A 3D Printer That Uses—Wait for it—Printer Paper
While most 3D printing is done with plastic, this one uses a more common material.
Most 3D printing is done with different types of plastic, but as we’ve said before, there’s more than one kind of machine that falls under the “3D printer” umbrella. Along with the devices that print organs and cars, there’s one that uses the last material you’d expect: printer paper.
Demonstrated in the video above, Mcor Technologies’ IRIS printer creates vivid models with relatively low cost materials. First, the user prints out 2D shapes on standard printer paper using special ink (it has to soak all the way through the paper, or there will be white spaces in the finished product.) Then the paper is fed through the IRIS one sheet at a time and cut down to the size of the finished model. The process repeats, with adhesive added constantly, until all of the sheets have been cut and glued into one solid mass.
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