DesignTech Systems to distribute world’s first personal 3-D table top printer from Stratasys
Bangalore, Aug 2: Get set to enter Dimension Three -- on your table top printer. Yes, you can now move beyond printing on A4 or A-3 sized paper, to ‘printing’ solid objects – in ABS plastics.
The Pune-based DesignTech Systems (http://www.designtechsys.com/ ) has just launched the world’s first sub-$15,000 3-D printer -- the uPrint from US-based Stratasys Inc. – in India: a table top machine which can ‘build’ objects of up to 8 inch by 6 inch by 6 inch. It uses Stratisys ABS Plus, a tough but light plastic material that is said to be ideal for creating quick models and prototypes.
The uPrint, the entry model in Stratasys’ Dimension 3D printer family, is the first any where to break the $ 15,000 price barrier. In India it will cost around Rs 7 lakhs.
SaysPradeep Nair, Stratasys Regional Director ASEAN and India: " As a personal 3D printer, uPrint™ makes 3D printing immediate and convenient for, every design iteration. There's no waiting in queue for a shared printer and no waiting for models to arrive from an outside service”.
“With its small foot print and low cost, it will find place practically in every design group”, addsVikas Khanvelkar, Managing Director, DesignTech Systems.
The technology of computer-assisted creation of solid objects is almost 20 years old, but the machines, generally known as rapid prototyping printers, have remained pricey options in the $ 100,000 range , whose use was limited to large product design houses who needed a quick, cost effective alternative to turning their 3-dimensional drawings into rough functional prototypes.
Consumer product design ( 24%) followed by medical design ( 13%), industrial ( 12%) and aerospace (9%) and are the biggest markets, according to a 2009 Wohlers Report.
Additional resources:
The uses of the uPrint are illustrated in the video on the IndiaTechOnline home page for a few days
The Hindu wrote two years ago: “Another exciting possibility is being explored by bio technologists: Why not create organs and body parts by using layers of human cells, bonding them with a gel-like medium to create 3-D structures.Will the day come when we can say: I need another heart valve or a new set of dentures; let me go down to the bio-print shop and have one made? (www.hindu.com/seta/2007/06/07/stories/2007060700331500.htm )
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