Tuesday
26Jan2010
Objet vs. ProJet
Tuesday, January 26, 2010 | Share Article ;)
The gloves are off now. We've just found a rather dramatic slideshow from 3D Systems that provides their take on a comparison between 3D Systems' ProJet technology and Objet's deposition tech. The slides are filled with side-by-side images of identical objects printed using both technologies.
The examination covered areas of quality, accuracy, stability, productivity, cost, post-processing and versatility. Needless to say, 3D Systems wins handily, but that could possibly be due to the fact that they put the comparison together. Nevertheless, the images are quite revealing, as you can see in a sample image above.
The key difference appears to be ProJet's phase change technology, which causes deposited droplets to solidify immediately prior to curing, whereas Objet's tend to spread out a bit, leading to less accurate deposition. Other claimed differences include a side-by-side thermal comparison in which the unfortunate Objet samples seem to wilt more than ProJet. The slides continue, explaining apparent differences in build capacity, warranty coverage, cleaning damage, amount of maintenance required, and the "Six Untold Weaknesses of Objet Printers".
So, dear readers, do you agree with this comparison? What factors did 3D Systems miss?
Via 3D Systems
tagged 3D Systems, objet in printer
3D Systems, objet in printer
Reader Comments (6)
I would never post a comparison done by competition. I am sure Objet could come up with the same slideshow showing how bad 3D systems parts look. You don't know how much sanding and post op 3D systems did to their part.
It needs to be done by a 3rd party. Also, it is always the companies trying to play catch up that use these tacticts. windows vs. apple, buick vs. lexus.
There seem to be no sanding or post op on both parts really...
Al makes an excellent point. ALL 3d printing technologies have their strengths and weaknesses. The article only benchmarks 1 part and does not discuss print time, costs, material specs, etc. A Zcorp 3D printer could also make this part, much much faster, in 24 bit color, for a fraction of the price... but it will not be plastic. An educated consumer needs to find out the strengths of each technology and how they will apply to their applications. No technology is a silver bullet. For those not ready to come to such a decision, you can always try before you buy. Check out www.ems-usa.com for services.
The whole thing is pretty shady. Just look at slide 8, with the thinwall comparisons. They're not even the same part. The Projet part has four walls, while the Objet part has five. It might be bad picture quality, but it looks like the Objet parts are hollow, while the Projet parts are solid. I could be wrong though. Another thing to keep in mind is that Objet has different materials with different properties, and the comparison does not distinguish what is what. They could have one of the resins with a lower thermal deformation that is used in a different manner than what the Projet material would be used for. And it looks like the Objet part in the pic on this page hasn't been cleaned properly; I can't tell. I have to agree with Al, wait for a third party comparison. 3D Systems might be accurate in what they're saying, but there's enough that appears to be misleading in their presentation that I can't take them at seriously.
Hmmmm, interesting comments about this slide show. Any chance someone can post a URL to the referenced slides? I'd like to see this for myself before posting any comments. Thanks. CNC
The slides are available at the link to 3D Systems above in the post. It's embedded on that page.