We had a chat with the folks from Soongoon Tech about their line of desktop 3D printers.
The company, based in Shenzhen, China, has been around for six years, but you likely haven’t heard of them. That’s because they have been selling originally in China, Japan and Korea, and more recently in Germany, France and the UK under the brand name “MakerPI”. But now they hope to expand into North America.
They currently offer several different machines with various build volumes ranging from 140 x 140 x 140mm all the way up to a rather large 410 x 410 x 410mm. Each machine uses the plastic extrusion process, and some models offer dual extrusion.
But what interested us most was a new machine they’re developing that is specifically focused on 3D printing TPU, a flexible material. What’s unique about this machine is that it can 3D print relatively large objects in flexible materials.
Here you can see one test done by the company to 3D print an enormous shoe, entirely in flexible material.
Large-size 3D printing capability always opens up the technology to new applications. While I’m not certain that gigantic 3D printed shoes are a good market to enter, the point is that there are plenty large, flexible objects that might benefit from the use of 3D printing.
We’re told the large format TPU machine is priced at approximately USD$6,000.
Another machine they’re working on is this one, which apparently is yet to be given a proper name.
This machine is quite a bit more integrated and feature rich than Soongon’s previous machines. It includes a WiFi connection with remote app control, on board HD camera for print monitoring, and other ease of use features.
We’re told the company is thinking about using a single nozzle that can be fed by multiple filaments creating a color mixing process, which could make this machine even more interesting.
There’s definitely no shortage of options for those considering a desktop 3D printer these days.
Via Soongon
