This month, John “TCT Show” Jones and I ventured to Crewe to get a glimpse of the brand new purpose built lab facility for precision scanning and 3D printing company, Europac3D. The team set up home in the new space earlier this year to facilitate a huge expansion due to rapid growth and if I’d been told a few month’s back we could expect marshmallow and strawberry kebabs upon our arrival, I would have cheated this visit to the top of my list.
There’s a contemporary feel to Europac’s new space. From being greeted by arty 3D printed replicas of models Cara Delevingne, Anja Rubik and Binx Walton who were scanned by Europac for a three-cover issue of the uber trendy GARAGE magazine, to the noticeably young pack of 3D artists working away on cutting edge software to perfect an influx of 3D body scans, it feels very fresh.
Amongst the 3D selfie miniatures that are dotted in every corner of the new office, a not so subtle hint towards one of its latest projects, a vast collection of high-spec industrial standard scanning equipment reminds us exactly why Europac has become one of the biggest names in the 3D scanning market.
Europac has been scanning in 3D for over 20 years and holds one of the UK’s most comprehensive ranges of scanning technology. The new showroom demonstrates the full spectrum from the high-accuracy Kreon Zephyr II Blue laser scanner that can tackle even the most challenging of surfaces to Artec’s range of handheld scanners, Spider and Eva, that have found huge demand from the marketing industry to capture real life products.
3D bodyscanner set to used for exciting new applications.
In addition to high-quality technology, Europac is also focussed on bringing affordable 3D solutions to the market such as the Kreon Solano value scanning device, which can be attached to a range of portable measuring arms. There’s also the one-stop-shop complete reverse engineering kit aimed at the jewellery market which features a Rexcan DS2 3D scanner and 3D Systems ProJet 1200 to give small jewellers the ability to create intricate castings from rings to custom keepsakes.
One of the company’s latest installations is the popular Artec 3D Bodyscanner. The scanner takes just 12 seconds to scan an entire person and six minutes to generate a finished file. Of course I stepped into to give it a go. It’s an odd experience desperately trying to keep in position as the rotating exterior spins around to capture you from every angle but I’m assured the team of experts are pros at cleaning up any tricky details.
Kreon Ace portable arm.
Europac is also busy exploring the multitude of things you can do with a 3D scan, some of which we saw during our visit that are to be revealed later this year and then one that’s kept the consumer world excited, the ability to 3D print them. Europac’s office now houses a conveyor belt style operation of around 24 3D Systems machines. This doesn’t feel like a typical workshop setup, it’s all very clean and calm and these machines have the capacity to print around 2,000 3D models a week. It’s a very sophisticated operation and each machine is cleaned routinely and connected to its own computer to ensure that work can continue to flow. This is only set to get bigger as the demand for 3D figurines continues to soar.
In the spirit of expansion, Europac plans to take over the floor at this year’s TCT Show as the company brings its biggest ever exhibit of 3D scanning and 3D printing equipment to Birmingham’s NEC, plus a brand new exciting 3D scanning concept. For a company that’s heavily invested in capturing the small details, the story here says things at Europac3D are about to get a whole lot bigger.
