The new 3D Systems MJP ProJet 5600 multilateral 3D printer
Among the company’s announcements at the giant US 3D printing show RAPID, 3D Systems launched its new SLA machine, the ProJet MJP 5600 – with reportedly faster print speeds, larger build volumes, and lower part costs ‘than competing multi-material 3D printers’ – of which we can only think of one…
With a maximum build envelope capacity of 518 x 381 x 300mm, it is able to print five base materials: rigid white, black or clear, elastomeric black or natural, which can be combined into more than 100 composite combinations.
The MJP 5600 comes ready with a 64-bit onboard operating system, larger 10-inch display and on-board capabilities to slice multiple builds simultaneously, which 3D Systems believes will offer up a superior user experience and faster job processing speed over the ProJet MJP 5500X, which it replaces.
Owners of the older machine will be offered an upgrade program starting this July, with the ProJet MJP 5600 expected to be fully available in June.
The company also announced a new material for the range, VisiJet CR-BK, which is a rigid black plastic material with enhanced mechanical performance for the most demanding product designs.
The ProJet MJP 5600 also features the company’s new 3D Sprint 2.5 software that we got our first glance of at AMUG earlier this year. The software offers some nice productivity boosters by providing improved estimates of build time and material use.
New 3D labeling tools in Geomagic Freeform 2017 enable faster design for mass custom manufacturing
Geomagic Freeform 2017 was also unveiled at the event, a 3D ‘hybrid’ design software useful for solving complex design and manufacturing challenges in a single platform.
3D Systems is angling the latest release at design for mass customisation of parts, typically for production through additive manufacturing.
New production workflows using the software offer to speed up repeated processes for personalised variations of a design, with new features include the ability to create 3D text labels or new design components that exactly fit or offset the surface of an existing model, useful when designing parts that must mold fit to another object.
Geomagic Freeform 2017 is expected to be available beginning in June.
