Today I began with the Sands Expo dedicated to 3D printing and IoT. I was very impressed by the number of connected object but I will post another article shortly on that topic.
About 3Dprinting now, I was a bit disappointed. There is no so much revolution (that’s only my point of view) but just evolutions.
This is a short summary of that I have seen for 3D printing at CES 2015:
VOXEL8:
FFF 3D printer which add conductive metal. With this printer you will be now able to print an entire PCB (printed circuit board) within the same printer and during the same print. Impressive!
MARKFORG3D
3D printing able to print carbon fiber, fiberglass and Kevlar! With this printer, you will be able to use your 3D printed object directly into systems asking lightness conditions, and strong resistivity. The most impressive printer at the CES to me.
Cube Pro C from 3D Systems
This printer impressed me thanks to the high speed of the print. I was seeing the head for the printer trembling and it was hard to know where the plastic filament was deposited. The other great evolution of this printer is it can mix 4 different colors into the same print. Color gradients are therefore possible!
Sculpteo
The French company worked a lot on some additional and interesting functionality. Now, once you upload your file into their website, their API can automatically modify the thickness of some parts of your object (those that might be too thin to be realized).
Another interesting feature is the preview of the printed object. It allows the customer to see from every angle its object before launching its order. This functionality will avoid disappointment.
My point of view after the first day on the show:
3D printing market for personal use becomes mature. What are the facts?:
- This year, we don’t have seen many very new 3D printing technologies. Most of 3D printers that I have seen today are still working with basic plastic filament (ABS & PLA basically). And only few SLS or SLA… where displayed. I think it is because the maintenance that is too complicated and the cost which is still too expensive for individuals.
- The quality of the prints is quite good (depending on the printer makers) but it is mainly the same quality than last year. Nevertheless, the main improvement that I have noticed is based on the printing time. Some new printers are incredibly fast as the new Cube Pro C from 3DSystems.
- Moreover, at the CES this year we can see an impressive amount of new 3d printer makers mostly based in Asia. Even if these printers are reasonably basic, costs are really going down. Now for an ABS / PLA machine, you just have to spend about USD 300. The quality for the print is quite correct compared to the Cube one from 3D Systems but you won’t be able to print every complex objects you want to print.
- However, the good point is to see that all major 3D printer maker are working on their software. Even today, some prints could fail because of an excessive complexity of the object and a bad supports generation. Now these software could avoid these issues more easily that the previous release.
I hope you enjoyed the article and I let you comment it and I leave you comment below!
Guillaume