MARKHAM, ON—Mi5 Print & Digital Communications is expanding beyond its traditional 2D commercial print offerings with the addition of an MCor Iris 3D printer.

Karl Cox, vice-president of Mi5, said the device can be used in a variety of ways. For example, packaging customers can have container prototypes produced "at a fraction of a cost," and marketing clients can create 3D add-ons for traditional 2D direct mail pieces. "Whatever you can imagine, you can pretty much do it," said Cox.

Mi5 will also function as a Canadian reseller for Ireland-based Mcor, operating as a dealer for both the Iris (pictured up top) and the Matrix 300+ models.

Unlike other 3D printers which typically use plastic polymer, Mcor machines use paper as a substrate. Inks are used for colour, and Cox said the new install prints in full CMYK. The machine produces a paper "block" that is then cracked open revealing the 3D printed piece inside.

Cox said he was initially skeptical about the hype surrounding 3D printing. "Why was it even called printing?" he said, recalling his doubts. Seeing the Mcor device changed his mind. "What intrigued me was that it was actually using inks, and those inks are being applied to paper. And so essentially, it really is printing. To me, that was a segue between being a 2D commercial printer to being one that also sold 3D printing. There was a relationship between the two," he said.

Mi5 will officially launch its Mcor line at the Graphics Canada show this November in Toronto.