From artistry to aerospace engineering, ceramic-based 3D printing has proven itself to be one of the most versatile and mechanically viable types of 3D printing technology. Ceramic materials have been a vital tool in humanity for quite some time now, generally admired for being a non-metal that provides good thermal insulation and high toughness. Although the material is seldom talked about in the 3D printing community, recent industry innovations have showcased the plentiful benefits that ceramic 3D printing can offer to a variety of fields.
For instance, the material producer 3Dynamic Systems recently unveiled their Ceramic Matrix Composite, a mechanically sound material engineered for producing aerospace components. At the same time, ceramic 3D printing has become a breadwinner for the 3D printing service bureau Shapeways, which has seen a noticeable uptick in orders for ceramic art pieces. Now, the New York City-headquartered 3D printing company Kwambio is making a major investment in this growingly utilized material.
Earlier this week, the company officially opened their 3D printing ceramic factory in the Ukraine – Kwambio’s first-ever facility in their manufacturing portfolio. Their research and development team has spent the last three months testing and fine-tuning Kwambio’s new porcelain 3D printing process, which they claim to have finally nailed down. The new factory facility is now open for business, prepared to take B2B orders and customer orders through the Kwambio 3D printing marketplace platform.
With their new Eastern European factory, Kwambio hopes to compete with the likes of Shapeways and i.materialise. The company has developed their own proprietary ceramic powder, and will offer up to 80 colors as far as ceramic glazing options. According to Kwambio, it will take around two weeks to produce a design from scratch – and for those without CAD-savvy skills, the team accepts any kind of sketch, even if the product is designed on a bar napkin.
“Our goal is to offer high quality products at affordable prices. Thanks to our incredible team and a perfect eco-friendly location in Ukraine, Kwambio cuts prices and lead time in half,” said Vlad Usov, CEO and co-founder of Kwambio.
Kwambio’s porcelain 3D prints are both dishwasher and oven safe, making them ideal for homeware products, sculptures, and other assorted decor pieces. One piece designs can measure up to 235 x 330 x 180 mm, while connected designs can have a max size of 350 x 350 x 380 mm. Additionally, Kwambio will have some of the thinnest 3D printed ceramic layers around, offering prints with a minimum thickness and minimum radius of 3 mm. Although the facility is primarily focused on 3D printed ceramics for the time being, they’ve been working on developing their metal 3D printing capabilities as well.
This new manufacturing facility follows a new 3D printing marketplace and iOS app unveiled by Kwambio earlier this year. Their platform was engineered for designers to have their objects 3D printed in ceramic and metal materials, promoting the idea of “fine art” by using only high-grade materials. The company also has a talented roster of designers and artists on their team as well, including Chen Chen & Kai Williams, byAMT, Andrew Sack, Jim Drain, and others. Prior to the new facility opening, Kwambio would previously help render CAD files for 3D printing, and then have them printed by the various manufacturing companies that they were partnered with. But now, with the new ceramic 3D printing facility, they will be about to move a lot of that production in-house.
The production capacity of the plant is sufficient enough to produce a thousand products per month, and Kwambio claims to have the best price for 3D printed ceramics out there, offering customers $0.07 per square centimeter of material. These 3D printed porcelain orders will take 7 business days to ship for Europe, and 12 days for the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. All in all, Kwambio’s state-of-the-art 3D printing ceramic factory shows how valuable ceramic 3D printing has become over the years. Discuss further in the Kwambio 3D Printing Ceramic Facility over at 3DPB.com.
