Sintratec launches 3D printer for professional customers

Sintratec, located in the Technopark Aargau, launched the “S1”, a 3D printer built to develop high quality products. The successful sale of their first product, “Sintratec Kit”, the feedback from customers and experience gathered over the years, enabled the company to make the necessary adjustments and improvement. Consequently, the three founders now aim at further serving the market and their customers with the new Sintratec S1, a more advanced high-end laser sintering technology.

According to the the startup, the Sintratec S1 is a prototyping powerhouse with high end product manufacturing capabilities. It solves a central problem businesses face today: It removes the very costly entry-barrier to professional additive manufacturing technology. It uses the highly sought after laser sintering technology to manufacture parts that are free in form, highly dense, high in resolution and heat-resistant. The printed parts are second to no other 3D printing technology. It is ideal for use in functional rapid-prototyping and making for high- end products

The S1 is the Sintratec’s second product following the Sintratec Kit that was launched last year. "The Sintratec Kit is ideal for getting to know the laser sintering technology. Both makers and research institutes who have used the Kit value its DIY nature. However, having established that there is a very wide gap between a low-cost 3D printer and an industrial additive manufacturing system, we decided to develop the Sintratec S1”, says Dominik Solenicki, CEO and Co-founder of Sintratec.

Geberit, a multinational group specialized in sanitary parts and related systems and customer of Sintratec has been testing the S1’s capabilities. Internal tests at their additive manufacturing lab showed that Sintratec has made substantial improvements in the new product particularly the improved parts are waterproof sustaining up to 40 atmospheres of pressure (40 bars), ahead of Stratasys – a worldwide leading provider of 3D printers – and in the region of high-end systems manufacturer EOS. “Now that we are on their heels, it is our aim to surpass them”. Says Sintratec CTO Christian von Burg

Sintratec is collaborating with world class scientists from the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), the largest research institute for natural and engineering sciences within Switzerland. Thanks to their cutting-edge particle accelerator Sintratec received detailed insights into the internal makeup of parts printed with the S1 for quality improvements. With these insights the engineers were able to reengineer core components of the S1 before going into production. Final scans showed densities surpassing even those of parts from an industry leader.

The S1 is affordable and does not require any special installations. The product is priced less than the already existing products on the market, yet, its performance remains remarkable. So far 25 customers have placed their pre-order. They were invited to attend a one-day workshop to receive a full operation of the prototyping powerhouse. The first regular machines will start shipping by the end of July. With the current order backlog the first machines are available for Q4 of 2016.

(RAN)