The Maker Series also known as the small hobbyist / non-professional 3D printers that commonly use the FDM process continue to grow in popularity. The machines range from about £900 to upwards of £3,500. They do serve a purpose but our 3D printing service will not be adding a machine like this to our portfolio.
What I have seen is the number of materials that are available for these machines continue to grow. The filament process commonly uses ABS and PVA but I have seen ‘wood’ like and carbon fibre strands mixed with PVA or ABS.
There is a machine our 3D printing service bureau would love to get our hands on. It’s the all new Connex3 3D printer that uses Polyjet technology by Stratasys.
The Connex3 3D printer it uses the complete range of Polyjet materials. The Connex3 has the ability to produce rigid plastic like parts for fit and functional testing, over-molded parts for aesthetic testing and the ability to blend rubber materials with the plastic like materials.
The biggest advancement with this machine is that it is capable of producing colour models by selecting a combination of four base materials consisting of Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and White, the result being over 460 blends of shades and rubber like properties. It gets better, if you substitute a colour for a rubber like material not only do you get a colourful 3D printed part from your local 3D printing service bureau, you get a colour flexible part. Imagine that!
Very clever stuff I hear you say. It does have a price tag to match so watch this space and with your help and demand our 3D printing service bureau will add this incredible machine to our stable very soon.
Thanks for reading another blog from the fastest growing 3D printing service in the Midlands. Please keep on visiting our site for more industry related news, case studies and special offers!
Image source: HOThARDWARE
