Anna Zhao

    anna.whizh@yahoo.com

    WHILE 3-D printing technology is pushing human creativity to a new level, the slow printing speed remains a throttling bottleneck for extensive use. But now, a Shenzhen company has pushed the envelope further by churning out a new generation of 3-D printers with printing speeds about five times faster than most on the market today.

    The desktop 3-D printer presented by Shenzhen Weistek Co. can achieve a maximum printing speed of 450 centimeters per second, far outpacing the current market speed of 100 centimeters per second, according to the company’s founder and CEO Chen Wenjuan.

    The printer can produce a customized bracelet with a complex design in eight minutes, a job that would take most other printers about an hour. The printer was unveiled at the first China Intelligent Equipment Industry Exposition at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center in Futian District on Wednesday.

    The company said the selling price of such a 3-D printer would be no more than 10,000 yuan (US$1,635) when it goes to market in September.

    3-D printing technology has been increasingly applied in the fields of industrial design, consumer products, medical and military product manufacturing as the technology matures. Statistics from the World 3-D Printing Technology Industry Association indicates that by the end of 2014, 3-D printing had a market value of around US$5 billion, and it boasts huge potential in the near future.

    Chen, who has been closely following the development of 3-D printing technology, said that in comparison with Germany, the U.S. and Japan, China’s 3-D printing market is still in an early stage of development. Although 3-D printers are becoming more affordable, most of her company’s products have been sold abroad.

    Chen attributed the disparity to the different lifestyles of people in the two markets. But she is confident that the market will soon increase exponentially in China, especially in cities like Shenzhen, where makers bloom.

    The speed breakthrough promises extensive applications in early and vocational education in China, a field that will receive foreseeable benefits from the technology.

    Mastering the basic operation skills of 3-D printers has become easy — experiments have shown that it takes a primary school student about 20 minutes to learn to operate a 3-D printer.

    “The fast speed can greatly reduce printing time, making it possible for 3-D printers to be applied to classroom teaching,” she said, but added that digital content remains a major challenge for the use of 3-D printing in China.

    Chen’s company Wednesday inked a strategic cooperation agreement with a leading domestic children’s publishing house for authorization to use the publishing house’s digital content.

    Chen opined that future development of 3-D printing technology would be a more fine-sorted market classified by different printing materials tailored to the needs of different industries.

    “The real revolutionary change by 3-D printers will be brought by the development of all elements in the whole industry chain. Fast printing speed is vital to the change,” she said.