Mcor ARKe gets an update.
We first met the Mcor ARKe at CES 2016 in January when Irish paper-based 3D printing pioneers, Mcor Technologies unveiled its first desktop full-colour machine earning itself the CES Best of Innovation Award in the 3D printing category.
After racking up thousands of pre-orders, the company is getting ready to start shipping the machines in Q4 this year and they’ve just unveiled a host of new features that improve on colour, strength and software that will be included with the machine at launch.
Conor MacCormack, co-founder and CEO of Mcor explained the updates in a blog post including how the ARKe can now print in 2 million colours, the highest in the industry.
“I have always said that the ability to produce the highest colour quality is in the very DNA of our company and now ringing through to this we have managed to squeeze even more colours from the ARKe,” Conor commented. “We have achieved this through a combination of factors; a new paper ingredient, new compression software algorithms, new ink formulation and full utilisation of the print head.”
On strength, the team has developed a new ‘Power’ adhesive that doubles the stiffness of parts for more functional applications. The hardware itself has also been given an update with a precision heater, higher load capacity slide rails and a reinforced chassis.
Finally software has been given a boost with new ‘Orange Peel’, which assists with file preparation, colour and texturing.
With all of these improvements mean, it does mean the machine will now retail at €17,995/$17,995 instead of the original price of €8,995/$8,995. That’s quite a considerable difference and might prove to be a deal breaker for those first attracted to the ARKe by the initial sub $10,000 RRP. Mcor is providing those who have pre-ordered the machine with the option to either continue with the updated price point or cancel their order.
