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HP Unveils Industrial 3D Printer 10X Faster, 50% Cheaper Than Current Systems
Lucas123 writes HP today announced an 3D industrial printer that it said will be half the cost of current additive manufacturing systems while also 10 times faster, enabling production parts to be built. The company also announced Sprout, a new immersive computing platform that combines a 23-in touch screen monitor and horizontal capacitive touch mat with a scanner, depth sensor, hi-res camera, and projector in a single desktop device. HP's Multi Jet Fusion printer will be offered to beta customers early next year and is expected to be generally available in 2016. The machine uses a print bar with 30,000 nozzles spraying 350 million drops a second of thermoplastic or other materials onto a print platform. The Multi Jet Fusion printer uses fused deposition modeling, an additive manufacturing technology first invented in 1990. the printer works by first laying down a layer of powder material across a build area. Then a fusing agent is selectively applied with the page-wide print bar. Then the same print bar applies a detailing agent at the parts edge to give high definition. The material is then exposed to an energy source that fuses it.
the thermoplastic "ink" will be the most expensive substance on Earth, by weight or volume. And protected by a DRM'd cartridge system. And declare itself "empty" at about 25% remaining, in order to "protect the printer from running dry".
Welcome to the Panopticon. Used to be a prison, now it's your home.
Eh, I think the weakspot in any 3d printing will be the software. As a hobby engineer, I use Solidworks which is several thousand dollars (luckily already on some of my employer's computers so they foot the bill).
But at home, I tried FreeCad, Cubify Invent, and several other free or cheap options and I find them invariably terrible, at least as far my limited experience can discern. FreeCad in particular, asides from UI nonintuitive issues and heaps of bugs (various cuts and operations simply disappearing for no reason), is only up to v0.14 since launching in 2002. It's like the Gnu Hurd of that genre.
I don't see how the 3D printing revolution will remotely come to town without something decent on the software front that's $200 or less.
*Posted this yesterday in a thread, but was too late for anyone to see it.
The media will be 10x the cost of unbranded spools.
So, the big printer company finally gets into 3D printing about about 5 years too late and the "debut product" is mainly hype. Yet another late move from a late mover company.
Would you prefer that they completely shut down their conventional printer business to focus on 3D printing instead? After all, 3D is the future! Why, you don't even need paper anymore. PC load letter, what the fuck did that ever mean? 3D can print paper for you, gangsta ass motherfucker!
Anyone smart enough, should work and WORK on this.
The future of 3D printing is so big I can't even begin to mention it so most would understand it, but I'll give it a go:
1) Instant repair parts anywhere in the world on demand.
2) This is the beginning of teleportation!
3) Instant surgical body parts to anywhere in the world on demand.
4) Toys can be bought online, printed almost the same day, you'll pay for the consumables + design.
5) Businesses will be able to personalize your phones/ipads almost instantly.
6) We will build entire houses with this stuff.
7) We will even be able to bring parts to the moon/mars/outer-space without bringing them physically by spaceship.
8) We will even be able to print food, make the textures very similar by scanning eg. meat etc.
9) People! This is the beginning stages of the real replicator you all know from fictional stories as star-trek etc.
10) Insert your own idea / wish here, I can't be the only one.
I will encourage ANY company to do this, small or big. This can only go too slow, if you ever wanted to get in on a revolution in the making, THIS IS IT!
What this world is coming to - is for you and me to decide.
My favorite part of the article is the fact that it appears to be written by HP given the file:// link in the article.
I misread the article and thought the printer and Sprout were the same thing, and under $2000. I was excited but I'm sad now.
Who needs software when you can make and sell schematics? 200$ bucks?! Ok, that'll be like what, 40 grumpycat faces at 5$ a pop?
I get so confused as to what HP really is these days. is it Agilent, or soon-to-be-divested, or big iron and big-cost software with a small user base ???
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
The printer does not spray "drops of thermoplastic," it sprays magic chemicals that either inhibit or promote sintering onto a bed of thermoplastic powder and then uses a big o' incandescent bulb to fuse the powder. This is pretty much the selective inhibition of sintering process, so the magic chemicals are probably just something like salt water and black ink.
Now what does this mean? Well because you have to spray a sintering inhibitor on, you can't recycle as much powder, unless they give you a special powder recycler for removing the inhibitor. Because you're printing out lots of black ink, can't really recycle powder, and HP will lock you into using their cartridges you will be paying out the a$$ for ink and 'toner.'
This is a HUGE development though. If the parts really have the same strength and detailing as those produced with laser sintering, as in even if this machine did not come equipped with color capability, then this has just made a lot of big industrial 3d printers obsolete. Getting rid of the need for laser and nitrogen gas purge system for sintering type machines is HUGE! Even with huge expensive print cartridges it's going to be cost competitive with everything out there.
Heck, it probably makes the whole 3d printing service bureau business model obsolete, because this puts high quality 3d printers in the cost range for small businesses.
This is probably the "attack of the killer micros" moment for the additive manufacturing industry.
Would you prefer that they completely shut down their conventional printer business to focus on...
Hell yeah!
Sorry, did you say anything after that?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I'm also a Solidworks user. I think you overlooked a few.
GeoMagic Design Elements US$1300.
McNeel Rhino US$ 995
Cubify Design US$ 199
Cubify Invent US$ 49
I used a trial of GeoMagic Design, and almost purchased it. I think it was Alibre Design, so it somewhat of a Solidworks clone, and is far better than I expected. But my clients use Solidworks, so.....
I also use Rhino, and it does stuff Solidworks can only dream of. It lack full parametrics and a history tree, but has fantastic surface modeling. If you do complex surfaces, this is the one to get.
Cubify Design and Invent - have not tried them, but they likely fit what most people want to do - make simple parts.
Disclosure: I have been a customer for each of these companies, and know people at all three. I used to be a dealer for Solidworks and Rhino 14 years ago, and wish I didn't have to pay full retail today.
Place nail here >+
Damn it feels good to be a gangsta
Printing money fo' the poor to pay they bills
Although I'm still workin' at HP
Now I'm in the 3D printin' biz
Now gangsta-ass niggas print in all shapes and colors
Some bankrupt in the past
But this gangtsa here is a smart one
Started living for 3D and I'll last
It's a sign that years and years of mismanagement maybe didn't completely kill the ability for them to come up with interesting stuff This is exactly the kind of thing they need to do. Shore up HP Labs and solve some neat problems and ship cool stuff. Sure, let's be skeptical, but good for them for trying.
The printer does not use fused deposition modeling. It uses powder bed and inkjet head 3D printing. It looks like the fusing agent is a heat or UV cured polymer that can be coloured.
I my old printer died (low usage so the ink jets clogged - Brother). I bought an HP Officejet since HP claimed that in worked with RedHat 6 (I run Centos 6 which is the same thing). The only support available have admitted a ''something wrong going on in the code'' and and go quiet when I asked when they would fix it a week ago.
In a couple of days time I will return it to where I bought it and buy something from a different manufacturer.
I hope that they will provide better drivers that do what they claim for this 3D printer.
More parts and supplies to make new diy printers.
Blender, my friend, now has great sculpting tools akin Zbrush and many less travelled options to export for CAM. It is free and supported by a great community.
I used CAD tools as a pro, 10 years ago. I used NX, solidworks, edge, ProE WF, Autocrap, etc. I coded parametric designs from my own designs, I did non-linear hypersonic CFD with fluent and CFX on those designs, I did reverse-kinematic non-linear space robotics on those designs, I did it all.
When I stopped caring about empirical tons of horseshit produced by those software, and starting creating and designing again in the real world, for myself and others where it mattered, I left all of these software behind and went back to my CG roots. No BS, I have not looked back in 10 years, I have not looked back from Blender in 3 years. I am orders of magnitute more prolific than I was.
Blender has easily replaced 3DS, maya, rhino, lightwave, etc for me also, it is a no-brainer and my go-to now. Except for very specialized things at the end of my production pipeline (games, rendering and to convert back to .IGES for CAD exchange). I use blender for most of my workflow now. Each new version of Blender, I use it for MORE of my workflow. For CAM pipelines, I use something akin to freeCAD when .STL export is not good enough and I need a .IGES file format for exchange.
And don't tell me materials, surface specs, coatings, etc.. yada yada. EVERY shop needs me to explain this to them both in conversation and with production anotations to paper drawings, because NO ONE can read a production drawing anymore anyways. I would rather give my design spec to a machine, everytime, with an IGES or STL.
HP said they were going big in 3D printing most of a year ago. They said they would announce in June. The announcement time frame slipped 4 months. OK so nobody ever delivers on time. But notice they are not saying when or at what cost? I've been hearing some guesstimates at 2016 and over $100k.
Having some experience in 3D Systems equipment I'm going to say that if you have ever watched one of their ProJet 660 or 860 devices work, you could almost say that HP lifted a video of one of those devices working to publish as their own. The 3Dsystems devices are in full color opposed to the HP which is black only. Do they have some new wrinkles to bring to the table? Probably. Revolutionary? Probably not. Its also convenient that they allowed many of 3Dsystems patents to expire before they brought a machine to market. Will it be better than the joint 3DSystems Google Project Ara ? Who knows.
If I need a device today I'm not buying HP because its still vaporware. If I'm waiting till some more dust settles before I buy who can say what will be on the street in 2016?
The "cartridges" will contain pelletized polymers. HP has been selling "toner" (iron and carbon black) for 1000X for decades. A $20 ink cartridge costs as much to make as a pack of Bic pens.
I thought that Blender had no notion of volumes and virtually unusable tools for smooth surfaces? Or have these things significantly improved?
Ezekiel 23:20
The ink will cost more than the printer
Way to stay on topic. I'd like to see Linux go closed source and Tesla make a boat.
I was just talking about this earlier today with a friend of mine. I think what will really make 3D printing take off is the availability of commercial printers that are room-sized devices, capable of printing off large pieces.
With the 3D printers confined to, essentially, the same dimensions as typical all-in-one fax/printer/scanners or desktop lasers, they're only capable of printing very small objects. That's a great place to start, as this is a new technology ... and people need to learn the basics of how to design things to be printed, how to use them, and how to improve their reliability and reduce costs of operation. Why not do that by printing off small objects vs. big ones?
But the ability to print off an entire car hood or rear spoiler, or replacement body panel? Or how about printing those big, outdoor decorative fountains and other garden objects? Certainly, you need something this size if you're seriously considering printing 3D parts for home construction. (Imagine ordering walls that are pre-printed with your choice of custom colors or designs instead of having to paint.)
I am not sure HP-UX and Tru64 can be freed, as they contain licensed code from AT&T Unix that still belongs to Novel (or SCO, after all those years I am not sure).
Caligari trueSpace 3D which as a long history is really nice.
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
Are there systemd drivers for it?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
It has good and continually improving tools for 3D printing. Manifold and overhang checking are built in and there are extensions for identifying further problem areas. It's not perfect but definitely usable.
How did Sun manage to do it?
I doubt it will wake up from sleep mode.
uhhh, Blender?
Should check out the awesome "robot garden" Andy Goralczyk is making with blender+3D Printing....
https://twitter.com/artificial3d/status/524868760839405568
My Epson ran out of scanner ink, couldn't scan anything until I bought more cartridges.
Hi, i like Epson printers. My Epson is a basic one and not so expensive, but it works even after my long vacation when it is out of use. http://www.kanariansaaret.us/ is my little web page and Epson is just great friend. I can't believe that my 49 euros printer has also scanner and copy things. Before this Epson my printer was laser b/w and no have colors too. Color lasers are not good, i don't like those garbage print qualitys. Have a nice day, all of you !!! Samantha
I think, EPSON is the best printer what i have seen. Before Epson, my printers have been: HP, Canon and Samsun. Inkjets and lasers. B/W lasers are very good but need colors. Color lasers print qualitys are so garbage bad, i hate them. Color units are so expensive too. My Epson is printer, scanner and copying machine, inkjet cartridge prices only about 5,50 euros each and after 4 weeks vacation it works as well every time. http://www.kanariansaaret.us/ is my hobby web site and using my friend Epson every day when im updating the site. My Epson was 49 € Samantha