The Collider Orchid is a professional 3D printer made by Collider, a manufacturer from the US. Collider was acquired by high-performance 3D printer manufacturer Essentium in July 2021.

The Collider Orchid 3D printer uses the DLP 3D printing technology to turn liquid resin into detailed 3D printed molds. The 3D printer then injects these molds with commercial grade plastics to create the final parts.

Collider Orchid 3D printing process

The Orchid 3D printer uses a three-step patent-pending 3D printing process called “Programmable Tooling by Collider”. The three steps are:

1. Print – The shell and its injection pipes are 3D printed, following a continuous (Digital Light Processing) DLP 3D printing process.
2. Fill – Using the 3D printed injection pipes, the shell is filled.
3. Dissolve – The shell and pipes are dissolved, leaving a production-quality part.

Collider Orchid features

This 3D printer is controlled via a very large color touchscreen on its front moving panel.

The Collider Orchid offers a 3D printing speed of 36 cm/hr (production target) and a pilot of 7.2 cm/hr.

Collider Orchid materials

The Collider Orchid is compatible with the following 3D printing materials:
– General Purpose Rigid Polyurethane (Shore 65D)
– Medium Softness Silicone (Shore 25A)
– Firm Urethane Rubber (Shore 60A)
– Flame Retardant Polyurethane (Shore 73D)