One printer can mix three #thermoplastics to create new materials for printing. #3DPrinting
http://www.computerworld.com/article/2604721/stratasys-unveils-triple-material-3d-printers-thermoplastics-for-outdoor-products.html
@Laser_Tek_Services i’m pretty sure that’s not how this works. This printer is nothing more than a triple-extruder FDM machine, similar to the Tricolour Mendel https://reprappro.com/shop/reprap-kits/tricolour-mendel/ or any other FFF printer equipped with three or four (Kraken) extruders.
Yup, my Tricolour does indeed print in three. And now I want MOAR!!!
I have actually been working on a project to make more colors available at the flip of switch. Also without multiple extruders. I think that’s the next logical step in FDM 3d printing. So would that be 3 1/2 D or 4D
There are two things here that are being conflated/confused.
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Stratasys has introduced a material called ASA that is UV resistant for outdoor use. This is an FDM filament material.
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Stratasys other line of machines the Objet line, which use an inkjet to selectively fire out photopolymer which is then cured by a UV light now has a three jet option to mix different photopolymers into one object.
No thermoplastic mixing going on here.
Could it then, @Sanjay_Mortimer , mix the photopolymer at will, and therefore print in more colours than my assumed three?
That’s exactly what they are doing:
http://www.stratasys.com/3d-printers/design-series/objet500-connex3
Mixing happens on the object however, not in the nozzle, the tiny droplets of photopolymer are small enough and probably miscible enough to cohere into a single fluid effectively on the object before curing.
Yeah, that’s what I thought. Well, fair enough then, @Sanjay_Mortimer . I guess that fills my Oliver Twist demand.