3D printing is a technology that has been around us for quite some time and while it offers numerous advantages, it is still not very popular due to a simple reason – 3D printers are costly, heavy, complex and not that easy to use. Fortunately as with many other technologies 3D printing is getting cheaper by the day so you might own your first 3D printer in the not so distant future. In fact the first affordable 3D printer may have already come into existence.
The device we are talking about is called Tiko and as of now is a Kickstarter project. The first thing worth mentioning is that Tiko comes with a unibody design that is said to eliminate the necessary but not fun 3D printer calibration process. In addition the printer is small-sized and weighs just 3.7 pounds (1.68 kilograms). It uses delta 3D printing technology that uses three sets of arms that move together and control the print head. Tiko also supports a number of printing materials including PLA, nylon and ABS and features a print resolution that goes down to just 50 microns. Finally the Tiko comes with a print volume of 138.3 cubic inches and a maximum nozzle temperature of 250 degrees Celsius.
All is good but how much does a single Tiko printer cost? We said the printer was affordable and at USD 179 we think it is. This money also includes one standard 1 kg spool of 1.75 mm filament. The first Tiko printers will ship this November.
Source: Techspot.com