A Quasi-Affordable Way to Get Into Full-Color PolyJet 3D Printing

In the world of consumer 3D printing, there are really only two processes to choose from: FFF (Fused Filament Fabrication) and MSLA (Masked Stereolithography) resin printing. Every now and then, we see an alternative, but virtually all machines below $3,000 fall into those two categories. However, the industrial market has many other 3D printing processes to choose from. And now you can bring one of them — PolyJet 3D printing —mto your desktop at a quasi-affordable price.

PolyJet is a term trademarked by Stratasys for the generic MJ (Material Jetting) or PJ (Photopolymer Jetting) 3D printing process. It works like a 2D inkjet printer mashed up with a 3D MSLA resin 3D printer. For each layer, is sprays UV-curable ink and then immediately exposes that to UV light. Repeat that a bunch of time to build up layers, as you do with any other 3D printer, and you end up with a 3D part.

The big benefit of MJ is full-color printing. The ink comes in CMYW colors that the printer can mix together to create any hue. It is also very detailed. That makes MJ ideal for colorful models, like figurines that are “pre-painted.”

MJ printers are usually very expensive (tens of thousands of dollars), but the inew3D QC2A makes the technology substantially more accessible. Kickstarter backers can get the machine itself for as little as $7,199.

Is that cheap? Not at all. It is probably still too expensive for most hobbyists. But it is very reasonable by industrial standards and could be suitable for many small businesses.

The inew3D QC2A has a build volume of 200×160×80mm, which seems like a good size for the target market. It has a layer height of 30µm and an XY resolution of 720×2880 DPI, which is very good. That means that, at minimum, you should get detail similar to a nice MSLA resin 3D printer. And the QC2A has six color channels.

That last spec is important, because it means you get CMYW plus transparent. That’s five of the six channels. The sixth channel is for water-soluble support material, which is fantastic. You won’t have to worry about marring your models by removing supports, because you can simply soak the model in water and the supports will dissolve away.

The inew3D QC2A Kickstarter campaign had a modest funding goal of $100,000 and it has already far exceeded that with more than $1 million raised. If you’re interested, you have until April 19th to back the campaign. Bundles range from $7,199 to $7,599 and should ship in May.