There are very few ultra-large scale 3D printer for sale today, but one option comes from a small company in Colorado: Titan Robotics.
We spent some time discussing matters with Titan Robotics CEO Clay Guillory, and learned the interesting story of their genesis.
Guillory is a mechanical engineer by trade and got into 3D printing simply for fun. Being an engineer, he built multiple RepRap-style units but was frustrated with deficiencies he could see in the design.
Again, for fun, Guillory decided to design and build his own machine, one that had significantly better reliability and used components that ensured higher quality results. And, as it turned out, a lot more size, as he had been receiving requests to print larger and larger objects like dinosaur bone replicas. Guillory’s design turned out to be scalable in three dimensions: the first large unit could 3D print objects 762 x 762 x 1143mm, while the current model can print an even larger 915 x 915 x 1220mm!
These machines are so large Titan Robotics must use extra-large filament spools to fuel them, as shown here. Push Plastic sells massive spools of 10 and 25kg weight, just the thing for such huge equipment.
But then things changed: after constructing a successful large-format 3D printer, Guillory realized he could actually sell these machines, too. And thus Titan Robotics got into the 3D printer manufacturing business.
As you might imagine the market for such extremely large machines is small, but that’s quite appropriate for an operation the size of the 18 month-old Titan Robotics. In fact, we’re told they have so far sold some five units, with more in the pipeline. One very interesting aspect of Titan Robotics’ business is that they can literally custom-build a 3D printer of any (reasonable) size the client requires. Guillory himself will install them onsite (as they’re quite large). While the units we’ve seen (at top) were open-air, Guillory explains they can also enclose them if the client requires so.
So far, the small company has been succeeding in spite of having little outside investment. We’re hoping they can find a way to scale their business to enable more businesses to operate giant 3D printers.
Via Titan Robotics
