Sep 30, 2015 | By Alec
The concept of crowdfunding campaigns has been very kind to the 3D printing community, as countless initiatives would not be here today without it. However, as many promising concepts don’t always make it for mysterious reasons, it’s good to see that some still follow through with pure guts and passion. One of those is the promising RoVaPaste 3D Printer by ORD Solutions, a multipurpose machine capable of extruding edible and non-edible pastes, which failed to get the backing it needed a year ago, but has just been launched for pre-orders nonetheless.
It’s one of those stories that act as a harsh reminder that Kickstarter and Indiegogo aren’t always easy ways to success. ORD Solutions had previously found enough backing on Kickstarter, but their campaign for the RoVaPaste 3D Printer just didn’t cut it – they assembled just $11,000 in pledges out of a needed $25,000. Who knows what the reason could be? The concept of the multi-purpose paste extruder seemed great, but there’s only so much disposable income the 3D printing community can pledge at any given time. But the Canadian business led by Chris Gibson never gave up, and continued development of the machine at their own expense.
While a number of startups have promised to do so after a failed campaign, it is great to see that ORD Solutions actually followed through. And as they just revealed, they were successful. ‘Remember Us? We promised that we would let you know when our paste printer finally was available for sale. WELL wait no longer - It's FINALLY here!’ they wrote on their long-abandoned Kickstarter page.
And the result seems to be every bit as good as promised a year ago. At its core, the RoVaPaste 3D Printer has a new powerful extrusion technology that is capable of printing soft and flexible materials or materials that will harden into a solid structure as they cure. You can use it to make "bouncy balls, or custom shaped gaskets that are water tight, or the tire part of a wheel for an R/C car", or print objects in plaster which can then be painted, glazed and fired. ‘Now you can print with any material that can be put in a syringe. The RoVaPaste can handle pastes that are highly rubbery and flexible, glues and adhesives for bonding, sealing and insulating,’ they write on their website.
What’s more, this also makes perfect for 3D printing food. And this doesn’t even mean that it can be used for either food or plastic, as everything is also easy to clean and replace, so the machine can also be used to 3D print a variety of foodstuffs alongside other materials, from frosting to chocolate and so much more. ‘We’ve tested icing/frosting, nutella, chocolate brownie batter (we’ve even cooked the brownies on the bed!), ice cream, chocolate, peanut butter, marshmallow, jam, honey, ketchup, mustard, cream cheese, nacho cheese,’ they write. Included among the inedible materials available with the RoVaPaste 3D printer are: Silicone, Gypsum, clay, epoxy, drywall compound, glues, wood putty, oozeq, Polyurethane, shaving cream, toothpaste, solder paste, solder mask, conductive ink. But that’s just what they’ve tried so far; if you can put it in their 60 ml syringe, its printable.
However, this 3D printer is equally interesting for being the first dual extrusion paste 3D printer in the world. These can even combine different foods or even a paste nozzle and a filament nozzle, opening up the possibility for a lot of making options (or cooking options, obviously). ‘Print with 2 separate paste materials during the same print. Allows mixing of epoxies and foams. Or print brownies and ice them all in the same print,’ they say.
When 3D printing filament, the machine essentially takes on the properties of their flagship RoVa3D 3D printer, which is capable of very high quality and quick printing. ‘Our maximum printing speed is 3X faster than our competition. Really big prints that can fit on our 1002 cubic inch build volume happen in the same time as the miniscule prints of other printers,’ they write, meaning that this machine is truly a multi-purpose creator.
In short, there is enough about the RoVaPaste 3D Printer to give it a second chance, and it clearly serves as a reminder that Kickstarter success is not always a quality guide either. What’s more, the price tag attached to the RoVaPaste 3D printer isn’t shocking either, with sales beginning at $1499. Ordering one before 31 October will even get you a decent discount and a chance to get a machine for free, so definitely check out the RoVaPaste 3D printer on the ORD Solutions website here.
Posted in 3D Printers
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