A new Colorado startup is launching a pilot program in Denver that lets users rent a brand name 3D printer in their home. The rental fees include full set-up and printing instructions and technical support, so even if a first time user rents a machine, Rent-A-Build will walk them through the entire 3D printing process.
While awareness of 3D printing is higher than it has ever been and industry sales are expected to explode in the coming years, the entry cost and technical knowhow for 3D printing is still prohibitively high for most people. Being able to choose a specific 3D printer to try out for a week or two is, frankly, an ideal way for those curious about 3D printing to dip their toes in the world of molten plastic without risking thousands of dollars and getting burned.
“3D printing has got cheaper and more reliable, but it’s just out of reach for most people,” explained Rent-A-Build’s Zach Dicklin. “It’s still a lot of money to spend on a big unknown. Unless you have access to a printer through a friend, work, school, or hacker space, it’s impossible to know how this tool works, and if it will do what you need.”
Of course it isn’t just newbies who are going to be able to benefit from this service. Many people are starting to base their livelihoods on using their 3D printers, and if technical issues take a machine down, being able to rent a replacement for a week could be a lifesaver. Or if a business has a large project or promotional event coming up they could rent a few 3D printers to handle the extra workload. Not to mention the seasoned 3D printing veterans who can now simply try out other machines for a week to see what their next purchase will be.
Rent-A-Build has twenty different makes of 3D printers available for rent, including several models of Makerbots, 3D System Cubes, Ultimaker, Up!, Solidoodle, Wanhao and Da Vinci. You can rent a printer in your home for between $50 to $100 a week, and currently they offer rental periods of one week, three weeks, one month and three months.
Office equipment rental isn’t an unheard of service, so I’m actually a little surprised that someone hasn’t got around to renting out 3D printers sooner. It looks like the pilot program is currently only available in Denver, Colorado, but if it is successful it would most likely expand into the rest of the country pretty quickly.
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