ADDITIONAL PRODUCT NEWS

3D Systems Bundles Alibre Design™ Software with its New V-Flash™ Desktop Modeler 

3D Systems Corporation, a leading provider of 3-D Modeling, Rapid Prototyping and Manufacturing solutions, and Alibre, Inc., a provider of 3-D CAD software for mechanical design and manufacturing, announced that 3D Systems’ new V-Flash™ Desktop Modeler will include Alibre Design™ Xpress 3D parametric computer-aided design (CAD) software. 

The V-Flash™ Desktop Modeler is the first product from 3D Systems based on its new Film Transfer Imaging (FTI) technology platform, and was launched in September with a base price of $9,900. Currently, 3D Systems is conducting a phased rollout of the V-Flash™ Modeler in the United States and plans to introduce it in Europe early in 2008.

Easy to use, Alibre Design™ Xpress software emphasizes the features that are most commonly used every day in 3-D CAD software and avoids the high-end bells and whistles that small groups of experts use. It provides parametric modeling of parts and assemblies, along with 2-D detailed drawings. In addition, this software has import and export capabilities via industry standard formats such as STEP, IGES, DXF and DWG as well as STL export capability that provides a direct interface to the V-Flash™ Desktop Modeler and other 3D Systems’ Rapid Prototyping solutions.

Mold-Masters Announces 10 Year Warranty  

“We believe that actions speak louder than words”, says Jonathon Fischer, President of Mold-Masters. “After researching the global market we found that the typical warranty offered in the hot runner industry was only 1 year. We wanted to make a clear statement about our confidence in the performance and reliability of our products and we are pleased to offer a new 10 Year Global extended warranty program; a 10 fold increase over the industry average.”

“Our global customer base told us that, by far, the most important factor in considering which hot runner to buy is its quality and reliability. Our brazed-in heaters and the mechanical integrity of the heated components, combined with our hot runner controller technology, will easily outlast the life of an injection mold”, says Fischer.

“Our products are manufactured for durability and reliability, not replaceability, so we feel very comfortable offering this warranty. A 10 year warranty is a clear differentiator because we believe that nobody else can responsibly make this statement. The fact is that replaceable heaters will burn out over time so you can’t warrant them for extended periods”, says Bruce Catoen, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development. “Actually, when you look at the operating costs associated to failed heaters the physical heater price is far less expensive than the downtime associated to replacing the heater,” says Catoen.

“More and more the customer is looking at the lifecycle cost of molding a particular part. Our innovative products and services, now backed by a 10 year warranty, give our customers a distinct part cost advantage when considering the lifetime cost of molding. Consider the fact that over a 10 year span, a 64 cavity mold running 6 second cycles, will mold over 3 billion parts, all covered under warranty. I think that speaks volumes about the confidence we have in our products”, says Catoen.

Synventive to Distribute Gammaflux Hot Runner Temperature Control Systems 

Gammaflux LP and Synventive Molding Solutions have announced that they have reached a private label manufacturing agreement whereby Gammaflux will supply its LEC and TTC hot runner temperature control systems to Synventive. The agreement began December 5, which corresponded with the opening date of the Euromold exhibition in Frankfurt. 

"For years Gammaflux has been known as the world's leading supplier of hot runner temperature controllers," said Bill Hume, Synventive President - North America. "Their products are a perfect fit for our hot runner systems, and by offering them we are now providing our customers with even better solutions for their molding challenges." 

At the K 2007 show in Dusseldorf, Gammaflux announced its new 5-Year Warranty on all of its hot runner temperature control systems. It covers all of the company's LEC and TTC temperature control products but excludes the touchscreen interface, which will continue to have a 2-year warranty.  

Gammaflux LEC controllers are designed for smaller hot runner system applications, from 2 to 24 zones. The LEC is offered with 2, 6 and 12 zone enclosures and features a modular design for simple control card removal, addition or replacement.   

V-Tek PR Series Hot Runner System 

Manufactured in the USA, the PR Series from V-Tek is a custom made high performance hot runner system that offers a variety of nozzles and manifold configurations for unique applications such as insert molding that require lower stack heights and have limited space in the mold. These systems are designed so that the heaters, thermocouples and tips are easily replaced. That includes the heaters in the manifold too!  

These hot runner systems are available as components only or as a complete hot half.