lunedì 2 dicembre 2013

Printrbot: Your First 3D Printer

A desktop 3D printer you can build in a couple hours. Print plastic parts you design or download - even parts for another printer.

Finally, a 3D printer kit that anyone can build

I designed the Printrbot to be the simplest 3D printer yet.  There are some great kits out there - the Makerbot, the Ultimaker, the Prusa Mendel, and others - but none as small and simple as the Printrbot.  This all-in-one 3D printer kit can be assembled and printing in a couple of hours.  Other kits will not only take you many more hours to build, they will also have hundreds more parts, and they will cost more.  My design also does away with the finicky calibration and adjustment from which most 3D printers suffer.   This is the printer a kid could put together. We assemble the electronics, we assemble the hotend, and we put the connectors on all the motors and components... no soldering required!

Quality design and quality parts

The Printrbot is my original design, but borrows from many great designers in the open source 3D printer world (check out reprap.org).  This new printer incorporates some of the best practices out there.  We use the latest electronics and firmware,  linear bearings, smooth drill rod with tight tolerances, a lasercut print bed, the most popular extruder design, mechanical endstops, a manufactured PCB heated bed, a simple hotend with replacable tips, and it works with the latest open source software.  
Video of the Printrbot:
http://vimeo.com/printrbot/videos
More Info: printrbot.com

Authentic and Expandable

We could have (and will eventually) build this printer using all lasercut wood like Makerbot and others, or poured molded plastic, or even injection-molded plastic, but I believe in the original RepRap.org purpose: to build a self-replicating machine - one that anyone can build given time and materials.  If you've got a RepRap - you can print lots of useful stuff, and you can print another RepRap for a friend.  Printrbot is a true RepRap machine. 
Being a true RepRap means you will immediately be able to upgrade and modify the machine with parts you print yourself.  The design easily allows you to increase the print area, add stabilizers for rigidity, replace the threaded rods with plastic parts.... that is the beauty or RepRap!  Also worth mentioning is the fact that all the electronics and hardware could easily be repurposed to power a completely different model of RepRap.

We need your support to scale production

Anyone can research and build one of the larger 3D printers, but it WILL be time consuming, complex, confusing, difficult for beginners and expensive.  We have brought 3D printer kits down to the beginner level and a better price point simultaneously.  How?!  Well, that's where you come in.  The only way to produce assembled, cutting edge electronics is to order a lot of them.  The same logic applies to all the parts.  We need your support to scale production.

The goal: a printer in every home (and school)

This kickstarter will do more than fund a single project.  This project will launch a business in pursuit of the dream of "a printer in every home".  We have reduced the complexity of these printers, but will soon focus solely on pushing the price of these printers to the absolute lowest sustainable retail price for kits and fully assembled printers.  
Please, help us change the world. Every little bit helps.  
Thank you for your support!
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