[設計]咳! 明天要上設計課,但才剛夜遊回來,累的半死, 明天要給老師看得模型卻一點影子都沒嗎？設計者的福音或許出現了. 美國3D技術研發公司Stratasys將為列表機大廠惠普代工,第一款HP的3D列表機即將出現. 這款印表機,使用塑料ABS,透過他們的FDM專利(溶解沈積成型),讓設計人員把電腦中的建模圖檔轉換成模型.
3D設計直接形成立體模型的方法在20 年前就有,但成本非常非常的高,這款印表機價格大幅下降到一 萬五千美金以下,並預計在年底推出. 這個價錢看起來對常需要快速成型(Rapid prototyping)的設計公司來說,似乎已經到了可以接受的價位. 但什麼時候可以降到學生價呢？拭目以待嚕～
Stratasys Delivers First HP-Branded 3-D Printers
The Hewlett-Packard era of rapid prototyping officially begins this week.
Additive fabrication system manufacturer Stratasys Inc. announced it has delivered its first shipments of HP-branded 3-D printers. Under an agreement announced earlier this year, Stratasys will manufacture 3-D printing systems that are co-developed with HP, which will initially market the systems in Europe. The agreement is expected to eventually span the globe, creating a huge new market for rapid prototyping.
The products are called Designjet 3-D printers.
“The agreement to develop and manufacture a product to HP’s specification is a milestone for us,” says Stratasys CEO Scott Crump. “Today, we’re taking a big step in realizing the agreement’s potential by demonstrating we can deliver.”
Stratasys, which is based in Eden Prairie, MN, is the largest producer of 3-D printers in the world, with a market share of more than 50 percent.
“There are millions of 3-D designers using 2-D printers who are ready to bring their designs to life in 3D,” says Santiago Morera, HP’s vice president and general manager of its Large Format Printing Business. “Stratasys FDM technology is the ideal platform for HP to enter the 3-D MCAD printing market and begin to capitalize on this untapped opportunity.”
Product designers, engineers and architects who design with CAD use 3-D printers as peripheral devices to “print” or produce a tangible 3-D model from plastic or other material to verify the form, fit and function of designs prior to committing them to production or construction.
Stratasys, which manufactures 3-D printers under the Dimension brand, uses ABS plastic with a technology called Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM). The patented process creates parts by extruding semi-molten plastic in thin layers to build the part, layer by layer. The process of producing a part layer by layer is known generically as “additive fabrication” or “additive manufacturing.”
The term “3-D printer” was coined by Stratasys when it introduced its first compact system co-developed with IBM in the mid-1990s.
Recent advances in 3D printers have dramatically reduced their cost and improved ease-of-use and reliability. Stratasys introduced its Dimension 3-D printer line in 2002, with the first printer priced under $30,000. Early last year, Dimension broke the $15,000 barrier with its office-friendly uPrint, which fits on a desktop. The HP versions are cousins of the uPrint line.
Stratasys made the distribution agreement with HP’s Graphic Solutions Business, which is part of the company’s $24 billion Imaging and Printing Group.