SomosPR2001-17

November 10th 2001

The project presented by Lunar Design, San Francisco, California, has been selected as the Grand Winner in Accelerated Technologies, Inc.’s WaterClear™ 2001 Prototype Design Award competition Joel Jacobs of Lunar Design was awarded the Grand Prize at EuroMold by two of the contest panel judges, Jim Reitz and Terry Wohlers, at the DSM Somos stand November 29th.

Lunar Design’s winning entry, entitled Lunar Firefly Project, features a product named Glimo, a nightlight designed as a friendly, magical, luminescent bug intended to appeal to children. The playful approach to this nightlight is meant to evoke feelings of fun and comfort. Using its suction-cup feet, Glimo can be attached to a window so that solar power energizes the nightlight.

One of the judging criteria for the designer submitted projects was the uniqueness and interest of the application of DSM Somos 10120 WaterClear™ resin. For Glimo the use of this material was important to the process of allowing the design to be presented and analyzed much more tangibly than with alternative materials. Glimo presents functionality that is explicitly based upon transmission and interaction with light, and it is essential to produce prototypes that are optically clear yet also durable enough for hands-on evaluation. Previous prototype solutions for similar design projects were produced in ABS, which is a time-consuming and expensive alternative.

Somos 10120 WaterClear™ stereolithography resin is a unique optically-clear ProtoFunctional prototyping resin combining many desirable engineering properties, mimicking the flexural strength and modulus of polycarbonate, the notched izod impact strength of Nylon 66, and the tensile strength of ABS. Its transparent appearance may be dyed, in a secondary step, for color tint.

Joel Jacobs, Director of Product Design of the winning company, received a Palm m505 handheld product, a free WaterClear™ model of his project, and $5000 in rapid prototyping services from Accelerated Technologies Inc.

In addition to its wining entry, Lunar Design also submitted five other designs which combined innovation with design in products ranging from household to information systems accessories. Mike Durham, General Manager, Accelerated Technologies Inc., commented on the selection of Lunar Design as the grand prize winner by stating, “The selection of Lunar Design as the Grand Prize winner reflects the quality and range of projects that would benefit from the choice of a Somos WaterClear™ resin. It was applications such as the ones presented by Lunar Design that led to ATI’s decision to first beta test the Somos WaterClear™ material and than to later host the WaterClear™ Design contest. Both the number and quality of the contest submissions were impressive, and the final decision on the grand prize winner from the ten finalists was difficult to make.”

In addition to Glimo, nine other finalists were chosen in the ATI WaterClear Design Contest including:

“I-Tooth Wireless Access Point”
Dave Ma <dave.ma@teklogix.com>
Psion Teklogix
Tel: +1 905.813.9900

“Orbit Puzzle”
Saso Stevkovski <sstevkov@peoplepc.com>
Tel: +1 313.323.8336

“HydroOptix Diving Mask”
Bryan Vollmer <bvollmer@hlb.com>
Herbst LaZar Bell
Tel: +1 312. 454.1116

“Nasal Passage”
Doug Greenwood <ddgreenwood@nc.rr.com>
Product Development Services
Tel: +1 919.217.6334

“Singh Raptor”
Amardeep Singh <asingh@smith.com>
Smith International
Tel: +1 281.233.5589

“Bottle”
Alexander Ekrut <aekrut@design2assembly.com>
Design & Assembly Concepts
Tel: +1 512.930.1553

“PaintBall Marker”
Ron Barranco <ron@3dguys.com>
3D Guys
Tel: +1 808.891.1235

SmartSite Valve
Karl Leinsing <kleinsin@alarismed.com>
Alaris Medical Systems
Tel: +1 919.528.5212

“ Boomerang ”
Charles Goertz <chas810@ev1.net>
Inventor
Tel: +1 281.648.0024

For all the submitted designs to the design competition, Somos 10120 WaterClear™ resin accommodated requirements ranging from the need to better visualize the inner workings of a product (including fluid flow) without being hampered by the amber hue and lack of true transparency of standard SL resins...to ensuring that tight tolerance mechanical fit and function specifications could be evaluated early in the design process...to actually simulating the physical properties of material intended for use in production.

The panel of judges for the contest included:

Terry Wohlers, President, Wohlers Associates;
Jeffrey Rowe, Contributing Editor, “MCADCafe.com”;
Jean Hoffman, Associate Editor, “Machine Design”;
Pat Toensmeier, Editor-in-Chief, “Modern Plastics”;
Jim Reitz, Business Manager, DSM Somos;
Mike Durham, General Manager, Accelerated Technologies, Inc.

The award program generated worldwide entries from as far west as Hawaii and as far east as Israel. Contest entries were evaluated on four factors including a demonstration of the power and benefits of optically-clear rapid prototypes, the uniqueness of concept or application, visual impact, and originality.

What is stereolithography?
Stereolithography is a layer additive rapid-prototyping process based on the use of photopolymer liquid resins which solidify when exposed to UV light. A software program transfers the designer’s 3-D CAD model into an electronic file for stereolithography machines (‘STL’ format), composing the information into thin cross sections or layers. A laser beam then traces each layer onto the surface of a vat of photopolymer resin, building the part in repeated layers until a solid replica of the original CAD model is completed.

DSM Somos ProtoFunctional Resins for Stereolithography
DSM Somos ProtoFunctional resins range from the industry’s first transparent, tough and durable resins (Somos 10120 WaterClear™) to flexible resins for material properties similar to polyethylene (Somos 8100 series) or polypropylene (Somos 9100 series) to the latest generation of heat-resistant, humidity-tolerant, high-accuracy epoxy resins suitable for investment casting and direct tooling applications (Somos 7100 series). Each family of Somos photopolymer epoxy resins is comprised of materials singularly formulated and optimised for the variety of stereolithography platforms commercially available: Somos XX’00’ resins are for use in Argon ion laser systems; Somos XX’10’ for Helium Cadmium laser systems; Somos XX’20’ resins for platforms utilising Solid State laser systems.

DSM Somos also offers materials for selective laser sintering and is the first manufacturer of powder elastomeric polymer (Somos 201) that can be sintered to produce highly flexible parts with “rubber like” characteristics.

Product data sheets for DSM Somos resins are available on the company web site <www.dsmsomos.com>, under “Downloads, Product Data Sheets”.

DSM Somos (Delaware, USA), focused on innovative rapid prototyping materials, is a business unit of DSM Desotech, world leaders in the creation of UV curable materials. DSM is a highly integrated group of companies with worldwide interests in life-science products, performance materials and chemicals. DSM recorded sales of EUR 8.1 billion in 2000 and employs a total workforce of some 22,000, distributed in more than 200 operations throughout the world.

For further information on DSM Somos in the United States:
Michelle Wyatt <Americas@dsmsomos.info>
2 Penn's Way, Suite 401
New Castle DE 19720
Tel. +1 302.326.8100
www.dsmsomos.com

For further information on DSM Somos in Europe:
Melisa Lasell <Europe@dsmsomos.info>
DSM Somos External Affairs Europe
Via della Stazione 7F
00042 Anzio (Roma), Italy
Tel. +39 06.986.5179
Cell. +39 339.526.3828
www.dsmsomos.com