Page 27 - Print 21 Magazine Jan-Feb 2019
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3D Printing
on the market. It uses patented gel that doesn’t need to be melted and dries instantly with UV curing. The structures are hollow and lightweight but extremely strong.”
He makes the point that most of the Massivit machines have gone into Asia, a supposedly low-cost labour market, proving that 3D printing
is the most viable form of signage fabrication. And if that’s true for Asia, how much more so in a high labour cost market such as Australia?
There are currently three Massivit
3D printers in Australia operating in a ‘print for pay’ environment: Omus in Victoria, Composite Image in NSW, and the most recently installed at ArtCom in Western Australia. (A recent installation at Weta workshop in Wellington NZ is dedicated to fabricating artefacts for the film industry.)
Graphic Art Mart, the national supplier to the sign and display sector, installed the WA machine. It’s the
first since the company stepped up as national distributor with the Australian launch at last year’s Visual Impact.
According to Michael Liveris, business manager, the engagement with Massivit aligns with Graphic Art Mart’s policy of staying at the forefront of technology.
“It’s been a great success. We want to deliver the best and newest technology to our customers. ArtCom is very pleased with the installation and the machine is now up and running,” he said. During the installation Massivit technicians came from Israel while Troy Craigie, technical manager at Graphic Art Mart was inducted into the finer details of maintenance and support.
Three years since the groundbreaking product was launched the next stage in the evolution of printing is increasingly making its presence felt. After an initial period of confusion by printers as to how they should relate to this extraordinary technology with the evocative 3D printing name, the penny, for many, is starting to drop.
New ways to move
There are numerous ways for commercial printers to integrate 3D printing into their business. Apart from soft signage and the construction of large stand-alone marketing props, Weiszberger points to channel letters, the ubiquitous signage displays spelling out brands everywhere. Hugely expensive to create with metal dies, Massivit 3D can output average letters in semi-transparent gel in
25 minutes. It’s a business demand waiting to be fulfilled.
A case in point is the recent experience of ArtCon, where the Massivit completed a job producing channel letters that would normally take three people four days in two hours. “It’s a case of thinking outside the box,” said Liveris.
Then there’s thermo forming, the popular merchandising technique of raised printing, especially on packages. Again, making the required moulds has proved a significant barrier of entry for printers. With Massivit
3D they can be created without the need for complex support structures, allowing printers to leverage their wide format printing abilities to meet customer requirements.
“Making thermo forming moulds the old way is expensive. With Massivit 3D printing we create the lightweight hollow mould, then fill
it with high-density foam. The print can then be stretched over it. Mimaki has special stretchable inks. It costs peanuts in comparison,” he says.
Weiszberger is acutely aware that established commercial printers are by far the most suitable operators of 3D printing. They have the customers, they have the digital knowledge – all they need is the new technology. While in Australia he has appointed Graphic Art Mart as the exclusive distributor, he says he’ll always be available to talk with customers.
He is supplying two models – the Massivit 1800, which is the flagship, with the ability to create stand-alone products 1.8 metres tall.
Left to right:
There is a choice of one or two printing heads with the ability to create two different jobs at the same time. With printing speed of 300mm/ sec linear, it has three resolutions from normal to high for detailed work. The more economical Massivit 1500, slightly smaller at 1.5 metres has one printing head and boasts
the same output parameters. For those contemplating entry you’re looking at a ballpark figure of between AUD$490,000 for the flagship machine to $350,000 for the 1500, known as the Massivit Exploration.
The Massivit smarts
The main distinguishing feature
of the Massivit 3D technology is a patented photo polymeric gel, called Dimengel, which cures rapidly when exposed to LED UV light. When creating extra large structures two or more segments can be easily joined together by the application of extra gel that is instantly cured by LED UV light, no glue, no adhesives for structurally sound productions. The finished product is lightly sandpapered for extra smoothness.
The company, based in Lod, Israel, has a deep heritage in the graphic arts with many of its founders originally working with Scitex, the iconic prepress developer. They came together in 2008 to develop a new vision in effective 3D printing with their sights set firmly on the printing industry.
“Truly the only limitation to what can be produced is your own imagination,” says Weiszberger.
The next printing revolution has arrived. 21
Massivit: 3D printed objects can be made in an amazing variety of shapes and sizes
New areas: Abe Weiszberger with 3D sphinx
3D printers: only limited by imagination
Soft signage: made easy with 3D printed frames
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