I am no 3D printer expert, but I have always the impression that filament-based 3D printers are more affordable than stereolithography (SLA) 3D printer and SLA is usually reserved for industrial use or large design studios. Well, I am not sure if my belief holds any truth today. Oh wait… it looks like it does not hold any truth after all – thanks to SparkMaker by WOW!. Billed as the most affordable desktop SLA 3D printer, this new kid in the 3D printing block promised to deliver ease-of-use with high quality print to boot, plus it begs to be placed in the middle of the living. I mean, seriously, just look at this little guy. Surely, you want to show it off, wouldn’t you?
At 10 x 6.7 x 6.7 inches (27.5 x 17 x 17 cm) and weighing just 6.6 pounds (3 kilograms), this LCD-based SLA 3D printer may seems tiny, but still, it is totally capable of a decent build volume of 4 x 2.2 inches and 5 inches tall (10.2 x 5.6 x 12.5 cm). Key features you can expect from this handsome fellow includes prints at 100 micrometer XY resolution and up to 20 micrometer Z layer thickness, a printing speed of 5-15s/layer, support for offline printing with SD card, a simple LED status light to let you in on the printing progress, and finally, affordability does not stop at the machine; it also uses affordable resin too, so the cost of printing is truly low.
If you want one, you may consider joining the 1,400 backers on Kickstarter in pre-ordering a unit. A pledge of at least $145 will secure a unit slated for December 2017 delivery. And yes, the campaign is, not surprisingly, well over its initial funding goal of $20,000. At the time of this writing, it has already rolled in over $300K in pledges. Skip ahead for product pitch video.
Images: WOW!
A shout out to Andy Chan for sending us this important hat tip!
