HP Innovation Journal Issue 11: Winter 2018 | Page 27

INNOVATING
WITH FORECAST 3D
Since its founding in 1994, Forecast 3D has made it a point
to be first in line for the latest in 3D printing and custom
manufacturing technology. It’s an approach that keeps
Forecast 3D out in front of the 3D printing movement
and explains why the Carlsbad, California, company was
ready and eager to embrace the HP Multi Jet Fusion
technology from the start. Forecast 3D, with 24 HP Jet
Fusion 3D Printing Solutions in-house, has quickly made
HP Multi Jet Fusion technology a focal point of its additive
manufacturing capabilities.
As a pacesetter in rapid prototyping and manufacturing,
Forecast 3D maintains a strategic appetite for technology,
with a lineup of nine different production offerings,
ranging from the original SLA 3D printing process to
fused deposition molding (FDM). Even as a pioneer in
the industry, Forecast 3D found itself wrestling with the
long-standing limitations of 3D printing: high costs and
slow speeds for volumes extending beyond prototypes and
short-run production. Additionally, standard 3D printing
technology was falling short of delivering the mechanical
properties and surface quality that customers could get
reliably from the injection-molding process.
Enter HP Multi Jet Fusion technology,
poised to transform 3D printing for
high-volume production. Today, with
24 HP Jet Fusion 4210 3D printers in its
fleet, Forecast 3D now has the capacity
to produce millions of production parts.
“Customers are accustomed to waiting weeks and weeks for
tooling, with high up-front costs. Now the customer can go
straight into production with Multi Jet Fusion technology—
printed parts without any sacrifices. Customers can make
product changes at any point without having to worry
about new tooling; just send a new file,” said Corey Weber,
Forecast 3D CEO.
Compared to FDM technology, HP Jet Fusion 3D printers
produce parts at radically faster rates, said Forecast
3D Technical Sales Director Ken Burns. “We do FDM
in-house—we know (HP 3D printers) can be 70 times faster
in some cases,” Burns said.
“If it’s one (3D) printer against one injection-molding
process, probably not. But with all 24, we can outrun a
press in a lot of different-size geometries. Basically, if it’s a
softball size or smaller—and you make that into a cube—
we can run head-to-head with an injection-mold press.”
The high reusability of HP’s 3D PA 12 material is helping
Forecast 3D topple another traditional obstacle to 3D
printing in manufacturing: cost. Burns noted that lack of
reusability “has always been one of the limiting factors to
production with 3D printing. The high reusability
means lower-cost parts.”
Forecast 3D enjoys first crack at advantages such as
software updates and implementation of new materials and
hardware as they become available. High on the list of new
developments that HP has targeted is the introduction of
color with HP’s Jet Fusion 500/300 series of printers. Burns
and Forecast 3D are keen to see it happen.
“Customers are saying, ‘the quality is there; if you can get
me color, you’ve made it,’” he summarized. “We have so
many requests already. The opportunity for us is vast.”
INNOVATION SPOTLIGHT
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