BEEVERYCREATIVE to Finally Launch a New Desktop 3D Printer

BEEVERYCREATIVE is leaking hints about their next desktop 3D printer, the B2X300.

The Portugal-based company has been in the business of making desktop 3D printers for over five years. We first encountered them in 2013, when they launched a small device with the cute name “BEETHEFIRST” and a matching cute design.

Back in those days the game was to attract consumers to the field, but those days are long gone.

However, their machine was well received at the time, and the company was able to survive the shift towards more professional equipment. Since 2013, the company has released several improved and successor versions of their original device, and even floated the idea of a 3D printing array of machines to produce many parts at once.

In the past two years, we haven’t heard much from BEEVERYCREATIVE in the way of new 3D printers. It turns out there are two reasons why no new equipment has appeared on their product lines.

First, they’ve been busy with a very unusual project with an EU-funded joint venture to develop a functional 3D printer for use in outer space. Project MELD has been quite successful, and I suspect some of their findings from that project will eventually make their way into new BEEVERYCREATIVE equipment in the future.

The second reason for the delay is far more interesting; it seems that the company has been huddled behind the scenes doing extensive research on the nature of desktop 3D printing in an effort to determine the best possible configurations for their client base. They explain they have been engaged:

“Collecting quantitative and qualitative information data on helloBEEprusa’s user feedback with Customer Service. The idea was to gather information on doubts, problems and quality control issues;

Benchmark of multiple companies in this sector, analysing what the best competitor products were and what impact they could have on the product development process and, as a result, on the launch of this new product;

Market research with the help of a survey where hundreds of people from the maker segment gave very helpful feedback about their user patterns, what they value and other valuable inputs for future product development.”

This is quite impressive, as some 3D printer manufacturers seem to regularly generate new models by simply adding a feature or tweaking something, seemingly without regard to the utility or benefit of doing so. BEEVERYCREATIVE seems to be taking a different, and possibly wiser, approach.

The new machine, currently released to beta testers, is still a bit secret, but we can say that it has a healthy build volume of 300 x 200 x 300mm, automated bed leveling, dual extruders, and includes the increasingly popular trinamic drivers that enable far more accurate positioning and more rapid print speeds.

They’ve posted a video that shows a bit more:

I’ve watched this video several times and can distill out a bit more. Let’s look at several features visible:

First, the whiteboard sketch seems to indicate it has two input filaments into a single hot end. Could this be one of those single-nozzle, multimaterial machines?

It could be.

But no, it’s not. Underneath the hot end we can see clearly two separate nozzles that are not independently moving. The design matches the actual article. Thus we will have dual material 3D printing on this device – not multi-material.

There is a control panel that appears to have a single twirly knob for input, similar to how the older Ultimakers would operate. Judging by the size of the knob, this is not a particularly large screen.

The print surface appears to be glass, on which could be applied any number of adhesion solutions, both temporary and removable.

The extruder motors appear to be mounted on the top corners and indicate a Bowden-style configuration.

This appears to be a machine with some good components with a competent design. But, as you can see at the top, it is intended to be a DIY kit for assembly by purchasers, and I think the features and design could be very attractive to that market. The key to success there would be to ensure it is truly easy to do so, which would enable more buyers than otherwise.

I’m wondering if they’re looking at the success of Prusa Research and attempting to do something similar? Prusa started with a very competent DIY kit and look where they are now: producing at least 6,000 machines per month in a now vast operation.

We won’t know more details until 18 September, when BEEVERYCREATIVE officially launches the machine to the public.

What can we expect? I suspect that the kit will carry a price at or under Prusa Research’s kit price, if my guess as to their strategy is correct.

The question is, will it be received in a similar way?

Via B2X300