3D printing has never been that cheap!

3D printers become cheaper and more available for an average user. When a price is low, a customer, who is not interested in this technology, may take a risk and buy a cheap machine. Unfortunately, cheap means very often “of poor quality”. When someone got his fingers burnt on a “trash” of this king, he won’t invest his money in something better. Additionally, he will tell to his friends, that he doesn’t understand the phenomenon of 3D printing. You can find a new campaign on Kickstarter. It shows that 3D printing can be even cheaper… What is it and can it succeed?

101Hero costs 49$. It is less than in case of the cheapest 3D printers promoted on Kickstarter: OLO 3D oraz Peachy Printer (which is the best example of cock-up on the platform…).

The campaign of 101Hero has lasted for several days. Its creators pledged for 20 000$, which has been exceeded 5 times. What is the secret of this success? The manufacturer gave an extremely low price and advertises it like a perfect tool for children. The machine is rather unstable and I hesitate, if it is proper for children…

101Hero is available in two versions:  “customer version – CV” and “designer and developer version – DV”. The second one is 5 $ more expensive.

The CV version:

• it is light – 1.8 kg,
• print area  – diameter of 150 mm, height of 100 mm,
• it supports many different materials – ABS, PLA, nylon and more,
• diameter of filament – 1,75 mm,
• removable working platform,
• 50-150 micron layer resolution,
• 150 micron X and Y positioning accuracy,SD Card mode for an effortless, plug-and-play experience. You can download lab-tested gcode files from the producer’s website.

The DV version:

• all feature of 101Hero 3D printer Customer Version,
• USB-compatible connection, it can can also be used with any Windows, Mac, or Linux based system,
• Supports and uses open source software (for advanced users).

To make the campaign more reliable, its creators posted a video, which shows the machine working…

…and a 3D printed item.

I am rather sceptical with it and I would like to see a close-up of the model right after 3D printing… All of the presented models look (suspiciously) good.

Because of a limited budged, 3D printers are shipped 90% pre-assembled. When you got it, you just need to turn a few screws, then you could get a full functional 3D printer.

The cheapest and the most interesting kits were sold out like hot cakes, but for 74$ you can still purchase a 3D printers and 2 spools (30 g each of filament).

Source: www.kickstarter.com