After yesterday’s post on the new Solidoodle 3D printer, we spoke with team leader Sam Cervantes, who answered some key questions were pondering. Fabbaloo: Why another 3D printer? Aren’t there several for sale already? What makes Solidoodle different?
Sam Cervantes: Some people love to put complicated machines together and that’s great – it’s a fun experience and I highly recommend it. If you like building electro-mechanical machines as much as you like to print, then I recommend you check out a MakerGear Mosaic or a MakerBot Thingomatic, which are both great machines. The Solidoodle 3D Printer is for people who just want to print, and don’t have the time and/or desire to build a machine. The Solidoodle 3D Printer works reliably right out of the box with no assembly required. In addition, the Solidoodle is a compact fully enclosed design that makes it a bit more suited to the desktop.
Fabbaloo: The USD$699 price is “introductory”. What will the final price be?
Sam Cervantes: We’ll let you know… š
Fabbaloo: What software should be used with the Solidoodle?
Sam Cervantes: We love Kliment’s Pronterface software to run the printer, based on it’s reliability and simple graphical interface. The Solidoodle 3D Printer also works with Repsnapper. To convert solid 3D models (e.g. STL files) to machine code we use skeinforge, which is made all the more simple by a special profile that we provide.
Fabbaloo: Can PLA be used?
Sam Cervantes: Yes, you can use PLA! It’s a great renewable material.
Via Solidoodle
