Spectrom Wants to Color Prints Down to the Voxel

Unless you’re working with one of the more expensive additive manufacturing (AM) systems out there, the term “color printing” can be somewhat misleading. While it may be technically true that even a fused deposition modeling (FDM) system can offer different colors of prints, that isn’t really the same as color printing. For the moment, if you really need a system capable of producing fully colored objects, you’ll have to pay for the privilege.

That may be changing. Last year, Rapid Ready covered a startup company by the name of Spectrom. Fresh out of college, developers Cédric Kovacs-Johnson and Charles Haider are attempting to bring full-color 3D printing to an FDM platform. Even better, the company intends for its coloring platform to be compatible with most FDM 3D printers already on the market.

Spectrom’s coloring system attached to a Robo printer. Courtesy of Spectrom.

Spectrom’s coloring process uses an algorithm to determine when and where a dye should be added to the filament flow to produce the desired color mix. The filament goes directly from the dying process to the fusing process, where the dye is essentially baked in to place.

Right now, Spectrom is able to produce basic full-color prints, is in the midst of beta testing and showed off its work at CES. The next stage of development for the company is to further refine its coloring algorithm to allow for finer color details. The eventual goal is the ability to color objects down to the voxel (like a pixel, only in 3D), which will offer much finer color control.

Obviously there’s no word on pricing yet for Spectom’s system, but it isn’t very difficult to envision a future where the company’s coloring platform is frequently seen sharing space with FDM 3D printers. I think Spectrom has made a very smart decision to develop a system that is capable of working with existing 3D printers rather than developing a new AM system.

Below you’ll find Spectrom’s short CES intro video.

Source: Spectrom