3-D printing is a pastime currently reserved for the hobbyist, the nerd, or the basement inventor. It’s also a pastime for someone who can shell out a huge wad of cash to get their hands on the hardware. For example, the popular MakerBot Replicator cashes in at about two-thousand dollars a unit.
MakiBox, the creator of a two-hundred dollar 3-D printer, aims to lower the cost of 3-D printing and bring it to the masses. This desktop hardware very well may be the gateway drug to the staggeringly-promising world of 3-D printing.
The MakiBox offers users who have no experience in minting 3-D objects a simplified experience. The assembly of a MakiBox is far less complex than it’s more expensive cousins too. MakiBox currently sells four different models between two and four-hundred dollars.
The plastic used for minting with the two-hundred dollar version is a cheaper plastic, so it melts at a lower temperature. The caveat to this less expensive, simplified printing experience is the level of quality objects printed.
That’s OK though. This is the beginning. Products like these show us that 3-D printing from home without breaking the bank is possible, and not far down the line. Remember how expensive the first DVD players were?
If you had access to a 3-D printer, what would you create? How do you expect the proliferation of 3-D printing to affect manufacturing as we know it? You can share your thoughts on our wall at facebook.com/interworks.