This post brought to you by Makism. All opinions are 100% mine.
If you own a computer, you most likely own an inkjet printer to go along with it. I can remember many years ago when I could only print documents at work because I didn’t have my own printer at home. They were just too expensive, too hard to use and took up too much space. Now basic inkjet printers cost less than $50 and have almost become disposable peripherals. These days printers aren’t only used for printing flat documents. Now we can use 3D printers to print real physical objects. Need a new gear for your whatchamajig? You can print one. Want a 5 inch tall Bilbo Baggins figurine? You can print one. Prices for 3D printers keep going down, so that they are quickly becoming accessible to hobbyists, makers and people like you and I.
Cambridge, United Kingdom based Makism 3D Corp‘s new line of Wideboy 3D printers have been designed to make printing in 3D just as easy as printing a document from an inkjet printer. The line of printers will include the Wideboy, Wideboy Pro, and Wideboy Mega. These are all A4 sized printers, which translates to an 8.267 x 11.692 inch print area. The differences between the Wideboy, Wideboy Pro, and Wideboy Mega are the max height of a printed object, number of extruders (print heads) and the types of materials/filament that can be used for printing such as Polycarbonate, Nylon, ABS, HIPS (High Impact Plastic), PLA and PVA.
Makism 3D Products feature high quality British/German engineered components, USB and Wi-Fi connectivity and come ready to use directly out-of-the-box with no calibration needed. They will feature user-friendly host software on popular devices such as tablets, phones or laptops, and will offer a 3 year parts warranty. The Makism 3D Wideboy printer will be available in February 2014 and the Pro and Mega Makism 3D Printers are set to roll out later in March and April. Pricing will start at $1500 and go up to $4000.
What would you print if you had your own 3D printer? I’d make all sorts of things – I actually saw an article the other day where someone used a 3D printer to build a fully playable ukulele. I’d like to try that!
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“These days printers aren’t only used for printing one dimensional documents.”
I think you meant to say TWO dimensional documents. LOL
@Victoria I meant flat… I was never great at math / geometry. Does it show? 😉
Great article, Julie. : )
I’d love to try a ukulele made from a 3D printer.
Thanks for this, Julie! I’m always wanting more info on 3D printers – I will own one eventually!
@eddt me too. I think they would be a lot of fun. I could invent my own gadgets 🙂
As prices drop, I’m getting itchy. I will probably own one in the next 1-2 years. ITCH ITCH ITCH
@Andrew any ideas of what you would print with one?
I do a lot of prototyping for little devices, cases, mounts etc. Mostly I would be using it to make custom brackets and mounts. Right now I use a lot of sheet metal bend and cut the brackets and once I get it right I plastic coat them. It works, but I can’t get near the precision I want.
The most exciting thing I would like it when a year or two later I have to rebuild a mount. I can just open the file and reprint it. At the moment I always start from scratch.
Another thought popped in my mind… custom pens!