Desktop Metal Launches ETEC 3D Printer Brand

Desktop Metal’s ETEC is a new 3D printing brand that was developed to enable EnvisionTEC, the original inventor of digital light processing (DLP) technology, to better connect with industrial customers.

EnvisionTEC 3D printers, which are said to provide high levels of accuracy and surface finish, have been used in the health care, dental, medical and jewelry industries since 2002. After Desktop Metal acquired EnvisionTEC in 2021, the company launched Desktop Health to focus on health care and dental customers. Now, ETEC will focus on bringing its high-speed, photopolymer 3D printing solutions to volume manufacturers of consumer and industrial products.

“Desktop Metal’s integration strategy is to focus on customers and their application needs first, so we can craft the most personalized and compelling business case for them to adopt Additive Manufacturing 2.0 technologies for volume production,” says Ric Fulop, Desktop Metal Founder and CEO. “Our launch of ETEC and Desktop Health allows us to speak more directly to specific customers with focused needs and serve them better. ETEC offers incredibly powerful 3D printers paired with exclusive materials that are already driving a new wave of consumer and industrial innovation.”

By strategically integrating 3D printing technologies, materials, software and applications, Desktop Metal aims to propel growing numbers of manufacturers into AM 2.0 so they can benefit from increased design flexibility, reduced waste, improved time to market, and greater financial savings while derisking their supply chains.

One example is ETEC’s partnership with Adaptive3D (another subsidiary of Desktop Metal), to offer its 3D printed photo elastomers exclusively on ETEC additive manufacturing systems, optimizing their performance through integration between hardware and materials.

ETEC is said to offer a broad portfolio of photopolymer 3D printing materials, including Elastic Tough Rubber 90 (ETR 90), which it says is a high tear strength elastomer. ETR can already be found in products on store shelves, including power tool adapters and recoil pads, with additional applications for Adaptive3D’s broader library of elastomers across consumer and industrial applications such as shoe midsoles, seat cushions and more.