MatterHackers Announces Advanced Desktop 3D Printer

3D print reseller MatterHackers announced a new bundle featuring a more advanced device, the Pulse XE.

The Pulse XE visually appears to be another Prusa i3 clone, and that’s likely because the machine was based on that design. However, MatterHackers has equipped this basic 3D printer design with a number of more advanced features. 

These features include: 

• Auto calibration/leveling
• Heated print bed
• Motor sound dampeners
• Bondtech extruder
• Filament out detector
• E3D hot end
• Olsson ruby hot end nozzle
• Garolite print surface
• Remote control capability through MatterHacker’s cloud

MatterHackers explains that the minimum layer size is a very small 0.02mm, putting this machine’s Z resolution on par with the best filament-based desktop equipment.

The features above add up to enabling the Pulse XE to print more advanced materials. MatterHackers says the machine can 3D print in: “PLA, PETG, Bronzefill, Copperfill, Brassfill, Bamboofill, Woodfill, Carbon Fiber, Stainless Steel, and many more”. But perhaps of most interest is the ability to 3D print nylon.

In addition to the features of the printer itself, MatterHackers is adding two extras together with the bundle: 

• A filament drying system from PrintDry
• Two spools of MatterHacker’s NylonX material, which is 80% nylon and 20% chopped carbon fiber

In other words, they are positioning this machine as a nylon device, and I’m sure it is fully capable of being so. The garolite print surface is specifically for nylon adhesion. 

However, in the current world of 3D printing, “advanced” materials is coming to mean “high temperature” materials, which this device is not designed to 3D print. The materials printed by the Pulse XE are indeed more advanced than the basic PLA (and ABS on certain machines), but they are not high temperature materials like PEEK, ULTEM, etc. 

One thing to note about the Pulse XE is that as per the standard Prusa design, it is an open format machine, meaning it is exposed to ambient air. This could compromise printing in some materials (like ABS, and perhaps Nylon), which print far better when in a heated, enclosed chamber. 

There’s nothing stopping you from adding a third party enclosure for this purpose, however. 

MatterHackers has posted the price of the Pulse XE bundle at a precise amount of USD$1,496.31. I think this is a reasonable price, as a competing machine such as an Original Prusa MK3, a reasonably comparable machine, now sells for USD$999 and does not include quite all the features of the Pulse XE, nor does it include a USD$100 PrintDry and two 500g spools of USD$65 nylon. 

This machine could prove quite popular. 

Via MatterHackers