14 DAY TRIAL // Crowdfunding campaigns usually have the goal to raise enough money for one specific product that would later become self-sufficient. Sometimes, though, a team of developers or startup company will come up with something that can change an already existing product, or an entire category.
The team behind startup company Your Wild World might just manage to achieve something of the latter sort on the 3D printing market. They have launched a campaign meant to gather enough funds for their Parfait Printing project.
What they have come up with is a method to create one piece of multi-color filament that is specific to a design, and thus, can allow a 3D printed object to come out in full color. In essence, the plan is to allow vertical color changes through a single extrusion head.
Full-color 3D printing on every 3D printer already in existence
This is the ultimate goal of the YWW Parfait Printing campaign. It may sound impossible to pull off, but it wouldn't be the first time someone achieved what was thought to be impossible.
A 3D model file is created, complete with color data, and a string of filament is then produced according to how the extruder is expected to move and deposit plastic throughout the printing process.
All in all, it's a pretty simplistic approach, and one that stands a good chance of turning full-color 3D printing from an expensive commodity into the rule instead of the exception.
How the crowdfunding campaign is unusual compared to others
YWW isn't actually asking you to pledge money for the product itself. Instead, all you have to do is pay shipping costs.
The Kickstarter campaign is a sort of beta testing platform in this case, a Beta program you can join if you own a 3D printer from one of the following brands (among others): FlashForge, Printrbot, MakerBot, Delta, Afinia, or MakerGear.
If you're up for it, YWW will ship you a strand of multicolor filament and a related 3D file for you to test on your 3D printer. Then you have to send a report back to the company, in regard to how it all worked out, or if it didn't and why.
Your Wild World will wait for feedback and produce better-tuned filament, or maybe tweak the CAD design, until everything works as it's supposed to. Once you've finished testing everything, you get full access to Parfait Printing technology before everyone else other than fellow testers.
It will allow you to start 3D printing full-color objects earlier than anyone else, all the while sticking to your normal, cheap consumer 3D printer.
