The Chameleon inkjet cartridges for 3D printing
The Chameleon system colourises filaments for use in 3D printers.
3DPrint.com reported on the Chamelon system, which has been developed by 3D printing company 3DT Labs for fused deposition modelling (FDM) 3D printers. The system consists of a colour inkjet cartridge that snaps into “any FDM 3D printer”, and provides the user with colours to print onto filament, producing coloured 3D prints “as the printer is in process” rather than replacing the filament with another of the colour required.
The news site states that “printing with multiple colours has been perhaps one of the greatest challenges in 3D printing”, and while “it’s certainly possible, and often done, the print process requires maintenance and can cause complication”. 3DT Labs has been working on the technology “for the past year” to “streamline colour 3D printing”, with the technology coming to market through a Kickstarter campaign “so we can all try their new system with great early-bird prices while also helping them to hit the ground running with manufacturing”.
Where users have previously needed to stop and start prints “to change colour” and “splice filament together”, the technology is said to now offer “affordability, user-friendliness – and best of all – speed”. The cartridges used in the Chameolon technology “aren’t short-lived cartridges either”, as “each one contains enough colour to cover two football fields”, with the “even, thorough [and] high-quality” ink unable to “rub off” and non-toxic.
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3DPrint.com noted that the “economical implications” of the system are “enticing”, as the cost of $99.99 (€90) is for 64 colours, meaning that the “staggering” amount users have to pay for “16 different rolls of traditional filament just to use a colour once” is no longer needed. It added that this is a “no-brainer for huge savings”, with packs of 16, 32 and 48 colours also available.
3DT Labs’ Mike Halvorson commented: “When it’s time to change the colour in your print, you simply snap in two cartridges of a colour and it just keeps on going, with no printer stopping, no cutting of filament. Just change the ink and you have changed the colour of your object to the colour of the ink being applied.
“You get four times as many colours and you are in control of when and how much colour you apply. Chameleon is like going from an old dot-matrix printer to a full colour inkjet all in one fell swoop. Chameleon colourises on the fly. It is so easy to use and it really extends the capability of any 3D printer to have almost unlimited colour.”