Sandretto launch 3D printer at PLAST in Milan, Italy
When Arburg announced the Freeformer it signalled an early shift in thinking from the long-established injection moulding giant. While 3D printing at even the highest level cannot be thought of as a threat to 99% of injection moulding (and nor should it be, such is the difference between the processes) traditional manufacturers have long been aware that the tide is rising, and rising fast.
Now we have news that Italian injection moulding company Sandretto has got in on the act with the first additive technology from it's 'Skunk Works'. Initially it doesn't look like something that's going to keep established players awake at night and is — from the limited details we have at the moment — a well-known delta tower design, extrusion-based 3D printer.
Initial reports from the exhibition suggest that Sandretto will sell 'sets' of printers, 10 at a time, for around €20,000 and users can expect to print between 500 and 1000 parts every three days. Compared to the time required to make 500 injection moulded parts that's either a life time (discounting tool production time) or incredibly quick (if you take tooling into account) — so as always the specific use case will be the driver.
UPDATE: Read more from our sister magazine EPPM here: Sandretto Launches New 3D Printer
