Stratasys J826
Additive manufacturing OEM Stratasys has today launched a new lower-cost, full-colour, multi-material PolyJet machine, the latest in its family of J8-series 3D printers.
Coinciding with the annual 3DEXPERIENCE World Conference, the new J826 aims to bring full PANTONE colour 3D printing capabilities to a broader range of product designers and modelling shops with mid-volume requirements, for the creation of realistic prototypes that match the look and feel of end-use products.
“When we talk about designers, we're not just talking about product designers that are concerned about colour or texture, we're speaking to all those who design," Gina Scala, Director of Marketing, Global Education, told TCT. "The design engineers are also interested in this because of the surface finish and the quality that they could get to maybe test an injection mould or maybe do some finite element analysis and put those colour maps around the parts that they're testing for function. It's product designers in the traditional sense but it's also design engineers and industrial designers that are seeing value in the J8-series.”
The J826 is the third member of the J8-series family which already includes the J835 and J850, launched last November as an update to the J750. The machine features the same fundamental UV-curable liquid photopolymer PolyJet technology but with a smaller footprint, build volume of 255 x 252 x 200 mm, and comes in at a price point around half that of the J850, making it a more accessible option to those mid-volume users. In line with the J8-series, the J826 delivers a range of PANTONE Validated colours, textures and transparencies with VeroUltraClear resin, and its seven-material capacity means operators can load their most frequently used resins to eliminate material changeover downtime. It’s also supported by Stratasys’ GrabCAD Print software which enables integration with common CAD formats such as SolidWorks.
Full-colour parts printed on the J826.
Stratasys says the machine will be ideal for customers who may have previously been priced out of multi-material printing, particularly smaller firms working in consumer goods, electronics and automotive industries, as well as educational institutes. One customer in the UK, BiologIC Technologies, is using the technology to develop advanced medical instruments and commented that the J826 has enabled them to accelerate their design process “with zero restrictions.”
Scala explained: “This is really that first step in bringing that high-quality aesthetic, [...] for really maximising realism and putting it into designers’ hands, putting it into educational disciplines that are preparing the designers of tomorrow, allowing folks to really lean into not only full-colour but rigid and flexible materials, and multi-materials in one part. It's quite spectacular […] it's even more spectacular when we get it in the right people's hands and can leverage those capabilities for design.”
The J826 is expected to be available to order from May this year but attendees to 3DEXPERIENCE World in Nashville, Tennessee this week will be able to get a first look. Scala commented that the significance of debuting the J826 at this particular event aligns with GrabCAD's compatibility with SolidWorks and ongoing efforts to enable designers to apply full-colour to 3D models when designing in the software.
Scala added: “At Stratasys we just want people to use the technology to make their jobs easier, to make their prototypes better. Each year we announce something that gets the industry closer to that. We had the F123 series, we had the F120, it was all about bringing industrial-grade down and making it more accessible. So you see that as a trend from us and it will continue and really make the technology meet designers' needs.”
