Our technical journey from 2D to 3D printing
Like a double helix, our craft and 3D printing businesses were intertwined by innovations in photopolymer. Over 20 years ago, we invented imagepac, a product to make stamp making better. This package of photopolymer was so effective that we ended using it ourselves, becoming the largest clear stamp manufacturer in the world.
A few years later we invented the most reactive photopolymer, enabling us to make Stampmaker, a home stamp making kit that hardened daylight imagepac with a 60W table lamp. The next innovation was to harden this polymer with the light from an LCD screen, printing a thick stamp with a single image. Changing the image and moving in small steps created the first LCD 3D printer.
To reduce cost, we automated the stamp making process, inventing Costa which removed all the labour and became the world’s first continuously operating autonomous liquid processing line. This machine provided practical experience that underpinned Jeni, our autonomous digital 3D printing process, which will sit in the heart of manufacturing factories of the future.
2023
- We are awarded an Innovate grant to incorporate machine learning into our Jeni autonomous digital manufacturing process, the project totals £0.9m and starts in October.
- In September The European Space Agency announces that Photocentric is their partner in developing a prototype printer to make plastics and ceramics, focussing on Silicon Carbide, using LCD screens.
- Launch of Liquid Crystal Titan, the largest LCD driven 3D printer ever, it offers game changing advantages over the competition.
- We launch bio-based resins and create new oligomers and making them from bio-waste.
2022
- We move into our new 66,000 sqft 3D printing facility Titan House in Peterborough.
- We lead a £2.5m Innovate funded Made Smarter project LEAD (Low Energy Autonomous Digital) manufacture.
- We create Jeni, autonomous digital manufacture using LCD screens.
- We lead a UK/Canadian Innovate funded 3D printed battery research grant, Cerambatt
- We achieve conductivity of 10-4 S/cm in a 3D printed battery with a polymer separator
- We launch functional flexible, tough, durable and plant based resins
2021
- We welcome HRH, The Princess Royal to our headquarters in recognition of our 3 Queen’s Awards.
- We move into a new 51,000 sqft building in Avondale, AZ.
- We launch the LC Opus, our first UV 3D Printer.
- Using just 45 Magna printers, we manufacture 1,000,000 face shields a month, or 50,000 a day, consuming an IBC of resin every 24 hours. We have finally demonstrated the true power of using LCD screens.
2020
- We receive our 3rd Queen’s Award for Innovation for the invention of the LCD 3D printer.
- We are awarded a Faraday grant to develop novel 3D printed solid state batteries.
- We start construction of new 66,000 sqft 3D printing facility in Peterborough.
- We create Photocentric 3D Inc to serve the 3D printing market in USA.
- Liquid Crystal Magna, Dental and Pro are all listed in Aniwaa’s best large volume 3D resin printers.
2019
- We partner with BASF to start the journey together to enable custom mass manufacture by offering functional materials with fully costed pricing models.
- The Liquid Crystal Precision 1.5 wins ‘Best Personal Printer of the Year’ at the 3D Printing Industry Awards.
- We launch our largest printer to date, the Liquid Crystal Magna.
- We print dense alumina parts using our Liquid Crystal Ceramic printer.
- We employ our 30th research scientist working in 3D printing.
2018
- We receive our 2nd Queen’s Award for International Trade in recognition of our growth in overseas sales.
- We launch the Liquid Crystal Precision 1.5 and Liquid Crystal HR 2 3D printers.
2017
- We launch Liquid Crystal Precision printer, our highest resolution printer driven by a 5.5” LCD screen
- We manufacture Colossus the largest LCD 3D printer ever, equipped with a 75” screen.
- We launch the Liquid Crystal HR 3D Printer.
- We win awards for Innovation, R&D and Best Overall Business at the SME Awards.
2016
- We are awarded The Queen’s Award for Innovation for imagepac.
- We move into a new 24,000 sqft building in Phoenix, Arizona.
- We design Costa 2, the largest automatic stamp processing machine ever at 120ft long and it processes over 70,000 stamps in a single shift.
- We launch the Liquid Crystal 10, the world’s first LCD driven 3D printer.
2015
- We move into a 35,000 sqft facility in Peterborough.
- We patent 3D printing using daylight polymer and LCD screens.
2014
- Photocentric is awarded a UK Govt Innovate grant to develop a protype for a new type of 3D printer powered by LCD screens.
- Using knowledge from our first daylight activated Stampmaker resins we make a 3D printed object created on a LCD screen.
2013
- We sell imagepac to users to make office stamps and use it ourselves to make millions of crystal-clear stamps.
- We make our 500 millionth stamp.
2012
- Craft stamps become our core market and we become expert in handling custom designs automatically.
- We export 70% of our turnover.
2011
- We expand and automate stamp production.
2010
- We open Photocentric Inc in Phoenix, Arizona to better supply the largest craft market in the world with USA made product.
- We design and manufacture the first automatic inline stamp processing machine, Costa. It processes imagepac sachets on a large rotary process automating liquid polymer processing for the first time.
2009
- Manufacture imagepac and processing stamps automatically in larger quantities than ever.
- Invent Stampmaker, the lowest cost and fastest stamp making machine ever sold. Sales of Stampmaker have now exceeded 50,000 units.
2008
- We use imagepac to make stamps and rapidly become the largest clear stamp manufacturer in Europe. We create our largest exposure unit, imagebox 10.
2007
- We start selling photopolymer to make flexographic printing plates.
2006
- We patent the digital exposure of daylight activated photopolymer using LCD screens.
- We make flexographic and lithographic plates using LCD screens.
2005
- We patent the world’s first daylight activated photopolymer.
- We invent a home stamp making product, imagepac daylight, that uses the light from a desk lamp with a negative printed on a home printer to make a printing plate. It is the first application of daylight cured photopolymer outside dental in the world. Many years later this novel daylight chemistry becomes the inspiration for our 3D printing business.
- We launch A8 imagepac size which becomes our most popular size, we now make sachets in all sizes from A8 up to A3.
2004
- We automate the manufacture of imagepac by designing our first automatic filling and sealing machine.
- We create imagepac xtra which is designed for business stamps and has an integrated backing sheet.
- We automate the construction of this multi-layered package.
2003
- We design our own exposure unit to make stamps using the imagepac sachets we make and call it imagebox. It’s our first experience of designing and engineering a machine.
2002
- Photocentric Ltd is formed in the summer of 2002 by Paul Holt in a small room in Peterborough. The basis of the company is to commercialise Paul Holt’s patent of pre-packaging photopolymer to enable stamp making- small flexographic printing plates. It makes stamps easier and faster.
- Our first imagepac packages containing photopolymer are made, it is the world’s first pre-packaged photopolymer printing plate.
- At first, imagepac is made manually by folding plastic, sealing the edges, filling the photopolymer and rolling the air bubbles out with a rolling pin. It’s a slow and variable process! We improve the product and export it around the world.
Our Core Values
Innovation
Innovation is at the heart of our business, the ability to have ideas and make better products from them. A team of enthusiastic scientists encompassing all the disciplines in manufacturing is currently working to create the true factory of the future.
Education
Having invented new products for 20 years we have always had to teach customers how to use them. Education is embedded in our culture. We encourage students to learn and embrace the academic community of the world.
Integrity
We have always honoured our commitments and have never broken a word of a contract. Our corporate default position is to trust and can be encapsulated as we treat everyone as we would want to be treated ourselves.
Value
We have always believed that innovation doesn’t have to come with a high price tag. The use of LCD screens has enabled greater reliability and productivity delivering lower manufactured costs.
Innovation
Innovation is at the heart of our business, the ability to have ideas and make better products from them. A team of enthusiastic scientists encompassing all the disciplines in manufacturing is currently working to create the true factory of the future.
Education
Having invented new products for 20 years we have always had to teach customers how to use them. Education is embedded in our culture. We encourage students to learn and embrace the academic community of the world.
Integrity
We have always honoured our commitments and have never broken a word of a contract. Our corporate default position is to trust and can be encapsulated as we treat everyone as we would want to be treated ourselves.
Value
We have always believed that innovation doesn’t have to come with a high price tag. The use of LCD screens has enabled greater reliability and productivity delivering lower manufactured costs.