Dec 8, 2015 | By Andre
Kickstarter is undoubtedly a driving force behind the great variety of 3D printers available on the market today. It seems every time something new and exciting takes hold, a successful campaign is right around the corner. Whether it’s Brook Dunn’s low-cost Printrbot exploding onto the scene in 2012, Gigabot’s massive build volume, or Formlabs shaking things up with an introduction to affordable SLA printing, there have been successes as often as there have been innovations. Throughout all of this excitement, there is often a tradeoff when it comes to feature list vs. cost. Budget printers often lack a heated bed while others lacked self levelling while still others had it all but at a price point out of reach for most consumer printer enthusiast--but all of that could be about to change.
A new Kickstarter campaign has launched today by Australian startup Arcadian 3D for their ARC-One 3D Printer, and based on its description, it appears to be a shockingly inexpensive 3D printer that boasts some seriously high-end features. For just $1,399, the ARC-one team hopes to have created a large-format, next-generation 3D printer that was truly designed and engineered for everyone.
In a sense, they admit to be standing on the shoulders of those before them with the ambition to expand and improve. They write that they’ve “learned a great deal from the mistakes of others and have improved upon design flaws that exist in other machines. For example, our bed is rigid, quality metal machined parts throughout, our nozzles are easy flowing and allow for faster printing speeds, and our electronics are cutting edge, and the innovative built-in application handles all the hard work.”
Running through the feature list, all while considering the cost of $1,399 (an extra $70 for dual-extrusion), it seems as though the 3D printer is already well positioned to be successfully funded during this pivotal early stage of their campaign. For just a little bit more than the smallest offering by Makerbot, you get a rigid, self-levelling heated build-plate, high quality metal machined parts, a speedy easy-flowing nozzle, full-colour on-board display all capable of hitting an impressive 50 micron resolution.
On top of all that, a definite standout considering the cost is the build volume of 400x400x400mm. This is rather unique at the price point and the compact form of 600x600x600mm is worth noting as well.
The open-source onboard controller board allows for real-time 32-bit processing with a great deal of bells and whistles barely seen anywhere else (automatic social media notifiers for example).
Of course, there are risks involved when trying to promise the world at a low-cost, yet the commitment and experience of this 3D printer team makes all the difference between being able to deliver and having ongoing release delays once funded (sadly a common place scenario in the world of Kickstarter today).
Arcadian 3D claims to be an experienced team of designers and engineers who hold 3D printing close in their lives, so that’s a good start to calm the nerves of potential backers a little. They also suggest their production timeline has buffers along with scalable manufacturing partnerships in place so not to fall behind on their delivery goals.
If everything promised by with the ARC-One can be achieved, you’re getting a steal of a printer to be sure. In its first day, the campaign has managed to raise of $13,000--still a fraction of the required $300,000 required to fund the project, but a very promising figure nevertheless. A slight concern based on the presentation of their Kickstarter is the lack of any large or overly complex print-examples. So far, they only show a few very small, albeit nice looking, example prints on their campaign page. That said, I’m sure they’re busy producing and tinkering and working out any kinks while the campaign period continues and I'll be following along with any updates they can share with us along the way.
Posted in 3D Printer
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Look common sense guys. pleas list somethgin useful .. ie what can it do, how much does it cost, what are different set up configurations, what can they do, how much, including vat, abc, post, 123 etc etc, what materians can it use, how fast, is it wireless, is it a hybrid, can it mill, what can it mill etc. ideally in table form and better still in compastion charts against others like it some of us are lookign to purchase a printer in next few months and want to cut the crap and get to the point and info that is actuallyn useful in makeing decisions
Arcadian3D wrote at 12/10/2015 1:31:26 AM:
@Fur Real?! The bed/Z-axis has been designed to have some play, it's not completely solid. so we aren't having any issues as you have suggested.
Sirius wrote at 12/8/2015 7:49:40 PM:
Why not mention the Ultimaker 2 as volume comparison instead/next to the RepRap it too has only a measly build volume of 20x20x20 and hefty price tag to boot @€1900,-
Fur Real?! wrote at 12/8/2015 5:36:20 PM:
Not shure if this is a smart idea design wise. They have a build platform directly attached onto theyr rigid Z-axis platform made out of metal. Now, please heat that up to 100°C... 400mm, 80K difference, aluminium, so it's build plate expands around 0.75mm while heating. Now, show me how they deal with that expansion in the Z-Axis linear bearings and acme-rods. (If they don't, bearings will fail VERY soon and they are definately not allowed to call themselves experienced or even engineers!)
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