For the dreamer, high-tech enthusiast, and entrepreneur, 3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing, seems to embody the promise of what could be. Forward-thinking companies like Ford Motor Co., GE, and Mattel have been using 3D printing for R&D since the 1980s. However, the caveats about material restrictions, poor resolution, and lack of user-friendly input tools, have relegated the technology as pie-in-the-sky manufacturing. No more.
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Economical 3D printing for consumer products became a reality on Dec. 2, 2013, as 3D Systems unveiled several innovative products at EuroMold 2013 in Frankfurt, Germany.
“Leapfrogging from monochrome to full-color functional plastics redefines ‘the possible’ for designers, engineers, architects, marketers, and artists,” says Buddy Byrum, vice president of product and channel management for 3D Systems. “For the first time ever, users can get directly out of a 3D printer real-use parts, vibrant models, and functional prototypes in full color, quickly, accurately, and affordably.”
The ProJet 4500 3D printer, which appears to be aimed squarely at consumer product manufacturing, builds on 3D Systems’ color jet-printing technology and comes with a new class of sustainable VisiJet C4 Spectrum materials. A fully integrated material recycling provides better material usage.
“The ProJet 4500 prints fast, generates minimal waste, requires no support, and delivers ready-to-use, full-color, functional parts and assemblies without post-processing or painting,” says 3D Systems.
The addition of Geomagic Capture scan-to-CAD software makes this 3D printer ideal for manufacturers of consumer products, home furnishings, healthcare products, toys, and collectibles.
EuroMold 2013 in Frankfurt, Germany,
Another product introduced at the show was the ProJet 5500X, which simultaneously prints and fuses together flexible and rigid material composites, layer-by-layer at the pixel level, in a variety of colors and shades including opaque, clear, black or white, and numerous shades of gray.
“Having unlimited options of engineered material properties within a single print is every designer’s dream that when combined with the largest print volume in its class and true-to-CAD precision and fine detail makes the ProJet 5500X the clear choice,” says Byrum. “Designers and manufacturers are sure to discover new degrees of freedom [from] the quick-turn production of functional multi-material assemblies, overmolded parts, rubber components, long-lasting living hinges, and high-temperature parts, all in one printer, all in a single print.”
The ProJet 5500X has an industrial-grade print head that comes with a five-year warranty and prints up to two times faster than any other printer in its class. The 5500X produces large parts up to 0.5 meter in length per print job—that’s 60-percent larger volume than all other comparable systems. It also uses the VisiJet composite family of materials with properties that can be easily varied within a single part.
The custom characteristics and mechanical properties made possible with 3D Systems printers are redefining the essence of 3D printing.
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