A New 3D Printer Startup: 3DConstructions

We ran into a brand new 3D printer startup: 3DConstructions.

This is a freshly new company, started only last August by a couple of young German mechanical engineers who recently graduated.

Like many such startups, the group began by making their own 3D printer to address their particular needs for printing 3D objects in ways that weren’t being addressed by industry.

What’s the name of the device? It turns out they don’t yet even have a name for the machine. That’s how new this venture is at this point. However, we’re told they’re considering using “FRA X1” as the name, but time will tell.

We do know that the machine is targeted at 3D printing professionals, and will offer a rather large build volume of 500 x 500 x 500 mm. The filament-based extrusion system is apparently able to extrude at speeds up to 200mm/sec, which is quite fast.

The reason they’re able to achieve such speeds is the use of linear rails for the motion system, in addition to other engineering tweaks.

We asked what the projected cost of the yet-unnamed device could be, and were told it would be approximately €6000 (US$6,800), which seems more-or-less in line with other large-format professional 3D printer options.

They’re not currently able to manufacture large volumes of the device, as it apparently takes around a month to construct one. I suspect that if they find client demand to be significant, they’d quickly move to find ways of speeding up the system build efforts.

We’re told they don’t currently have any external financing for the venture, and are apparently self-funding, as one does at the very initial stages of most projects.

It might be easy to dismiss 3DConstructions as an option because they’re new, they don’t have the manufacturing capacity, and other reasons, but remember that each and every 3D printer manufacturer started out in pretty much the same condition.

However, times are a bit different now and 3D Constructions will face considerable competition from other manufacturers, all attempting to score in the professional marketplace.

We’re wishing 3DConstructions all the best in the future.

Via 3DConstructions (Deutsch; Under construction)