For the longest time, there were two giants in the world of 3D printing – Stratasys and Objet. These two companies announced a merger in early 2012, and completed said merger in December. Now the company is combining its forces to continue innovating in the 3D printing space.
Objet recently showed off a 3D printed card and pen holder that’s made up of two parts. Each part was printed on a different printer from each company, and the pieces fit together perfectly. It’s never explicitly stated, but it’s like this particular piece is a metaphor for how well Objet and Stratasys fit together.
Here’s how they made it:
This card and pen holder was created to illustrate the range of possibilities using Stratasys’ different 3D printing technologies. One half of the model is created using FDM technology in ABSi material – strong, light, durable and suitable for real production requirements. The second part is created using Inkjet multi-material jetting technology which deposits 2 photopolymer-based materials at the same time and mimics the precise look and feel of more complex end products. This part features extremely smooth surfaces, fine details and embedded writing in a separate material. Together, using both FDM and Inkjet technology, designers and manufacturers can cover the entire gamut of Fit, Form and Functional Prototyping and Rapid Manufacturing requirements!
The Objet blog states that this particular model is the first thing made since the merger of the two companies. It’s not as impressive as some previous models featured on the blog, but it’s still incredibly awesome. It will be exciting to see what these two companies, with their combined powers, can cook up in 2013.
