Essentium to Acquire Collider DLP 3D Printing Technology

Additive manufacturing company Essentium has signed a Letter of Intent to acquire Collider, a provider of programmable tooling, which combines Digital Light Processing (DLP) 3D printing and the material strength of injection molding (IM).

“Collider has a lot to bring to the table,” said Jeffrey Lumetta, Chief Technology Officer, Essentium. “Their innovative method of bringing together proven technologies to create high-value use cases has already proven their industry value. We see significant opportunities in tooling for low volumes of parts and the ability to manufacture geometrically complex, custom parts on-demand and quickly. In addition, this represents Essentium’s first entrance into photopolymer AM technologies and will expand product offerings in several areas—especially when combined with our unique material science capabilities.”

Instead of creating costly, time-consuming, permanent, hard tooling mold, Collider’s DLP 3D printing technology allows manufacturers to create a thin photopolymer shell which is then injected with a variety of materials and cured through a chemical process. After some post processing, a production-quality part or mold is left.

According to Essentium, Collider 3D printing technology unlocks a vast array of high-performance thermosetting polymers and composites including polyurethanes, silicones, epoxies, polyesters, foamed resins, carbon fiber composites, as well as sintered metals and ceramics, with one machine. It has structural integrity on par with IM processes and creates high detail aesthetic surfaces, enabling manufacturers to speed up the design process and obtain parts in a few hours rather than weeks.

Collider’s former CEO, Graham Bredemeyer, will join the Essentium team as the Director of the Photopolymer Group.

Said Bredemeyer: “Bringing Collider into the Essentium fold has hugely exciting potential for the industry as manufacturers want a more agile future enabled by AM. As part of Essentium we can open up 3D printing to off-the-shelf materials, fundamentally changing hardware development. Collider’s technology fuels the next wave of AM innovation by enabling mass customization and rapid product innovation.”

Sources: Press materials received from the company and additional information gleaned from the company’s website.