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The $99 3D Printer: a Pioneering Product or Design Misstep?

This week we bring you our pressing topic of the moment straight from our reader-controlled discussion boards! Our Core77 readers recently caught wind of a crowd funding campaign for a new 3D printer that could revolutionize the democratization of the craft.

The OLO 3D Printer is a Kickstarter project that’s already raised over $1 million dollars in funding that allows people to print small objects from their phone or via rendering programs—all under $100. 

Sound too good to be true? Well, depending on how you look at it that might be the case. It seems that OLO’s design solution for keeping this technology cheap is utilizing the light of your smart phone to cure the 3D printed object, meaning your phone is trapped during the full duration of building your tiny fabricated object. But we wonder if this solution is truly necessary, as Core77-er Cyberdemon brings up:

“Considering the uses for 3D printing, if they have cracked the resin that can be properly cured by an LCD (LCD’s normally do not produce the wavelength needed) then I would say forget using a smart phone, just give me a 15” retina LCD in a dedicated box so I can have a proper build volume and not tie up a phone for a 4 hour build.“

Some readers like Dan Lewis reasonably claim that it’s not the mechanical printer but instead the curable daylight resin used as the fabrication material that possesses "the real magic” of the product. 

So what do you think, is a 3D printer like this worth the $99? Do you think there could’ve been a better way to manufacture this project or is it’s functionality clever and innovative? Voice your opinions and critiques in the comment feed below!

(Also feel free to check out the original post and contribute on our discussion board!)