"Hive Queen and Country Alien Bugs and HP printer Technology" Topic

Rosa Miniatures and Games has relaunched its Hive Queen and County "Alien Bug" minis using the newest HP 3D printing technology. (see Hive Queen and Country Miniatures) The new HP nylon printers are a new twist of the fused powder systems. The powder is really fine, and the build chamber is kept just below melting temperature as each layer is laid down. The nylon that is to become the part is melted and held in a semi liquid state until the entire build has been completed and the chamber is cooled down. HP is working on full color printing (in beta testing). The results are FANTASTIC!

1) The models are very strong.
2) The detail is very high.
3) Slightly flexible.
4) No layer effects.
5) NO support material nicks.
6) Paints adhere well: the nylon was designed to absorb dyes and it take up paint well. We find that it is a little too good at absorbing paint, so we spray on two coats of primer.

There are two down side of that I see with this new tech is that the cost is based on volume of the build area not the part. This is because the machine only recycles a portion of the "unused" support powder. And HP does not really have a cost per unit volume worked out: thus it is rough to work out actual cost. I had to estimate high to make sure we could meet the promises of the Kickstarter.

I would add pitchers but I am not getting the tool bar for some reason

link

Just in case you are wondering, HP stands for both Hewlett-Packard, and "High Price".

The latter was the running inside joke there (and not so much a funny one, as reality).

The tech does sound interesting, and promising, especially if they can eliminate "layers".

Sounds like what they also call a "design feature" on the recycling of only a portion of the unused powder. If it can be recycled, why can't you reuse all of it?

Cost per build area volume, as opposed to the volume of the parts actually produced sounds like another engineered "feature" to be able to charge more money for that too.

They should be able to bill based upon the volume of the actual models/prints, since I suspect it's not too difficult to determine that from any 3-D art program, or if it isn't currently, it should be.

The minis are inexpensive to print compared to other 3D processes in fact it is close to mass production cost. The recycle issue has something to do with the need for 20% of the powder to be "fresh" not previously heated. I suspect that reconditioning will be worked out.
A few companies recycle the used powder by using in injection molding machines.