Mankati is a company based in Shanghai, China that manufactures FDM 3D printers. They started in 2012 and now have a five machine line up that includes the smaller JetBuilder R1 WD, JetBuilderR1 EP and Craftsman Pro along with the larger sized JetBuilderX1 and the newest Fullscale XT. The company is yet another 3D printer producer coming from China, a market that presents incredible potential for 3D printing technologies but is mostly unknown to westerners.
A representative from Mankati says they have been building their business in Europe, Australia and Asia. Now they are going for the American market and have been working on improving their machines’ design.
Their newest model, the Fullscale XT, has a build volume of 250 by 250 by 300 and dual extruders. It can get to a 0.01 mm resolution on the X and Y axes, with 0.15 on the Z axis. It’s fast, clocking in at 250 mm/sec, thanks to its patented print head system, and its solid, with a steel body to ensure durability. It also integrates a number of proprietary technologies that – according to the company – assure better stability than open source components.
Other than MakerBot, there are not many FDM 3D printer manufacturers that have already launched 5 different models on the market. Mankati has done it and its projects seem quite concrete.
Little doubts China, although a slow-starter in the 3D printing industry, is poised to become its leading force.
They have unlimited resources and insatiable needs…
China can very well do what China does with the smartphone market, taking bigger and bigger market. As long as RepRap is open source it is easy for anyone with right skill to make a 3D printer.
As for today there are already a bunch of 3D printer from China and it just plops up more and more every month. I keep seeing FDM printers but SLA is also in rapid development.