For several months, a new trend of creating machines with an ever growing working area has been developing in the low-cost 3D printer segment, broadening FDM technology to it’s limits. Such companies as German BigRep, Dutch Builder, or Polish Monkeyfab and Aye Aye Labs have created 3D printers that stun with their capacity and enormous sizes. Italian company WASP went event further, producing 3D printers that are not only big, but also enable user to print objects from clay. Now, another Polish company, TYTAN 3D, has decided to expand the idea of big 3D printers to its limits, presenting the GAIA Multitool MAXX, a huge multifunctional machine, capable of printing models from popular thermoplastics like ABS and PLA, clay and ceramics, as well as milling, engraving, plotting and laser cutting. And all of this on the working area of 45 x 105 cm (1.5 x 3.4 ft)!
TYTAN 3D is run by two very noble designers in the Polish 3D printing community, Janusz Wojcik and Pawel Rokita. They are responsible for creating the biggest 3D printing fairs in Poland, Days of 3D Printing, as well as for running a very well-known FabLab in their hometown in Kielce, whose activity are directed towards 3D printing hobbyists and amateurs. Last year, they were almost unanimously voted MEN OF THE YEAR 2014 in the Polish 3D printing industry by a group of 40 experts in last year’s CD3D poll.
The GAIA Multitool MAXX is a bigger version of GAIA Multitool STANDARD, which premiered this March. It has all of the functionalities of its predecessor, but with a build area that is almost three times taller. The GAIA Multitool STANDARD prints objects with a maximum size of 30 x 36 cm, while the MAXX prints objects with maximum size of 45 x 105 cm. The machine itself also has an impressive height of 175 cm!
Apart from its size, what makes this machine so unique are its ten interchangeable toolheads, which, in fact, turns the machine into several different devices:
a 3D printing head for ceramics (1 liter of material)- a 3D printing head for ceramics with a Bowden extruder (external tank with 10 liters of material)
- a 3D printing head for ceramics with a cartridge (300 ml) built into the head itself, as opposed to via an external tank
- a 3D printing head for FDM with a 3 mm nozzle
- a 3D printing head for FDM with 1.75 mm nozzle
- a diamond stylus for etching inscriptions on metal and glass
- a knife to cut out foil/adhesive letters or other templates
- a CNC milling machine for engraving inscriptions, drawings, carvings, etc.
- a head equipped with a special marker for drawing (e.g. PCB tracks)
- a laser engraver.
The GAIA Multitool Standard is priced 17.800 PLN, or roughly $4.800, with VAT included. It can already be ordered via the TYTAN 3D website. The price for the GAIA Multitool MAXX isn’t set yet, but it should be announced in a couple of weeks.
