Hyrel 3D Bringing Innovation to Small Business Additive Manufacturing

Innovation isn’t easy. The drive to innovate is part of what fuels the patent wars between technology giants such as Samsung and Apple. Research and development is always a tricky area of a business. It can be an investment that doesn’t always pay off. That’s why many companies are on constant alert for smaller, innovative businesses to snap up. A new piece of technology is worth its weight in gold.

Hyrel 3D is proving surprisingly innovative for a small 3D printer manufacturer. Initial funding for the company came via a Kickstarter campaign, which exceeded its goal by $100,000. It began with a promise of full color printing, which led to the development of a versatile extruder head that offers the ability to print with a number of different materials. 

The system offered by Hyrel looks like a standard material deposition system, similar to the vast majority of additive manufacturing (AM) systems available on Kickstarter. It lays down ABS or PLA from one or two extrusion heads, offering basic AM functionality. Willing, perhaps even eager, to push the envelope, the Hyrel team has been digging up other materials that will also work with the system.

Thus far the system offers the ability to print in clay (both air dry and plasticine), Play-Doh, silicone RTV and most recently Sugru, a self-setting rubber. The ability to hot swap extruder heads allows for multi-material builds, including a rubber gasket as part of a plastic prototype. While users may not find many uses for building objects in Play-Doh, the variety of potential materials offered is pretty astonishing for a low cost AM (around $3,000) system.

Hyrel’s latest achievement uses four extruder heads attached to the same 3D printer to produce four builds simultaneously on the same build platform. While that isn’t precisely mass manufacturing, any method that cuts down on the time required for prints (potentially the greatest weakness of 3D printing) seems like a good idea to me.

The build area on a Hyrel machine is fairly standard for desktop AM systems at 8 x 8 x 8 in. (200 x 200 x 200 mm). The four extruder head print cuts that down to 5 x 8 x 8 in. which is fine for small parts runs, or, perhaps, manufacturing promotional materials. The resolution, according to Hyrel, runs between 25 µ to 250µ, depending on build and material.

The Hyrel system also comes with an integrated computer and monitor, complete with a mini USB port, a DB9 legacy serial port, and installed software. If you feel the need to spy on your builds, the company offers the option of an integrated web cam.

Below you’ll find a video demonstration of Hyrel 3D’s quad printing.

Source: Hyrel 3D