Stratasys, the global leader in professional and industrial FDM 3D printing systems, has just launched the Xtend 500 Fortus Plus, a new 500-cubic-inch spool of ABS filament for up to 400 hours (that’s almost three weeks) of unattended 3D printing on its Fortus line of 3D printers. To obtain the full 400 hours, users will have to upload two packages of the the material (1,000 cubic inches) as the new Xtend 500 box – which is being presented at the Hannover Messe industrial tech expo this week – contains 500 cubic inches of thermoplastic material:
“For our customers, and 3D printing in general, developing a larger volume package is a huge step in navigating away from day-to-day 3D printer planning and operations,” said Brendan Dillon, product manager for Stratasys. “More time can now be spent on designing parts rather than wondering if the 3D printer is going to run out of material over the weekend.”
The new product, which is already supported by the Fortus 450mc, and can be integrated into the 360mc, 400mc and 900mc models through a Fortus Plus upgrade, is part of the company’s strategy to make prototyping and production of large parts as seamless as possible, reducing material changeover times and logistical costs for shipping and storage, allowing designer to focus more on the creative aspect and less on the production process.
Currently, Xtend 500 is available in ABS-M30 (ivory and black) and PC, as well as in their respective support materials. Most system owners will also benefit from streamlined logistics when sharing material stock across several different systems. In case you are wondering what you could print with 500 cubic inches of material, here’s something: the entire (8,000 cc), ridiculously large motor of the Viper Millyard motorcycle. And it would only take a little more than a week to print.
