14 DAY TRIAL // We're written about quite a few consumer 3D printers, and a whole bunch that are too expensive for normal people, but will be accessible to them via 3D printing service stores. Most of them, though, have a problem, one that Sky Tech has finally solved.
The problem we are talking about is the rather aesthetically challenged look of most things made with a 3D printer.
Don't let all the advertisements fool you, many of the “samples” are hand-polished or otherwise treated for good looks after being printed.
There's a reason 3D printed items are used as preliminary models and wax casts more often than not.
Sure, there are some 3D printers that truly produce beautiful, smooth and shiny items, especially those that work with metal or special polymers.
However, the “cheap” consumer printers don't, and this is the main reason why 3D printing hasn't caught on with the common man yet.
Sky Tech has the solution: a finishing box, called Magic Box, which uses an acetone vapor bath to smooth out the lines present on FDM prints.
In case you don't know, FDM is short for fused deposition modeling and is the common technique used by consumer 3D printers.
It uses an extruder to deposit superheated plastic drop by drop, basically building an item layer by layer. The resolution determines the detail and smoothness, but things rarely come out perfect.
The Magic Box (called MagicBox on Kickstarter) can be used with ABS plastic and PLA prints, but you'll have to balance out the smoothness and detail yourself.
Longer baths will improve smoothness, but the acetone vapor is pretty, shall we say, corrosive, so it might ruin your print if you leave it in the Magic Box too long.
Fortunately, there's an automated control technology that does most everything, even ridding you of the mess left behind.
All in all, the Sky Tech Magic Box resembles, to an extent, the under-advertised Smoothing Station from Stratasys. Magic Box's method is just a lot cheaper.
You'll have to go to Kickstarter and make a pledge if you want to be among the first to get one though. The product has already exceeded its funding goal by a factor of 3 or so, but it would be convenient to order one now, for $429 / €429, instead of the $699 / €699 it will retail for.
The Sky tech Magic Box has a chamber size of 250 x 250 x 200 mm / 9.84 x 9.84 x 7.87 inches, but measures 300 x 300 x 290 / 11.81 x 11.81 x 11.41 inches. The weight of the product is 5 kg / 11 pounds.
