Consumer Electronics Show (CES) this year was as exciting as usual. Mixed reality enthusiasts were surely enthralled with the upcoming release of Google and Lenovo's Project Tango smartphone, to be released this summer. The biggest news from the event’s growing 3D printing zone may have been from Mcor, manufacturers of the only full-color paper 3D printing technology. At CES 2016, the Irish company announced the Mcor ARKe, the first full-color desktop 3D printer. Now, the company has announced that the ARKe is going into production via one of the world’s largest electronics manufacturers, Flex.
As with Mcor’s previous color printing technology, the ARKe relies on selective deposition lamination (SDL). The process works by printing full-color layers onto standard office paper before gluing subsequent layers together and cutting them out with a tungsten carbide blade. Differences between the ARKe and previous systems include the use of a roll of paper, rather than stacks of paper sheets, and the integration of the printing system within the cutting area. Unlike the Mcor IRIS, which first prints and then feeds paper into a separate cutting station, the ARKe prints and cuts within the same chamber.
Other advantages include a 50 percent increase in DPI resolution and 150 percent increase in color resolution. The use of the paper roll also speeds up the 3D printing process and allows the ark to only use the material that is necessary for a given job, rather than waste complete sheets of A4 office paper for smaller objects. The total size of the build volume is 240 mm x 205 mm x 125 mm (9.5 in x 8 in x 4.9 in), while the machine can fit on a desk at 880 mm x 593 mm x 633 mm (34.6 in x 23.3 in x 24.9 in).
Since CES, Mcor has received over 5,000 preorders for its machine, leading the company to seek out a manufacturing partner. Previously known as Flextronics International, Flex is the world’s second largest contract manufacturer of electronics, behind Foxconn. According to Fortune, the multibillion dollar company recently made moves to pursue a new manufacturing strategy that will certainly aid Mcor in the production of the ARKe.
Redefining itself as a “sketch-to-scale solutions company,” Flex now aims to help customers bring their ideas to market through its in-house team of designers and its manufacturing capabilities. As 3D printers often don’t require the mass production associated with other electronics, Flex’s new approach may be perfect for the ARKe.
With Mcor, Flex will be employing a flexible manufacturing model to produce the ARKe on demand. Now, customers are able to continue ramping up the preorders by reserving an ARKe on the Mcor site here.