Type A Machines & Polymaker Collaborate to Bring Engineering Plastic to Industrial 3D Printing, Simplifies Material and Printer Access via Improved Print Software
San Leandro, CA (PRWEB) February 11, 2016 -- Type A Machines, Inc. the market leader in manufacturing-ready Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF) 3D printers, today announced a collaboration with materials manufacturer Polymaker to bring high quality, high strength 3D printer material to the U.S. market. Included in the offering is Polymaker’s polycarbonate PC-Plus™, an industrial grade polymer based on the industry-standard Makrolon®, manufactured by Covestro. Type A Machines also announces the latest release of “Cura Type A”, the company’s 3D slicing and print preparation software, with built-in material profiles for the Polymaker line - bringing to forty-five (45), the total number of materials users can print with right out of the box.
Over the past 60 years, polycarbonate (PC) has become one of the most widely used engineering plastics, helping shape the world as we know it. Its strength and rigidity make it the material of choice for automotive parts, DVDs, safety glass, and water bottles. Polymaker PC-Plus and the burgeoning world of industrial 3D printing bring new life to this industry-standard polycarbonate.
Type A Machines’ new version of Cura Type A delivers new time-saving features, such as direct-to-printer slicing, improved print time estimates, support for almost any thermoplastic, and optimized profiles built-in for 47 of the most demanded materials, including the full line of Polymaker materials - all available with just a click of a mouse.
“Type A Machines’ vision is a 3D printing solution, from hardware to software to materials, so our users can design, build, and put their creations into use,” said Andrew Rutter, Founder and CTO of Type A Machines. “We look forward to working with Polymaker to support their materials across our product line, as well as partnering to bring new materials, and new software offerings, to solve our customers’ demanding prototyping and production needs.
“The integration of our materials with the Type A Machines Series 1 3D printer line is a hugely positive step in delivering a streamlined, worry-free, user experience, which is exactly what is needed in the 3D printing market,” said Xiaofan Luo, Founder and CEO of Polymaker, Inc. “This brings value to both parties and ultimately to customers and the 3D printing industry as a whole. We look forward to collaborating with Type A Machines on more fronts in the future."
About Polymaker PC-Plus Polycarbonate
Polymaker PC-Plus is a polycarbonate-based filament designed specifically for desktop FDM/FFF 3D printing. It offers superior print quality and excellent mechanical strength and heat resistance at moderate printing temperatures with great warping resistance.
Polymaker PC-Plus offers stronger mechanical properties over common 3D printing materials, such as PLA and ABS. The advanced properties of PC-Plus make it ideal for components intended for mechanically demanding applications. For high temperature applications, PC-Plus can withstand temperatures up to 280°C, meaning it can even hold boiling water without losing its shape.
In addition to being durable, polycarbonate materials are naturally flame retardant, resistant to a large number of chemicals and solvents, and can be engineered to offer transparency. That optical clarity allows for a wide range of uses, many of which are being made available to desktop 3D printing for the first time.
Polymaker PC-Plus is available immediately in the Type A Machines store.
About Cura Type A
Cura Type A is used to slice models, choose material profiles and settings, and set print characteristics for Type A Machines’ Series 1 3D printer. Based on the industry-standard software, Cura, a key open source tool for preparing files for 3D printing. With this release of Cura Type A, designers and manufacturers can increase their throughput with new “Direct-to-Printer” slicing - a huge time saver over the current “file saving and loading” process. In addition, rewriting algorithms specifically for the Series 1 and Series 1 Pro has made print-time estimates more accurate. Cura Type A also builds in Series 1 optimized settings profiles for the Polymaker line of production-quality filament, including polycarbonate from Polymaker and Bayer respectively. Cura Type A is available immediately for OS X and Windows.
About Type A Machines:
Type A Machines designs and manufactures the Series 1 and Series 1 Pro 3D printers, and the industry-first Print Pod, a centrally managed, plug-and-produce manufacturing solution scalable up to 60 individual print units . The Print Pod is ideal for print farms, low volume production, labs, classrooms, and other heavy printing environments. Type A Machines’ Print Pod delivers a scalable, parallel production solution at lower cost-per-part than injection molding. An industry pioneer, Type A Machines continues to deliver the future of manufacturing to customers, today.
About Polymaker:
Polymaker is a leader in the manufacturing of high performance materials for 3D printing. Their line of materials includes PC-Plus, PolyMax, PolyPlus, PolySupport, PolyFlex, and PolyWood.
Polymaker takes pride in their quality control. They do not wish to simply adhere to current standards, but aim to raise them to a new level for filaments in the 3D printing community. This level of care and control has not been seen within the industry to date.
Polymaker has operations in three locations around the globe - manufacturing in China, operations in the Netherlands, and their primary distribution hub in New York, USA.
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Shawn Hopwood, Type A Machines, Inc., http://www.typeamachines.com/, +1 (415) 366-5828 Ext: 715, [email protected]
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