May 19, 2015 | By Simon

While the majority of more recent additive manufacturing technologies have been focused on increasing speeds and offering higher resolutions, color has surprisingly taken a ‘back seat’ to most of the excitement surrounding these new technologies.

Despite this, we’ve been seeing some fairly innovative ways for creating full-color 3D printers through a post-printing process - such as hydrographic printing, which allows for colored and patterned templates to be applied to finished 3D prints through a water transfer process.  Now, an entirely new device wants to be your all-in-one answer for adding color to your pre-printed models.  

Created by Keith Redmond of Wexford, Ireland, the “Painter 3D” is a hardware appliance that is independent from an existing 3D printer and allows a user to simply insert a 3D printed model to be painted via a rotating spray booth.  The colors will be pre-selected using an included software program that will utilize the existing 3D CAD data that was used to create the STL file for the 3D print.  

Claiming that he’s “just a normal guy with a passion for hard work and honesty and putting a smile on everyone's face,” Redmond’s concept is surely one of the more unique approaches that we’ve seen for adding color to existing 3D printed objects.  

“I have lots of ideas but not enough time to do them all so i want to allocate more time to the projects i know will work great and are what we need.”

While Redmond has revealed that the Painter 3D is a “3D painter” with sensor-based technology for accurate and predictable results, very few details have been given regarding the resolution of the spray-based process - such as how accurate creating fine details on scale model figures might be.  Despite this overlooked detail, he has revealed that the printer will be capable of painting 3D printed models in a CMYK range of colors and will use high-quality paints that he will source from inexpensive suppliers.  As for size, the Painter 3D will be capable of printing models that are up to 8 cubic inches.  Similar to many desktop 3D printers that are currently available, the Painter 3D will accept files via a USB transfer as well as and SD card slot.  Additionally, the unit will include a heating element, a fan and a particle collection system to prevent what occurs inside the unit to leak outside.      

“We Believe in simplistic and strong functionality, we are a new company that needs your support and trust to get these out on shelves,” said Redmond.  

Currently, the Irishman is seeking roughly $28,500 on Kickstarter to help finalize development details and bring the painter to market.  He adds that his final prototype is currently being produced in China however if funded, will keep the production of the Painter 3D in his native country.  

“The only delays we can imagine are on the production of these items, as this is the only part of the project that is out of our hands, but we will be overseeing the project as it gets built in the factories and will guarantee the high standard of quality we believe in,” adds Redmond.

“We already Have a team in place to get this project moving in China and will also be there ourselves to keep the ball rolling and get it done and on time.  We need Your Funding To Finish the project and succeed for a Brighter, Better, Future.”

Currently Redmond has already raised $9,238 with nearly a month to go in his campaign.  For those interested, Redmond is offering super-early bird pricing for a full Painter 3D unit on his Kickstarter page for the price of $2262.  

 

 

Posted in 3D Printers

 

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Jorge wrote at 5/25/2015 10:21:26 PM:

campaign suspended by Kickstarter staff

jimc wrote at 5/20/2015 3:14:03 AM:

well as a professional painter and airbrush artist who also does alot of 3d printing i can tell you this is a load of bs. painting a 3d print isnt the hard part. the hard part is the prep. all the sanding, priming, more sanding to insure a good smooth surface to paint on. if you dont do that then even if this thing works then you will be left with something that looks no different than if you sprayed rattle can paint on it. to top that off you will have spent a couple thousand dollars for thing. the pictures above of the spray heads are just 2 different brands of airbrushes. i call scam as well and as i said even if its not why would you spend thousands for something that automatically turns on and off an airbrush for you. makes no sense.

Bob Loblaw wrote at 5/19/2015 9:25:00 PM:

+1 on Tj's comment. After reviewing the claims and reading the risks and challenges section, it smells pretty fishy to me.

-Tj- wrote at 5/19/2015 7:45:11 AM:

I love the idea of a 3D painter, and it's something I've been thinking about as far as how something like this would work for quite some time. This guy, he doesn't show a prototype, doesn't explain any of the details on how it works, what the specifics on the inks and resolution are, or even how the paint head knows where the surface of the object is. If there's a prototype, or even parts of a prototype, he should show it, not some low resolution 3D model that looks like it was built in Blender in less than an hour. No offense to his hard work, if he's invested any at all as he's leading people to believe, but his Kickstarter sounds extremely suspicious in its current state. He needs more info, more photos of something real, more proof-of-concepts, more samples of a prototype working. Even something as small as showing that the spray head works and the inks adhere to 3D printed plastics, resins, or other materials would be good. The risks and challenges section also doesn't add any faith to the whole thing. If you want my money, you're going to have to explain to me where that money is going and how it will be used in more detail. It really reeks of a scam. I really want to believe, but I'm not believing with the info being shown. I would advise anyone interested in this to be extremely cautious about investing in it.



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