When it comes to 3D printed paper materials, many people think that the technical content is not high, just a simple printing technology. Its strength is not high, and its precision is limited. It can only be used in the fields of education, cultural innovation, concept proofing and so on. However, the paper printing technology introduced in this issue has five times the printing strength of PLA and can withstand a high temperature of 200 ° C, which can be applied to a wider market area. These new understandings of paper 3D printing technology completely subverted the previous views of Antarctic Bear.
On August 16, 2018, at the new product launch conference held by Aurora Group with the theme of “Wonderful Layers, Wisdom Wireless”, the 3D printer introduced by Irish 3D printing manufacturer Mcor was displayed. It can use paper as a material to print full color .
Full color 3D printed samples
3D printing on paper, 5 times stronger than FDM material
Mcor CEO Seamus Dunne mentioned in his presentation that the printer can print samples with accuracy greater than 100 microns. The PLA material is five times stronger than the FDM PLA material, and the temperature resistance is as high as 230 ° C, which is much higher than the 100 ° C FDM. In fact, most PLA materials melt at 80 ° C. Case shown in the speech: The bottle opener can be used directly, and the 3D printed hammer can nail the nail into the wood.
In addition, the resolution of paper materials has reached 4800 DPI, which is three times higher than that of powder materials. Colors exceed 2 million. More importantly, the entire printing process is non-toxic and environmentally friendly, and the finished products and raw materials can be recycled, so it is also an office-friendly device.
Application examples of paper 3D printing prototypes were shown in the lecture, including architectural design, industrial design, medical and so on. The two cases shown are impressive: one is a compression mold, and the other is a carbon fiber reinforced plastic mold. It can be seen that paper materials have been proven for industrial use.
In his conversation with Mcor's CEO Seamus Dunne, he didn't like how we called the material of this device "paper." They prefer things like "sheets". In fact, this device was originally developed for the industrial market, not just for education. Anyone using 3D design is a potential customer of Mcor, such as accelerating the development process. This kind of "sheet" has some unique characteristics, and there are many applications that they have not discovered yet.
Route: Why choose Aurora?
Mcor's distribution network spans the globe, covering more than 80 dealers in 50 countries. Customers using Mcor printing technology are also from various industries, including NASA, Boeing, Samsung, Disney and other world-renowned companies.
Antarctic Bear learned that Aurora 3D is Mcor's sole agent in China. Why did Mcor choose Aurora as a window to open the Chinese market?
From the perspective of Antarctic Bear, Aurora has its own advantages in channels, resources and experience. It is worth mentioning that paper materials. Aurora is an old-fashioned office compound machine giant. It is very familiar with paper materials, ink cartridges, etc. How to calculate the cost of paper. If you want to convince customers, they are all good at Aurora. So before the cooperation, Aurora already had very good basic conditions.
In fact, Mcor also produced a model (previous generation) before Arke. At that time, I also looked for distributor partners in China, and the market feedback found that China needed a cheap product. Office environment friendly, full color equipment. So Mcor is also developing equipment suitable for China based on market feedback.
An important reason for Mcor's cooperation with Aurora 3D is that Mcor will rely on Aurora's feedback in the market to adjust their next R & D direction based on these feedbacks. For example, which feature is the market most in need of? For example, printing cost, printing speed or color? Which direction is the market most concerned about and most urgently needed? Mcor has established a correct research and development direction from Aurora's feedback, and then launched products that meet the needs of market customers, thus creating a virtuous circle.
In his conversation with Seacor Dunne, CEO of Mcor, Antarctic Bear mentioned an interesting point. He said that if he invested as much energy in the United States as in China, he would not receive more than half of China's gains. Why is this happening? Because the technology is already in a saturated state in the United States, there is also some fierce competition among different manufacturers. However, the Chinese market still does not understand what kind of help and advantages 3D printing will bring to customers. Once this product enters the Chinese market, it has a lot of room for growth.
Mcor's CEO, Seamus Dunne, once worked at Hewlett-Packard (HP). His then boss was Vyomesh Joshi (currently CEO of 3D Systems). When working together, Dunne had a detailed understanding of the strategies of large companies. In large companies with strong financial resources, under normal circumstances, he will apply his vision to agents, so that agents are forced to accept and obey the management philosophy and the pace of market development. But Mcor is a relatively small private company. He is more willing to cooperate with a large group like Aurora. Instead of applying their vision to Aurora, he will combine their vision with Aurora. Use customer feedback to guide the product. In this way, instead of considering issues from their own perspective, they consider issues from the perspective of partners.
One of the more typical manifestations is the "color project" of Mcor and Aurora 3D. 3D printing after color information acquisition and software processing. I believe this plan will open the consumer application market. With the launch of the "Color Project", the application prospects of Mcor paper printing technology in the Chinese market have become increasingly clear.