Zortrax is well-known as the manufacturer of a very popular and reliable personal 3D printer, the M200. But now they have another model, the Inventure.
The Inventure is a departure for Zortrax, whose M200 was targeted directly at hobbyists. The new machine is made for professionals, such as industrial designers, architects and similar.
What makes the Inventure a “professional” machine? Let’s examine what they’ve done here:
The dual-extruder Inventure is designed to print water soluble support material from one extruder. This means very complex parts can be printed without regard to the geometry of the model.
The build volume, though not huge at only 130 x 130 x 130mm, is sealed and heated to ensure very reliable 3D printing operations.
A HEPA filter ensures air emitted from the Inventure is safer than otherwise. We’re not sure if this filter is graded for nanoparticles, but we’re hopeful it is. It’s also not clear if an active carbon element is included, which would eliminate odors that would be quite annoying if the Inventure were installed in a typical office environment.
A special cartridge system is used to deliver plastic materials to the Inventure. This sounds to us that materials could be more expensive than using commodity plastics as can be done on the M200, but on the other hand, this machine is destined for professional offices where high quality filament would be required for reliability. Zortrax also announced a new material they call “Z-ULTRAT Plus” that is quite robust and suitable for industrial prototyping.
Finally, a notification system permits more close monitoring of ongoing printing operations.
The Inventure is said to be available in Fall 2015, so you cannot buy or even order one yet. There’s no word on pricing, but we suspect the Inventure will be sold mainly through local resellers who will set the price for their regions.
Via Zortrax
