3D Printing in Multi-Color

Photo © Andre Tiemann

As most of us knows that most three dimensional printers prints only in one (1) color. However, multi-color 3D printers has been around for years yet remains unpopular because of some alignment problems and the difficulty to mix colors on the fly.

Photo © Andre Tiemann

But after seeing some printed works of Andre Tiemann, the builder of two RepRap Prusa Mendels and the founder of Draft Print 3D (a one-stop-shop low-cost 3D print service), I’m convinced that multi-color 3D printing has arrived.

Photo © Andre Tiemann

Andre spent his free time experimenting different methods of printing that enables multi-colour results using a one-color 3D printer. He even shared an awesome tutorial on how to create multi-color prints using a single extruder machine.

I have embraced the immense potential offered by the technology. The ability to create three-dimensional prototypes and production ready parts on the fly still boggles my mind at times.

Photo © Andre Tiemann

Andre Tiemann also prints all his 3D business cards using the same process. You can read his tutorial at 3ders.org including some methods on multi-color tracing, printing and layering.