Come on admit it, you really want one! Well I do anyway, and the field of 3D printers is getting better and cheaper. We reported on the Makerbot Thing-o-matic in August last year, a “consumer” 3D printer for $1299 at the time. Well former Makerbot COO Samuel Cervantes now heads up Solidoodle and they’ve just released for pre-order the Solidoodle 3D printer for $499.
With a 6″ X 6″ X 6″ build area, the printer comes fully assembled, and the frame is constructed from steel. The unit has an 11.5″ X 11.75 X 11.75″ case footprint (LxWxH) and weights in at 17 lbs. It uses 1.75mm plastic filament to “print”.
Available from Solidoodle in Base ($499), a Pro ($549) and Expert($599) models.
Gadgeteer Comment Policy - Please read before commenting
It’s amazing how the black filament comes out WHITE! I wonder if the white filament comes out BLACK!
seems a bit expensive, HP are releasing one soon the printer only costs around 199$ the only problem is the cartridge costs 200 dollars and creates just 5 moulds.
I think they are just showing one made out of white plastic im pretty sure it stays the same color as the color plastic you feed into the machine there is many colors of plastic you can buy and even the higher end 3d printers you can feed multiple colors and it has multiple tips on the arm of the machine and you can program it where you want the colors on one piece. I mess around in Blender a free 3d open source utility it is basically the same program they use for movies and the game industry. But i want a 3d printer now to make the stuff i have designed using Blender. I might wait another year or two though because im sure by then they will be cheaper and be able to make bigger objects and be something that every house will end up owning, that have an artist in the family. cya
I think though too you should do a article on Blender(or include in your next article with one of these printers, also google sketchup goes nicely with it But Blender is more advanced and better) since it would be the perfect fit to go with a machine like this since its a free open source program and with the internet you can basically learn to use it for free. Place for tuts on it cgcookie.com. Nice article by the way just keep up with the price drops on the 3d printers and the bigger sizes in upcoming months up to the next couple years because of moore’s law soon these will be selling like hotcakes.
Awesome! Wanted one of these for a long time, surface area is small, but I suppose you could make many “parts” for a piece. Finally somewhat affordable.
Purchaced a solidoodle latley was delivered but was damaged in transit wasn’t packed correctly and its been nothing but problems trying to get support from the company they are not very good.
Solidoodle is a very light printer weak and small internals and poor wiring and layout of the machine its not intended for lots of use more of a weekend toy.
Software is very poor and there is so little info it will drive you insane, i would save up and get makerbot good support and help
thnx