3D Systems acquired the assets of Desktop Factory and claimed they were going to fulfill the promise of the $5,000 3D printer. They have been true to their word (sort of) an announced a low cost 3D printer.
Unfortunately, there hasn’t been a technological break through just an overstuffed product portfolio. For a limited time you can buy a discontinued 3D Systems Invision LD 3D-Modeler for $5,000. It produces parts that look like this:
The LD uses a plotter-based Laminated Object Manufacturing (LOM) technology, similar to the MCOR 3D Printer out of Ireland. This video shows the technology in action, It is cool to see a plastic brick come out of the printer. The major downside with this technology is that fine parts may not print well. It has a faint “stair step” pattern on the sides and you can see a defect on this sample part where a piece of the section underneath the ball delaminated. However, this is a great system for schools or hobbyists since the cleanup process is entirely physical with no heat or chemical based secondary processing required. At $5,000 you can’t do better.
Invision LD In Action
V-Flash – A 3D Printer for Less than $10,000
3D Systems has also commercialized their V-Flash system which starts at the everyday low price of $9,900. This is a GREAT machine for the price. The parts are smooth, you can print undercuts and hollow cavities, and it holds a decent amount of detail at a small scale. Notice the ‘cut” marks on this Rook’s helmet:
If I were a small business or college I would consider this machine. My office has a much higher end 3D Systems printer and if this option were available a few years ago we would have purchased it instead. The build process on the V-Flash is kind of cool, it builds parts like stalactites.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=3a6dc37d-8e32-49fb-9056-8107c0ab15f1)
