I just realized that their logo is a teardrop shape, just like the reprap logo, but a little more irregular.
Flashy website with no sign of proof…
@Pamela_Hauff possible v feasible is a different question. It’s probably possible, but it is so incredibly impractical. The print head would need to move very slowly and regularly purge its molten champer when changing colors.
Thing is, Lexmark was doing something similar in the 2D world using wax cartridges in the mid nineties., so it’s not 100 percent out of the range of believability. They could be using a method to inject color into melted fiber before it extruded.
@Donald_Gaither_Wooki they have stated that they definitely mixing colored PLA (from cartridges, of some sort), not adding color to un-colored plastic.
Filed firmly in the “believe when seen” bin…
Where do they say this? All I see is “Just like normal ink printers, the ProDesk3D uses its proprietary 5-colour PLA cartridge system, capable of mixing primary printing colors to generate the colors of choice for the object you wish to print.” which could easily be a cartridge with 5 dye colors and uncolored PLA similar to the way photo printers have 5 colored toners and clear coat in their cartridge. Or it may have PLA powder that is spritzed into a single heating chamber.
They say it explicitly in the interview here: http://engineervsdesigner.com/67-botobjects-mike-duma-martin-warner/
Ok, thanks.
You could probably get a system to work that printed a layer of clear PLA (it wouldn’t work with opaque) and then used an inkjet print head to color the perimeter. Extrude another layer, print the color on, lather, rinse, repeat.
@Whosa_whatsis Which is basically the premise of the MCOR IRIS, among other similar stuff. Though they use layers of cut paper instead of plastic, which has obvious benefit to absorbing inkjet ink.
I know, but if you use a transparent substrate, you don’t need to fully absorb the ink.
I was thinking of ways to do this as well, I was testing inking the filament going into the extruder with a permanent marker. Having worked with standard food dyes in high concentrations and seeing how they mix the idea is dyes (think red#5 or what ever it is) have pretty incredibly small particles, it worked to make yellow come out not yellow.
I think it would be possible if you could prefabricate the filament before it goes in the hotend. You could achieve this whit some kind of Filabot.
I was just thinking.
@Whosa_whatsis After listening to that interview, my initial assessment that this was BS has been tempered a tad. If these guys are pulling a fast one, they certainly have done their homework. The interviewers mentioned pellets at one stage. Perhaps these guys are dealing with the melt chamber/mixing process in a very different way than just ramming several filaments into a hot end…
Proprietary cartridge - 'nuff said
According to the update here: http://www.3dprinter-world.com/article/botobjects-prodesk3d-too-good-be-true
This printer is not actually full-color, but allows you to create arbitrary solid colors by mixing filaments, which is neither original nor terribly impressive, but it is plausible and a nice feature if they can get it to work well. Still no photos of prints or of the machine itself, but it’s no longer in the same category as perpetual motion machines.
But what if they make one filament in different colors. This could produce full color prints. Depending on 3d colored model the filament is made before the print. So when one part of 3d model must be red the specific length and position on the filament is red. I think this would be possible.
@Miha_Pelko You’ve obviously never tried to change filament colors, particularly from dark to light. It takes a lot of filament to effectively flush out the old color.
I know this I have experience whit injection molding and i have changed filament on my 3d printer. This is the problem I think they have solved.
Ok, so my thoughts are wrong.