Is full color the future of 3d printing? Inside the HeyGears G1X

Technological concepts & how full-color 3D printing works (HeyGears G1X)

• Inkjet-style full-color 3D printing: The system jets UV ink droplets from nozzles/print head and cures them with UV light.
• Layer-by-layer 3D color build: Color printing uses multiple ink/material streams, including:
  • Color inks (cyan, yellow, red, gray, white)
  • Body ink
  • Support material (noted as water-soluble)
• Support strategy is “around the entire print”: Due to the low viscosity of the liquid during printing, the material must land on support plates/surfaces. Overhangs are essentially not supported—they state you generally can’t tolerate even small overhangs.

Post-processing / support removal tutorial elements

• Water-soluble support removal: Support dissolves in water in ~6–7 minutes (faster if heated).
• Dissolution setup described: The printed part is mounted (on glass for weight), and a pump circulates water while the support dissolves gradually.

What’s harder in 3D vs traditional 2D UV printing (analysis)

• Flatness is critical in 3D: If a layer isn’t flat, stacking causes grooves/valleys that affect final surface quality.
• Why 2D color calibration doesn’t transfer directly: In 2D UV printing, unevenness is less visually problematic and color is largely determined on a flat plane. In 3D, color reproduction must account for depth (Z) effects across layers, not just X/Y.

Key hardware features & engineering choices

1) Droplet observation + calibration

• Confocal microscope (height measurement):
  • Measures droplet/layer flatness and height variance by shifting focus and using sharpness to infer depth.
  • Produces cross-sectional/height data.
• Droplet state monitoring:
  • A high-speed camera rig observes droplets falling from the nozzle, including merging behavior (two droplets merging into a larger one).
• Ink jet waveform control:
  • Different waveforms and print-head voltage influence droplet size and droplet count.

2) Print head selection and channel count

• They use an Epson I32000 print head with 8 channels.
• Rationale:
  • 3D printing needs more channels for CMYK + W + support + clear (or similar multi-material set).
  • They claim the 1080 head’s viscosity support is “too low” for 3D mechanical performance.
• Material strength depends on viscosity: Lower viscosity is said to worsen mechanical performance after curing.
• Print head heating: Heating reduces viscosity to enable jetting of higher-viscosity inks, improving mechanical performance.

3) Cable reliability improvement for 24/7 operation

• They route signals using fiber optic lines instead of traditional electrical ribbon/FPC-style wiring.
• Reasons given:
  • Long continuous runtime (up to 24 hours) stresses cables.
  • Fiber is claimed to last millions to tens of millions of bend cycles, versus hundreds of thousands for ribbon cable.
  • Interference immunity: fiber carries light, reducing electrical noise pickup.

4) Build size

• Example stated maximum print height: 150 mm.

Color reproduction approach (algorithms + calibration workflow)

• In-house 3D color algorithms: They claim traditional 2D RIP/color methods can’t achieve proper 3D color reproduction.
  • Their algorithm calibrates for color across volumetric (depth) thickness, not only surface reflectance.
• Calibration instruments:
  • A color meter/color measurement instrument compares printed color charts against targets.
• Process described:
  1. Print a color chart / swatches.
  2. Software computes an ICC-like mapping / curves (referred to as IC curve).
  3. Measure the actual output.
  4. Adjust to match desired colors.
• 2D vs 3D swatch differences:
  • 2D color is described as being reproduced through reflection (including a white base layer).
  • 3D color is described as coming from ink thickness/stacked layers, affected by transparency and internal layout.

Flatness optimization: ink + process parameters + software

• Ripple/imperfection causes: Flatness is tied mainly to ink properties and process settings, including:
  • ink flow pressure
  • jetting voltage
  • ink surface tension, viscosity
  • curing power
  • droplet/coalescence and scatter behavior
• They reference using:
  • a RIP algorithm
  • “process algorithms”
  • before/after measurement using their instruments to verify improvement.

Materials lab / testing methodology (what they test and why)

• Water-soluble support formulation testing:
  • They test multiple formulations for:
    • dissolve speed
    • support performance requirements
  • Then select one for the final 3D process.
• Mechanical/material property tests:
  • strength-related performance
  • elongation at break
  • elastic modulus
• FTIR instrument for cure conversion rate:
  • Uses broad infrared spectroscopy to observe which chemical bonds change during curing.
  • Helps determine conversion/cure conversion rate (progress of liquid-to-solid reaction).

Software pipeline: slicing and dot placement (RIP)

• Slicing:
  • Converts a 3D mesh (triangles) into 2D slice contours by computing intersection edges per layer.
  • For color, it calculates color at edge vertices/points using an RGB representation.
• RIP / dot rendering steps:
  • RGB → CMYK-like / print color space mapping using ICC profile control
  • scaling/trivial preprocessing
  • Halftoning (grayscale → dot image): converts grayscale into variable dot density maps
• 3D-specific RIP is custom:
  • Dot placement must support both:
    • color
    • shape/flatness per layer (accounting for Z-layer effects, not just X/Y neighbors)
  • Their 3D RIP development started “since 2024”.

Product/business notes mentioned (non-core but present)

• They discuss a dental business and expansion plans (software/materials/digital workflows implied).
• Printer model mention:
  • G1X (3D capable)
  • G1 described as more like a traditional UV flat printer
• They mention recommended official inks, while stating there is no hardware/software lock-in.

Main speakers / sources (as identified in subtitles)

• Scott from HeyGears (CEO/co-founder introducer; also identified by name as “Scott from Heygears”)
• Leangong / Leong (lead engineer; demonstrates support removal and technical processes)
• Wayne (software-side speaker; explains slicing and RIP/color algorithms)
• Additional off-camera colleague (technical English translator support)
• Video sponsorship note: HeyGears (sponsoring the segment)