Layered paper 3D printers: Full colour, durable objects at a fraction of the cost By Loz Blain
July 9, 2014 Gizmag: 24 Pictures Full color printed model from the Mcor IRIS machine
Irish company Mcor's unique paper-based 3D printers make some very compelling arguments. For starters, instead of expensive plastics, they build objects out of cut-and-glued sheets of standard 80 GSM office paper. That means printed objects come out at between 10-20 percent of the price of other 3D prints, and with none of the toxic fumes or solvent dips that some other processes require. Secondly, because it's standard paper, you can print onto it in full color before it's cut and assembled, giving you a high quality, high resolution color "skin" all over your final object. Additionally, if the standard hard-glued object texture isn't good enough, you can dip the final print in solid glue, to make it extra durable and strong enough to be drilled and tapped, or in a flexible outer coating that enables moving parts - if you don't mind losing a little of your object's precision shape. The process is fairly simple. Using a piece of software called SliceIt, a 3D model is cut into paper-thin layers exactly the thickness of an 80 GSM sheet. If your 3D model doesn't include color information, you can add color and detail to the model through a second piece of software called ColorIt. Next, a regular CMYK inkjet printer prints each slice of the model onto a separate sheet of paper, with a ~5 mm-wide outline of the required color of the bit that will end up showing once it's assembled. The stack of printed slices is then loaded into the Mcor IRIS machine, which uses a process called selective deposition lamination. Each sheet is laid down, and its slice shape is cut into it. Then a print nozzle lays soft glue all over the non-essential parts of that sheet that will be broken away after manufacture. A second, high density glue is applied to the sections of the paper that will be used to form the final model. Then, the next sheet is drawn over the top of it, and the stack is pressed up against a heat plate that seals the two layers together.