Saturday, February 2, 2013

DeltaMaker 3D Printer Kickstarter Project

DeltaMaker 3D Printer
The developers of the DeltaMaker 3D printer ask, "Why does a 3D printer have to look like a microwave oven?" So, they've taken a unique and elegant approach to 3D printing that employs a delta robot mechanism rather than the usual raster-scanning print mechanism.

The development team has gone to Kickstarter to raise the funds needed to bring the DeltaMaker to market. The Kickstarter funding effort is currently at $96K committed with 26 days to go, closing in on a goal of $107K. The printer pldege price ranges from the $1,399 "early adopters" special, to $1,499 for students and teachers, to $1,599 for all Kickstarters throughout the duration of the pledge period.

Delta robots per se are not a new technology, they've been around for decades, but I believe the DeltaMaker is the first commercial 3D printer based on this mechanism. Delta robots can be made very fast and are often employed in pick-and-place and packaging applications where speed is a virtue; for example, there is a great video of a small delta robot performing pick-and-place assembly here.

The three arms you see holding the print head are parallelograms that restrict motion of the print head to the x-y axis. As the build proceeds, the three arms are pulled upward by a motor as the layers of fused plastic filament are put down. The designers claim an astounding 100micron layer resolution in a build volume of approximately 9" diameter and 11" height.

Watch the embedded video below to see the DeltaMaker in action.

Update: The DeltaMaker Kickstarter fundraiser was successfully completed yesterday (Mar. 1st) with $152.6K pledged, well over its $107K goal. Congratulations to the DeltaMaker team.

1 comment:

  1. Hi,

    I've noticed that you have written about Kickstarter campaigns and thought you might be interested in ours.

    We are launching our very own crowdfunding campaign for our company, Protos Eyewear, to crowdfund custom fit eyewear made via 3D printing.

    Unfortunately, Kickstarter no longer allows eyewear, so we have to work extra hard to get the word out. We would love to get your help and support in any way, shape or form. If you would like to write about our compelling project, then please do check us out at: protoseyewear.com

    We would be forever grateful if you can share our project with your readers, friends, or whoever you think would be interested, as we prepare for our launch!

    If you have any inquiries or concerns regarding our campaign, please feel free to contact us at team@protoseyewear.com

    Sincerely,

    Xavier
    Protos Eyewear

    ReplyDelete

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