3D Printing

This Friday: The Printrbot Metal Plus 3D Printer for $999

printrbot 3d printer metal_plus_sidePrintrbot CEO Brook Drumm announced that the new single extruder PrintrBot Metal Plus 3D printer will be available for pre-order this Black Friday, November 28th. A dual extruder model with a heated bed and an upgrade kit for previous Printrbot models will also be available.

Only three years after the Kickstarter campaign that changed his life, Drumm is adding a new low cost 3D printer to his growing molten plastic spewing, robotic family. The Printrbot Metal Plus is the big brother to the popular Printrbot Simple Metal 3D Printer released earlier this year. The all-metal printer has the same simple, no nonsense, open source design that is extremely friendly to hacking and upgrading. The internals of the Plus have room for several electronics upgrades, including options for heated beds and dual extruders.

Printrbot will offer an upgrade kit that will take any previous Printrbot up to a Metal Plus for $699, while the Metal Plus Kit with no heated bed will cost $929. The base unit cost is $999, while the Plus option with a 24v power supply and a heated bed will cost $1199. The Metal Plus with a heated bed and a dual extruder will cost $1399, or individual dual extruder and heated bed upgrade kits can be purchased later for $199 each. According to Drumm, all models and upgrade kits will be available for preorder on Black Friday; however there is a three week ship time for the upgrade kits.

printrbot metal_plus_front 3d printer

“The challenge is designing aesthetically pleasing 3D printers that are also inexpensive. I think, since our printers aren’t in a microwave oven form factor, or box, we already stand out. The motion of x, y & z are obvious – and we like that. We are trying to hide as much of the mechanics as possible while still making those hidden parts elegant and beautiful. As designers know, simple is actually really, really hard.” Said Drumm on his Google+ page. “In our case, keeping it as simple as possible also has the benefit of saving cost by reducing part count. What we are most proud of is the fact that we are making it in metal here in America- not plastic in China – and it’s still quite affordable. This machine a very high level of quality.”

Here is a brief video of the Printrbot Metal Plus in action:

The Metal Plus includes a large build area of 254mm x 254mm x 254mm (10inch x 10inch x 10inch) on an open platform aluminum printing bed. The body is constructed from machined aluminum and powder coated metal.

metal_plus_extruder printrbot 3d printer The extruder is equipped with a auto-leveling probe that will automatically calibrate the height of the printing head and everything is being driven by NEMA 17 stepper motors. The hot end uses 1.75mm filament, can print with a 100 micron z-layer thickness, and will be able to print with all filament types. However the heated bed may be required for some of the materials, in order to print correctly.

Printrbot has certainly come a long way since their original Kickstarter campaign drew in over $800,000 in backing. But, while Drumm has moved on from laser cut wood into machine metal printers, the Printrbot has clearly maintained the ‘only what’s necessary’ aesthetic that made them so popular, and affordable. You can find out more about the Metal Plus on the Printerbot website.