Editor’s Pick: Lease a Complete 3D Printing System

By Anthony J. Lockwood

Dear Desktop Engineering Reader:

Poet Garcia Lorca once wrote that “to burn with desire and keep quiet about it is the greatest punishment we can bring on ourselves.” Sometimes writing about cool new products here at DE, I feel like I am in the business of poking at your unrequited desires. See, I know that when I get to the price part many of you sigh because you know full well that your company’s penny-pinchers are never going to OK the expense so you don’t even bother bringing it up. Not this time, Pal. This one is going to make it hard for them to rebuff your wooing of them.

Stratasys has come out with what it calls 3D Print Packs. The short of it is that 3D Print Packs are a leasing program that enable you to install a 3D printer in-house cost-effectively. So, what does a 3D Print Pack get you?

Well, 3D Print Packs start with your choice of a Stratasys uPrint SE (Special Edition) or uPrint SE Plus 3D printer. (The uPrint SE and SE Plus machines are the company’s new generation of this product line.) Specs include an 8x6x6 in. build size and 0.010 in. layer thickness for the SE model. The uPrint SE Plus builds 8x8x6 in prototypes with either 0.010-in. or 0.013-in. layers. Modeling materials are ABSPlus thermoplastics in ivory color. The uPrint SE Plus supports a range of colors in addition to ivory. The uPrint 3D printer with material bays and support cleaning station can fit into your spare office space.

With the uPrint SE, you get a system for cleaning out support materials, software to convert your STL files for 3D printing, and a start-up kit with some ABSplus modeling material, support material, cleaning agent, and six modeling bases. Most importantly, you get time. Instead of waiting a few days in the rosiest scenario for your prototype to come back from a job shop, you can have your design in hours. That, of course, means that the 3D Print Packs resolve the “time saved equals money saved” argument for your boss right out of the box.

Still, the real enchilada that makes the uPrint 3D Print Packs something you need to know about is this: For about the price of an average outsourced prototyping job—in the estimation of Stratasys, which, you might recall, has its own 3D printing service bureau division—you can lease a new generation uPrint SE 3D printer. That means $290 a month for the SE and $380 a month for the uPrint SE Plus.

You can learn more about the uPrint 3D Print Packs from today’s Pick of the Week write-up. Hit the link for the video to see what the uPrint can do for you. You can also sign up for a sample part, which can serve as “exhibit A” to whip out when you sit down to discuss this with the honchos. When it impresses them, remind them that your clients will be impressed with seeing their design from you so quickly.

Thanks, pal.—Lockwood

Anthony J. Lockwood
Editor at Large, Desktop Engineering

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