A new 3D printer Kickstarter campaign went live yesterday. Hardly headline material, but this particular campaign marks a reoccurrence of some issues highlighted by Land Grant, in his excellent series “Crowdfunding & The Low-Cost Desktop 3D Printer: A Suicidal Race To The Bottom.”
The latest KS campaign has been launched by iBox Printers, based in Melbourne, Florida, seeking funding ($300,000) for what it calls the smallest and most affordable resin-based 3D printer in the world. Dubbed the iBox Nano, which will immediately sound familiar to Apple fans (and non-fans actually). It’s some clever branding, but one wonders what Apple will make of it?
So what are we talking about here? Well, from the well put together campaign, with great imagery, this little printer makes some big claims, not least among them are that it is:
- The worlds smallest Resin printer.
- The worlds most affordable Resin printer.
- The worlds only battery powered (option) Resin printer.
- The worlds first production LCD based UV Resin printer.
- The worlds quietest 3D printer.
- The worlds lightest 3D printer.
To quantify these claims, respectively, the 3D printer measures 4” x 3” x 8″, was available to the first 100 backers of the campaign for $189 (all gone) but there are subsequent options of $229 and $269, still saving on the final RRP price of $299. The machine can be mains or battery operated (for portability) and iBox 3D Printers’ claim of being the first LCD based UV resin printer, will need some clarifying (at least for thick old me) and in terms of acoustics it’s always going to seem quiet compared with FFF. Weight wise, it comes in at a very light 3lbs.
In addition, the tiny machine offers both wifi and browser enabled printing — thus eliminating any need to be tethered to a computer. A remote phone or an iPad will do just as well.
Other specs include:
- Build Envelope: 40 x 20 x 90mm
- Print Volume: 29 db
- Resolution X-Y: 328 Microns
- Maximum Z Precision: 0.39 Microns
- Print Material: iBox Resin or Maker juice
The team behind it have obviously put a whole lot of time and effort into this miniature machine — it’s been designed for home use as suggested by the opening scenes of the campaign video:
And there is, unsurprisingly, great interest already, the marketing is slick and the parts off the machine look nice enough. In under 24 hours there are 150 backers already pledging in excess of $30k. With 10% funding in the first day, it’s not hard to imagine iBox 3D printers will meet its goal over the remaining 28 days.
That said, with promises of early shipping by January 2015 and full production by March (less than 6 months) and claims of “3D printing will never be the same” one has to surely apply some caution, or at least realism when appraising the campaign. Maybe re-read Land’s series to identify when and how this might fail to meet expectations that have been raised. And, I confess, there were more than a few heavy sighs on my part at the mention of the chess pieces!!
