MCOR Prints The President

3D paper printer manufacturer MCOR recently scored a coup by not only meeting with the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, to discuss 3D printing at the Áras an Uachtaráin (the official residence of the Irish President), but also offered to print a bust of her upon her retirement in October. It's possible for this paper 3D print to be used to cast a bronze bust - and it's possible this bust might make its way to the official collection of Presidential busts at the Áras. In the image above, we have MCOR's Marketing Director Deirdre MacCormack, Senator Martin McAleese, President Mary McAleese and MCOR's Conor MacCormack.

 

While they have yet to complete the McAleese 3D printed bust, MCOR decided to catch the 3D printed Colbert meme, and the results are quite nice. 

MCOR on Golem

MCOR chief Conor MacCormack was interviewed by German IT news site Golem, in which he takes us on a detailed technical tour of their amazing paper-based 3D printer. Here's the highlights:

 

• Up to 3 full reams of common A4 paper is accepted by the machine
• Sheets are fed, one-by-one, into the build chamber (or should we say cutting chamber?)
• The machine cuts with a microscopic tungsten-carbide blade that is adjustable on the micron scale to account for different paper thicknesses
• The cutter is so fine it is able to slice a page without disturbing the sheet beneath
• The chamber is 1500mm high, and that's the maximum size of a build
• Adhesive (that sticks the layers together) is applied selectively to avoid waste
• Completed builds emerge as a full ream of paper; you must peel off the waste paper by hand to reveal the final object
• Proprietary software was shown, and it appears to offer similar features to other 3D printing control systems

 

You might think printing an object in this way produces a lot of waste. Well, it does - but remember, paper is recyclable, and it's perhaps the least expensive print material we've seen. 

   

Via Golem.de (in German, but English is spoken for most of the interview)

MCOR 3D Paper Printer Available Across Europe

One way to reduce the cost of 3D printing is to use inexpensive material for printing - and that's precisely what the MCOR Matrix 300 does. It uses plain sheet paper as its print medium, leading to perhaps the lowest operational cost of a commercial 3D printer. 

 

The Matrix 300 has been available in the UK and Ireland for a while, but now MCOR has opened up availability to all of Europe as of February 1st. Ramping up their capacity and sales geography can only be a good sign (and they're hiring too!) Here's the specs on the 300: http://www.mcortechnologies.com/careers.html

 

• Cost per cc: €0.01 (It's Paper, remember! A4 size preferred. White or your favourite color)
• Build envelope: 277 x 190 x 150 mm (10.9 x 7.5 x 5.9 inches)
• Layer Size & Resolution: 0.1mm
• Weight: 160 kg (350 lbs)
• Power: 240v, 1kw
• Footprint: 950x 700 x 800mm (h)
• Software: Proprietary, Windows
• The price: €25,000

 

This is obviously not a home device, but would be quite useful for small businesses or educational institutions involved in 3D modelling, architecture or prototyping. They expect to ship the Matrix 300 to the US market in 2Q11. 

See The MCOR 3D Paper Printer In Action

There's a new video on YouTube showing a glimpse of the MCOR Matrix 300, a 3D printer that prints using common paper as its build material. In the video we can see each layer, er, sheet of paper, being cut by the print head. The unused portions are not removed; instead full sheets remain until printing is completed. Then the sheaf of paper is removed and thanks to some conveniently placed "removal cuts", the excess paper is removed (and hopefully recycled). Eventually the printed object is revealed within the pile of paper, where it can be finished with paint or glue. 

 

Via YouTube (Hat tip to Deirdre)

MCOR's 3D Paper Printers On Sale

MCOR produces the world's only 3D printer that uses paper as its print material. This makes it among the least expensive devices to operate, since the print material  (paper sheets) can be found at practically any store worldwide - and in any color you choose, too. The printer is also one of the most ecologically friendly, as it uses recyclable material instead of potentially dangerous chemicals or plastics. 

 

We've just learned that MCOR is offering a very special deal on their Matrix 300 3D paper printer: a "limited number" of these devices will be available for purchase at the cut rate price of only £17,950 until December 25th. We're not sure if anyone will find one of these under their Christmas tree, but we wouldn't mind at all! 

  

Via MCOR

MCOR's Talents

Here's a new challenge specific to a particular 3D Printer: the Freedom of Creations (FOC) Talents design brief Quarter 4 2010 requests "end product application and design for Paper Rapid Prototyping (PRP)". In other words, "what's a commercially interesting object to print on the MCOR Matrix 300 paper 3D printer?"

 

FOC has been running these competitions quarterly for some time, with prior contests involving a new wedding ring concept, design a CASE for the Blackberry Bold 9700 and the FOC lighting collection. This time it's a paper challenge. From FOC:

 

FOC Talents is a global online network of talented, young and pre-selected designers that send in computer aided designs (CAD) every quarter, based on a prior given design brief. This quarter the Talents are challenged with an end product application and design for Paper Rapid Prototyping (PRP). With significantly lower running costs, the Matrix really does give the freedom to create!

  

FOC has dabbled with the MCOR in the past, producing an iPhone cover.  Evidently this experiment was successful, leading to this quarter's challenge. Paper printing offers some different opportunities for designers, not only due to the low cost of print material (yes, just paper) but also the variety of color layers one can employ.

 

The winning entry will be awarded €250, while runners up "will be added to the FOC Online store. Royalties are 5%." Not bad! 

 

Via FOC (Hat tip to Deirdre)

FOC Explores 3D Paper Printing

We've written a few times about the amazing paper 3D printer from MCOR, which uses common A4 paper as it's build material. Now we see it being used by a professional design firm: Freedom Of Creation.

They've been experimenting with the device and produced the iPhone cover shown above. As you can see, they slipped in a stack of rainbow-colored paper into the MCOR's input hopper, resulting the multicoloured iPhone cover. With paper printing, the object can be colored before it's even made!

Some comments from FOC on this technology:

What is intriguing about printing in paper is that the process itself is fairly simple, its about stacking layers of paper and removing what you don’t need.

It’s the greenest and most low-cost technology for 3D printing, therefore Freedom Of Creations’ Imagineering department is researching possible applications ranging from collection products to scale models and promotional material for clients.

It sounds like they'll be making good use of the technology in coming months. Can we have that in green?

Via Freedom Of Creation

MCOR Paper Samples

MCOR passed us images of sample prints from their new MCOR Matrix 300 3D paper printer (that's right - it uses sheets of paper as it's build medium.) We're quite surprised at the quality and features. Look for yourself:

This is a Geocalamus acutus, Amphisbaenidae, or Worm Lizard, courtesy of Dr Emmanuel G. Reynaud, School of Biology & Environmental Science, University College Dublin.

This house section is courtesy of Sebastien Noel, Troika Design. Deirdre MacCormack of MCOR says:

Our 3D paper printer really lends itself to a very different approach in printing this type of model – as well as colour the Matrix 300 can print texture – a brick wall, a cobbled patio, a wood floor and wallpaper on the walls!

This chair is the "Little Albert" by Ron Arad, Moroso and printed for Hector Serrano. Apparently this one was printed with commonly available office paper stock.

We've also received some details on the Matrix 300's specifications:

• Build chamber: 27.7 x 19.0 x 15.0 cm (10.9 x 7.5 x 5.9 inches)
• System weight: 160 kg (350 pounds)
• Material: A4 paper, 80 grams
• Z-Axis thickness: 0.1mm
• Power: 240 volts, 1 kilowatt

The Matrix 300 comes with proprietary software for using existing .STL files - but alas, Windows only.

All that with operating costs of less than one euro cent (or maybe just over a US cent) per cubic centimetre of printout. The price? €29,950 including software for UK and Ireland; no pricing for other locales has yet been set. Initial deliveries to UK and Ireland customers will occur in January!