So, what can you do with Multi Jet Fusion? - Part 1

This is the first in a series of articles presenting examples of what you can achieve with Multi Jet Fusion. While we have been producing amazing parts for our customers, our confidentiality agreements prevent us from sharing those projects at this time. As an alternative and to demonstrate what Multi Jet Fusion can do we decided to do two things: select and produce parts that are open sourced on the internet and to create our own designs.

This article will highlight the amazing details that can be produced using Multi Jet Fusion.

The part we selected is the Reims Cathedral, also known as the Cathedral of Notre-Dame. The part was designed by m_bergman and further refined by  Berhard_3D. The part can be found on Thingiverse.

Multi Jet Fusion has the ability to produce fine details without a loss in process speed. The smallest detail it can produce is a voxel. A voxel is .0008 inches in the X and Y (1200 DPI) and .003 (80 microns) in the Z. 

Most Polyjet machines are limited to 750 DPI in the X and Y but do allow for a finer Z layer thickness down to 16 microns at a penalty in process time.

All laser based 3D printers, whether resin or powder based are limited to the beam diameter of the laser. The smaller machines can get down to .005 inch beam diameter while the larger machines may be as high as .020 inch diameter. Process time will increase as the beam diameter becomes smaller.

The following steps were required to complete the part.

1. The 3d file was positioned in a computer workstation at the optimum orientation for the part geometry. The part was positioned with other parts in order to maximize the build volume.
2. The build volume is sent to the Jet Fusion printer where all the parts in the build were printed and fused.
3. When the build was complete it was moved to the processing station for cooling and unloading. The picture at the right shows the Cathedral when it was being unloaded from the machine.
4. Finally the part was depowdered and dyed black to give it a consistent color.

The pictures below show the final part with all its details.