New technology way to print with color.

[rodsup9000]

 New technology way to print with color, but the printer is $230,000

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[peteski]

I recall buzz about this few years back discussed here), but this is probably newer technology.  Some member of the forum was supposed to go in business 3D printing colored items, but I don't think it went anywhere.

[Chris333]

It looks cool, but the color is sort of fuzzy so I doubt it would be good for anything but a background item.

[C855B]

It looks cool, but the color is sort of fuzzy so I doubt it would be good for anything but a background item.

Resolution is 600x300x1270 voxels/inch. It's going to be fuzzy, especially when it comes to hard edges of lettering. You're going to see CMYK process dots until roughly 2400³ vpi.

One of the "gotchas" of 3D printing demos I see over and over again is fantastically-detailed output... of organic objects. No sharp angles, no precise curves, no or few straight lines, and, of course, no lettering.

This tech is promising, but my guess is we're two generations away from RR model quality.

[robert3985]

The Manufacturer of this UV 3D printer is Mimaki...go here---> https://mimaki.com/special/3d_print/

It's an interesting technology and I happened upon it a couple of weeks ago while browsing YouTube.  It's basically inkjet technology with the minimum layer "pitch" being 20 microns...which is a Z-axis measurement if I'm not mistaken.  This is pretty good, but not better than the latest offering from Anycubic (Anycubic Photon M3 Premium) which claims to have a Z-axis accuracy of 5 microns.

3D prints really are PRINTED, using various "inks" including crystal clear transparent inks.  The color is applied to a white/clear base and is only a few microns thick on the surface of the white/clear print body, allowing for very precise application.

Also, because it is inkjet technology, color mixing of CMYKWhiteClear (6 "colors") is one of its features allowing "more than 10 million colors" plus white and clear...I mean crystal clear.

One of the main products they show are anatomical models showing full-color internal organs surrounded by a crystal clear body...quite impressive.

The demo took forever...like 40 hours or much longer to produce a finished print...so even though the end products are pretty mind-boggling, product output is very poor, and it is going to be very expensive to have a big room full of quarter million dollar printers to facilitate doing more than 3 or 5 projects a week.

Also, the whole print is supported by being imbedded in a waxy water-soluble support solution that gets washed away after the print is finished...sounds like Shapeways prints eh?

However, it looks like Shapeways is going to do it, and will offer full-color printing using the Mimaki technology.

Take a look at the website, and then go to YouTube and search for "mimaki" and watch the videos....very interesting.

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore

[peteski]

Relating to full color 3D printing, I did some searches. Almost 2 years ago Neville posted this: https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=51829.0

Then back 5 years ago, in 2017 , orionfield was the one who introduced us to the color 3D printing in: https://www.therailwire.net/forum/index.php?topic=43157.0

Ensuing discussion in the above thread pretty much covered all the possible benefits and negatives about the process.  Useful info.

Example of a printout (back from 2017)