All year, 3D printers below $ 500 have been appearing on crowdfunding websites. Everyone’s reaction? “Wow!”
Now, there’s a C$ 100 ($ 97) printer. It’s called the Peachy, and it doesn’t work like most low-cost printers. Most consumer printers use plastic, which is printed as a melty goo and then allowed to harden. The Peachy uses resin. A laser is applied to the printed resin, curing it and causing it to harden.
At this point, the machine looks like it prints with fairly low resolution. The creators say on the campaign page they intent to continue improving the design before the delivery date, though they will mostly focus on the software.
Unassembled printers are still available for $ 100, and the funding campaign will continue through October 20. Assembled printers will run you $ 400. For an extra $ 350, you can also add a 3D scanner, which captures physical objects and creates a digital file that can be printed on the Peachy. $ 350 for a scanner is actually a pretty good deal, as sub-$ 1,000 models are just now emerging on the market.
Rinnovated plans to ship the printers beginning in July 2014. The campaign has already hit $ 280,000, which is more than five times the original goal of $ 50,000.
Will the Peachy be a good buy by the time it ships a year from now? Hard to say. Low-cost printers are becoming more and more common. I wouldn’t be surprised to see quite a few beat the Peachy to shelves.
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