Three Finishing Options, Shorter Lead Time and Improved Detailing: Introducing New Bronze!
Bronze is an affordable and strong metal that has been used by mankind since antiquity. But now ours has become ALL NEW. We’re excited to unveil our improved Bronze today, now with three finishing options! And the good news continues: our new Bronze production method – wax 3D Printing and lost-wax casting – makes it possible to 3D Print smaller details with higher accuracy, in a shorter turnaround time. What more could you ask for?
Serpents Buckle by Michael Mueller – Unpolished PU coated
Here are our three new Bronze finishes:
- Natural (unpolished) Uncoated
- Natural (unpolished) PU-Coated
- Polished PU-Coated
The new yellowish-gold color is quite vivid compared with the old Bronze color, yet it’s still perfect for adding an antique flavor to your design. Whether it be rings or pendants, the slightly mottled surface of Bronze will make your models look nicely “aged”, even right after printing.
Natural PU-Coated and Natural Uncoated look almost the same, but PU coating prevents your bronze from oxidizing over time. We recommend you to have your Bronze PU-coated, especially because there’s no extra charge for PU coating.
Ring by Bert De Niel – Natural (unpolished) uncoated
Nail by Luigi Vaghi – Natural (Unpolished) PU coated
Polished PU-Coated Bronze has an even more intense golden color, much like glossy Brass. Our carefully polished Bronze shines with an authentic look!
Ring by Bert De Niel – Polished PU coated
Ring by Bert De Niel – Left: Polished PU coated, Right: Natural (Unpolished) uncoated
Lead Time Is Now Only 15–18 Days
With the old production technique, 3D printing in Bronze used to take a little longer than other materials to achieve the best print quality. We typically shipped Bronze in 20–25 business days, but we’ve now shortened this to just 15–18 business days. This huge reduction in lead time was made possible by the new process we apply for Bronze – wax 3D Printing and lost-wax casting – which is also used to 3D Print Gold, Silver and Brass.
Wax 3D Printing and lost-wax casting
Smaller Details & Greater Accuracy
If you compare the pictures below, you can see that the snakes’ scales appear much more clearly in the new Bronze. This is because our new Bronze has a greater ability to show minimal and delicate details. However, if you choose a polished finish, small details and sharp corners will be slightly smoother and rounded off.
Serpents Buckle by Michael Mueller- Top: old bronze, Bottom: new bronze, natural PU coated
Serpents Buckle by Michael Mueller – Natural (Unpolished) PU coated
We also improved the print accuracy, which means your design is more likely to be printed in the exact dimension as you designed it in your software. For more detailed design rules, check out the full material page here.
Our website manager Franky 3D scanned and 3D Printed in Bronze!
Larger Objects Are Now Printable
Last but not least, we’ve also enlarged the maximum printable size (bounding box)! With the new production method, the maximum printable dimensions for Bronze are now 88 x 63 x 125 mm – again, exactly the same as our popular metal materials Gold, Silver and Brass. Compared with the old dimensions, 50 x 50 x 50 mm, you can 3D Print much larger objects in Bronze, such as artistic sculptures.
A flat rate is applied for small models up to ±1 cm3. Pricing for larger models is calculated based on the volume of the model, and is more or less comparable to that of Brass. To know the exact price of your model, upload it on the 3D print lab!
Sample Kit – Left: Polished PU coated, Right: Natural (Unpolished) PU coated
What would you design with our all-new Bronze? Share your thoughts in comments below!
