Friday, March 30, 2012

Kit Update

Hi Guys,

We spent the past few weeks working on the price for the Complete Kit, as well resin, software and everything related to the Printer.

We found out that producing all the parts and shipping worldwide is quite expensive, which is not what most of the people expect for a DIY project. The complete Kit would probably cost over 4K USD, without shipment and in case we manage to have a big volume.

This is very cheap compared to existing High Resolution 3D Printers, but it is expensive for a DIY project. And we felt after reading lot of emails commenting on the pricing, that the community is not expecting such a high price.

Because of this, we think would make more sense to move for only a basic kit, where we would provide all documentation needed to build the Printer, as well the Resin formula and just sell the software and the controller board. The documentation would have the detail technical specification, BOM and Suppliers.

This basic kit (Document + Software + Controller Board) would be sold around $600 USD, but even for that we would need a good volume to be able to produce it.
For this reason we’re creating a Pre-order list for both Kits (full and basic), so we can decide the best way to move forward.

If you are interested in the basic one or in the full one or both, please send us an email at veloso3d@gmail.com

Cheers

36 comments:

  1. Hi Junior.
    This guys would like to introduce their kits at 2.000 USD: http://www.miicraft.com/
    Also perhaps you have noticed the Thingiverse DLP printer development too.
    Good luck!

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  2. Hello, for UKD 600 would include all the electronics (excluding stepper motor and projector)?
    The projector is a DLP, you need a brand and a specific type?
    Then serve only electric motors and metal parts or other things?
    Also have the settings to get the results you obtained?
    I ask for understanding as far as I could take time and money and then finish the project and then I understand what is right to choose whether or whole kitt

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  3. What does the complete kit include? If it includes everything including the projector and all hardware so that all I have to do is open the box and assemble, I think the $4000 range is acceptable. :) Daniel

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  4. Consider this: a Freeform Pico (which will be released tomorrow 3/31/12) with similar resolution but a smaller build envelope, sells for $6990 USD. So spend a day or so assembling the kit and save $2000-$3000. Where else are you going to get this resolution for this little? Daniel

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  5. Hello,

    be sure, here 4k isn't too much for a complete machine. So, my arm is up for the complete kit!

    Mattia

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  6. first I read 4K and was like nooooooo!
    but then I read 600 and was like fuuuck yeahhh!
    I want the basic kit! :D As long as it's not insanely difficult to set up.

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  7. Hi Junior,

    This is very exciting!! Regarding the pricing, consider this:

    There are plenty of affordable $2000 and below 3d printers that are tinker machines and print unpredictably. There are also plenty of $15000 and above 3d printers that have amazing quality and expensive materials to match.

    Your price point of between $3000-$5000 and the quality of your printers prints fall VERY nicely into this gap in the market.

    I for one would GLADLY pay 3-5 thousand dollars for a printer who's quality rivals and sometimes surpasses that of expensive $15000 printers, and who's useability and functionality allows me to actually use the printer commercially, not just as a hobbyist.

    You printer bridges the gap between these Ultimaker/Makerbot type printers and vFlash style printers very very nicely.

    I would buy your printer immediately at your suggested $4000 price tag.

    Consider also selling premade kits, as this hits another huge section of the market that is not tech savy enough to confidently buy and build a kit, but are small scale designers/artists who need high quality 3d prints for their prototypes.

    Glad to see things moving forward,
    Brian
    polyoptics.blogspot.com

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  8. I've been following your posts for the past year and very excited about this! Could you give your best guesstimate on how much it would cost to complete the build after purchasing the starter kit?

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  9. Could you give a more detailed list of the parts that you provide in the basic kit, and what you would have to purchase yourself to make the machine complete?

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  10. I too think $4000 is a good price if all is included, Hardware and software.
    I would buy a kit if 4000$ will be the price for all I need to print.
    If the basic is 600$, all the measures of the parts with drawings must be included. When do you show us the two offers?
    Greets

    Mat

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  11. I will have to get a starter kit, just so I can hide the complete cost from the wife!

    Sounds like this is my project this summer

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  12. Maybe you could even do a kit that you only sell the software and documentation for? Steppers and controllers are coming down in price and you would not need anything with great power to do what this 3D printers does.

    If it's going to be a DIY project that people would consider worth buying I think this is the way to go.

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  13. Would it be safe to say it will ultimately cost $4K to build because the basic kit won't include most of the parts (just the instructions, resin formula, software and controller board)?

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  14. if the basic kit costs $600...what are the approximate remaining costs to build the machine minus labor?

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  15. I would be in for the full kit if it's as high quality as your work makes it seem. When you start taking deposits, let me know!

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  16. You should look into running this on IndieGoGo or Makible. The cool thing about Makible is that they will help you find manufactures in Asia and help you prepare the design and tooling! This could generate a lot of money and bring the costs per kit down.

    One more thing, at the 4k price point, I think people will start expecting a good support material technique. The expensive comercial offerings like those from Object have a support material that washes away and allows for free moving parts. This allows for AMAZING things like printing fully assembled clocks. What is support material like right now and is there a roadmap for improving it with the DLP/Resin technology used in this kit?

    Great work!!
    Jason

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  17. I'm hoping you can provide a bit more information rather than just asking people if they would part with 4k.

    What is the build speed? The build volume? Dimension stability? Accuracy? What's the resin like? Rigid? Brittle? Flexible?

    You mentioned about 2 type of options, what can a person do with the basic kit? Just an instruction? If it still take a person 4k to build the kit with the instructions, what difference does it make.

    With the basic kit, you'd give the resin formula? We'd be expected to mix our own resin?? I think most of us are mechanically/electronically adept but we're no chemist.

    If you can provide more information, people can easily make up their mind.

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  18. Sono d'accordo per lo start kit.
    Comunque vorrei sapere di più
    Oltre alla resina lavora anche con cera? è costosa?

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  19. Full kit for $4k US dollars plus shipping is fine with me. Ready to put in a deposit on it.

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  20. The total cost seems to be on an expensive side, that's for sure. On the other hand, considering the alternatives, I tend to agree with the post above that with the quality this printer can produce it seems to fall into a nice spot between the expensive commercial printers and hobbyist tinker machines.

    Some things to consider that can bring the costs down.

    - It looks like you're selling to software, which means it is proprietary. Why don't make it open source? That way you can improve quality and add features faster, you will not have to bear the burden of supporting it, and the total cost will be lower. It will also earn you points in popularity and bigger market penetration.

    - Did you consider using recent advancements in CNC parts in your design? In particular I am talking about MakerSlide Open Source Linear Bearing System (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/93832939/makerslide-open-source-linear-bearing-system) and CNC Building Blocks (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/ajquick/cnc-building-blocks). Using these might also bring the total cost down while maintaining the excellent quality.

    Just my 2c.

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  21. Hello
    I'm interested by the basic kit: only one question how much will cost the differents pieces that we will have to buy (an average)
    thanks

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  22. Hello
    I'm interested by the kit only one question could you tell a average price for the rest we will have to buy ?
    many thanks

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  23. I've been saving my money so that I can start a prototyping business. If your printer is able to reliably produce that quality that it appears to, I would have no qualms about using such a machine commercially. I wouldn't have any qualms about purchasing the $4000 kit, but have you tested its use with existing resins such as Acura or WaterShed?

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  24. You should set this up on http://www.kickstarter.com/

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  25. I was hoping to get a full kit under 2k, so I may have to go the basic kit route. I also need to know total cost of building it myself in the US. Will you offer any group discounts? Like if a group of people order kits at the same time and they're shipped together?

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  26. Ummm... People who are complaining about 4000.00 are insane. The photos you have posted look pretty close to being as good as an Objet which range from 24,000 to 160,000 plus.

    You put this printer in my hands for 4500.00 shipped and I will buy it. It needs to be serviceable, though.

    Your build volume would be in the 6"x6"x whatever Z height you can set up right?

    GET ME THIS PRINTER PLEASE!!!!

    Great work guys.

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  27. When are you going to setup the web store?

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  28. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  29. Does anyone know the technical specs of this device? Build envelope? material cost etc? I do not wish to jump the gun for lack of a better target. 6" X 6" X z height would be awsome.

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  30. Is it possible to do both? Or provide like a website where you can choose what components to buy from where (just a list of links or something).

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  31. The availability of an ~$600 kit is great in the case of our students, particularly the mechatronics engineering students. We could afford a number of printers, and have students complete the construction as a personal project. It would also be a fun project for them.

    A $4,000 kit means that the equipment would end up being housed in a centralized workshop, access controlled, jobs carefully costed, etc. This immediately restricts student access.

    Why not do both? A kit for those with the time, interest and expertise to assemble the gear, and a fully assembled expensive model for those who want to put it to use immediately.

    We would be interested in what is NOT in the $600 kit, so that we can determine what parts we need to source.

    A great project. Congratulations.

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  32. I`m interested too in your 600$ kit.

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  33. This is fascinating. I look forward to seeing improvements on this concept. It will be a brave new world when the everyday creative mind can cad an invention and then print it into existence.

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About the Project


I have been dreaming about having a 3D Printer at home for many years, but the ones with good quality are not affordable and the low costs just deliver poor quality. Sounds crazy but I decided to build a high resolution 3D Printer by myself at home (people actually said that I was crazy and this was impossible). The funny thing I never saw this type of machines in real life, and still haven’t seen one besides the one I built.

Now that I succeed building the first prototype, the target is to bring this low cost 3D Printer to every home, so we are developing the first affordable one with high resolution.

I hope you enjoy our blog, follow us and you can have this printer in your home soon.