3D printers will definitely change everything, especially as they become widely available. You’ll eventually be able to print everything from toys to car parts to body parts to food with this technology. Aiming to bring high-quality 3D printing to more people, the Form 1 3D printer looks pretty cool and it’s currently being crowdfunded through Kickstarter.
The laser-based printer is capable of great precision – with layers as thin as 25 microns (0.001 inch.) This results in professional quality models without those lumpy ridges typical of cheap desktop 3D printers. Because of its printing process, a small amount of hand-finishing is required to clean up excess plastic residue, but the finished models are worth it.
There seems to be a lot of demand for affordable, high quality 3D printers. The Form 1 hit $1 million after 50 hours on Kickstarter, and has raised about $400,000 in the last four days. Almost 1,000 backers already have committed to buy the printer. I know, I’d like one in my place, too. The first two levels have sold out, so you’ll have to pledge $2,699(USD) to get yours.
The project still has 23 days of funding left, but the company will likely sell out before the funding period is over. To avoid shipping constraints, FormLabs plans on stopping funding at $2.8 million, so that everyone can receive their printers in a timely fashion in the Spring of 2013.
[via TechCrunch]
It’s a billing system that automatically churns out split-able (is there even such a word?) receipts so each member of the group can just grab the tab with their order and pay for it accordingly. It’s an extremely fun and novel concept, even though we’ll probably never see it come to light because it might be pretty complex to apply in practice.
