With all the chatter recently surrounding inexpensive high-resolution resin 3D printers, we encountered a commercial resin 3D printer worthy of mention. The Asiga Pico is a relatively low-priced unit that not only provides high resolution models, but also has a very friendly footprint. The device weighs only 10Kg (22 lbs) and has a floor footprint of a minuscule 220 x 225 mm. It uses a very long-lasting solid state UV LED light to fuse the resin. It’s build envelope is obviously small, only 40 x 30 x 75mm, much smaller than many other 3D printers – but super-high resolution objects are often very small themselves and would easily fit into this envelope.
How good is the resolution? Asiga claims 39 micron pixel size (that’s the size of the X-Y illumination on the resin) and 1 single micron in the Z dimension. They say, “When building at 50 micron layers, the Pico achieves a build speed of approximately 6mm p/hr”.
Asiga offers several models of Pico: The Pico, Pico Plus39, Pico Plus33 and Pico Plus27 – indicating resolutions of 39, 33 and 27 microns respectively. The Plus models also offer slightly different build envelopes, but none of them are significantly larger or smaller than the base Pico. The base Pico is priced at US$6,990, while all of the Pico Plus models are priced at USD$8,990.
Material used by the Pico is resin, also available from Asiga. Two are currently offered: White and Clear, both priced at USD$350 for half a kilo.
Via Asiga (Hat tip to Shawn)
