The mUVe 1 3D Printer

With the expiration of key patents around photo-curable 3D printer techniques, we've seen several new resin-based personal 3D printer projects. Now another has emerged, the mUVe 1 from mUVe 3D, created as a part-time project by maker Michigan-based Dean Piper. The mUVe 1 is the first product from mUVe 3D, now seeking initial funding via an Indiegogo campaign. 

 

The mUVe 1 has been built in prototype form, seen without an exterior case above. The RepRap-powered device provides a reasonable build volume of 145 x 145 x 185mm, suitable for the majority of personal 3D prints.  

 

There are several ways of photo-curing resin, but the mUVe 1 uses a 405nm laser. One intriguing feature is a "Laser Iris Diaphragm", which "allows hugely scalable resolution, .1mm is tested and working." That's the promise of resin-based 3D printing: ultra-high resolution. It seems that the mUVe 1 delivers that. 

 

Our look at mUVe 3D's progress so far is promising, but they've yet to solve a few issues, the most prominent being the design of the resin reservoir. 

 

In the long term, mUVe 3D intends on selling parts to assist your own mUVe 1 construction projects to support their operations. Meanwhile today you can get involved by participating in their Indiegogo campaign, which actually looks like a pretty good deal: for USD$999 you can obtain a complete kit to build your own mUVe 1, a price lower than most other resin-based options. 

 

Via Indiegogo and mUVe 3D

The B9Creator Returns

Readers may recall the hugely successful B9Creator 3D printer kit Kickstarter project last year: it raised a ridiculous USD$513,422 to develop a revolutionary personal 3D printer based on photo-cured resin technology. 

 

The project was obviously successful and a number of "version 1's" were sent to happy customers. But now founder Michael Joyce has returned with a followup Kickstarter campaign to raise money for "version 1.1". 

 

The new version includes several improvements, including: Deeper vat, Improved sweeper, Table support extension, Improved tracks, Improved Z-axis, Z-Decoupler and new metal parts. 

 

Version 1 owners are given several upgrade options, while those who are new to B9Creator can simply get all improvements included in a completely new kit. Upgrades range in price from USD$101 to USD$277, while complete kits start at USD$2595 - while they last; there's limited quantities of these folks. Get them soon! 

 

Via Kickstarter

The Form 1, Live

At CES we spent some quality time with Formlabs Co-Founder Maxim Lobovsky. After we sorted out the bizarre food ordering procedure at a funky Japanese burger food truck, we talked about Formlab's experience so far. 

 

As a startup company, they're heavily concerned with focusing on delivering a quality product. Lobovsky says, "Everyone has ideas on what we should be doing", but their challenge is to work on only the critical elements to achieve success. They've kept the design of the Form 1 as simple as possible for the initial release, leaving more complex improvements until later. 

 

Lobovsky could not tell us how many units have been ordered beyond their spectacular Kickstarter campaign, which sold an amazing 1,028 machines. However, we got the impression it was "lots". 

 

Back inside the show, Lobovsky managed to give us a personal tour through the Form 1, demonstrating the simplicity of its operation.

 

The Form 1 is not yet shipping until May, but Lobovsky says they have a US-based manufacturing operation that can do the job. Meanwhile, they are still accepting orders if you'd like to own one of these USD$3,299 machines. 

 

Via Formlabs

Form 1 Spotted!

The folks at Engadget spotted the elusive Form 1 resin-based personal 3D printer in the wild at London's 3D Printshow and managed to capture a short video of it in action. 

 

In the video you can see the machine's laser fusing each layer of an exquisite 3D print, slowly emerging from the photo-curable resin. There's also a brief tour and explanation around the finishing process for Form 1 prints: you must first bath the object in isopropyl alcohol, and then rinse that off in a second bath of water before your print is considered complete. 

 

Via Engadget

Millions To Form 1

We've all heard about the success of Formlab's incredible fundraising success on the launch of their new Form 1 resin-based 3D printer, but how well did they do? 

 

Their Kickstarter campaign has officially closed today and the results are beyond startling: 

• They've raised exactly USD$2,945,885
• They've received orders for 1,028 Form 1 machines by our count

Sales are not limited to the US and appear to be worldwide. 

 

To put this astonishing launch in perspective, consider that it took MakerBot several years before they were able to attract a USD$10M investment. Meanwhile, Formlabs has raised almost 30% of that amount in only thirty days! This instantly makes them a major player in the personal 3D printer market. 

 

Now the ball falls to Formlabs' court. They now have to actually construct all ordered machines and deliver them to the satisfaction of their customers. The machines must work well and good service must be provided, lest there be a backlash. 

 

We're hoping for a big success, since the future of resin-based personal 3D printers is kinda on the line here. There have been several previous attempts at launching such machines that have not gone so well. So far, Formlabs seems to be heading in the right direction. 

 

Via Kickstarter

Startling Form 1 Update

We discussed the sudden announcement of Formlabs' amazing Form 1 resin-based 3D printer yesterday, but we need to talk about it some more. Something amazing is happening. 

 

The Formlabs is raising funds for device production on Kickstarter and set a goal of USD$100,000 within 30 days of launch. How close are they to meeting that goal? 

 

Um. Well, they kinda warped past USD$100,000 in less than three hours after launch. As of this writing, their total is approaching an astonishing USD$700,000! This is over USD$20,000 PER HOUR of sales. At this rate they'll sell out their entire USD$1.5M Kickstarter campaign sometime this Saturday afternoon. 

 

This certifies incredibly strong interest in the product and the funding will certainly permit them to not only build the first large batch of devices, but also partly fund the development of a follow-on product. 

 

We have a new 3D printing player! Congratulations to the Formlabs team. 

 

Via Kickstarter

The Incredible Form 1 3D Printer

You heard the rumors, as did we. Formlabs has been working on a top secret "revolutionary" personal 3D printer and today it's unveiled for your consideration. We consider the new Form 1 3D printer to be a very important step in the development of personal 3D printing, and something you'll want to check out.

 

The Form 1 is a resin-based 3D printer. It does not use fused plastic filament as do most other personal 3D printers; instead it uses photo-cured resin to build amazingly detailed objects, creating complete layers in a single operation. We don't yet know the speed of the Form 1, but it's likely very fast compared to conventional plastic filament 3D printers. 

 

The build envelope of the form 1 is not particularly large at 125 x 125 x 165mm (4.9 x 4.9 x 6.5 inches). Nevertheless, the Form 1 definitely shines in the resolution department: layers can be as small as an astonishing 25 microns, or 0.025mm. This is as 10-20x better than typical personal 3D printers, and even 4x better than MakerBot's latest super-high resolution Replicator 2. Don't believe us? Take a look at these near-unbelievable images of Form 1 output (click for larger view). 

 

 

Check out the startling difference between typical plastic filament 3D prints on the left versus objects produced by the Form 1's resin process. (Click for larger view)

 

The team behind Formlabs is a trio of recent MIT grads, Maxim Lobovsky, David Cranor, and Natan Linder, who felt there could be a better way for personal 3D printer owners to obtain super-high quality prints.

 

 

There have been several other attempts at launching an inexpensive resin-based 3D printer recently, but few seem to have as much momentum as Formlabs, who have significant investors behind them. 

 

The Form 1 will be pre-sold as a Kickstarter project, as is rapidly becoming customary for those launching new 3D printer projects. The price? US$2,299. The project hopes to raise USD$100,000, and we suspect they'll hit that very quickly. Your contribution will get you not only the Form 1 3D printer, but also a convenient "Form Finish" station and easy-to-use software.

 

Via Formlabs and Kickstarter

The Lunavast XG2 3D Printer Kit

The Lunavast XG2 is a kit to build a resin-based personal 3D printer. The XG2 uses DLP technology to project a pattern onto the surface of a vat of resin to progressively solidify each layer. 

 

The XG2 kit does not include the critical DLP projector, which can easily be obtained almost anywhere at low cost. You can even use a DLP projector that has a broken color wheel, since the XG2 requires no colors for its light pattern.

 

The XY resolution of the XG2 is 1024 x 768, also known as standard XGA resolution. On the Z-axis, the XG2 produces layers of 0.1mm thickness, all within a build chamber volume of 102.4 x 76.8mm. Evidently a software update will enhance the build size to 102.4 x 153.6mm sometime in the future. 

 

While their speed testing is still underway, the XG2 is a resin 3D printer, which are typically faster than traditional plastic extrusion 3D printers. Why? Because resin-based 3D printers can create an entire layer in a single operation, whereas plastic extruders must laboriously trace out all solid portions of each layer. 

 

The software that drives this device is entirely open source, including Slic3r and Printrun.

 

Lunavast will sell you an XG2 for USD$980 right now (well, with a 4 week delivery delay) and they'll also sell you 1kg of resin for USD$139. Oh, and shipping, which is significant: USD$75 to Asia, but USD$102.50 to North America and Australia. Europe is USD$117 and those in Africa and South America will pay USD$200 for shipping. The price of the kit, shipping and a used DLP to get this running could run you in excess of USD$1200 in some cases.

 

We haven't heard from Lunavast before, but it's pretty clear they are new. Visiting their "About Us" and "Customer Service" pages yields a default "Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet..." from their Magneto eCommerce installation. They seem to accept only PayPal at this time, but we could not verify so. We were unable to successfully get through the payment process during while testing a purchase. You might want to wait and see how they proceed. 

 

Via Lunavast