Engineering news
3D printer maker Stratasys is to stop selling its lower specified printers and is to relaunch its high end Connex 3 printers with a thousand extra colours and a streamlined “design-to-3D print” workflow.
The Israeli / US 3D printer maker, which currently offers three lines of machines, is to stop making the less expensive Connex 1 and 2 printers in order to simplify its portfolio of rapid prototyping machines
John Gould, president North America, Stratasys, said: “The people that buy the Connex 3 are the happiest. They get multiple benefits – multi-materials, multi-colour. It produces the most realistic 3D parts on the market today.
“We’re going to change the game in 3D printing. Connex 3 cold produce 46 colours. With the adobe technology we have over a thousand gradient colours. A tremendous difference for designers and engineers. You can attach images, texture map and colour to a part, preview it and print.”
The Connex 3 prints in multiple materials, using rubber-like photopolymers, enabling the simulation of rubber with different levels of hardness, elongation and tear resistance.
The expanded colour range has been achieved through the use of two new colours, Vero PureWhite and VeroCyan. Stratasys has also partnered with Adobe, which has developed a “what you see is what you get” 3D Colour Print Engine and enabled integration of 3D printer files into image processing program Photoshop.
Users are able to import CAD designs into photoshop, add colour and texture and print to the 3D printer using Adobe’s pdf file format. Mike Scrutton, director of product development at Adobe said: “We are bringing the experience of the 2D world into the 3D world by using adobe technology and know-how and putting it into the printer. We are putting these colours into the hands of the designer.”
“This is revolutionary. No one else is doing this. We revolutionised 2D when put adobe postscript into the apple laser writer, and we think this will have the same revolutionary impact.”
The integration with latest version of Photoshop also features the Stratasys Direct Manufacturing parts-on-demand service, so users can order 3D printed parts to be produced and delivered to their door by an agency.
According to research firm Gartner, 3D printer sales will exceed $14.6 billion in 2019 as consumers, educational institutions and businesses ramp up their purchases