Makers with big ambitions and small workshops can now realize their dreams in plastic, wood, metal, and even chocolate with the ZMorph 2.0 multi-function 3D fabricator. The versatile unit is based on 3D printer technology, but instead of a dedicated plastic extruder it has a quick-change interface which accepts any one of a growing number of interchangeable tool heads. This enables the ZMorph to perform both additive and subtractive processes on a wide variety of materials as well as 3D scanning.
The ZMorph personal fabricator can perform additive or subtractive manufacturing in a wide variety of materials. Other interchangeable tool heads extend the machine's capabilities even further. (Source: ZMorph.)
Besides a conventional single- and dual-head plastic extruder, the current offerings include a CNC milling attachment and a laser cutter. You can also buy an extruder which handles industrial pastes (rubber, silicon, ceramic etc…) and another extruder specially designed for creating edible objects using chocolate and other substances. The ZMorph team is also developing a pick and place tool head for assembling electronic circuits and a 5-axis universal tool head.
Interchangeable tool heads allow the ZMorph personal fabricator to perform 3-axis milling, laser cutting/engraving, and 3D printing in plastic, silicon, ceramic or chocolate. (Source: ZMorph.)
ZMorph's latest fabricator boasts a working volume of 250 x 235 x 165 mm. When configured for 3D printing, it can use nearly any commercial printing filament, including ABS, PLA, PVA, nylon, policarbonate, BandLay, LayBrick, and LayWood. For printing, or any other operation, it can place a tool head with a precision of 14 microns for the X and Y axes, and 0.625 microns in the Z axis.
Much of the ZMorph's design is based on open-source technology, making it easier for users to make their own modifications and improvements to their machine. For example, ZMorph has published the mechanical and electronic specifications of their tool head interface as open documents, enabling users to create their own interoperable tool heads. The open-source architecture extends to the fabricator's operating firmware, allowing it to be driven by standard open source software (Pronterface, YARRH, etc.).
But while the ZMorph fabricator can accept files from slicers such as Cura, Slic3r, KisSlicer and SFACT, it relies primarily on Voxelizer, its own in-house developed software. The printer software processes and prints objects using a "voxelization" technique in which .stl or .dxf models are represented as 3D-pixels, rather than the triangular meshes used by other programs. By treating the entire model as a volumetric whole, the software is able to perform 3D filtering, work directly with MRI (medical) scan data and other operations that are not possible with traditional approaches.
Even when equipped with a full set of interchangeable tool heads, the ZMorph fabricator costs less than $4000. (Source: ZMorph)
The basic ZMorph fabricator, equipped with a single-filament print head, has a base price of $1990. A fully-equipped version with a complete collection of tool heads costs $3795.
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