Stratasys launches F120 3D printer for $11,999; V650 Flex
CNE
Stratasys launched an industrial strength 3D printer designed for designers, engineers and education as well as a highly customizable system for manufacturers, enterprises and service bureaus.
The Stratasys F120 3D Printer is the industrial strength version designed to replace cheaper systems in the market that educational institutions and designers within companies use. The F120 is part of the FDM family of Stratasys 3D printing systems. Stratasys announced the launches at the Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG) conference.
According to Gina Scala, director of global education at Stratasys, the F120 can decentralize 3D printing and make it more accessible for design studios, offices and education. The argument for the F120 is that customers will be able to replace desktop 3D printers and create reliable and accurate parts without a lot of technical knowhow. The F120 will also be serviced by Stratasys. Service is a hang-up for many desktop 3D printing systems.
TechRepublic: How Toyota uses 3D printing for full scale vehicle mockups | IT pro's guide to 3D printing technologies (free PDF)
"The F120 is designed to be easier to own, but bet industrial strength," said Scala, who added that the system can replace Makerbot systems as well as a bevy of other systems. "This printer is build on an industrial grade frame. It will be running for at least 5 years."
The F120 includes the following:
- A touchscreen interface with GrabCAD Print workflow.
- The ability to print for 240 hours straight.
- Support for prototyping to tooling to manufacturing.
- Large filament boxes and hands-free soluable support.
The F120 will run $11,999, but last for at least 5 years. Stratasys' bet is that prototyping, tooling and 3D printing has expanded beyond the pilot and experimentation stage and enterprises and educators will pay more upfront for better parts and a system that'll last.
Stratasys also launched the V650 Flex stereolithography 3D printer. Stereolithography is one of the original 3D printing processes and is used for large concept models.
V650 Flex has been used in Stratasys service bureaus internally for years, but is now being offered commercially. The system is highly configurable and is able to be fine tuned with a bevy of resins. The V650 Flex is designed to manufacture multiple parts.
Pat Carey, senior vice president of strategic growth at Stratasys, said the company wasn't planning to make the V650 commercially available, but manufacturing customers in automotive, aerospace and service bureaus requested it.
While the system isn't known to be much of a looker, it has volume of 20"W x 20"D x 23"H and interchangeable vats as well of a runtime of over 75,000 hours and more than 150,000 parts.
"It's a proven printer, but it was built by engineers for engineers," said Carey. "It will not win awards for design but it has maximum access and can be configured multiple ways. It is made to control accuracy while focused on costs for a wide variety of use cases."
The company is also partnering with DSM, a materials leader known for its Somos stereolithography resins. Stratasys Direct Manufacturing has verified DSM Somos resins to create industrial quality parts.
Correction: A previous version of this article referred to a 3D printer as V650 Plex. The correct name is V650 Flex.