The Tiko 3D printer is a new budget 3D printer, currently the subject of a Kickstarter campaign, that is designed to make it easy to bring interesting, peculiar and unconventional design choices to life while minimizing costs. Crucially, all of this is done without compromising on the quality of the print. The use of an inexpensive, single-part 'unibody' frame -- that requires very little calibration -- makes this possible.
Usually, 3D printer's frames are the most expensive components of the machine. Multiple beams that need to be of a high standard also have to be regularly aligned during their lifetime to ensure a consistent performance, raising costs. The Tiko 3D printer's unibody design incorporates pre-aligned beams.
3D printing is one of those activities that has a lot of potential but won't be more widely adopted unless costs of maintaining 3D printers goes down. The Tiko 3D printer bids to do exactly that.
Unibody 3D Printers
The Tiko 3D Printer Has Prealigned Beams That Reduce the Need For Maintenance
Trend Themes
1. Unibody 3D Printers - The use of an inexpensive, single-part 'unibody' frame with pre-aligned beams in Tiko 3D printer reduces maintenance costs and produces quality prints - disruptive innovation opportunity lies in streamlining of additive manufacturing and democratizing design.
2. Budget 3D Printing - Tiko 3D printer's affordability and reduction in maintenance costs offer disruptive innovation opportunities in desktop 3D printing for home-based and hobbyist users, as well as enabling educational institutions and small businesses to offer prototyping and production services in-house.
3. Consolidated Calibrations - The Tiko 3D printer's pre-aligned beams can reduce the frequency and complexity of maintenance tasks, offering disruptive innovation opportunities in industrial 3D manufacturing for lowering production costs, reducing downtime, and increasing volume output.
Industry Implications
1. Additive Manufacturing - Tiko 3D printer's unibody design with pre-aligned ultra-light beams offers disruptive innovation opportunities for streamlining 3D printing - especially in areas of prototyping, modeling, and small-scale production.
2. Desktop 3D Printing - Tiko 3D printer's affordability and easy maintenance offer disruptive innovation opportunities in home-based and hobbyist 3D printing scenes, specifically in enabling users to customize designs, create personalized products and services, and experiment with new possibilities and materials.
3. Industrial Manufacturing - The use of Tiko 3D printers with consolidated calibrations can offer disruptive innovation opportunities in large-scale manufacturing and production industries, including aerospace, automotive, architecture, and medical, by improving speed, precision, reliability, and cost-effectiveness of additive manufacturing processes.