There is a new range of 3D printers to consider for your affordable 3D printing needs. They come from China and they took the wider route, passing through Australian 3D distributor Aussie 3D Printers, to make their way to the rest of the world. Recently I was contacted by Michael Slavica, founder and CEO of the Australian company which offers a broad range of well known 3D printing solutions, from MakerBot to Up and Flashforge.
Michael told me about his experience with CreatBot, a company established in 2011 by founder and CEO Baohua Chen. While it has not received much media attention, CreatBot offers a full range of 3D printers which address many of the issues that users encounter during the 3D printing process, primarily running out of filament and losing power during a print
The CreatBot 3D printers were build specifically to address these and other issues. “Baohua Chen – Michael said – saw that there was a major weakness in most 3D printers extruders, so he put his team to work on creating a new style extruder. After numerous tests and heat transfer analysis, CreatBot finally developed an accurate wire-feeder with a smooth forward and backwards motion. They have also created a low-heat intelligent 3D printer extruder, giving their customers the choice of two or three printer heads.”
Entrusting Aussie 3D Printers to help them expand business, CreatBot partnered with Michael’s company which now offers free international delivery and is retailing the CreatBot range from between $1956 and $5475 (as in US dollars). There are now six models in the range, DS, DM, DX, DH, DE and DZ, which vary mostly for the size (with the largest model measuring 400x300x300 mm and the largest vertical platform reaching 520 mm in height) and number of extruders (with a maximum of three).
“A common problem with large printed models is that the filament would run out midway through a job, which would cause the print to fail requiring a complete restart of the task,” Michael explained. “In the event of filament running out mid-print the CreatBot 3D printer will automatic withdraw filament and sound a warning to prompt its user to change over the filament roll.”
In the event of a power outage, the machines can remember their current position and temperature once the power is restored and it resume printing without losing a beat. “The total process has not been easy, as a lot of things need to be considered,” Michael said. “At the moment of power failure, not only did the 3D printer machine need to memorize the printing position, but also the print bed needed to go down otherwise the filament would leave a burn mark on the model. Additionally, the filament needed to pull back; otherwise it would drip down and once again ruin the customers job. CreatBot solved all these problems and this new Break Point Resume Printing function has been successfully applied to the DX, DZ and DE Series 3D printers.”
CreatBot’s newer models can reach up to 40 micron in layer resolution and a build speed of up to a build speed of 180mm/sec, with travel speed set at 250mm/sec. They also have a full metal body and a core XY architecture, making them very stable and precise. Australia may still be Down Under, however the Creatbot 3D printers are a little less under (the radar) now.
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