Art Center College of Design Invests in Paper-Based 3D Printing to Cut Costs, Go Green

If you ask David Cawley why the Art Center College of Design needed a twelfth 3D printer, his answer would be simple: paper beats powder and plastic.

Cawley says what makes this latest, paper-based 3D printer by Mcor stand out at the Art Center College of Design is its low cost and environmentally-friendly features.

“I saw the machine and the way it prints and the low cost of materials,” says Cawley, Director of Rapid Prototyping and Model Shops, Art Center College of Design. “(It has the) cost of regular 8.5 x 11 paper, where you can buy it for 99 cents. We thought, ok great, this may be a cheap way of making three-dimensional parts. That was one of the things that spurred me on.”

Cutting costs

Cawley says before purchasing the printer, he considered the potential use it provided for students, especially in the college’s transportation design department.

“We have a big transportation design department and we make a lot of models of cars,” he says. “We don’t make full size cars, but we make them at one-fifth scale. What that involves is making a lot of wheels…I thought, ok, the paper printer is going to be a great way to make fifth scale wheels and tires for cars.”

Cawley says the cost of making those tires dropped with the paper-based 3D printer.

“The wheels were something that we embraced right away,” he says. “We introduced a lot of (transportation design) students to it and showed them the wheels and the very low cost. Where other technologies might cost 150 to 200 dollars in different technologies in wheels, we’re only going to cost ten or 20 dollars on the paper machine. The cost was a big factor in terms of material.”

Julie Reece, Director of Marketing for Mcor says the paper-based 3D printer also helped students keep their wallets thick.

“(Art Center College of Design) already has multiple other printers and a large population of students,” she says. “They had to charge students for the materials, and these students couldn’t really afford to use the plastic or powder machines because it’s hundreds of dollars for one model. That’s a lot of money for a student or family.”