MAGNET's Product Design Studio features a rapid prototyping center with both a fused deposition modeling (FDM) station and a 3D Objet printer.
CAD capabilities include wireframe geometry creation, 3D parametric feature-based modeling, solid modeling, freeform surface modeling, automated assembly design and creation of engineering models from solid models.
Success Story: S.R. Smith Pool Slide
S.R. Smith boasts a 70-year history of innovation and quality in the manufacture of state-of-the-art diving boards, stainless steel handrails and ladders and water slides for swimming pools. The 130-employee company maintains a small engineering team at its corporate headquarters in Oregon that can handle most day-to-day challenges.
However, when S.R. Smith began developing rotational-molded pool slides, the company teamed with an Ohio-based manufacturer with deep expertise in that process. To keep its place at the head of the competition, S.R. Smith wanted to redesign the ladder for its popular 8-ft.-tall TurboTwisterTM slide. The company asked the MAGNET PDD team to base the new design on an existing pool slide that had already met regulations of the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
The MAGNET PDD team arranged to laser scan the runway surface of the existing slide. They then imported that data into Pro-E and used it to generate a functional 3D computer model that met safety and aesthetic requirements. After evolving the new ladder design, MAGNET created a 1/10 scale model of the conceptual slide with its fusion deposition machine (FDM). Learn more.
"Having something in three dimensions was very useful, especially to demonstrate the concept to people who aren't used to interpreting drawings. In three dimensions, we can see immediately that something won't work and needs to be changed before we go to the mold stage."
—Bill Svendsen, Engineering Manager, S.R. Smith
To find out how your company can take advantage of MAGNET PDD's Rapid Prototyping capabilities, contact MAGNET today!