14 DAY TRIAL // There have been some full-color 3D printing runs, but most methods of combining more than one color in a 3D printed object are limited. A 3D printer company by the name of Builder has come up with an idea, however.
The idea is for a method of printing in two colors from the same extruder nozzle, mixing them together in different proportions.
Before now, to make a 3D printer out of more than one color, you needed to change the filament mid-process, or buy a spool of multicolored filament.
You didn't have much control over how colors ended up distributed though. Most 3D printed objects have to be painted over because of that.
Builder's technique, however, will allow you to produce hue quality changes and other effects in your 3D prints.
It's not the same as full-color printing, since you can only combine two colors into unique patterns and custom palettes.
But when you consider that there are multi-nozzle 3D printers in the world, even some that can make things out of four filaments at once, the possibilities expand greatly.
Alas, if it ever comes to that, it will probably take a while. Builder's new technique only works on the company's own dual-feed 3D printers: the Small Builder and the Big Builder.
Speaking of which, you can get the custom color codes by going to the Builder website and choosing how to have it colored.
You access the Color Mixer online, enter the activation code and mix colors to your heart's content. After you've uploaded a G-Code and mixed the colors, you download the updated G-Code and can send it to your 3D printer for printing.
So I suppose you still need to actually buy the printer yourself. It will dry you of €2,495 / $3,400 or so. In the future, other companies might license the process, but for now, this is the only way. The only accessible way, at any rate.
All in all, it's not quite something that the common man should even bother getting, but an interesting and promising step forward.
People running a 3D printing service or store probably stand to gain in the long run from the investment, but if you just want a printer for random little bits and don't want to spend a fortune, you'll have to stick to single-color, plastic printers. Or wait for a few years before all this becomes actually affordable, or something better comes out.
