It seems that this year 3D printing is taking a big leap forward, a couple of new printers on the market have blown my mind and I wanted to share.
First printer that blew my mind this year is the FormLabs Fuse 1
https://formlabs.com/3d-printers/fuse-1/?utm_content=main-nav
This is a Selective laser Sintering (SLS) printer, parts from this come out at way higher resolution than FDM printers, at much faster speeds, they're solid plastic, strong, flexible, and there's no limitations in terms of needing to build support material or overhangs since the parts are suspended in powder. SLS printers previously were stupid expensive... like $80K-$100K expensive. When you order parts from shapeways they use an SLS (and charge you a small fortune to cover the costs of their expensive printer).
another cool feature of these is that you can stack parts vertically when printing so you can print a lot more parts at once.
The second printer that has blown my mind this year is the BLACKBELT:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/814534542/blackbelt-3d-printer#
This uses the old FDM technology but prints at a 45 degree angle on a treadmill... this means that you can print infinite length parts as long as the width and height is below 13in... I mean you could print whole control panels with this thing... you could print complete enclosures for most PCB (as long as they're below 13in on the short side).
not only that but because it prints on a 45 it means that it can print overhangs without support material so long as there's a wall on one side. Super Impressive.
also a printer like this could be setup to make item after item after item and just drop them in a bin, so you could set it up and then leave it running without having to clear the print platform after ever part.
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I can't reasonably justify buying either of these printers currently (the Fuse 1 is $10K and the Blackbelt is $8.5K), but here's hoping that the costs of this tech comes down a bit further over the next few years. (or who knows maybe my part sales will explode and I'll need to buy one to up production).
First printer that blew my mind this year is the FormLabs Fuse 1
https://formlabs.com/3d-printers/fuse-1/?utm_content=main-nav
This is a Selective laser Sintering (SLS) printer, parts from this come out at way higher resolution than FDM printers, at much faster speeds, they're solid plastic, strong, flexible, and there's no limitations in terms of needing to build support material or overhangs since the parts are suspended in powder. SLS printers previously were stupid expensive... like $80K-$100K expensive. When you order parts from shapeways they use an SLS (and charge you a small fortune to cover the costs of their expensive printer).
another cool feature of these is that you can stack parts vertically when printing so you can print a lot more parts at once.
The second printer that has blown my mind this year is the BLACKBELT:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/814534542/blackbelt-3d-printer#
This uses the old FDM technology but prints at a 45 degree angle on a treadmill... this means that you can print infinite length parts as long as the width and height is below 13in... I mean you could print whole control panels with this thing... you could print complete enclosures for most PCB (as long as they're below 13in on the short side).
not only that but because it prints on a 45 it means that it can print overhangs without support material so long as there's a wall on one side. Super Impressive.
also a printer like this could be setup to make item after item after item and just drop them in a bin, so you could set it up and then leave it running without having to clear the print platform after ever part.
----------
I can't reasonably justify buying either of these printers currently (the Fuse 1 is $10K and the Blackbelt is $8.5K), but here's hoping that the costs of this tech comes down a bit further over the next few years. (or who knows maybe my part sales will explode and I'll need to buy one to up production).
