The Mimaki 3DUJ-553 award-winning 3DUJ-553 UV-curable full-color inkjet 3D printer is attracting new students and generating more interest from current students, says Prof. Olaf Diegel, director of the University’s Creative Design and Additive Manufacturing Laboratory (CDAML). Auckland, New Zealand.
Starting with a few powder 3D printers, the lab has focused on engineering projects. “We’ve always wanted color, but we’ve just come to terms with it,” says Diegel. “The colorful print is what draws people to the open house.”
While 3D printing is typically used by engineers at universities, the 3DUJ-553 opens up a lab for art students as well.
American Graffiti 2.0 guitar, printed in full color on 3DUJ-553 printer, no hand painting required.
The 3DUJ-553 also added new applications to CDAML print services, including 3D scanned dummies, full color prototyping and models, and medical modeling. Outside of universities, physicians use the lab’s printing services to simulate surgical visual aids from patients’ CT scans.
Another project the lab decided to undertake, which was not possible before the installation of 3DUJ-553, involved reproducing Maori artifacts using 3D scanning and printing to preserve the culture. They recently scanned a Mauri family heirloom shell horn and printed it into a playable full color replica.
Currently, the laboratory has 4 permanent teachers, more than 20 doctoral students, undergraduates and students involved in various research projects.
These include high-performance gyroscope-based heat exchangers, computer-aided design of prostheses, and 3D-printed meat meal supplements for the elderly.
3DUJ-553 opens up CDAML to medical applications such as visual aids for doctor-patient communication.
The biggest determining factor for a university is running costs. “The real problem for universities is not the price of the machines, but the running costs,” Diegel said. When the professor looked at comparable printers, he noticed that they were almost twice as expensive in materials as the 3DUJ-553.
CDAML also acts as a 3D printing service provider and educates other industries by helping companies expand their manufacturing capabilities through additive manufacturing.
Post time: Dec-14-2022