14 DAY TRIAL // Desktop 3D printers, even good ones, don't have such a great reputation with the "mainstream" audience, mostly because they see them as nothing more than expensive toys. A big reason for that is that they only print in plastic.
The other big reason is that, well, they mostly are really expensive toys. But at least one of those reasons is being challenged – the Vader 3D printer eschews plastic in favor of metal, aluminum to be precise.
3D printing with metal is not unheard of. Just last week one company in Austin, Texas printed an entire functioning weapon out of stainless steel using a method dubbed “selective laser sintering.”
But the new Vader 3D printer is small, relatively cheap, and works very much like a regular FFF (fused filament fabrication) printer except that, instead of melting PLA or ABS, it melts aluminum.
What this means is that the printer can create any object as a solid piece of aluminum, something with a lot of practical applications.
The Vader 3D printer is still a prototype at this point and, despite its relatively small size, calling it a desktop printer is a bit of a misnomer. The thing is built out of granite and has a solid metal heatbed.
The first printers actually for sale will go for between $20,000 (€15,000) and $100,000 (€75,000), likely towards the more expensive end. The next model will be cheaper though, aimed at small businesses and going for half of what the first model will cost.
Beyond that is where things get interesting. The team hopes to build a metal 3D printer for less than $10,000 (€7,500) within a reasonable time frame. Vader Systems estimates that to be about one year from now, but it's safer to assume it's going to take two or three. Still, a metal printing device for less than $10,000 three years from now doesn't sound bad at all.
