Sculpteo Cranks Up Production With New Machine Offerings

Sculpteo offers iOS apps for customizable 3D printed products, web services, and a fast 3D printing service bureau open to all. The company takes 3D designs and manufactures specific objects, and their community platform provides access to 3D designers, allowing users to share models and to upload their own 3D designs for 3D printed output.

From their head office located just outside Paris, France, Eric Carreel and Clément Moreau launched Sculpteo in September 2009. The company is now working hard on two fronts: making improvements to their internal processes to efficiently pass an order through to delivery, and adding new machines to production facilities.

Sculpteo says they recently brought in an armada of new 3D printers to reduce the time it takes to deliver products to customers.

The company has offered plastic 3D printed objects since its beginning, but they say changes both during the production and the post-production of 3D prints will give users more control on the layer thickness, a wider range of finishes, and the chance to choose a slower production mode to save money.

To that end, Sculpteo has set up a brand new group of EOS P396 3D printers to increase speed and production flexibility, and they say that compared to the previous version of the printers, the EOS P395–which is still in their lineup–the P396 is faster as it features a more powerful laser to sinter raw polyamide powder.

They add that improved management of the interior temperature of the printer is more efficient, the build volume is more accurate, and the recoater is “A LOT faster.” The company says that means less time to complete each new layer, and thus, faster throughput and delivery.

According to Sculpteo, this small improvement in maintaining build chamber temperature is key to the overall printing process; when combined with the improved laser, it allows for more layer-by-layer uniformity.

It all adds up to this: users will receive their objects faster. Small white plastic objects of a few cubic centimeters will now ship in 3 business days, but they note that adding post-processes like polishing or coloration will increase the window of time needed to finish each part.

Sculpteo has also added a few brand new 3D Systems Projet 660 machines to their facility to bolster printing capacity and speed for multicolor items.

Do you ever use Sculpteo to print out your products and objects? Let us know about your experiences with them in the Sculpteo Cranks Up Production forum thread on 3DPB.com.