14 DAY TRIAL // Filament-based, FDM 3D printers, which build things out of melted plastic wires and sticks, are the “normal” sort of 3D printer, and the kind that consumers are likely to get. A certain company called mUVe has just unveiled a different printer though.
The printer, a beta mUVe 1 DLP 3D printed, uses digital light processing to create three-dimensional objects, or stereolithography as it is otherwise known. Instead of building items from plastic drops, they are “grown” but curing resin via light exposure.
This method allows for a higher resolution and, thus, detail level, as well as a superior cohesion force within the object. Which is to say, it's less likely to break down or otherwise suffer deformities, during or after the creation process.
The one disadvantage that DLP has compared to FDM is that it's not exactly possible to grow multi-color objects.
Filaments can be mixed through multi-nozzle systems, or through that new Color Mixing Technology that came out the other day.
DLP, however, needs to have one tank full of resin below a light projector. And while it might, eventually, become possible to invent light-sensitive resins/inks that change color based on the light that reaches it, it hasn't been done yet.
Besides, it would be kind of difficult to modulate the light frequency and intensity, to find a balance between the radiation needed to cure the resin properly, and the one needed to initiate the desired color change.
The 3D printer that gave mUVe 3D its fame was the mUVe 1 (whose full details can be found here), which got off the ground via the Indiegogo crowd-funded project website.
Now, the mUVe 1 has been stripped down of the mechanical components of the X and Y axis, as well as the laser. The new contraption is called mUVe 1 DLP 3D Printer and has a price of $999 / €999, rather than $5,000 / €5,000 or more, like DLP/SLA printers tend to.
That's just the kit though. To actually get the full use out of the thing, you'll probably need the DLP projector too, which brings the price up, to $1,549 / €1,549 (1280 x 800 resolution) or $2,099 / €2,099. Then again, those prices are pretty low for SLA printers too, so you still stand to gain.
If you're a random bystander, you probably don't need to actually buy the thing. However, 3D printing stores and service providers might draw quite a few benefits. Pre-orders of mUVe 1 DLP should begin shortly.