14 DAY TRIAL // Most fused deposition modeling 3D printers, or FDM 3D printers for short, can't make things out of anything other than ABS and PLA plastic. Then again, most FDM 3D printers don't have more than one extruder either, and yet the new one from 3NOVATICA has both features.
3D printers that use fused deposition modeling technology, or fused filament fabrication as it is otherwise known, have become the cheapest type of printers on the consumer front.
That means that they sell for less than a thousand dollars / euro, and sometimes for under half of that too, if the build volume is small enough.
Thus, four-figure prices have become the domain of SLA printers, or stereolithography, where items are “grown” out of resin tanks through UV light curing, instead of being built drop by drop.
The new printer that 3NOVATICA revealed has such a “high” price, albeit on the low side, but it's not an SLA printer. Instead, it's FDM.
The 3NOVATICA PROFABB 3D Printer
There are two main reasons why the PROFABB 3D Printer has a higher price than usual despite the technology used for additive manufacturing.
One is the existence of two extruders instead of just one, meaning that you can combine two materials / colors during a print job.
The other is that the newcomer supports unusual materials. While you can still, sure enough, employ ABS and PLA plastic, you have support for laywood and laybrick filaments as well.
Laybrick is a rough filament that can be used to print large architecture models or landscapes, while laywood is good for more delicate things and looks /smells like actual wood once the print has finished.
A heated build platform is included (no adhesive tape needed to keep the print in place), a camera on the inside (lets you monitor a print from a remote PC or mobile device), and sensors that help change the color of the light inside the chamber, depending on the temperature of the air.
It will serve as a warning system against opening the door prematurely, if nothing else. No sense in the heated smoke and smell to waft out and all over your workshop / room after all.
The price and availability
Since 3NOVATICA wanted this to be a cheaper alternative to “professional” 3D printers, the price is of $3,500 / €3,500. It might seem like a lot, but the above elements justify it, and the company even included a DIG (Drive Inside the Guide), which uses special transmitters on the linear guides of the X and Y axes to prevent user injury. For a top of the line printer that ships in days, it's actually a pretty reasonable price.