Take a look at our Marvin, in all his red and blue glory. We printed him on the Mcor Iris, which is a full color (1 million+ colors), paper-based printer. His resolution is .0.0004" on the X and Y, and 0.004" on the Z. We printed him using 20 lbs. Staples office paper (white). We also ended up printing a blue Marvin with red eyes, but the first Marvin didn’t like him being around so we had to give him away.
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@ This one is truly exceptional! The resolution sounds insane haha! How long does it take to print one of those?
Thanks! It’s pretty great resolution, especially in the X and Y. Marvin only took about four hours to print on the Iris.
Hi! But four hours is pretty much. I have read an another post where someone else have printed the same Marvin in 45 minutes with 3d systems projet 660pro printer. How tall was printed Marvin?
Hi there! Our Marvin is a little over two inches tall. I’m curious to know what size the Marvin printed on the 660Pro is. I believe the ideal vertical build speed of the 660Pro is about one inch/hour, so if it’s two inches like ours, I’m not sure how they came up with 45 minutes. Also keep in mind all the parts coming off the ProJet series need to be dipped in CA and require time (usually about an hour) to dry, so that adds to the overall time. Still, I know the Mcor speed is slower than the 660Pro, but there are a lot of advantages to printing in paper over other materials.
Hi. Yes you are right there are o lot of advantages to print in paper, but I think the printing speed is important too. The printed Marvin was one inch tall and from what I know, the speed of 660pro is one inch/hour for maximum build size. The man who printed Marvin said that the 660pro printed 5 marvin in 48 minutes and 20 in one hour. I want to buy a printer for my business but I don’t know which from 660pro and mcor iris hd to choose. For begining I want to print figurines. What are you printing on it??
Hello again. I certainly appreciate where you are coming from, and I definitely agree that speed is important. Please keep in mind that the time I quoted was for on Marvin print. If we were to print many Marvins on the same build, the build time to per part goes down exponentially.
I certainly think you are in the right mindset comparing the 660pro (or 860pro) and the Mcor Iris. Both will provide great quality, full color prints. A couple things to keep in mind: while the Mcor process is slower than the ProJet process, the time to post process the parts favors Mcor, as you only need to remove the excess paper vs. removing the part from the powder, blowing the powder off and dipping in cyanoacrylate to finish the ProJet parts. That is a good amount of excess work at the end, and, because you’re dealing in powder, you really need to keep the machine in a separate room with its own ventilation. Compare that to the Mcor, which we have running in our office, with no special power or ventilation, and you can see that’s something to consider. Also, keep in mind the cost of consumables is a big factor in how low you can price your finished goods, which can definitely lead to more work. Mcor prints in paper, ink and glue, and all things considered, the cost of consumables is a fraction of comparable 3D printing technologies.
I appreciate what you are trying to do, and applaud you for considering buying a full color 3D printer for your business (may I ask, what is your primary business?). We have had a number of people contact us about using a Mcor Iris for the same. Please take my comments for what they’re worth. While I am biased towards Mcor, I am just trying to help you think about some additional factors to consider when evaluating full color 3D printing technologies.
I am happy to continue the conversation, either on this forum or elsewhere (my email is mstorey@beckatt.com, and my phone number is 630.206.3993 if you would like to talk). I’m here to answer any questions you might have and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the technologies. I’ve also attached a few pictures of prints that came off a Mcor Iris, so you can get an idea of the resolution and quality of color.
Regards,
Michael
Mike_6
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Since this post was first published, Mcor announced the ARKe, which is said to be four times faster than the IRIS: http://3dprintingindustry.com/2016/01/06/64028/
beckatt
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Yes, we are very excited about the release of the ARKe, the first full color desktop 3D printer. Not only will the ARKe be able to print faster than the Iris or the Matrix, but it is lower in price than either. Demand has been through the roof since the ARKe was announced at CES last week, and we fully expect to sell out our pre-orders for 2016 in the next few months.
