There’s an interesting partnership between Helio Additive and PioCreat.
PioCreat is a 3D printer manufacturer that has an association with Creality. The companies don’t directly compete, as Creality produces desktop equipment, while PioCreat makes industrial 3D printers. However, they recently took over the HALOT series from Creality, so they do actually sell some desktop gear.
PioCreat’s most interesting device, in my opinion, is their G2 Ultra 3D printer. At first glance, it would appear to be a rather large-sized open-gantry FFF 3D printer. But it’s not. It’s an FGF 3D printer that uses pellets instead of filament. It has to be the smallest commercially available 3D printer that uses the FGF process.
Meanwhile, we have Helio Additive.
Helio Additive produces a 3D print slicing system, Dragon, that uses a revolutionary concept: voxel-based slicing. How does it work? Imagine an individual voxel: it has neighbors, which emit or absorb heat, and also present mechanical forces. The Dragon concept is to use sophisticated software to consider all these separate voxel conditions to better prepare extrusion parameters during the print job. In this way, the most optimal parts possible can be produced.
The news is that PioCreat now offers a bundle with a 3D printer and Dragon software. Helio Additive explains:
“Through this partnership, every Piocreat G5 Ultra and G12 printer will now come with a Dragon license, offering users increased reliability, a wider range of materials, hands-off printing, stronger parts, and faster print speeds.”
The benefits are significant because there will be reduced operator labor due to increased print reliability, stronger parts, and even faster printing. Helio Additive CEO David Hartmann explained further:
“Piocreat will bundle Dragon with new G5 Ultra and G12 pellet printers. It’s a game changer for customers because it allows them to print completely hands-off (normally in pellet printing you have to adjust print speeds constantly during a print), faster, and with much better quality (layer adhesion, lower warping, etc.). We’ve already got 40+ materials in our database and are adding 5-6 more materials every month.”
How does the bundle work, price-wise? Hartmann explained to us:
“Customers will have a free trial active from day 1, and then transition into a yearly subscription after 3 months.”
This is a pretty good way to get an introduction to an advanced slicer that Piocreat customers might never consider otherwise. I’m expecting Helio Additive to develop similar bundles with additional 3D printer manufacturers in the future.
Via Helio Additive and Piocreat
