Ricoh enters 3D print market

Ricoh has announced details of its first branded 3D printer, the AM S5500P. It’s the first home-grown fruit of the Additive Manufacturing Business that Ricoh announced back in September 2014. Up to now the company has been selling third-party 3D printers and offering services from consulting to 3D data design and fabrication.

Ricoh partnered with Aspect to develop the S5500P and the two companies will continue to work together to develop proprietary material and enhancing functions. The printer itself is an additive device using selective laser sintering, or SLS. This technique involves depositing a powdered material that then is irradiated with the laser for sintering.

In addition to the polymer powder materials mainly used with the SLS method, such as PA*211 and PA12, universally applicable and highly functional materials PA6 and PP*3 can also be used. This is important to manufacturers, such as those in the automotive industry, as it can produce parts for functional tests, as well as the parts for end products.

It has a large modelling area of 550 mm (W) × 550 mm (D) × 500 mm (H) and can fabricate different kinds of parts at the same time, as well as large parts all at once.

It’s been shown at the Formnext show in Frankfurt, Germany this week and should be on sale in the summer of 2016.

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Nessan Cleary

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