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Rachael Dalton-Taggart, February 8, 2007
There was a noticeable presence of 3D printing technologies on
display at SolidWorks World this week. In a world where the price of
these machines is systematically dropping, Objet Geometries (Rehovot,
Israel) stood out from the crowd by offering high quality systems at
correspondingly high prices (from $60,000 to about $200,000). Does this
make sense in a world where 3D printing (nee rapid prototyping) is
becoming much more affordable?
Objet's PolyJet process creates
ultra-thin build layers using jetting heads that slide back and forth
along the X axis across the build tray. Immediately after building each
layer, UV bulbs alongside the jetting bridge emit light that cures and
hardens each layer. This step eliminates the need for curing required by
other technologies.
Objet currently promotes 4 main 3D printing systems. They are:
EDEN250
The cheapest of the range, the EDEN 250 uses the
PolyJet ultra-thin layer technology with 16-micron resolution, and has a
tray size of 10.2 x 10.2 x 7.9 inches and a net build size of 9.8 x 9.8
x 7.9 inches.
The EDEN 260 is almost the same as the 250 model, except that the
net build size is increased to 10.2 x 9.8 x 7.9 inches and it has an
8-unit SHR jetting head.
EDEN 350/350V
At a higher cost point than the EDEN250, this machine delivers a larger
tray size of 13.8 x 13.8 x 7.9 inches, with a corresponding 13.4 x 13.4
x 7.9 inches net build size. Print resolution is 600 (x axis) x 600 (y
axis) x 1600 (z axis) DPI. It also supports the FullCure, Vero, and
Tango materials. The machine dimensions are 52 x 39 x 47 inches and it
weighs 727 lb. It has an 8-unit SHR.
EDEN 500V
The EDEN 500V is Objet's big kahuna. It has a tray size of 19.7 x 15.7 x
7.9 inches with a net build size of 19.3 x 15.4 x 7.9 inches.
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