Solidscape, a solid little company based in New Hampshire (i.e., CY 10 revenues of $13.4-million) that produces 3D printers for investment casting applications—jewelry, medical, dental, industrial—has just gotten a big boost as additive manufacturing systems maker Stratasys has announced that it has acquired Solidscape.

Stratasys CEO Scott Crump explained, “We believe there is a significant market opportunity to expand its business in the under-penetrated jewelry market and relatively undeveloped medical, dental and industrial markets. Solidscape’s 3D printers are used in the manufacturing process, which is consistent with our strategy to pursue new markets for direct digital manufacturing applications.”

The Stratasys portfolio includes additive systems under the Fortus 3D Production Systems and Dimension 3D printers brand. It also operates RedEye on Demand, a digital manufacturing service.

The Solidscape process is called SCP, or Smooth Curvature Printing. It uses non-toxic thermoplastic materials that have lost wax casting properties. The material is built up in a layer-by-layer process, with layer thickness ranging from 0.0127 to 0.0762 mm and a resolution of 5,000 x 5,000 x 8,000 dpi.