Despite the delay, CTC remains confident that the firm still expects to be the first to market
We at Zhuhai CTC Electronic Co., Ltd. issued what was viewed across the industry as a ground-shaking report in early June this year announcing that we were developing China's first 3D printer based on inkjet technology and that we would unveil it at the CES in Las Vegas next year. We have decided to delay the release of the inkjet 3D printer until September 2016, rather early 2016 as originally scheduled, due to some unforeseen roadblocks in the product development process.
The unveiling at CES will be limited to a test version of the device, in consideration of its positioning as an industrial application. The printer will be officially available in early 2017. The inkjet printing market monopolized by such brands as 3D System, Solidscape and Objet is regarded as the most promising area in that the technologies are considered superior to FDM, SLA, SLS and SLM. We can see from the frequent delays in the release of HP's MJM products that there is indeed high demand for the technology, nevertheless the delays by a leading U.S.-based maker also explain why no Chinese vendor has yet developed such high-precision devices.
CTC public relations manager He Siyi disclosed the two reasons for the delay: its partner University of London has encountered delays in the progress of developing the materials and the company itself faced challenges with the software lectotype. Having closely analyzed the situation, CTC decided to increase the investment in the program from 8 million yuan (approx. US$1.25 million) to 12 million yuan (approx. US$1.9 million), with the aim of introducing the beta product ahead of HP.
Ms. He also let it be known that the yet unnamed printer will use two resins as the main and supporting ingredients, with a printing area of approx. 200 mm X 230mm X 198 mm, a maximum resolution of 750 * 1600 and a layer thickness as low as 25 microns.
CTC also had some good news: its product Formaker had recently returned to the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter after going through a bumpy crowdfunding journey overseas.
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