Hewlett Packard just launched their long expected line of HP 3D printers with Multi Jet Fusion technology at Rapid 2016. HP will initially launch two 3D printers; the HP Jet Fusion 3D 3200 and the HP Jet Fusion 3D 4200.

Rumors started a few days ago when Rapid 2016 showed an exhibitor map of the show, where HP occupies two massive blocks of floor-space.

HP Multi Jet Fusion™ technology – How it works

As with many 3D printing processes, HP Multi Jet Fusion technology starts by laying down a thin layer of material in the working area. Next, the carriage containing an HP Thermal Inkjet array passes from left-to-right, printing chemical agents across the full working area. The layering and energy processes are combined in a continuous pass of the second carriage from top-to-bottom. The process continues, layer-by-layer, until a complete part is formed. At each layer, the carriages change direction for optimum productivity.

Using HP Thermal Inkjet arrays with their high number of nozzles per inch, HP’s proprietary synchronous architecture is capable of printing over 30 million drops per second across each inch of the working area.

3MF file format

HP joins forces with Microsoft, 3D Systems, Autodesk and many more industry leaders in order to support a new file format called 3MF.

3MF is an XML-based data format that will allow design applications to send full-fidelity 3D models to a mix of other applications, platforms, services and printers. The 3MF specification allows companies to focus on innovation, rather than on basic interoperability issues, and it is engineered to avoid the problems associated with other 3D file formats.

Why is 3MF better than for instance STL?

When you want to print something with a dual head printer your software currently requires two separate STL files to be loaded – one for each material. A .3MF for such a print would simply consist of a single file.