HP joining 3D printer market with Stratasys deal

From CNET News.com: Hewlett-Packard, one of the biggest names in printing, is dipping into the 3D printer market through a deal with Minneapolis, Minn.-based Stratasys, the companies said Tuesday.

3D printers let people create three-dimensional models out of designs created on a computer, constructing the model by either removing material from a block or by building it up gradually from another material. Stratasys will manufacture an HP-branded 3D printer set for release later this year.

This isn't a consumer product you can use to make your own copy of Auguste Rodin's "The Thinker." Instead, it's for mechanical computer-aided design tasks such as architecture or component prototyping.

The technology isn't cheap. Stratasys' least expensive model, the uPrint 3D that's small enough to sit on a desk and can make an object measuring a maximum of 8 inches by 6 inches by 6 inches, costs $14,900. The company's printers use a technology called FDM (fused deposition modeling) that gradually builds up a shape layer by layer out of a material called thermoplastic that turns liquid when heated.
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