The American Challenge for the World Water Speed Record
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Z Corporation Z Corporation

The American Challenge team selected a Z Corporation 3D Printer to build a 1/9th scale model of their craft for open water and tow tank testing.   The model was created modular so it could easily be disassembled to move ballast during testing.   Traditionally, this type of model would be sculpted by hand or vacuum formed.   This process would take countless days and be extremely expensive.   By using the Z Corp 3D Printer, all parts of the 1/9th scale model were built in 22 hours directly from the team’s digital files.

The Z Corporation 3D Printer is also being used to build 1/20th scale models of the watercraft for marketing and promotional activities.   UGS Corp is using models of the watercraft as part of their launch of NX 3 software.   The Z Corp 3D Printer was chosen by UGS due to the low cost and high speed of the parts the Printer is able to produce.   Five scale models of the craft were produced in only 15 hours.

Z Corporation develops, manufactures, and markets the world’s fastest 3D Printers - machines that produce physical prototypes quickly, easily, and inexpensively from computer-aided design (“CAD”) and other digital data.   Z Corp.’s 3D Printers are used by companies to make prototypes ranging from toys for market feedback to fan blades for functional testing.   In the same way that conventional desktop printers provide computer users with a paper output of their documents, 3D Printers provide 3D CAD users a physical prototype of real world objects such as a mobile phone, an engine manifold, or a camera.

Z Corporation’s straightforward product interface provides users a means to automatically build appearance prototypes from their 3D CAD designs quickly and inexpensively compared to alternative costly and labor-intensive methods.   For example, a mobile phone design can be turned from a screen image into a prototype in less than an hour for less than $10.   By using appearance prototypes early in the product development cycle, design engineers can receive critical feedback early in the design process.   Z Corporation prototypes confirm market acceptance of new designs before the production process even begins, eliminating costly last-minute changes and enabling companies to be the first to market with their products.   More information on Z Corporation can be found at:   www.zcorp.com

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