When I was first contacted about Pirate3D I was sceptical, and wrote as much in an article on 3DPrinting.com. Since that time they have launched an already successful Kickstarter campaign which includes a soothing time lapse proving they can make a functional 3D printer.
From their Kickstarter Bio the team appears to know what they are doing. “Currently, the main team is 8 people strong (added a couple of mechanical engineers, industrial automation and a computer science dude) and slowly expanding to bring real stars into our team.” Building a printer that literally anyone can use it a huge task, good thing they found experts in their fields.
The all star team is getting a big vote of confidence from the Kickstarter community. In their first day they raise over a quarter of a million dollars to what basically is a pre order on kickstarter. The first available units are listed as available Feb 2014. That is a tight timeline but still leaves a lot of room for development of a low cost printer from more established companies.
That may not matter for the long term development of Pirate3D, if they fill the lowest two funding levels the team will have a customer base of over 1000 engineers, designers, and everyday hobbyists who are likely to return for consumable materials and service. Not a bad little business, and at $400 the printer is a solid buy. Let’s hope they keep that delivery date.
