May 12, 2015 | By Simon
Although we’ve seen quite the gamut of 3D printers launch off of the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform, each of the offerings has usually brought something new to the 3D printer market. Whether the printers have offered an existing technology at a lower price, a more compact design or simply a new way of thinking about 3D printing altogether, it’s not surprising that many of these concepts have gone on to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars.
While many of those 3D printers that have found success focused on improving performance, size or cost, few have focused their efforts primarily on achieving high-resolution, full color 3D print results. While size, resolution and cost are surely among the most important factors when considering a 3D printer, color is more than simply just a way to make 3D prints look better; it is also an overlooked and valuable tool of sorts for communicating emotion.
Now, Tomato - a new 3D printer offering on Kickstarter - aims to bring high-resolution and full color 3D printing to consumers at a price point that’s much cheaper than similar offerings we’ve seen in the past.
What makes Tomato different from other desktop fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printers is its ability to mix up to four different color filaments into any number of other color possibilities; the printer’s hot end extruder features a unique built-in mixing chamber that allows color filaments to be injected and mixed depending on a desired end result.
In addition to the unique color mixing abilities, the design of the Tomato printer itself is better-considered than a lot of other 3D printers we’ve seen in recent memory that are at this price point. Among other design features, the Tomato’s frame is made out of high-strength anodized aluminum alloy to provide stability during operation. Additionally, a thermoconductive aluminum heat bed provides an evenly-heated area to help eliminate the need to deal with silicone films and non-stick adhesives.
As for usability, the printer features a built-in LCD screen and jog wheel with SD card functionality for easy file uploading and visible print control.
Although the $1,500 early bird-priced units have been bought-out, the $2,000 pricetag for the next tier (which includes filament) seems like a knock-out deal for anybody who has been patiently waiting for a full-color 3D printer.
Of course, anybody who has paid attention to 3D printer startups over the years knows that not every concept has been fulfilled - however it appears that the Nixtek - makers of the Tomato - have already been sourcing manufacturers and already have a production plan in place once their campaign comes to a close.
“The most challenging aspects for a complex project like this one is manufacturing and production,” said the Nixtek team on their Kickstarter page.
“We’ve seen from other Kickstarter campaigns that it can be difficult to deliver everything on schedule, especially when the project is extremely successful. To overcome this we are already actively sourcing manufacturing partners.”
Find out more by heading over to Kickstarter.
Posted in 3D Printers
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Its not helping me
Donald wrote at 5/22/2015 11:02:06 PM:
SPACE MULTI-MATERIAL FULL COLOR CMYBWA 3D REPLICATOR: PRINTING QUALITY SIMULATOR http://inventrace.com/mat120/3D.html
ImShogun wrote at 5/13/2015 10:50:36 PM:
Yep... In that sense my printer is full colors too. I can pause prints and change the colors. Ok, I might not be able to mix red and blue to print in green. That's cool. But it is indeed per layers, and, maybe, at best, with some spare printed tower, per stl... But thats cool. Just that I think I would have much more fun with the a 1000$ printer and the 900$ color palette...
ImShogun wrote at 5/13/2015 10:49:57 PM:
Yep... In that sense my printer is full colors too. I can pause prints and change the colors. Ok, I might not be able to mix red and blue to print in green. That's cool. But it is indeed per layers, and, maybe, at best, with some spare printed tower, per stl... But thats cool. Just that I think I would have much more fun with the a 1000$ printer and the 900$ color palette...
Tobycwood wrote at 5/13/2015 9:05:21 PM:
"Full Color" Right. Maybe full of something else? Ignoring the "color" nonsense... Note the real poor print quality in the images. See the patterns in X/Y?
Moma wrote at 5/13/2015 2:09:54 AM:
So it is multicolor only for horizontal layers
3D wrote at 5/12/2015 8:13:52 PM:
Oh come on! Full color? Why not print parts in different colors and glue them together? This is not full color.. And what part of this thing is high resolution? I see no use for this machine and if those pictures are the best models they printed I don't want to know how the failed models look like..
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