3DP Unlimited large format 3D printer live on TCT Show floor.
Walking across the TCT Show floor you can’t help but be intrigued by the huge machine running live by the main arena. This giant sized, red printer belongs to US based experts in large format 3D printing, 3DP Unlimited.
Towering over the standard desktop printer, this industrial machine has a build area of 1metre x 1metre x 0.5 metres. It has the ability to print not only large parts but also multiple pieces running simultaneously on the same print bed. The team were demonstrating the machine's impressive capabilities with an abstract sculpture and four miniatures including Big Ben running alongside it.
Speaking with Mark Huebner, Market Development Manager of 3DP Unlimited and Vice President of Sales and Marketing, John Good, it was interesting to hear about the various projects the printer has been used for. From giant pieces of fruit to motorcycle parts, the applications are “all over the place from fun stuff to usable engineering.”
Mark said: “Our parent company basically does industrial robotics. Our model is very simple, all you have to remember is BEAR; big, economical accurate reliable."
Pieces on display at 3DP Unlimited TCT Show stand.
One aspect the company is highly focused on is the idea of pushing the open source element of 3D printing technology. Looking at materials like Ninjaflex, it allows much more freedom in the types of things the machine can produce.
“We’re not chemists, to make this kind of stuff you have to be chemists,” says John. Comparing the way the 3D printing industry works to the pros and cons in open versus proprietary software in mobile phones and devices, he says that people want a product that does not make them feel restricted. “It’s the same with the software that runs this. The software is open so we leverage the android phenomenon. There are lots of brilliant people out there that just make the machine better and better, faster and faster."
3DP Unlimited can be seen at TCT Show at the NEC in Birmingham until 2nd October.