Fracktal Works to Release ‘SnowFlake’ 3D Printer – Chocolate Printer, Biomedical, & Other Devices to Follow

When it comes to Asia, there is a tremendous interest within the 3D printing space. Particularly China and South Korea are pushing hard to innovate and capitalize on this rapidly expanding market. With that said, India has been rather quiet when it comes to 3D printing in general. There are few companies which have garnered much attention from the second most populated country on the planet. This is all about to change, when a student run company based out of Manipal, India, Fracktal Works, launches several new 3D printers and related products, starting next month.

Fractal Works is known for their Julia 3D printer which they launched several weeks ago. The company is not your typical startup, however, as the CFO, Abhishek Trivedi, explained to 3DPrint.com.

“We are a company started and run completely by students. We have a working culture wherein the core focus of the company is on product design and development. We focus on quality, affordability and aesthetics to come up with unique products.”

Although the Julia printer represented a defining moment for the company, Fracktal Works has big plans for its future, which will start in a few weeks with the availability of a new affordable FDM based 3D printer called Snowflake. Snowflake will then be followed by two additional printers, one based off of stereolithographic technology, and another which prints with chocolate. Below are some details and specifications of all three new machines, provided to us by Trivedi.

SnowFlake FDM 3D Printer
Snowflake is a small to mid-size 3D printer which the company plans to make available starting September 2nd. Fracktal Works designed Snowflake with the vision of offering a high quality printer to the market at an affordble price. It is physically attractive, and energy efficient.

• Build Envelope: 15 x 15 x 20cm
• Print Speed: 100mm/sec
• Layer Resolution: 100 microns
• Nozzle Diameter: 0.3mm
• Filament Size/Type: 1.75mm PLA
• Price: 35,000-40,000 INR (approximately: $570 – $650)

Chocolate 3D Printer
This printer, which the company aims to make the first commercial chocolate printer within the Indian market, will be released around the beginning of 2015. The printer is compatible with store bought chocalate, such as the popular Nutella. This printer features an H-style gantry, and a fairly large build volume for a chocolate printer. The prototype of this machine can be seen to the right.

• Build Envelope: 20 x 25 x 25cm
• Print Speed: 70mm/sec
• Layer Resolution: Approximately 300 microns
• Nozzle Diameter: 1mm
• Price: 50,000 INR (approximately $820)

SLA 3D Printer
With this printer, the company aims to bring to market what will be India’s premium mid-range SLA 3D printer. Also built to please the eye, this machine has a decent sized build envelope, and features a 450nm and 50mV UV laser, for fast, accurate 3D prints. This printer should be available by the end of this year or very beginning of 2015

• Build Envelope: 20 x 20 x 20cm
• Print Speed: 600mm/sec
• Layer Resolution: 50 microns
• Price: 200,000 INR (approximately $3,250)

Additionally the company is working on several other projects within the 3D printing space. This include their Project Cloud, which is an acetone refiner station, as well as a graphical touch screen printer controller, and 3D printed biomedical devices.

For a company which is run by students, with very little media attention, they certainly have incredible aspirations within an industry typically not strong in India. It will be interesting to follow them as they release their products over the remainder of this year and the start of next. Let’s hear your thoughts on this story in the Fracktal Works printer forum thread on 3DPB.com.