PRNewsfoto/Gantri
Gantri Dancer
Gantri Dancer.
Designer lights manufacturer Gantri has unveiled its own 3D printing system for the manufacturer of consumer products at scale.
Gantri Dancer is a patent-pending extrusion 3D printing platform which is powered by a multi-gantry system and supports the company’s corn-based PLA materials co-developed with ColorFabb.
The California-based company is renowned for harnessing 3D printing to manufacture its portfolio of desk lamps. Gantri carries out the production of these lamps in the Gantri Factory in San Leandro and will begin migrating the workload over to its fleet of Dancer systems in November. It projects the average production lead time of its products to come down from four weeks to two weeks.
Dancer’s four gantries work concurrently to ensure there is no ‘dead zone’ on its rotating circular print bed, meaning the printed part can be built in up to a quarter of the time of other desktop extrusion platforms, according to Gantri. The machine boasts a build volume of 18”R x 24”H, while print bed access, maintenance and filament spool changes can all be done from the font, making the platform ready for complete automation. Gantri has also developed a translation algorithm that converts 3D models so as to be processed on the Dancer automatically. Around 60% of the components that make up the Dancer have been 3D printed.
“Gantri’s mission is to empower designers to create by using advanced technologies,” commented Christianna Taylor, PhD, CTO at Gantri. “Our goal is to push for the adoption of digital manufacturing as a viable alternative to today’s industrial manufacturing system in producing high-quality consumer grade products. Dancer is the first 3D printer in the world specifically designed to manufacture consumer-grade products at the quality and speed that Gantri requires.
“It combines advanced hardware, software and industrial engineering to make fused deposition modelling 3D printing drastically more efficient. In addition, we are investing in advanced robotics and AI to further improve our manufacturing platform from start to finish. This will allow us to diversify materials and categories for our designers and customers.”
