Azul 3D has launched Lake, its first commercial product that uses Azul 3D’s own proprietary version of stereolithography using LED UV light named HARPTM.
With a print area of 254 x 305 x 610mm (10 x 12 x 24 inches), Azul 3D state that the printer’s ‘unique interface’ dissipates heat, enabling continuous high-speed printing over large areas.
Lake is powered by a custom, high-intensity LED light engine that allows users to address 16 million independent pixels without the need for ‘pixel shifting’, as well as Azul 3D’s chemistry group, which designs proprietary resins for the system.
With the Lake announced as shipping in 2022, Azul 3D also teased its next generation printer, called Sea, which promises offer four times the print area, billed as available to order in Q4 2022.
“The Lake printer will be game-changing for 3D printing,” said Chad Mirkin, Azul 3D co-founder and an expert in materials science and nanoscience.
“For the first time, we are combining throughput and materials at a price point that enables 3D printing to revolutionise manufacturing. We have raised the value of the art, and this is just the beginning.”
Spun out of Northwestern University, Illinois, a key factor for Azul 3D appears to be the output speed, with the company boasting it was able to produce 5,000 Covid-19 face shields in 60 hours for healthcare workers – roughly 8 units every six minutes, and begin starting the next round of printing.
“In the past year, manufacturers have been throttled by supply chain disruptions,” said Azul 3D CEO Cody Petersen. “At the same time, everyone is demanding more highly engineered solutions immediately. The Lake printer offers a revolutionary solution to both problems and is the first step in industrialising additive manufacturing at scale.”
