DeltaMaker 3D Printer Kickstarter Project

DeltaMaker 3D Printer

The developers of the DeltaMaker 3D printer ask, "Why does a 3D printer have to look like a microwave oven?" So, they've taken a unique and elegant approach to 3D printing that employs a delta robot mechanism rather than the usual raster-scanning print mechanism.

The development team has gone to Kickstarter to raise the funds needed to bring the DeltaMaker to market. The Kickstarter funding effort is currently at $96K committed with 26 days to go, closing in on a goal of $107K. The printer pldege price ranges from the $1,399 "early adopters" special, to $1,499 for students and teachers, to $1,599 for all Kickstarters throughout the duration of the pledge period.

Delta robots per se are not a new technology, they've been around for decades, but I believe the DeltaMaker is the first commercial 3D printer based on this mechanism. Delta robots can be made very fast and are often employed in pick-and-place and packaging applications where speed is a virtue; for example, there is a great video of a small delta robot performing pick-and-place assembly here.

The three arms you see holding the print head are parallelograms that restrict motion of the print head to the x-y axis. As the build proceeds, the three arms are pulled upward by a motor as the layers of fused plastic filament are put down. The designers claim an astounding 100micron layer resolution in a build volume of approximately 9" diameter and 11" height.

Watch the embedded video below to see the DeltaMaker in action.

Update: The DeltaMaker Kickstarter fundraiser was successfully completed yesterday (Mar. 1st) with $152.6K pledged, well over its $107K goal. Congratulations to the DeltaMaker team.