Pirate3D made quite a splash with their Buccaneer 3D printer that they are launching at $347 (+$50 shipping). This morning, they launched their Kickstarter campaign and have already $140,000 in funding. The first 360 backers of the Kickstarter campaign got the printer for $247 (+$50 shipping). The Buccaneer won’t ship until February 2014, but relative to the cost of other pre-assembled printers on the market, this printer is a bargain.
SOURCE: Kickstarter
Pirate3D has sent out an email to followers letting them know that The Buccaneer will be launching on Kickstarter for $347. The crowdfunding for the project will start on May 30th at 11 am EST. For the first few backers, Pirate3D is offering the printer up for $247. See the video below for The Buccaneer in action.
SOURCE: Pirate3D
It is not the first sub-$1000 3D printer and it sure won’t be the last, but Pirate 3D’s announcement of The Buccaneer for $347 is an impressive unveiling that is sure to start turning heads. The decline in prices for 3D printers is as inevitable as Apple releasing a new iPhone. The bigger question has been when all the talk of everybody owning a 3D printer would become a reality. The Buccaneer might not end up in everybody’s home, but it opens up the creative world of 3D printing to a much wider audience. At the price of a high-end inkjet printer, why not experiment with the endless possibilities of 3D printing?
3D printing is nothing new, since Charles Hull patented stereolithography in 1986, but it is going through the same revolution that occurred when PC’s replaced mainframe computers. With more creative minds in reach of 3D printing, The Buccaneer could mark the point when many more people will make the jump and buy a 3D printer, even if just to experiment with what is to come.
At 100 microns and a printable area of 5.8×3.9×4.7, this printer sure isn’t going to replace your next run to Target. If Pirate 3D can pull off the launch of The Buccaneer (The Buccaneer is still not for sale and plans are to launch a Kickstarter campaign in the next few days), we may soon see a rapid decline in the price of purchasing a 3D printer and the beginning of a revolution.
SOURCE: TechCrunch
