14 DAY TRIAL // For many, part of the fun of 3D printing is assembling your own printer and then continuing to tinker and improve it. For others, the constant hassle and maintenance is the biggest annoyance. For those who just want to print and make building their 3D printer their full-time job, there's now the Asterid 1000 Series.
The printer is up on Kickstarter and promises some solid specs for just $500 (€367), without the heated bed. With the heated bed, the printer is $579 (€425). The best part though, the company behind it reckons, is that the printer comes fully assembled, and you just have to install the software to get to the fun part.
"All of our printers are supplied completely assembled and ready to use out-of-the-box. We'll assemble everything from the electronics to the hot-end and wrap it all together with an extruded aluminum frame. In fact, all you need to do to get started when you receive your Asterid 3D printer is unpack it, install the software & filament and start printing," the project's Kickstarter page boasts.
There are cheaper printers out there and there are better ones, but the Asterid comes at an attractive price. The Asterid 1000 has a 203x203x203 mm print volume (8x8x8 inch) and a layer resolution of 100 microns. It works with 1.75 mm PLA or ABS and comes with a 0.4 mm nozzle. The Asterid 1000 is based on a RepRap design and is fully open source.
All in all, not a bad package, but the shipping dates seem to be putting off most buyers. The first batch is expected to ship in March 2014, but that's for just a few dozen buyers. The second, bigger batch is coming in July 2014. The model only ships in the US and you'll need to add $75 (€55) for shipping.
That's assuming that the company is able to keep its promised ship date which, on Kickstarter, is never a guarantee. This is probably why only four backers have pledged to buy the printer. That doesn't bode well for the project, which still needs almost $28,000 (€20,500) in funding by November 12, to reach its $30,000 (€22,000) goal.