Sep 25, 2015 | By Kira
3D printing technology seems to be advancing at the speed of light—but unfortunately, print speeds themselves are nowhere near as fast. Now, Korean 3D printer manufacturer Carima has developed a new technology called C-CAT (Carima-Continuous Additive 3D Printing Technology) that can print at speeds 400 times faster than some of the existing DLP 3D printers. The DLP 3D printer manufacturer was originally founded in 1983 as a photo-conducting business with a focus on revolutionizing how engineers produce optic machinery. According to the company, they developed the first industrial 3D printer (Master) in 2009 with their unique optic technology. Now, 32 years later, they are releasing their C-CAT new technology that focuses on delivering highly-accurate finished parts in high speed. The technology is the first step in the development of their Carima 4S project, and was unveiled this week at Euromold 2015.
There is a classic project management test in which you are given the options of ‘fast’, ‘good’, and ‘cheap’ but told that you can only pick two. As in, you’re product or service can be fast and good, but then it won’t be cheap; or cheap and fast, but not necessarily good. As far as 3D printing technology goes, the materials and processes are almost always less expensive than traditional manufacturing, meaning that they’ve got cheap covered. That leaves makers to decide between fast or good—a lose-lose situation for most of us, and one that Carima is looking to solve once and for all.
High-quality prints, especially when it comes to larger objects, can take hours if not days to complete. With their C-CAT technology, Carima boasts that they can reach printing speeds of 1cm/minute (60cm/hour) while maintaining high-definition accuracy.
This is achieved, they say, by forming cross-sectional images and using a continuous fabrication method. Whereas their previous DLP 3D printer DP110 had a standard layer thickness of 12 microns and prints at the speed of 0.3cm/hour, the Carima 4S prints at 60cm/hour on the Z-axis at a layer thickness of just 5 microns and ensuring much smoother surfaces and increased accuracy.
In the video below, the company successfully replicates a 10cm Eiffel Tower with their 3D printer and C-CAT technology in roughly 9 minutes and 30 seconds.
Carima CEO Byungkeuk Lee said that with their research, the company hopes to change the 3D printing paradigm of speed, accuracy and material, and that their 4S technology will dramatically impact the existing 3D printing market.
A new DLP 3D printer equipped with C-CAT technology is expected to hit the market at the beginning of 2016, and will be added to their existing model, the DP 845 within the next year.
Companies around the world are constantly unveiling 3D printers with advanced capabilities, each one trying to beat out the last with new gimmicks and novel tricks that are supposed to make the 3D printing process easier. But at the end of the day, it always comes back to the quintessential trifecta: it has to be good, it has to be cheap, and for today’s high-speed generation, it has absolutely got to be fast. Carima’s C-CAT technology could be a first step towards turning that malicious triangle on its head.
Posted in 3D Printers
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