14 DAY TRIAL // One thing often overlooked by people looking to read about or use 3D printing technology is that a good, secure print bed is as important as a good extruder. After all, if your print slips from its place mid-process, you'll be left with a distorted mess.
Even when you do apply the proper adhesive to the print bed, however, your work is not over. After all, once a print job is done, you still need to detach the object from the plate, preferably without damaging either.
A developer by the name of Matteo Borri has introduced a device called the 3D Printer Broom, a mechanism that sweeps across the print bed and removes the completed print from the bed, then proceeds to deposit it in a holding box.
All in all, it's a pretty straightforward contraption. Matteo Borri hopes that he will manage to raise enough money to market it through the Indiegogo crowd-funding website. The campaign hasn't quite gone up, but its goals and pledge levels should finalize soon enough.
Even if he doesn't reach that goal, he will be using the invention for his own purposes, like helping with the printing of the L-Cheapo laser cutter, another one of his creations.
The broom is compatible with Solidoodle and RepRap 3D printers, and probably most other FDM printers as well (fused deposition modeling, where plastic filament melts upon being passed through an extruder).
Depending on the Indiegogo pledge ($20 / €15 to $80 / €60), you will get either a PCB, a kit, or a fully complete broom.
