The 3D printer was built by engineers from the Vienna Institute of Technology and it’s much lighter and cheaper than previous 3D printers. The idea is to make this 3D printer the one that people could actually use, instead of being another tall tale and fable that we’ve heard 3D printers do. Priced at about $US1,700, it’s still ridiculously expensive but it could possibly be cheaper if there ever is a mass demand for such a device
The engineers are using the same technology behind typical 3D printers: a synthetic resin that hardens when a beam hits it but this runty 3D printer uses “light beams are just a twentieth of a millimeter thick” which gives it the ability to print things in better detail. I’m not sure what use I have for a portable 3D printer, but I sure as hell wouldn’t mind one. [TUWIEN via Pop Sci]
TSH
Wednesday, May 18, 2011 at 2:29 PMVery cool. I wonder if a RepRap could build the parts for one of these? :–P
But seriously, this is cool. Games Workshop should get in on this … $1500 + materials + parts schematics isn’t really a hard sell for those gamers!
Daniel
Wednesday, May 18, 2011 at 2:52 PMHeh strange, one of my first thoughts was Warhammer models suddenly getting a lot cooler.
RepRap can’t build circuit boards, so no, it couldn’t make one of these.
Corteks
Wednesday, May 18, 2011 at 4:14 PMYep it’d be fantastic for Warhammer junk. Want to create a custom mini? Then design it on a PC!
Especially with Games Workshop screwing Aussie gamers recently by preventing imports from cheaper offshore dealers and artificially destroying any purchasing advantage we had with our currently strong dollar!