Good start for Sintratec’s crowdfounding campaign

The Sintratec founders started the development of the printer three years ago when they were let down by the gap between desktop 3D printers and industry 3D printers. They wanted to print usable, solid parts; not toys. But because the industry printers were expensive, the only way to get one was to build one. So, three years ago, they embarked on this mission.

The team has now built and tested the fourth generation of Sintratec printers and the fourth generation of the Sintratec Electronics. The software is up and running. Sintratec already has fixed suppliers. What the start-up needs now is a successful crowdfunding campaign, so that production can be started.

At the moment the chances are good that the start-up will be successful. In the first five days of the campaign on Indiegogo Sintratec raised more than USD110’000, two thirds of the amount necessary to start production.

Backers will be the first to get a Sintratec laser sintering 3D printer. Until now laser sintering 3D printers were expensive. The machines are sold at six/seven digit prices. The Sintratec printer costs around USD 5000 for the backers of its crowdfunding campaign. So it’s no wonder that the demand is huge. The first batch of the production is already sold. It’s still possible to order printers from the second and third batch. They will be delivered in August and September 2015.

To use laser sintering for 3D printing has several important advantages. The technology and the superior properties of the printing material make it possible not only to print prototypes but also to print functional parts. This is the reason why laser sintering is widely used in industries such as: automotive, aerospace, medical and the tooling.

The final parts have a high mechanical load capacity in all directions and are not suffering from the weak bond between layers as is the case with filament printed parts.

Both filament and stereolithography 3D printers need dedicated support structures to be able to build complex forms. All too often, an object can’t even be printed in one go and needs to be divided into several parts. Printers using laser sintering on the other hand do not need any additional support structures and can even build movable parts without issues.

In addition laser sintering printers have a higher resolution compared to filament 3D printing.