The hype is real and I really hope HP doesn't fuck this up. HP seems to have invented a new additive manufacturing process(if you have prior art let me know!) that does the same thing as laser sintering except without a laser. Getting rid of the laser is a pretty big deal. Lasers are expensive and expensive to operate because they are inefficient. Because they're inefficient you need to cool them.
Laser sintering is also slow because you have to scan a dot all over the place. You could make this faster, except now you need more lasers. Transitioning from a dot scan, a laser, to a line scan, a big wide inkjet, is where they are getting such a speed improvement.
They also seem to have removed the need for an inert gas purge system, which laser sintering machines must use(although I'm not 100% sure this is the case).
In all likelihood, they have probably made laser sintering obsolete and service bureaus are probably scrambling to buy these machines as we speak.
But, thing is they didn't just stop at making laser sintering obsolete. Because they can print strong parts in color they have probably made some other additive manufacturing processes obsolete too. Z-corp's 3d printing(what the phrase '3d printing actually refers to') which makes parts in color with about the structural capacity of chocolate.
Laser sintering is also slow because you have to scan a dot all over the place. You could make this faster, except now you need more lasers. Transitioning from a dot scan, a laser, to a line scan, a big wide inkjet, is where they are getting such a speed improvement.
They also seem to have removed the need for an inert gas purge system, which laser sintering machines must use(although I'm not 100% sure this is the case).
In all likelihood, they have probably made laser sintering obsolete and service bureaus are probably scrambling to buy these machines as we speak.
But, thing is they didn't just stop at making laser sintering obsolete. Because they can print strong parts in color they have probably made some other additive manufacturing processes obsolete too. Z-corp's 3d printing(what the phrase '3d printing actually refers to') which makes parts in color with about the structural capacity of chocolate.