppliers all over the world who we will visit in person or spend long hours with going over design requirements.
That means two different things, as far as the role of 3D printing goes. If you are ordering parts by the sea container, you cannot realistically replace that volume of components by printing them yourself. Conversely, managing aspects such as suppliers’ plastic molds or factory tooling can involve a highly complex, costly, and time-intensive process to ensure accuracy. This is why 3D printing accelerates development and significantly reduces costs, as it allows precise specifications with far fewer rounds of trial and error.
“In the past, when we were more limited in what we could fabricate on our own, a prototype might take several rounds of going back and forth with suppliers, trying to get a component just right before you put it into mass production. And when you’re dealing with things where a fraction of a millimeter might make the difference between a component working the way we want or not, it could take months’ worth of time and a whole lot of sample runs,” says Ron Fahilga, director of engineering at Digital Check’s California manufacturing plant. “Having the ability to quickly design and print our own prototype components can cut the lead time down from weeks to a few hours, and it helps us get our early designs and concepts a lot closer to the final specs.”
3D printing also streamlines design by allowing engineers to concentrate on one item at a time.
“Under the old way of doing things, during prototype designs and revisions, you would almost always be working on multiple different components at once, sometimes from several different suppliers,” Ron explains. “Trying to test and adjust all those components at the same time is a much more complicated process that takes a lot more attempts.
“Compare that to designing a product now, where if we see an issue with a component, we can adjust it on the spot. That lets us take variables out of the equation one by one, so we can get all our components much closer to the actual working design with each round of revisions.”
It’s remarkable how quickly 3D printing technology has progressed—from being a novelty, to serving as a prototyping tool, and now enabling the creation of actual production parts in certain cases. The possibilities ahead are truly exciting!
