3D Systems Introduces New 3D Printers for Metal and Dental Markets
Clare Scott
3D Systems is a versatile company whose 3D printers lend themselves to a wide variety of applications, but one of the applications the company is most dedicated to is dental 3D printing. 3D Systems has been deepening its commitment to dental 3D printing recently, even as it continues to develop its metal 3D printing systems, and today the company announced that it is releasing two new 3D printers, one of them for dental applications and the other for metal. 3D Systems’ expertise is deep in both of these areas, and the new 3D printers are examples of technology that has been finely honed over several years of development.
The DMP Flex 100 is an entry level metal 3D printer designed to be used for research and development, application development and production. It offers up to twice the throughput of 3D Systems’ previous entry level metal 3D printer, the ProX DMP 100. It produces precision metal parts with thin walls and fine, complex details, with a surface finish as fine as Ra 5 μm. It boasts high levels of accuracy and repeatability, and is designed for small, intricate parts with a build volume of 100 x 100 x 80 mm.
The new 3D printer can print with titanium and several other alloys; at launch, 3D Systems is offering LaserForm CoCr (B) and LaserForm 17-4PH (B), for which the company has developed extensive print databases. Additional materials for use with the DMP Flex 100 are also in development. 3D Systems’s software solution 3DXpert is included with the new 3D printer.
On the dental side of things, the new DMP Dental 100 is a metal dental 3D printer that is also designed for entry level use. It’s designed for a maximum price/performance ratio, and can 3D print up to 90 crown copings in less than four hours in a single print run, with only 25 minutes required for heat treatment. It produces high surface quality that requires minimal post-processing, and a typical print accuracy of 50 microns makes for excellent-fitting crown copings, bridges, suprastructures and partial frames. The DMP Dental 100 3D printer comes with LaserForm CoCr (C) material as well as a software solution for managing the manufacture of fixed and removable dental prostheses.
The DMP Dental 100 was developed to help dental labs achieve faster turnaround times and more flexibility in responding to the needs of customers. In an increasingly competitive dental 3D printing market, these are the qualities that dental professionals look for, as well as accuracy and overall quality.
“3D Systems is demonstrating its commitment to bringing industrial-grade metal additive manufacturing to a wider customer base with the launch of the DMP Flex 100 and DMP Dental 100 metal 3D printers,” said Kevin McAlea, EVP metals and healthcare, 3D Systems. “Both solutions feature levels of throughput, print quality, ease of use and material choice that put them in a class by themselves. We believe these 3D printing solutions will further expand the adoption of metal additive manufacturing by designers and engineers, researchers, manufacturers and dental professionals.”
Both of the new 3D printing systems are available immediately.
Discuss this and other 3D printing topics at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts below.
