Normally when we hear the word “blender” in the 3D printing industry, our minds immediately turn to the popular 3D software. But partnering with Carbon and TTH allowed Vitamix, which manufactures high-end consumer and commercial kitchen blenders, to rethink the design and production of a pressurized rinsing nozzle for its commercial blender line.
DLS technology uses digital light projection to 3D print parts with consistent surface finishes, resolutions, and mechanical properties for the medical and consumer industries. According to Chadha, Carbon was the right choice for the project because of the nozzle redesign’s two main objectives – a new pattern that required fine, specific geometry so it could withstand high-speed jet water at high pressure and chemical cleaning products.Gurjeev Chadha, Carbon’s Head of Product Marketing, explained, “Carbon would be especially useful here because of the company’s ability to print complex designs as one part rather than multiple.”
Chadha said, “Product engineers managed to iterate six to seven times on the nozzle design within a span of only four weeks while a single design iteration with the injection molded approach would have taken eight to 10 weeks.”
The new design features complex microfluidic channel structures and 300-micron holes in the nozzle. During testing, Vitamix discovered that the 3D printed version was more durable – maybe even ten times more – than the original, which was made with conventional injection molding. In addition, not only was the new nozzle design more durable than its predecessor, but it also used 30% less material and passed over 1.5 million cycle tests in the company’s demanding quality control process.
The 3D printed nozzle, down to just one component from a total of six, was able to be made at less cost, and take a more economical manufacturing approach by using less material, thanks to Carbon’s 3D printing technology. Because of this success, Vitamix is now thinking about how the technology could be applied to some of its other projects.“It’s hard not to think about how that component now interacts with other components. Perhaps this new tool and the new design freedom mindset can be leveraged across other existing parts,” Chadha said.
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