This tiny 3D printer has raised over $500K on Kickstarter

For those who still have the mindset that 3D printing is an industry with huge barriers to entry, controlled by big companies with even bigger pockets, this might change your mind. This tiny 3D printer, made in San Diego by a father and his son, shatters these misconceptions with their Cubibot printer. Since starting their funding run on Kickstarter they’ve achieved 10x their $50K goal, over $500,000.

What’s so special about this printer?

Some have been hailing it “the world’s smallest 3D printer”, others just say it is the most compact. What is concrete however are the specs: it’s 10 x 10 x 10 inches in size, with a 5 x 5 x 5 inch print area. This is small. Usually the size of ovens and cookers, the Cubibot is a working 3D printer that can fit on the side of your desk, with room to spare.

Another preconception the Cubibot shatters is that 3D printers are prohibitively expensive. Though someone who has studied the 3D printer market carefully knows prices are lower than before, the Cubibot is still very cheap. When first listed on Kickstarter, the cheapest earlybird deal listed the printer at just $149.

Cubibot LED video from their Kickstarter page

Industrial printing companies have therefore lost 1 of their 2 selling points. They can no longer say they are the only ones with the ability to print: these mini-printers are affordable enough to be in every home in the developed world. This leaves these companies with their back-up: “we are the only ones that can produce with the highest level of quality.”

But are they? Cubibot seem to think not. On their Kickstarter page they meticulously compare specs, features and additional extras their printer has that rivals do not. In addition, Cubibot makes the bold claim that their print quality is on par with $50,000 printers. There is no way to prove or disprove this statement before release, so we will have to leave this unanswered.

How have they achieved this?

Cubibot go into depth about all of the design and experimentation that has gone into making it the best printer in its area. The first is the most important: quality. Every part has been designed and optimised from scratch, they say. Moreover, the heated print bed is good for temperatures up to 100C, and the nozzle is good till 275C. They have a self-levelling bed to make printing easier, and a customised Core XY gantry system with an advanced extruder which allows for this supposedly amazing print quality.

Furthermore, they preach of the Cubibot’s safety. They have achieved this through a filter that is inside the printer. Any air that has been mixed with any chemicals from the printing process passes through this filter before being released back into the room, containing HEPA and carbon filters.

Demonstration of the Cubibot’s air filters

How versatile is it?

Versatility can be a make-or-break moment for some printers. Therefore, Cubibot have made their own filaments to be used with the printer. They say they use the best materials to make their filaments using laser diameter control, and can print materials like ABS, PLA, Wood Filaments, Nylon, and more. The Cubibot can also print other brand filaments, though they don’t recommend it.

Designed to be super simple, the Cubibot can be operated via your mobile phone. You just need to download the app, download your chosen model, and press print. Cubibot know their market. It isn’t big brands, it’s consumers who aren’t as tech-savvy. These people don’t know how to deal with complex printers or assemble electronics, they just want to make cool things.

That’s the reason for their success. They have beautifully answered a need from a consumer group that are just waiting for a compact, simple printer. I expect a number of Cubibot-esque products to release within the next 24 months as the sector gets more competitive. Whether the Cubibot has big industrial printing companies worried, I’m not sure. But if it is as good as the team claim it is, we might be witnessing some very disruptive technology indeed.

We spoke about the Cubibot briefly in our ECO3D September, check it out here. You can visit the Cubibot Kickstarter page here.

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