Color Ink 'Gets Its Feet Wet' in 3D Printing

By Ashley Roberts

As a "boutique printer," Color Ink in Sussex, Wisconsin, aims to help its customers stand out with customized, high-impact solutions. Todd Meissner, president of the company, explains it ventured into 3D printing with the Bambu Lab H2D as a way to get it's "feet wet" while opening up its capabilities.

"It really opens up a level of imagination and creativity that was not easily accessible and affordable without 3D printing technology," Meissner says.

And while the Bambu is a way for the company to try its hand at 3D printing, it will also be integral if Color Ink decides to expand its capabilities in the future.

"The H2D offers the largest print area of desktop printers along with dual nozzles for fast and precise printing of multi-color pieces, making it a great standalone option for where we are now," Meissner explains. "If we decide to invest in a larger, commercial level printer, the H2D will be a great prototyping machine to dial in models for larger print runs."

A Broad Range of Materials and Applications

Meissner explains that with the range of materials and applications possible with the Bambu, it was a practical choice for its customer needs.

“Another feature of the Bambu H2D is a temperature controlled, filtered enclosure," he says. "This allows us to not only print standard PLA and PETG, we are also able to print more finicky materials like ABS and TPU. PLA, and the slightly stronger PETG, are what most 3D printed decorative pieces are made with. They offer low cost, easy to control printing in a huge variety of colors, finishes, transparencies, and even effects like color changing based on temperature. ABS is a much stronger printing material that can be used to print weight bearing parts like specialty brackets or hangers."

It even opens up opportunities to create things that a print service provider might not have even considered.

"Ever want to print your own pair of shoes?" he asks. "No, us either, but if we did, we could use TPU to print a pair of flexible, rubber-like shoes."

This flexibility also enables Color Ink to move beyond prototypes.

“Speed, quality and affordability are the strengths of this latest generation of printers and materials," Meissner says. "Using the materials mentioned above, we can do actual production runs in the 100s versus just individual prototypes.”

Supporting the Company’s Strategy

For Color Ink, this addition is more than just a technology purchase — it’s part of a broader business philosophy.

“We consider ourselves a boutique printer with a lot of unique capabilities that add value to our customers," Meissner says. "The addition of the 3D printer really dovetails nicely with the markets we serve and the products we produce.”

That customer-focused innovation is central to how Color Ink envisions the technology’s impact. It gives the company flexibility to customize jobs to exact specifications and will ultimately help brands differentiate themselves against the competition.

Now that Color Ink has the technology, the "easy part" is over. It's up to the team to deliver the high-quality, boutique style work Color Ink's customers are used to.

"The easy part is finding the right machine and materials to do the job," Meissner says. "The most difficult part is having a team of people who know how to use the technology.”

This holiday pole topper was produced by Color Ink for a major vodka brand. The white cap on top of the pole topper was 3D printed. Five hundred displays were produced in one week.

Color Ink produced this Thor Hammer replica for a customer to be used at a trade show. The overall height of the display was almost 10-ft. tall. While most of the display components were produced with Xanita board, the hardware components were custom designed and printed on Color Ink's Bambu Lab H2D 3D printer.