There's a New Xerox Machine in Town, And It Can 3D Print on Any Object

Inkjet printers have always been limited by their inability to print on 3D surfaces—until now.

Demoed at the drupa print media fair, Xerox (AKA photocopying royalty), is printing its way towards a 3D future with—the Direct to Object Inkjet Printer.

 

At about $145,000 a piece, this printer is capable of printing on almost any 3D object you can find. All you have to do is put your object inside the machine, then it will print whatever desired image you have on the object's surface, with resolutions up to 1,200 DPI.

Moreover, the special image processing algorithms it runs on enable it to perform without having the user worry about errors, distortions, or warping. 

According to the company, “the printer leverages Xerox image quality algorithms that direct the tiny stainless steel nozzles—half the width of human hair—to accurately spray ink on objects as small as bottle caps and as large as football helmets.”

Printing on paper is now officially a thing of the past.