Our team took a close look (up) at Builder’s latest large-format 3D printer, the Extreme 2000. And it is most definitely extreme!
The company started selling far smaller machines years ago, but has gradually built up to this incredibly large 3D printer. Buildr’s recent machines are far more sophisticated than their predecessors as well, having ISO certification and using high quality components.
The most notable feature of the Extreme 2000 is, of course, it’s gigantic build volume: 700 x 700 x 1820mm. We’re going to have to start measuring these things in meters instead of millimeters one of these days. At this size, it could 3D print a life-size person in one rather long print operation.
The machine includes many useful features that you’d expect on any professional-quality 3D printer, such as a heated print bed, enclosed build chamber for print reliability, ability to swap in larger-diameter nozzles for faster printing, layer height as small as 0.05mm, although I’d suggest not doing that to speed up prints, and much more.
Due to the extreme size, it seems that the 2000 is recommended to print only PLA and PET-style plastics to avoid the inevitable warping that would occur with ABS plastic.
But the most interesting feature aside from the build volume is the dual-feed mechanism we’ve described earlier.
The dual-feed is a mechanism that presents two input filaments into a single hot end. This enables some very interesting color switching possibilities, but there’s something very interesting that can be used on the Extreme 2000.
For such a large machine, a big concern is the size of the material spool: it will inevitably run out during a long, giant print, requiring you to be present to switch spools at the appropriate moment.
However, the Extreme 2000 has a unique feature that allows the dual-feed system to engage BOTH input spools simultaneously at 50% speed. Thus, if you load both spools with the same material, you effectively have a machine that can print twice as long without requiring a spool change. Ingenious!
To purchase the 250kg, 1 x 1 x 2m Extreme 2000, you’ll be paying out €19,000 (USD$21,000). Worth the cost if you need to produce gigantic 3D prints.
Via Builder
