ProJet 4500 - Full Color 3D Printer - pretty amazing

Looks like 3D Systems has come out with yet another amazing 3D Printer. This one can print in full color! I'm not sure the price but this printer looks amazing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...;v=MFcQ15rSI4Y

Just an example of a print:
http://cdn1.3dsystems.v252n.o8.io/cd...-4500-shoe.jpg
And a few more details:

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ProJet^® 4500




Professional 3D Printer




The industry’s only continuous tone full-color plastic 3D printer
Combine the Power of Vibrant Full Color With Durable Plastic Materials

The ProJet® 4500 gives you the power to make ready-to-use, flexible, strong parts, colored pixel by pixel, with superior surface quality. This office-friendly 3D printer is quick and efficient, and features intuitive operation controls, so you can ensure high productivity and cut operating costs.
Combine outer beauty with inner toughness and have durable, full-colour plastic parts right out of the printer from the ProJet 4500. Using ColorJet printing technology and the VisiJet® C4 Spectrum™ plastic material, the ProJet 4500 allows you to quickly create true-to-life prototypes of your end product, accurately display vital features, and produce high-resolution, customized end-use products.
The ProJet 4500 prints fast, generates minimal waste, requires no supports and delivers ready-to-use, full-color, functional parts and assemblies without post-processing or painting. This category-defining 3D printer is ideal for consumer products, home furnishings, healthcare, toys and collectibles companies, and completely shifts the paradigm for professionals engaged in architectural modeling, marketing communications, fashion design and more. Safe for office, easy-to-use, sustainable to operate and fast to print on, the ProJet 4500 is economical and comes with fully integrated material recycling for greater yield and better total material usage.




Tabs

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That shoe looks amazing. I was wondering when a printer would come out that could do this. It was only a matter of time. Now, if we can mix materials and colors at the same time, we will really be on track. Can't wait until that happens. I wonder what the price of this printer is. Anyone know?

Hmm I want one .. bad!

The only issue I see that would scare me a little is the glass powder, I asked one of the engineers at shapeways once why everyone is so careful with the powder, can't you just pull it out and dust it off with a brush? rather than the sealed chamber with the air compressor, the really fine removal of the powder etc ... he said if you breathe just one breath of that stuff in, you can kiss your lungs goodbye.. its death.

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Originally Posted by Geoff

Hmm I want one .. bad!

The only issue I see that would scare me a little is the glass powder, I asked one of the engineers at shapeways once why everyone is so careful with the powder, can't you just pull it out and dust it off with a brush? rather than the sealed chamber with the air compressor, the really fine removal of the powder etc ... he said if you breathe just one breath of that stuff in, you can kiss your lungs goodbye.. its death.

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Uh huh. Silicosis. Don't screw around with glass powder.

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Originally Posted by Geoff

Hmm I want one .. bad!

The only issue I see that would scare me a little is the glass powder, I asked one of the engineers at shapeways once why everyone is so careful with the powder, can't you just pull it out and dust it off with a brush? rather than the sealed chamber with the air compressor, the really fine removal of the powder etc ... he said if you breathe just one breath of that stuff in, you can kiss your lungs goodbye.. its death.

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Wow, that's pretty scary stuff. I would think that your lungs could process it out. I mean after all, construction workers breath in all kinds of things on a daily basis.

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Originally Posted by AndrewK

Wow, that's pretty scary stuff. I would think that your lungs could process it out. I mean after all, construction workers breath in all kinds of things on a daily basis.

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If the particles are the wrong size and/or shape, they'll embed themselves into the lung tissue and become impossible to clear.

It's amazing how all printer are 2-5 times faster than the "others"...

But it's very nice, I love the fact you can print in many color at the same time!

From the headline, I thought it was going to be HP's consumer entry :(

DeskJet, OfficeJet, LaserJet, etc..

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Originally Posted by crowbar

From the headline, I thought it was going to be HP's consumer entry :(

DeskJet, OfficeJet, LaserJet, etc..

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HP's current 3D printers are called the Designjet 3D and Designjet 3D colour.

I will be using this printer to create a full-color puzzle - does anyone know what the minimum clearance between parts is when printing multiple parts?

After some research we found that a 0.2mm clearance works perfectly, and is the minimum for extended straight wall sections. The walls stick together but with a razor blade can be separated. We now are stepping to full color prints but the machine isn't accepting texture files. Is there a specific file format we have to use? OBJ+PNG and OBJ+PLY aren't working. I look forward to feedback from people experienced with this machine.Thanks