Last year saw a number of established 3D printer companies show off rapid digital light processing (DLP) 3D printers, seemingly in an effort to compete with Carbon’s ultrafast continuous liquid interface production (CLIP) technology. Although still not quite as fast as CLIP, these DLP systems are much faster than other DLP printers on the market, giving companies like 3D Systems and EnvisionTEC an edge on other DLP manufacturers.
EnvisionTEC’s brand of quick DLP is called continuous digital light manufacturing (cDLM), which features continuous motion of the build plate in order to produce parts at 10 times the speed of other DLP printers, according to the company. The first commercial printer to showcase cDLM technology was the Micro Plus cDLM, a very small system capable of 3D printing objects up to 45.4 x 28.5 x 75 mm (1.8 x 1.1x 2.95 in) in size. Now, EnvisionTEC has unveiled the Vida cDLM.
Still fairly petite, the Vida has a build volume of just 96 x 54 x 100 mm (3.78 x 2.13 x 3.94 in), which is substantial for the dental industry at which it’s targeted. The printer is meant for the production of models of crowns and bridges, as well as thermoformed dental aligners, such as those made by Invisalign. The technology is well targeted, given the detail necessary for such prints, and the Vida can print with an XY resolution of 50 µm and a Z resolution range of 25 to 150 µm.