3D printers are promising to be big news this year, with Hershey’s chocolate-based attempts and a new multi-colour, multi-material printer from Stratasys all announced in the space of a couple of weeks.

Another 3D printer, this one from Mark Forged and named the Mark One, has been in secret development for a year, and now that it’s finished, it can 3D print carbon fibre.

That last statement is a touch inaccurate. The Mark One doesn’t work only with carbon fibre, the desktop printer is also capable of printing in fibreglass, nylon and PLA, or if you want, a composite of all these materials with carbon fibre added for strength. That’s a little more versatile than we’re used to, especially for a 3D printer that is expected to retail for $5,000 (R56,000).

The company says that the printer will be able to provide the market with stronger prototypes as well as, and here the potential of the Mark One really comes through, the printing of “…prosthetics, custom bones, tools and fixtures.”

Source: The Verge