Today I got to play with a 310 from zCorp. Nice tool I have to say. This is a powder binder system based monochrome 3D printer. That means that powder is filled in a hole layer by layer and a inkjet nozzle basically paints the appropriate cross section on it and therefore the powder is glued together. So you can form almost any object. But there are some problems with the thing, one It takes ages to dry. I have some rather small part about 30 x 50 x 5 mm but even after an hour drying the first part I touched crumbled directly. Second a resolution of 300 dpi, yeah you wish I might make so validation parts to see what it can do depending on the feature ( I am going to post them later). And last but not least the whole powder thing is a bloody mess. It takes ages to free your parts form the excessive powder masses while avoiding damaging your part on one hand and not letting the used powder fall back in the feeder.

Well I am going to test some of the other systems. Because I will need flexible parts at the end anyway. I am also going to try shapeways a dutch 3D printing social thing.

I keep you posted