First announced in January of this year, 3D Systems’ latest personal 3D printer, the Cube, is now available for pre-order. The highly consumer-oriented device first came to light at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, where its ease of use features were very noticeable. The USD$1299 device was not available then, and actually isn’t yet either – but you can pre-order it. Shipping evidently commences on May 25th, so the wait won’t be that long.
If you haven’t heard of the Cube yet, it is a rather interesting device. While it has only a single plastic extruder (and thus prints in a single color at a time), it has several terrific ease-of-use features:
- A solid yet friendly case that provides safety for internal workings and transforms the device’s look into something families and children would resonate with.
- Easy to load print cartridges, which are available for USD$50 or less from a selection of very cool colors. They’re called “EZ Load Cartridges”, obviously.
- WiFi capability to send print jobs to the device without having to get out of your chair. We like anything that keeps us in our chairs. You can also use the included USB stick if you need the exercise, however.
- A tube of glue to assemble multi-part prints. It’s a small thing, but we think this is the only personal 3D printer that includes glue.
- They even include “25 Free Creations”, which we suspect are digital files from Freedom of Creation that you can quickly print on your Cube.
It sounds like a terrific entry-level 3D printer for less technically-inclined consumers. We’ll find out for sure when the sales figures come in.
Via 3D Systems
