“Our customers tell us that they are interested in 3D technology and are looking at it, so it made sense for us to do the same,” said Paperlinx Digital Solutions manager Phil Tomlinson.
“We see it as a rapidly growing market and it’s something we wanted to be involved in so that we can advise our customers if it’s something they should be involved in too – or not, of course, if it’s not right for their [particular] business.”
According to Tomlinson, the interest in 3D printing is spread across a broad range of customers, from commercial, through to wide-format specialists and copyshops looking at adding applications from prototyping to short-run or personalised promotional products.
“The only common denominator is that they’re all asking the same questions: What is 3D? What can it do for me and my customers? Does it work inside my business? And is it a new opportunity for me to make some money?” he said.
The Ideas range that Paperlinx will market consists of the entry-level Mojo, which can produce products up to 127mm cubed, the uPrint SE, which can handle projects up to 203x152x152mm, and the range’s flagship machine the uPrint SE Plus, which can produce objects up to 203x203x152mm in a variety of colours.
The Ideas range is priced from £4,000 to around £20,000.
The merchanting group has spent the past nine-months investigating various products on the market before signing the Art Systems deal.
“The reason we went for this range is because it’s what you could consider entry-level, but professional quality in terms of build and also the products it makes,” said Tomlinson.
He added that depending on customer interest, Paperlinx might also look to take on higher productivity 3D printers in Art Systems range, which includes machines capable of producing objects up to 1m wide.
As well as the hardware, Paperlinx will also sell the consumables such as ABSplus additive. Sales will be handled by the Digital Solutions wing of Paperlinx’s Visual Technology Solutions division, which will also offer front-line support, but mechanical support will be backed by Art Systems UK in Nottingham.
The new partnership will be officially unveiled next Tuesday (18 November) at Paperlinx’s UK headquarters in Northampton, where some of the machines in the portfolio will be on show. Demo models will then begin a tour of the group’s demonstration centres, with the next scheduled for Glasgow on 25 November.
