Can a 3D printer simultaneously be safe, easy to use, sturdy, accurate, flexible and smart? Tiko promises to deliver on all fronts, and all that at an unbeatable price.
The 3D printer made by Tiko 3D made its first appearance at SXSW, where its manufacturer emphasized that it would carry a price tag of $179. A couple of weeks later, Tiko 3D turned to a crowdfunding platform to raise the funds necessary for mass production, and so far, backers have pledged several times the funding goal, proving that they are confident in Tiko’s 3D printing capabilities.
Tiko is entirely cloud-controlled, meaning that there are no USB or card ports to insert the files to be printed. The unibody design – certainly one of the main attraction points of this device, is fairly simple, including a printbed, an accelerometer that helps with the calibration of the printer, a chip and “carefully designed vents that are a part of the liquefier/end effector, which optimize convection and heat management to reach our thermal performance requirements,” as Tiko 3D CEO Matt Gajkowski explained in an interview with 3D Printing Industry. “Indeed we have faced some skepticism about the price point, and we feel it’s worthwhile to note that Tiko 3D printer on the market, and that is exactly what has made it so affordable.”
For a printer costing $179 (which is one of the smallest prices on the market for a product of its kind), Tiko is more than sturdy. On top of that, it is very safe, as its printing components retract and the device turns itself off when the incorporated accelerometer detects that the printer has been moved while in function. Precision and flexibility are yet another characteristics of Tiko, and if you add to that the ability to operate it wirelessly, you can definitely conclude that this is like no other 3D printer.
As mentioned before, Tiko is the subject of a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter, and calling this project a success would be a major understatement. The company started this project with a funding goal of $100,000, and at the time of writing, backers had pledged $1,272,737, more than 12 times what this 3D printer needed to turn from a concept into a real product. By April 30, when the campaign ends, I assume that this sum will be much higher, and Kicktraq claims that the project trends towards $4,071,043. At the current price, it’s easy to guess why this 3D printer is so successful.
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