Nikon, more commonly known for its cameras and photography equipment, is branching out, and has published a patent application for a new type of 3D printer.
The Japanese company, which celebrated its centenary last year, filed the patent back in 2015, suggesting the branching out is not a recent spontaneous decision. The patent filed includes a feature that would make Nikon’s 3D printer unique – the ability to correct its own mistakes.
3Dprint.com reports that the patent includes an “inspecting unit”, which would examine the print’s layers one-by-one to spot holes or rough surfaces, and would then fill in any holes, or take action to ensure the subsequent layer still adhered to the rough surface. The website suggests that “this self-correcting mechanism would take care of some of the most common flaws in metal powder-based prints to deliver better quality overall.”
Nikon’s move into 3D printing makes it the latest in a long line of seemingly-unrelated companies jumping on the bandwagon, including Apple, Airbus and even Disney, all of whom have filed patents in the 3D printing industry in recent years. It also positions itself alongside other photography equipment manufacturers to have made the sideways move into 3, following Kodak and Polaroid, the latter of which is also now putting its branding on EBP’s remanufactured printer cartridges.
3Dprint.com believes that with this patent, “Nikon has the potential to change the 3D printing industry”, as it claims that “porosity is one of the biggest problems in powder-based 3D printing […] a printer that can repair that issue as well as other surface imperfections would be a big thing.”
“Sometimes it’s the newcomers that are truly innovative, that come into the industry after their own products start to become obsolete and offer entirely new ideas,” it continues. “Will Nikon’s 3D printer proposal become a reality? We’ll have to wait and see, but if it does, it could certainly be interesting.”
