Crowd funding is a recent hot trend that is helping to launch great new innovations in a number of emerging technologies. One of them is of course 3D printing. Some of the most successful campaigns are covered in Part 1 of the Successful Crowd sourced 3D Printers.
Here are even more of the successes teams are having by opening their projects to a number of enthusiastic backers.
Most Funded & Most Backers (Novelty Grade): 3Doodler
It is important to note that 3d printing is not a strictly defined term. Though some various media outlets and wikipedia try to define it the term is thrown around enough to warrant some debate when it comes to certain machines. One of these is the 3Doodler. The design and capabilities of this fun device allowed the creators to release it at a much lower cost than any other “3d Printer”. Some backers paid only $50 for the hand held additive manufacturing machine. Of course it requires no complex 3D modeling because the device is designed for free hand sculpting. Even with the various disclaimers required this toy is still a shining example of the potential created by crowd sourcing funding for innovative designs.
Largest Build Window: Gigabot
No set of superlatives would be complete without “The Biggest”. Many designers and engineers are unable to take full advantage of current 3d printing services because they work in a scale to large for common machines. The Gigabot’s 8 cubic foot build window is designed to service a whole new market. Not quite capable of building a full house the Gigabots massive build window still manages to nearly double each dimension of the next biggest crowd sourced 3d printer.
Best Accessory: Filastruder
All this talk of 3D printers is great but it is not a complete look at the process of additive manufacturing. Even the lowest cost and most funded printers still require some type of material. For many of these FDM (fused deposition modeling) machines that means filament. Thankful some industrious teams have a crowd sourced solution to this issue, lest the whole industry go the way of over priced ink cartridges (like the desktop printing industry). The Filastruder machine is designed to output filament that is easily useable in a number of the most popular 3d printers.
Expensive: Pirate 3D Buccaneer
This is a tough one to judge. Looks like the limited quantity $297 backer level of the Bucaneer is the cheapest option available. There are a few “kits” that come in slightly less expensive that are not fully complete but once you add in motors and time spent assembling it is tough to argue they are truly less expensive.