The widespread expectation is that desktop DLP 3D printers will be the next evolution in consumer adoption of the technology but, if QSQM Technology Corporation, the company behind the Uncia DLP 3D Printer has its way, DLP might even surpass FDM as the most affordable technology around.
After successfully introducing the Uncia last January, QSQM, the first company to research DLP technology in China, was – according to a statement issued by the company itself – acquired for one million dollars. For the first launch, QSQM priced the Uncia at $999 and used Indiegogo, mainly as a promotional tool, and offering coupons to receive the system at a lower cost.
This time around the story seems to be similar. With one million dollars in funding the company does not need crowd-sourced financing but it is using a new Indiegogo campaign, set to launch this week, on August 1st, to attract the market’s attention. Chances are it will, as it intends to sell the Uncia starting at $299.
Considering the machine already exists and – judging by the video below – it works, the $299 price point is likely to have quite an echo in the 3D printing industry as well as in the jewellery industry, where small size high precision DLP systems are most often employed.
In fact QSQM has stated that the Uncia set to go on sale on the new Indiegogo campaign has been upgraded and will be more even precise than the original $999 model. According to QSQM it is also faster than most FDM 3D printers, and so is the lead time, currently set at 2 weeks for US and Europe for the original $999 Uncia.
Using its own software and in-house developed PL-1 and PL-2 resins, the current Uncia is capable of printing objects in a build volume of 102x77x170 mm, with an XY and Z axes precision of 100 micron. That is far from EnvisionTEC standards but, then again, so is the price.
