Cubify’s colourful 3D printers look like coffee makers, and that’s exactly the point — they’re a natural fit for your home. And they might be just the ticket to making this 3D printing thing stick with normal people.
The Cube is kind of the opposite of Makerbot’s at-home 3D printer, the Replicator, which is a big bulky 15kg industrial beast. The Cube, on the other hand, is a 9kg, adorable sewing machine-sized apparatus, and it’s totally something that fits right in with your other appliances. To top it off, it’s $US1400, compared to the Replicator’s $US1750 starting point. For $US50 more you get Cubify’s design software to make the printable creations of your dreams. (Real talk: They should include the software for free.)
As a company, Cubify might actually have the right understanding — its founder, Chuck Hull, was actually the first person to patent a 3D printer all the way back in 1983. Though it took him a good 30 years to have a product on the market, the Cube looks really promising. Hell, you probably wouldn’t look twice if you saw it in a friend’s apartment. This is, like, the future, right? [Cubify via FastCo]