Advanced office-friendly 3D printer enables the design team to quickly replicate complex geometries for medical inhalers
In order to optimize and accelerate its design process, highly specialized Israeli pharmaceutical company Syqe Medical Ltd. has invested in Stratasys’ recently launched J55 3D Printer, an office-friendly, full-color, and multi-material 3D printer introduced this April.
Syqe develops technologies that allow therapeutic molecule delivery and administration by inhalation. The inhalers undergo thorough medical testing, so it is critical that design concepts are true-to-life and can be validated for fit, form and function just like the final product.
Syqe is already putting its J55 to work to address this design challenge head on, with the team able to produce ultra-realistic prototypes to accelerate validation time. For the inhalers, the company is using 3D printing for the chassis, casing, springs and several more elements of the design – with the J55 providing the needed precision and material capabilities to accurately reflect the final production part.
“Our products include very precise and intricate airways, which are usually less than 1mm in diameter,” explains Itay Kurgan, Product Development Manager at Syqe. “Achieving this level of complexity in the design of a prototype is very difficult, but the J55 allows us to incorporate such intricate structures into the design with a level of accuracy we’ve not seen before. We can undertake iterations much faster and earlier in the design process, which ensures we can better validate products before they reach medical trials or when we present them to specific customers.”
Purchased through local partner Su-Pad, the J55 is situated in Syqe’s design office space, offering additional capabilities to the company’s existing PolyJet-based 3D Printer. According to Kurgan, the J55 will play a central role for Syqe moving forward as it accelerates the design and development of new products.
“The J55 has added another layer to our 3D printing capabilities. Not only does it allow us to quickly print design concepts with incredible realism, but we can do so from a system that operates quietly in the corner of our office. The only problem we have is with our designers, who now fight over who gets to use the J55 next!”
Launched in April, the J55 3D Printer enables fast production of ultra-realistic prototypes. Designers can produce parts in five simultaneously printed materials that enable nearly 500,000 PANTONE™ validated colors, realistic textures and transparency – all in a single print. Fully supported by GrabCAD Print™ software, the J55 enables a smooth import of common CAD files and the latest 3MF file format. For the first time, Stratasys has also added support for 3MF color workflow with KeyShot® 3D rendering software from Luxion Inc., a capability currently in beta and planned to be made available late 2020.
“Creative companies like Syqe are seamlessly integrating the J55 into their design workflows to take product design to the next level,” said Zehavit Reisin, Vice President of the Design Business Unit at Stratasys. “The J55 importantly provides design studios an affordable gateway to ultra-realistic prototyping, enabling them to be much more creative with their designs and accelerate the validation process. Combine this with the fact that the rotational build tray offers such high throughput, even though the 3D printer has such a small footprint, it’s no surprise that the J55 has been a hit with designers since launch.”