reprap

German RepRap has released a new version of their popular DIY 3D printer kit: PRotos v3.

Soon to appear on Kickstarter is the Mamba3D, a new 3D printer designed by MyMatics in The Netherlands.

Another 3D printer has appeared on Kickstarter, but we think the Lathon 3D printer has features you simply won’t find in other machines. 

While trundling around NYC’s 3D Printshow we happened to bump into what must be the largest commercially available RepRap-style 3D printer in the world. 

It’s a familiar story: a group of makers wants a 3D printer, but they can’t afford one. So they build their own and realize it’s good enough to sell. That’s the genesis of the Robo3D personal 3D printer. 

Maker’s Tool Works has announced a new 3D printer kit, the Fusematic. It succeeds MTW’s previous model, the MendelMax 2 by being “smaller, faster, and more affordable”.    MTW simplified assembly by including assembly guides on the case, using linear rails, preassembling and pre-loading the electronics and keying the connectors.    After assembly, you’ll find… Continue reading The Fusematic 3D Printer

Ben Reytblat’s new venture, 3DMonstr, has attracted some attention on Kickstarter, where the pledges are flowing in rapidly for the new 3D printer. 3DMonstr is actually a family of fully assembled 3D printers, each of which entirely deserving of the “monster” label.    Sure, it’s size that is the major factor. The “small” version, the… Continue reading This 3D Printer is Truly a Monster

LulzBot has released a new version of their popular TAZ personal 3D printer: 3.0. The new version includes several evolutionary improvements, including additional metal parts and a quicker-to-print-ready heated bed.    The TAZ is an open-air 3D printer, meaning the heated bed is more important to avoid warping if you’re printing ABS plastic. TAZ has… Continue reading The LulzBot TAZ 3 Personal 3D Printer

Another major retailer sells 3D printers: Deal Extreme, one of the more popular online shops for electronics equipment, now sells the Heacent 3D printer kit.    The Heacent 3DP02 kit is from a Chinese manufacturer and is based on the tried-and-true RepRap Prusa Mendel design. It’s specifications include a 200x200x100mm build volume equipped with a… Continue reading DealExtreme Sells 3D Printers

A Kickstarter project is launching the gMax personal 3D printer. It’s claim to fame is a whoppingly huge build volume, hence it’s name.    gMax is designed by Architect Gordon LaPlante of Brooklyn, a hotbed of 3D printerness. His story:    As much as I loved the RepRap, I found myself being limited by the… Continue reading Print Bigger: The gMax 3D Printer

There’s quite a story behind the design of the Isis One personal 3D printer. The creators of this just-released device recognized the numerous problems inherent in current RepRap machine designs: first layer adhesion, bed leveling, Z-axis stability, noise, support structures, extrusion skipping and much more.    Their engineering team methodically pursued each issue, gradually building… Continue reading The Isis One 3D Printer

A new “sturdy, fast and portable” 3D printer is available on Kickstarter. The Bukito Portable 3D Printer by Deezmaker has already raised USD$100K to launch their new machine, so it seems that people are interested in 3D printing portability.    This is not the first 3D printer for Deezmaker; they previous released the Bukobot last… Continue reading The Bukito Portable 3D Printer

Maker’s Tool Works now offers their new MendelMax 2 personal 3D printer. We wrote about this unit some time ago, but now you can actually buy them direct.    Maker’s Tool Works successfully completed a beta test involving over 100 testers, who helped certify and refine the final product. Now this product is available in… Continue reading MendelMax 2 Now Available

Designed by brothers Jonas and Simon Kühling, the Kühling&Kühling Industrial 3D printer is a true RepRap. Incorporating many features of previous RepRap incarnations, the Kühling&Kühling advances the state of the art by adding a suite of new features that can help create better prints.   Among these new features are: A heated chamber capable of… Continue reading A New Industrial RepRap Emerges

We’ve been peeking at the website of Pirate3D, a new startup attempting to build an inexpensive 3D printer. The Palo Alto, California-based company is not revealing much about their project.   We don’t know the release date for the printer (although you can pre-order one in April). We don’t know the price of the unit.… Continue reading The Mysterious Pirate3D Printer

Type A Machines produces the Series 1 personal 3D printer. It’s claim to fame? Bigness. They say:    We were tired of building things that could fit into little boxes so we designed the Series 1 to fit really large objects without a drastic increase in overall machine size. Forget having to redesign your ideas… Continue reading Type A Machines

Yes, Robo is another one of those new 3D printers that appear on crowdfunding sites, but what makes it different? For one thing you’ll immediately notice that it’s got a very attractive case – and that’s just the start.    Each new filament-based 3D printer startup focuses on a particular aspect to make them stand… Continue reading The Robo Personal 3D Printer

We’ve been looking at The Future Is 3-D’s website and found they’ve been working on a new model to join their existing Glacier 3D printer: it’s called the “Avalanche”.    We don’t know much about it, other than there’s a countdown page to the launch. We do know that their existing machine, the Glacier, is… Continue reading The Future is 3-D Counts Down

Open source 3D printers tend to evolve quickly, and the MendelMax personal 3D printer is no exception. Version 2.0 was recently announced by MakersToolWorks, the folks behind the MendelMax line.    The Max2.0 is actually available now in kit or assembled form from MakersToolWorks – but it’s a beta version. The beta testers will “receive… Continue reading The MendelMax 2.0 3D Printer

The EchoRap Rev1 is another variation on the standard RepRap design with the unique feature of using tubes instead of threaded rods. The design permits a very large build volume by simply using longer tubes.    Designed by Robotic Sequencing of Montreal’s ÉchoFab, the EchoRap is a very inexpensive way to get started in 3D… Continue reading The EchoRap 3D Printer

You might guess from the name of the “Portabee” that its unique feature is that it’s portable. And you’d be right.    The Portabee is a RepRap-derived plastic extrusion personal 3D printer, sold in kit form for the definitely low price of USD$499.    You’ll need 3mm filament to use the Portabee, and you’ll print… Continue reading The Portabee 3D Printer

There were a number of new 3D printers on display at Euromold, including this one, the CB-Printer. Designed by Bartosz Cieluch in Poznan, Poland, the CB-Printer is targeted at “domestic use and for small and medium size businesses”.    The CB-Printer is a RepRap-style device with open sides. The distinguishing feature is solid engineering using… Continue reading The CB-Printer

Yet another 3D printer startup company is launching. Panda Robotics of Seattle/Toronto is developing the eyponomously named “PandaBot”. PandaBot is focused as a consumer-oriented product and thus includes a number of features to make it robust and visually attractive. They say:    Our printer’s materials and aesthetics were chosen to ensure that our end product… Continue reading The PandaBot

There is no shortage of 3D printer kits recently, as it seems everyone is now jumping on the RepRap model to develop improvements of one kind or another. We noticed yet another one today: The Galileo 3D Printer, featured on Instructables and designed by the KentStrapper team.    While the Galileo is essentially a RepRap… Continue reading The Galileo 3D Printer

The standard RepRap 3D printer designs are made to be changed and many inventors have developed modifications to improve them in various ways. One such design is Mecano’s Prusa Air, a modification of the standard Mendel design. The otherwise unrelated Prusa design provided the inspiration for the new Prusa Air through its radical efficiencies, hence… Continue reading The Prusa Air

We were contacted by Kalispell, Montana-based The Future Is 3-D after our recent post on build sizes. The post discussed the ultimately not useful statistic of cost per build size. Nevertheless, this small company has been making RepRap Mendel-based 3D printers for over a year and specializes in large build sizes. They’re not kidding, either,… Continue reading Think You Have A Big 3D Printer?

The eyechart above (click for a larger, almost readable view) represents the family tree for virtually all low-cost 3D printers today. Almost all of them were derived directly or indirectly from the original RepRap project. We’ve written about many of these devices over the past few years, and we expect that this family tree will… Continue reading The RepRap’s Heritage

There’s another low-cost 3D printer for sale: The Shapercube.   This German made €979 (USD$1,290) build-it yourself kit is based on the RepRap Darwin design and includes a rather hefty build volume of 190x200x185mm (slightly reduced if an optional second print head is installed).   The key specs:   3mm filament required 0.5mm nozzle Pre-assembled… Continue reading Shapercube

Thingiverse member KurtCircuit has designed a rather enormous device: a 3D printer that is theoretically capable of printing 1m cube-sized objects. Even more astonishing is the fact that he’s actually building this device!   The massive device, known as the “Scalable Largescale Cartesian Bot”, apparently uses RepRap-derived principles, and is likely the biggest 3D printer… Continue reading One Really Big Replicator

Most readers know the the purpose of the RepRap project: to design a machine that can reproduce itself. This hasn’t quite been fully achieved yet, but they’re getting close. But here’s the thing: not only can RepRap almost reproduce, but it also is evolving into different species, each more advanced than the previous. The first… Continue reading RepRap’s Huxley