Jun 30, 2016 | By Benedict

Pollen, a French additive manufacturing startup, has unveiled Pam, its multi-material delta 3D printer which uses pellets instead of traditional filament spools. The 3D printer, which has a resolution of up to 40 μm, is available for preorder at €8,000 ($9,000).

For most users of FDM 3D printers, filament is synonymous with lengths of plastic wrapped around a spool. Whether in 1.75 mm or 3 mm diameter, virtually all consumer-level FDM printers use these rolls of plastic 3D printing material, and few manufacturers have found good reason to deviate from this standard. Interestingly, Pollen, a 3D printing startup from France, has other ideas: the young company has just launched ‘Pam’, a delta 3D printer whose material capsules look more like bird feeders than filament spools. That’s because each capsule contains pellets—thermoplastics, silicones, composites, or other materials—and can also be filled with natural fibers, carbon, minerals, and more.

The Pam 3D printer certainly looks the business, featuring a stylish wooden frame designed by Pollen’s Victor Roux, but it comes with a price tag: €8,000, to be exact. According to Pollen, however, this pre-order price could prove to be an investment worth making, with the printer’s price set to rise to €16,000 by 2017. And you’re not just getting aesthetics for your money, either: the unusual 3D printer can print up to four materials simultaneously, enabling material mixing with visual and material gradients. Those prints will come quickly and at a high quality, too, since the printer uses an advanced delta 3D printing system, promising faster and more accurate prints than those produced by a Cartesian system.

While Pam isn’t a gigantic 3D printer, its 30 cm (diameter) x 30 cm build volume should prove sufficient for many rapid prototyping and part production applications. The machine can also print at speeds of up to 400 mm/s, and with a precision of up to 40 μm. A number of handy additional features also make the 3D printer incredibly user-friendly: auto calibration, live error control, cloud control, and smart support being just some of the minor perks that make the potential €8,000 investment a more serious consideration.

The Pollen team has written its own software for the Pam 3D printer. ‘Honeyprint’, the software in question, can be used remotely from any device, with each user able to operate up to 100 Pam printers from a single account. The software is compatible with STL, amf, and obj files, and features API customization for a high level of control over every printing parameter.

Estimated delivery date for the Pam 3D printer is March-April 2017, with customers also able to purchase a special ‘Quick Start’ pack, which includes two half-days of training with a Pollen specialist. More information about the 3D printer, including a number of user case studies, is expected to be published soon.

 

 

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Wally Langsford wrote at 7/1/2016 9:05:50 AM:

Pollen cannot claim to be the world's first to 3d print using pellets; this has been done for years now by Fouche 3D Printing - see www.fouche3dprinting.com Our Cheetah 3D Printer can be fitted with multiple extruders, also has a much bigger working volume at 1m x 1m x 1m and has been sold internationally, at a much more affordable price! A pellet extruder suitable for desk-top printers is also available. These extruders all use the most commonly available 3mm pellets

ROFL wrote at 6/30/2016 10:49:38 PM:

$9000.00 30cm x 30cm Delta FDM Printer? Am I missing something?



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