Polaroid and Environmental Business Products (EBP) have announced a three-year partnership, where EBP will be the sole manufacturer of the new Polaroid 3D printers and its consumables.
Unveiling their first 3D printer, ‘Polaroid ModelSmart 250S’ at the 2016 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES), Polaroid said it was looking forward to launch the new printers in the European market by early 2016.
The printer bears the familiar Polaroid colors and uses its own 1.75 mm filament with nine PLA colors and wood. Filament cartridges include an integrated smart chip that senses and reports the amount of material remaining within a cartridge.
Print resolution can be adjusted from 50 to 350 microns and the extruder can calibrate itself to print at a speed of 20 to 100 mm. It has an internal Wi-Fi-enabled camera that allows remote monitoring of projects and the maximum size of a model that can be printed is 10 x 6 x 6 in.
Special adhesive sheets called Z-Axis Sheets are intended to be used with every project. The transparent dual-sided sheets reportedly make it effortless to start and remove what you’re printing. Polaroid also claims that the sheets reduce wear and tear on the print head.
The company refers to the printer as plug-and-play as the printing software, ‘Prep 3D,’ claims to have the object printing in just 3 clicks. A rudimentary library of .STL files is provided, with more projects available on open-source online repositories.
“Throughout our history, the Polaroid brand has been associated with creating innovative products, but we’re also committed to making innovative technologies accessible to everyone,” said Scott W. Hardy, President and CEO of Polaroid. “Just as the first Polaroid Land camera enabled people to watch a picture instantly develop, our relationship with EBP will allow us to bring the magic of creating an object right before your eyes to consumers across Europe.”
Image Credits: Darren Quick / Gizmag
