Carbon3D Announces Breakthrough CLIP 3D Printing Technology - 100X Faster

[Brian_Krassenstein]

Stealth, Redwood City, California Based company Carbon3D has just made a breakthrough announcement. They have unveiled a 3d printing technology which is called Continuous Liquid Interface Production technology (CLIP). The process uses both light and oxygen to print an object. Instead of printing layer by layer the oxygen is used to inhibit the curing of the resin as the light rapidly cures the non oxygenated resin. The company, which has been funded to the tune of $41 million, claims that this technology can print at rates 25 to 100 times that of traditional SLA 3d printing. Images and live real-time videos of the printer in action can be found at our article here: http://3dprint.com/51566/carbon3d-clip-3d-printing

Below is a picture of the Carbon3D printer in action. What do you guys think? Could this drastically change the market?

[truly_bent]

Sounds like a game changer alright. Can't say as i understand how it works yet.

[SouthPaw]

This is a quite interesting design. But is limited to a very small build X Y build volume. It take quite expensive and temperamental equipment to create an even layer of oxygen dispersion inside a resin layer. Detailed cleaning of the entire build tank, the O2 feeding system and the ultra sonic system would need to be completed quite often. I dought this system with will have a price tag under $30,000 us

[cation]

Some of the problems with this system are:

It is limited to photopolymers where polymerization is inhibited by oxygen.
Build speed is limited to photopolymers that don't cure to quickly (do to the exothermic heat produced) or the oxygen permeable barrier will melt.
Limited to smaller XY build areas unless you have a seamless projection system with multiple projectors or steering.

@SouthPaw The oxygen permeates through the bottom of the vat. It's not a complicated system. There are no ultrasonics involved.

Look for oxygen permeable polymer films used in food packaging or contact lenses. This system really isn't new. Let's see how their investors feel in a year or two after the system hits the market.

[curious aardvark]

Very clever. Given the large commercial market for small detailed sla machines. This technology already has a huge potential customer base.
Nice !

[Brian_Krassenstein]

I just think down the line 5-6 years where this technology has been sped up and scaled. Can't wait!

[cation]

The tech is not new and the XY can be scaled. The real work is in the materials. This system requires low viscosity photopolymers in addition to oxygen inhibited curing. It will print trinkets faster but don't expect parts with material performance like ABS, Acetals, Nylon etc to come out of it.

The real trick that they pulled off is getting the $41M in venture. It was done in stealth mode to not alert the public for feedback that they would have received about how it's not novel.

[richardphat]

Good to know it's another printer that works only for specific resins.

And eventually, it nowhere tells you cleaning resin is a total mess and you have to be careful and read the msds....

[Bassna]

The tech is not new and the XY can be scaled. The real work is in the materials. This system requires low viscosity photopolymers in addition to oxygen inhibited curing. It will print trinkets faster but don't expect parts with material performance like ABS, Acetals, Nylon etc to come out of it.

The real trick that they pulled off is getting the $41M in venture. It was done in stealth mode to not alert the public for feedback that they would have received about how it's not novel.

I was thinking about the same thing. $41M funded for this. Whew.

[JDK3D]

Some of the problems with this system are:

It is limited to photopolymers where polymerization is inhibited by oxygen.
Build speed is limited to photopolymers that don't cure to quickly (do to the exothermic heat produced) or the oxygen permeable barrier will melt.
Limited to smaller XY build areas unless you have a seamless projection system with multiple projectors or steering.

@SouthPaw The oxygen permeates through the bottom of the vat. It's not a complicated system. There are no ultrasonics involved.

Look for oxygen permeable polymer films used in food packaging or contact lenses. This system really isn't new. Let's see how their investors feel in a year or two after the system hits the market.

Material Choice

This is from their website, does it sound like they're covering a wide range of applications with what I'd assume is a diverse variety of build material properties?

"Our process makes it possible to exploit a huge range of materials desired for production-quality parts.

We’re able to draw from the whole polymer family to meet highly specific application requirements. Elastomers, for example, cover a range of needs, from the high elasticity needed for athletic shoes to the strength and temperature resistance needed for automotive parts."