The next Holy Grail?

3D printing is a sector that has more than a few sign-makers and wide-format print specialists scratching their heads, and wondering how they could possibly jump on the bandwagon and diversify by using a technology that is almost mythical in its status. From world condemnation of 3D printed guns, to the life-saving production of artificial valves for hearts, it seems the sky truly is the limit for additive printing. But how do we in the sign industry deal with this new upstart that may be print in name, but is far from print as we know it? Well, perhaps the best place to start is on our own door-step, with one very clever entrepreneur and supplier who has bent the technology to his will and started producing some very unique and innovative solutions to make the operator’s life easier.

3D X-Press

So, you may be surprised to learn that although 3D print is often billed as a technology that is going to be vitally important for the future of our planet, it could also be vital to the core sign-making industry itself. A good example is well-known digital print technology X-Press OnDemand—mainly used for printing garment transfers. A DTP Associates brand, its operations director Richard Bridle has revealed an investment that sees the company now capable of manufacturing bespoke patented enhancements to its SRA3 digital printers in days using 3D print equipment from CubeX.


“We found that when we were making prototype units it was difficult to take the idea through to completion without lengthy delays and setup,” says Bridle, adding: “We are now able to easily design 3D objects and within a few days have a fully working prototype unit. We can produce detailed, intricate designs without the need for heavy machinery or outside contractors. After examining the options we came to the conclusion that our money would be better spent buying a machine that could help us produce real 3D designs and give us limited production facilities.”



The state-of-the-art 3D printer now gives DTP Associates the capabilities to enhance the performance of its range in direct reaction to feedback from its wide-range of customers.

Bridle continues: “What we have found over the many years we have been producing digital printing systems is that there are always some substrates that are difficult to feed—whether that be due to the coating, static charge, or other extreme factors such as extremely thin or thick substrates.


“As one of our first patents with the new system, we have now designed and produced a portable powered unit we call the X-feed, which is added to the feed tray of our 780 and Fusion machines, which virtually eliminates misfeeds due to reasons stated. This is vitally important on longer runs on difficult materials.

3D racers

Well, if you thought that 3D print did not apply to our own neck of the woods, now you know it is not only relevant, but making technology more efficient and better able to adapt to the demands of today’s sign buyers for quicker turnarounds and more competitive pricing. But what of the wider 3D Print market? Perhaps it is now time to look to its farthest reaches for inspiration and another ‘mad inventor’ Jim Korr, president and project leader of the Urbee Project, the world’s very first printed car.

The importance of Korr’s work is that it showcases how anyone who understands design, has creative flare, and a good idea can turn dream into reality with 3D print technology. He explains: “The inspiration was that we wanted to make the greenest car in the world. That was where we started, and we wanted to use technology that currently existed towards that end.



“We printed everything on the car that you can see in orange and even the patterns for the windows. We wanted to be able to produce one whole body in a single shift. When I have travelled to shows around the world with Urbee it just blows me away what people are doing with the technology.”

Korr continues: Stratasys kept telling us that 3D additive manufacturing would be the factories of the future, and it took me a while to see it. With Urbee now I find it very liberating not to have to focus on production techniques, or think about it all, so basically whatever you can think of you can build.”

This message from Korr is very interesting for the print world, as although it may take some time to filter through, imagine how much more flexible, responsive, and precise digital print and finishing technology manufacturers will be able to be if they can respond to demands from you, the sign-maker, within weeks of feedback—able to supply you with the perfect add-on to your production line.

This is something that Bridle from DTP is already doing for customers who buy his X-Press digital printers, but imagine what it could herald if you could enhance a litho or full production digital press in the same way to suit your own requirements. Taking it a step further, what if you could enhance your own production equipment by buying your own 3D printer to give you an edge on competitors they would find very difficult to replicate without knowing how you achieved it.

Korr continues: “So the trick becomes, what are you thinking of? Where do you want to put the material? I would never have thought that way before, that freely, because normal production processes can be very restrictive. When these are lifted it starts to become very organic, how plants and animals, you and I, grew up one molecule at a time. I do visualise a stopping place for design and product enhancement with 3D printers eventually, as everything does have a peak. Take for example the paper-clip, it does exactly what it is supposed to, you just can’t improve on it. But being able to push design of anything to this end-point is what makes 3D print so exciting.”

In the footsteps of giants

With these prophetic words ringing in our ears, it is now perhaps time to turn to the biggest global player in 3D print technology, Stratasys—its systems  are now distributed in the UK by PaperlinX (formerly Robert Horne).

 It has turned the product of a few genius engineers into a global economic sector in its own right. Having recently completed the purchase of rival MakerBot, the company is now evolving and developing new technology at a breakneck pace. And speaking to the its marketing director for EMEA, Eric Bredin, he is empathic about the scope and potential of 3D print for all manufacturing and production sectors: “Using 3D printing technology in order to create a model, then using 2D printing technology to do the overprint or the decoration, there is a lot of potential value.”


One of Stratasys’ most famous customers is Legacy Effects, which has taken aesthetic realism for movie making to new heights working on films from Avatar to Iron Man.

“Five years ago we realised we fundamentally needed to change the way that we do things,” explains Jason Lopes, Legacy Effects’ lead systems engineer, who adds: “We had known about 3D printing from the early days and used it, but not to the capacity that it would change our business. So when a special project came in we did a Halo commercial, and we saw it as the perfect opportunity to see what was out there and how it would complement us. So we started learning about object technology through a really high-volume project. That was the stepping stone and once we got through that project we knew the technology was for us.

O Factoid: The first patent for the stereographic lithographic process (3D or additive printing) was penned in 1986 by Chuck Hall of 3D Systems. O

“What we are seeing more and more now is that in addition to building suits, and doing hard surface things like collectables, we are getting people coming in who are costume designers or make-up artists saying, ‘it would be cool if we could incorporate this digital design into our costume design’. With the wide range of materials that 3D printing offers, there hasn’t been a job we have turned away and said isn’t possible.”





This latter comment is perhaps one to take the most note of, as it is one that should strike home for the print industry. In addition to being able to manufacture enhancements, replacement parts for printers, or new components, what about adding 3D printed bespoke elements to the final signs themselves—making them really pop into life. Yes, this would be time consuming, but imagine the added value and profit margin for those bespoke, high-quality, creative projects.

Certain uncertainty

Perhaps the final word on the value and potential of 3D printing should go to another clever entrepreneur by the name of Jonathan Rowley, design director of the charismatically named Digits to Widgets (D2W). He explains that the only thing you can be certain of with 3D print is just how uncertain it really is: “People ask me all the time: ‘where is this leading, what does it mean for me?’ When really the questions is: ‘How am I going to make money out of it?’

“I am not a prophet. I am in the very lucky position of being able to work with the very highest end industrial 3D printers and I am working with interesting people who are pushing the technology on a daily basis; my future is tomorrow. I have a very short-term view of the process and the way I like to see my role in that is helping to push forward the potential for the technology.”

The 3D printing service provider has produced everything from haute couture 3D printed dresses for the biggest cat walks in the world, through to light installations for museums and galleries. What Rowley stresses is that 3D printing is owned by no one sector or particular field of science and engineering, in some senses making it one of the most democratic manufacturing and product creation technologies ever invented.

Indeed, the sector is showing such serious potential that a well-known print technology brand in our own industry, Roland DG, has diversified into it with its MonoFab ARM-10 3D printer.



With product examples at its Creative Centre that include everything from bespoke add-ons for basreleif signs to trophies, the company emphasises that simultaneous production of multiple objects can be accomplished within the same work area. This in turn reduces modelling time when com-pared to subtractive methods where lasers and routers expose specific areas.




D2W’s Rowley concludes, providing a perfect summation of the market’s potential for each and every pioneer that seeks to embrace it: “The future is not home-printed owls; it is not home-printed chess pieces. It is the application of industrial technology, understanding that technology, under-standing the materials it produces, because they are not like traditional materials, and finding ways to exploit them to make interesting, viable, and good new things.”

Your text here...