A lot of us have been following the advancements in 3D printing and have noted the variety of materials that can be used to create objects. The most common of these are plastic, nylon, and metal. One of the key expenses of 3D printing, other than the printer, of course, is the cost of the material. Other issues may include the ability to recycle scrap or consumables, toxicity, and the ability for precise, on-printer coloring of the finished object.
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Enter the IRIS printer from Mcor Technologies. This 3D printer uses water-soluble glue and three reams of plain-old office printer paper as its print medium.
Sound funky? Well, keep in mind that the finished product—glued paper—is essentially a piece of wood. It’s completely recyclable, uses no toxic products, and produces a high-resolution, continuous-tone color model. OK, the shading isn’t quite as good as a full-color print on a single sheet of photo-quality paper, but the quality is still pretty amazing.
The 3D printing process is called selective deposition lamination (SDL) and was invented by brothers Conor and Fintan MacCormack in 2003. The IRIS printer uses the same technology. Here’s how it works:
Imagine that your 3D CAD model (the printer software accepts STL, OBJ, and VRML files) is sliced, top to bottom, into paper-thin slices... literally... using Mcor’s specialty software. The software model is now ready to go.
The IRIS first places a blank sheet of paper on the build plate. A heavy layer of water-soluble glue is then laid down on that portion of the sheet that represents the solid part of the model for the first slice. A much lighter layer of glue is placed on portions of the paper that will later be stripped away.
The first slice is then color-printed on a sheet of paper, with only the outline of that layer being printed. The specialty ink is absorbed through the entire thickness of the paper.
That sheet is placed on the built platform on top of the previously-glued sheet of paper and pressed together. A cutter then precisely cuts through the top sheet along the printed outline, cutting only the thickness of the sheet. The cutter is precisely set to cut either 80 gsm (20 lb) or 160 gsm (43 lb) paper.
The areas to be stripped away later are diced (i.e., scored) during the cutting process.
Another layer of selective gluing is applied, and then the next piece of outlined paper is placed on top of that, pressed together, and the outline cut.
And so forth, until the entire model is built up one sheet of paper at time.
Once the model is finished, the excess paper is simply pulled away from the solid model in a process the company calls “weeding.” Because the excess paper was diced as part of the cutting process, it is relatively easy to strip.
The model achieves continuous tone color because the ink soaks through the paper during the printing process, and the cutter has cut inside the printed outline. This means that the edge of each sheet of paper is the color that it needs to be for that layer. Once the model is completely built, the edges appear as a continuous-tone print. It isn’t always 100-percent perfect, as you can see in this particular image, but it’s pretty darn good.
The finished product is cut to a precision of 0.0004 in. (0.12 mm) and a dimensional accuracy of 0.004 in. (0.1mm). Mcor claims that the cost of material (new or used paper) is about 5 percent of the cost of materials for other technologies. According to the company, intended markets are product design, architecture, packaging, medical/dental, geographical information systems (GIS), consumer, MCAD, casting, entertainment, and art and culture.
One question often asked is about the amount of waste. Remember that in other types of 3D printing, the printer is only laying down the modeling material or fill material, so there is fairly little waste. In the case of the IRIS printer, you are cutting your model from a square stack of paper. However, according to Deirdre MacCormack, Mcor’s chief marketing officer, “Every build can be completely maximized, so there is very little waste material. And the positive aspect of using paper and a water-based adhesive is that any waste can be thrown into a recycle bin, unlike our competitors’ waste. In terms of cost, it is negligible in comparison to throwing away expensive powder or plastic.”
The printer costs about $47,000, but if you can’t afford it, no problem. Mcor struck a deal with Staples Printing Systems Division late last year to launch a new 3D printing service called “Staples Easy 3D,” available online via the Staples Office Centre. The service will initially be available in the Netherlands starting some time in 2013. That was easy.
Comments
Implications for fine arts
Staples
Yes. Because it will be available at a common retailer (Staples... only in the Netherlands for now) it will really open up possibilities for artists. As a photographer I have a photo printer that prints up to 17" wide, but use a couple of different service bureaus that print up to 60" inches wide. I foresee that in the near future, an artist will go to a nearby service bureau that can afford to invest in a 3D printer (Staples or someone else) and print out a 3D sculpture with the same ease that they today print out large, 60" 2D artwork. And at a reasonable cost. Amazing.
Some artists are already doing this with other 3D technologies, but the cost is prohibitive for most.
Regards,Garyy3D Stuff Maker
I just want to know that Is there any special plugins require to view the video which you have shared above? because I am not able to view the video, and also if possible please share some tutorials for how to design a model using paper with 3D printer.
Regards,
Garyy - Support Team Member @ 3D Stuff Maker
Player
Using the printer
Thank you for the reply
Thank you for the reply
Making tools
Driving CAD prices
Yep. And then think of this. As 3D printing gets more prevalent, so do consumer and prosumer CAD tools. Remember when high end photo-manipulation cost an arm and a leg. Now you have pixlr and GIMP, online freeware that are powerful enough for most photo manipulation. So watch for low cost, easy to use and understand, 3D CAD packages that anyone can use.
Updated: I see ADB mentioned Blender. There ya go. Game on.
Blender
The prefect adjunct to 3D printing is Blender, the amazing open source 3D modelling product. The product had a major rewrite at V2.5 and is now much easier to use for newbies. The latest version provides a 3D printing toolkit:
http://www.blendernation.com/2013/03/27/blender-2-67-feature-3d-printin…
Only One will survive ...
... and soon another - device - will bite the dust.
Doubt that
If you mean that 3D Printers are a flash in the pan and will bite the dust. I disagree. They are already being integrated into manufacturing processes, for both large and small projects. It's kind of like saying photo printers, robots, and digital cameras will go away.
If, on the other hand, you mean that these technologies will be replaced by something better... well... no doubt.
How exciting!!!
Wonderful!
I'm very familiar with 3D printing using plastic materials (in which I include metal) and excited by its enormous potential implications. This story, though, caught my emotional imagination more than any for a long time.
It's a direct conceptual analogue of traditional revelatory sculpture, where a raw block of wood or stone is pared back to reveal the final form.
Some questions which came immediately to mind (to which, of course, I'm sure I'll find answers when I finish this comment and start searching) are...
...what's the glue? While I'm not doubting the "nothing toxic" headline, I'd like to know the details.
...what (since it limits two dimensions of the output artefact) is the maximum paper size handled? Letter/A4/foolscap? A3? Larger? Presumably (given the "three reams" limit on the third dimension, A4?
...have they given any thought to a future option for generating completely enclosed hollow space interiors? With the present process as described (removal of waste at the end) it would be impossible but would allow significant weight reduction in (for example) a sphere.
An alluring promise of future adventures ... which I will now off and explore! :-)
This Friday
Excellent questions Felix. Fortunately we will have Conor MacCormack on our live show this Friday and I will definitely ask him those questions. I too, wonder about hollow areas, small through holes, and so forth. Quality Digest Live airs live at 11 a.m. Pacific, 19:00 your time, at www.qualitydigest.com/QDL-Weekly-play.php The show is recorded, so you can always watch the recorded version on our YouTube channel at youtube.com/technorazzilive
Their venture into creation
Their venture into creation work generation, extensive manufactures, and dispersed assembling has been being worked on in the decades since. Modern creation parts inside the metalworking businesses.
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