3D Systems Announces ProJet 4500 and 5500X

Euromold is underway, and that means new product reveals and company announcements about future endeavors. As the largest design and manufacturing conference in the world, Euromold draws vendors and attendees from around the globe to hear about advances in technology, and see the latest innovations. Additive manufacturing (AM) has become an integral part of the conference, thanks to its growing impact on parts production, rapid prototyping, and end-use product manufacturing.

3D Systems is first off the blocks this year to showcase its newest products: the ProJet 4500 and ProJet 5500X. The ProJet 4500 offers high resolution, full-color plastic prints, and the ProJet 5500X advances 3D Systems’ dedication to multi-material composites printing. Let’s take a closer look at each in turn.

With the ProJet 4500, 3D Systems is promising full-color prints via its Color Jet printing and proprietary VisiJet C4 Spectrum plastic material. CMY binders embed color pixel-by-pixel to offer a wide range of colors capable of producing fully realized builds.

The ProJet 4500 is a professional system, with a build envelope of 8 x 10 x 8 in. (203 x 254 x 203 mm), a 600 x 600 DPI resolution, and a layer thickness of 0.004 in (0.1 mm). According to the company, the new system generates little waste, and doesn’t require support material for builds. Prints can be monitored and controlled from Windows 7 and Vista computers, or from smartphones and tables running the Print3D app.

“Leapfrogging from monochrome to full-color functional plastics redefines ‘the possible’ for designers, engineers, architects, marketers and artists,” said Buddy Byrum, vice president of product and channel management, 3D Systems. “For the first time ever, users can get directly out of a 3D printer real-use parts, vibrant models, and functional prototypes in full color, quickly, accurately and affordably.”

The ProJet 5500X is an industrial AM system, offering large capacity and multi-material options based on 3D Systems’ MultiJet Printing technology. Colors are limited to black, white and varying shades of gray, but most interested parties are more likely to be attracted to the multi-material options than color variety. To that end, the ProJet 5500X is, according to the company, capable of building detailed parts with varying degrees of flexibility and material transparency, including parts with engineered plastic or rubber properties.

As for specs, 3D Systems’ new printer offers a build envelope of 21 x 15 x 11.8 in. (533 x 381 x 300 mm), with some builds requiring a support material. The ProJet 5500X runs at two modes: HD and UHD. At HD, the system has a resolution of 375 x 375 x 790 DPI; 32μ (0.0012 in) layers, and in UHD the resolution changes to 750 x 750 x 890 DPI; 29μ (0.0011 in) layers. While no concrete build time estimates are offered, 3D Systems is claiming the ProJet 5500X is twice as fast as comparable products from other companies.

“Having unlimited options of engineered material properties within a single print is every designer’s dream that when combined with the largest print volume in its class and true-to-CAD precision and fine detail makes the ProJet 5500X the clear choice,” said Byrum. “Designers and manufacturers alike are sure to discover new degrees of freedom and the reality of quick-turn production of functional multi-material assemblies, overmolded parts, rubber components, long-lasting living hinges and high-temp parts, all in one printer, all in a single print.”

Below you’ll find video overviews for each of the new systems.

Source: 3D Systems