Aug 19, 2015 | By Simon
As more creators continue to push the limits of what’s possible with 3D printing, many of these creators have been actively looking for ways of creating larger 3D prints - oftentimes resorting to breaking up larger parts into a series of smaller pieces that are printed individually before being assembled to create the intended larger part.
Currently, large-scale 3D printers exist - such as the Z18 from MakerBot - however they certainly don’t come cheap; many are priced at 2x to 3x the cost of a traditional desktop 3D printer. However, Australian company Cultivate3D - which was founded by brothers Dan and Josh Herlihy - wants to change that and is promising a new massive desktop 3D printer that rivals the cost of most existing desktop 3D printers.
Appropriately titled “The Beast”, Cultivate3D’s new 3D printer features a number of features that can’t be found on most existing 3D printers. Among others, it is capable of printing four identical objects during a single print in completely different colors and materials or printing a single object within its massive 470 x 435 x 690 millimeter build volume. According to the company, the build volume is so big that it could “print a small child” or even be used as a small scale manufacturing machine for printing multiples of much smaller objects.
According to the company prints that are created on the Beast achieve resolutions of 0.00125 millimeters on the Z axis and 0.00625 on the X and Y axes - a resolution that’s significantly smaller than existing desktop FDM 3D printers. Additionally, the printer is capable of printing up to 10 times faster than other FDM 3D printers on the market and can be made yet even faster if an optional larger nozzle is used.
But while all of these specifications are surely impressive, perhaps the most shocking feature is the price.
Starting at just $1,850 for the Beast DIY kit or $3,299 for a fully-assembled unit, the cost of the 3D printer is dramatically less than other 3D printers of similar size and quality - such as the Makerbot Z18, which costs $6,499 before delivery.
Naturally, one might wonder how Cultivate3D was able to offer a 3D printer as big as the Beast for the price they are. Among other reasons, the Herlihy’s admit that they stripped the design of anything that was unnecessary towards the quality of the final prints.
“You’ll probably notice ‘The Beast’ isn't covered with a fancy case design. We don’t want (it) to be a design statement, we want (it) to be the best at what it does without costing a fortune, we spent our time and money on making your investment a fast, precise production printer,” explain the brothers.
Their finished Beast design is constructed using commonly available parts, which also allows for easy customization to suit the specific needs of different users, too.
“Whatever your field, we are confident the simple but highly functional design will lend itself to many different customised applications. Further, we are more than happy to provide the CAD files to further to facilitate the customization of the printer,” add the brothers.
The company is also promising a world-class customer support platform that includes a full-color manual, clearly-labeled parts with reference images and a 24 hour help network with chat and video support.
Although production has already began on the printer, the Herlihy’s are gearing up for a Kickstarter campaign to launch very soon to help get the word out. To stay updated on the printer and the Kickstarter campaign, head over to Cultivate3D.
Posted in 3D Printers
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Looks amazing, but it´s full of failures, after three months in my property I couldn't print a single piece in acceptable quality and I´m not begginer, with my other printers print perfect pieces with the same configurations Insufficient documentation for the updated version ( in the box there is not the updated documentation) missing parts and different components that shows in the manual. Problems with the latest arduino version and the firmware. the predeterminated slic3r configuration doesn´t work. Problems with the filaments, etc and etc I suppose that someday It will work correctly, but after lost hours and hours I decided to buy other 3d printer for my job, of course I´m looking for only assembled printer. the cheaps products at the end always are the expensive ones Do you want some extra information? bad3dprinter@gmail.com
Will wrote at 7/24/2016 5:54:04 AM:
I love the big build volume and the idea of 4 print heads. 4 times as fast for component prints, so long as they can all be printed in the same build area of course. Speed is one of the drawbacks of FDM 3D printing, so to has 4 times the print speed is great.
Tomas wrote at 8/22/2015 11:55:56 AM:
@Andreas Just connect it to a cheap Raspberry Pi to get network connectivity. I really don't think WiFi or ethernet built-in is a must have. Few things I would like to see in all 3d printers: * Good LED lighting * Sturdy, silent, high speed, high precision mechanics. Preferably 90% aluminium. * Auto-calibration. I really shouldn't have to manually calibrate the print bed EVER. * Electronics board with modern CPU (at least ARM Cortex-M3) and modern motor drivers (at least DRV8825). Something like Azteeg X5 mini. It's time to get rid of those crappy ATmega 8-bit CPUs. * High quality hotend. Honestly, I love my genuine e3d v6 and I don't believe a cheap J-Head is "good enough". * If it comes in a kit form, you shouldn't have to solder anything and all required tools have to be included. Of course, documentation has to be top-notch. * High quality software. Slic3r which is developed by one person and is broken more often than working correctly definitely is not good enough.
Andreas wrote at 8/20/2015 4:55:30 PM:
No information on automatic z-axis calibration? (Not even on the website). This is one of the most important things to have, especially with large/big printers. Changes in temperature do actually influence the z-axis zero-position, and having to manually retune all 4 extruders all the time to get decent bed adhesion of the prints (again, extremely important especially on this size of printer) seems like a dealbreaker. And it's kinda sad at the same time that a production-oriented machine like this is still relying on old school USB+SD-Card hardware. We flood the market with IoT, but not even the newest printers get Ethernet/WiFi and onboard Flash? It's not like this would push the price of the controller board too much, but would be a big selling argument for shure.
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