The ZPrinter 850 is Announced

3D Systems and their recent acquisition, ZCorp, announced the availability of their most gigantic 3D printer yet, the ZPrinter 850. The 850 is capable of 3D printing large objects in full color using its powder-based printing approach. 

 

This beast is similar to the smaller model 650, but with a larger build area. The new model can build up to 20 x 15 x 9 inches (508 x 381 x 229 mm), quite an increase over the 650's 10 x 15 x 8 inches (254 x 381 x 203 mm). That's a 2.25x increase in volume, according to our calculations. 

 

While most of the other specs are similar to the 650, including 390K colors using 5 heads, 600x540 dpi resolution, a layer thickness of 0.089 - 0.102mm and minimum feature size of 0.1mm, there are some differences. The vertical build speed is actually somewhat less on the 850, which is no doubt due to the massively larger build envelope - there's much more to get done. Strangely, although the 850 has more than double the build envelope it's actually physically smaller: 47 x 46 x 68 inches (119 x 116 x 162 cm) vs. the 650's 74 x 29 x 57 inches (188 x 74 x 145 cm). Another difference is a new requirement for Shop Air, presumably for cleaning finished items. 

 

The main feature seems to be the massively larger build area, which should provide much convenience for architects and others needing to produce very large models. 

 

No word on pricing yet. 

  

Via ZCorp

Massive News: 3D Systems Acquires ZCorp!

In an almost unbelievable announcement today, 3D Systems has apparently acquired ZCorp, one of their major competitors. In addition to ZCorp, 3D Systems also picked up Vidar, a leading manufacturer of medical film digitizers. The cost of these two simultaneous acquisitions puts a USD$137M dent into 3D Systems' wallet, which will be refilled by a simultaneous placement of USD$152M in senior convertible notes. 

 

With this acquisition 3D Systems gains not only ZCorp's large market share, but also their technology. This adds to 3D Systems' already extensive list of 3D printing processes - and associated patents. Not only was ZCorp itself profitable, but they also had a very extensive network of resellers who now could be tasked to sell the entire 3D Systems product line, boosting profits far above simply adding ZCorp's bottom line. According to 3D Systems, the immediate synergies beyond adding company profits together could add another USD$5-10M in profit per year. 

 

A major technological gain for 3D Systems is ZCorp's color printing capability. ZCorp was the only major 3D printer manufacturer to market a device capable of on-demand multicolor 3D printing. Now, 3D Systems will be the only such company. We hope color tech will now leak into 3D Systems' other products. 

 

ZCorp and Vidar were previously owned by Ratos AB, a Swedish holding company specializing in developing valuable technology properties. Their goal: "generate, over time, the highest possible return through the professional, active and responsible exercise of its ownership role in a number of selected companies". It's therefore unsurprising that Ratos sold off these holdings as they had grown significantly in value. 

 

The acquisition of Vidar is a bit puzzling, as it doesn't initially appear to be related to 3D printing. However, it does have its own large network of medical resellers, through which 3D Systems may gain even more opportunities to sell their entire product line. It may also be that taking Vidar was a condition of the sale by Ratos. 

 

Another very significant outcome of this deal is a fundamental change in 3D Systems revenue breakdown: now, for the first time, the majority of their revenue comes from what they call the "Personal and Professional" market, as opposed to large "Production" 3D printers. 3D Systems is now a personal 3D printer company!

 

Who's left standing among the big 3D printer companies? Israel-based Objet and giant Stratasys. 3D Systems likely isn't interested in or could afford to purchase Stratasys, but since their shopping cart is handy, what about Objet? There's still one month left in the year! 

 

Via 3D Systems (PDF)

ZCorp's On This Old House

If you're watching the perennial PBS TV series "This Old House" you might see a 3D printed house in a couple of their October episodes. The series has used a ZCorp 3D printer to produce a model of a home being remodeled in order to show the viewing audience what the final outcome of the design will look like. 

 

Every reno should have a 3D print, don't ya think? 

 

Via Mass High Tech

My Robot Nation is Coming

Design News tells of a not-quite-opened 3D printing service: My Robot Nation. It's a joint venture between ZCorp, Kodama Studios and Offload Studios (one of ZCorp's print services clients). They're attempting to bridge the gap that exists in the 3D printing space right now: where are some great printable objects? Specifically, robots.

 

There's not much information about how My Robot Nation will operate, but we suspect it would be similar to other 3D print services that provide a means to customize objects within a limited range of options. Probably there will be collections of robot parts that can be assembled into, well, robots. Then you'd print them using the My Robot Nation print service (Offload Studios). The next thing you know, there's a robot in your mailbox. 

  

Via Design News and My Robot Nation

David Kaplan Reveals the Wrench Truth

The other week controversy erupted when National Geographic published a short video in which physicist David Kaplan visited ZCorp HQ and apparently witnessed the incredible feat of 3D scanning a large wrench and replicating it - will all moving parts! We thought this might be slightly misleading, as you can't scan-capture moving and internal parts in the manner portrayed in the video. 

 

After many posts and discussion, Kaplan has released a short video explaining what actually happened. Some highlights: 

 

What we printed was a template wrench, an image they already have in the computer.  

 

There is no way it could have gotten the internal structure of the wrench and so that was crap. The implication that that thing we scanned was the thing we printed was wrong.

 

That is not what happened, and that piece (the video) was edited in such a way that was what you were supposed to believe. And I think that was a very unfortunate thing and was a mistake.. the scanning part was a true thing, but it had nothing to do with the wrench we printed out. 

 

He goes on (correctly) to say that you could scan in raw images that could be manipulated into actual working models and printing. He recommends that you investigate things yourself to find out what's really going on. 

 

Our thanks to Kaplan for explaining how the experiment actually occurred, and for producing what was otherwise a terrific video of some great tech at ZCorp. We love the publicity for 3D printing, but we are very afraid of a backlash if consumers come to expect the miracle of replication. 

 

Via YouTube

ZCorp Ships 6,000th 3D Printer

We don't know a lot about 3D printer manufacturer ZCorp's financial results, as they are not publicly traded. But there is evidence they're having as much success as the two public 3D printer manufacturers. 

 

ZCorp announced they've shipped their 6,000th 3D printer, an incredible milestone. But that's not all - they also announced record sales of 3D printer consumables. Evidently ZCorp sold more than 7 million cubic inches of print material in 2010, equivalent to printing 25,000 coffee cups per week! That's a lot of models, and we're not surprised - ZCorp printers are frequently used by 3D print services. 

 

Via PRNewswire

ZCorp Questions Open Source Printers

A post from Olimpio DeMarco, VP of Research and Development at ZCorp questioned the possibility of using open source 3D printers for business use. He says: 

 

Who then is buying open source FDM printers? It isn’t clear to me that there is an industrial, true business application for open source 3DP.

 

He's probably correct at this point, but as with everything else in the open source universe, it's a moving target. Open source solutions inexorably get better because there are a great many people working on them. In the software world, the same questions were asked about, for example, web server software. In the end, Apache's HTTP server software essentially took over the market because its features and cost (zero) slurped up the majority of the market. 

 

Here's what we're wondering: with this post from ZCorp are we seeing the big guys take notice of these open source solutions? Is this the first 3D printing FUD? 

 

Via MCAD 3D Printing & Prototyping

Which Desktop 3D Printer Do I Buy? Part One

Editor: We are totally tickled to present our very first guest post - and we're greatly honoured to have it written by well-known 3D Printing blogger Joris Peels. Most recently Joris was the Shapeways Community Manager, and now he's blogging at Voxelfab. Over the past few years Joris has written extensively on 3D printing helping the community immensely and has a wealth of knowledge and experience to share with us. This is part one of a two-part post. Enjoy!

 

This is actually not an easy question. As Fabbaloo just reported the benchmarking of 3D printers has begun in earnest. When you compare 3D printers you are actually comparing very different production technologies, however. The right 3D printer for you is as much about who you are as it is about the relative merits of the technology or system. 

 

To illustrate this let's imagine we are a medium sized US architecture firm and want to buy an in-office easy-to-use 3D printer in order to prototype the buildings we plan to construct. Lets limit our shortlist to 3 of the biggest brands and their entry level systems.

 

Zcorp 310

 

I'm intentionally leaving out the new Zprinter 150 & the Zprinter 250 since they're so new they currently don't have a track record. The Zcorp Zprinter 310 is a tried and true legacy system by Zcorp. It prints a fine plaster powder using an inkjet head. The material cost is the lowest in the industry and the system costs $20,000. Unlike most other Zcorp printers this prints monochrome. The parts are not very strong and have to be infused or cured after printing. 

 

The Good 

• Cheap to buy & run 
• Build speed is quick

 

The Bad

• Very weak parts & parts could break during production. 
• Very thick wall thicknesses needed for a lot of parts (<2mm) .
• Many things can simply not get made with Zcorp. 
• Post processing required so overall speed to get a part finished is slow
• Separate depowdering & infusion stations required

 

Who is it for? 

People very worried about TCO. 

 

Recommendation: If you want to get the cheapest option in the long run you might want to consider this printer. But, it will not wow our architect's clients and together with post processing will not be easy in an office environment.

  

Also consider:  the Zprinter 650

 

On the other end of the Zcorp spectrum we have the Zprinter 650. This comes in at $100,000 if you add in all the post processing and other gadgetry you need. This prints color and the colors are much clearer than other older Zcorp systems. This system allows you to remove the Zcorp powder within the system. This would be a good system for a larger architectural firm that wants to put in the extra effort in terms of financing and manpower that this system would require. The system would benefit from a trained operator as especially the post-processing steps can be finicky. A lot of geometries can not be made with Zcorp so this is a limitation. I would recommend this system for a larger architectural office that makes a lot of models to show to customers. The color is unique and would help make a mall or other building shown in situ much more compelling. 

 

Dream Customer: AEDAS 

 

You can follow Joris Peels on Twitter here or read his 3D printing blog VoxelFab here.    

 

Editor: Stay tuned for part two tomorrow, where Joris will express his opinion of the Dimension uPrint and the Objet Alaris 30.