Carbon M1 3D Printer Promises Printing Speeds 100X Faster

3D Printing  

With new materials, hardware, and software, Carbon’s printer, the M1, is set to take 3D printing to the next level, with injection-molded quality parts printed at fraction of the time of other systems. 

For the first time, it is possible to 3D print plastic parts with mechanical properties and surface finish like injection-molded ones. According to the machine developers at Carbon, no other additive technology delivers the synthesis of fit, form, and function needed to bridge the gap between prototyping and manufacturing.

In the TED demo shown below, Carbon co-founder and Chief Executive Officer Joseph DeSimone demonstrates how fast the machine is by printing a reasonably sized object during his ten minute talk.

Using new materials, hardware, and software, called CLIP, or Continuous Liquid Interface Production, Carbon’s printer, the M1, shoots UV light at resins to cure the polymer.  The resulting prototypes and production parts can be more elastic, stiff, tough, and even heat-resistant.

"We don’t print. We grow."

Compared with other 3D printing methods, the speed and quality is in a class by itself. DeSimone tells Bloomberg, “We don’t print. We grow.” DeSimone claims the technology was inspired by the Terminator movies. (Take that Singularity skeptics!)

Unlike other 3D printers, the layering of the finished object is not an issue. "When you grow parts like the is the properties are invariant of print direction," says DeSimone. "These look like injection molded parts."

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Another huge breakthrough with CLIP is the speed that the parts are generated. Currently the technology is 25-100 times as fast as other 3D printers, but DeSimone believes they can boost the system to be 1000 times faster. He believes such a system would need to be water cooled to control the heat generated from such speeds.

Carbon has raised more than $140 million in venture funding, 10-fold the typical 3D printing success story, from the likes of Google Ventures and Sequoia Capital. Instead of targeting home hobbyists like MakerBot Industries and Formlabs do, Carbon has teamed up with 15 big paying customers, including Johnson & Johnson, Ford, BMW, and Eastman Kodak.

So far early clients say they’re happy with the medical devices, auto parts, and other equipment they’ve printed with Carbon’s machines. Carbon is now making the M1 available to other businesses as part of a yearly subscription program.

SOURCE  Bloomberg

By 33rd Square

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