Kickstarter: Trinus 3D Printer

I was a fairly early backer of the Trinus 3D Printer on Kickstarter.  The project was wildly oversubscribed by 3147 backers and raised $1.6 million.  While this does not quite match the enthusiastic support for the M3D Micro back in 2014, where close to 12, 000 backers put up $3.4 million, it's still a solid response to what looks like a solid product.

Trinus 3D Printer

My son and I had jointly owned a Cupcake, an early (2005?) consumer printer kit made from laser-cut plywood. It worked, sort of, but was always a bit finicky and problematic.  It cost about $800 USD at time.  I think assembling it was more fun than using it.

The Trinus, at $349 USD in its base form, is all-metal, with a straightforward industrial-style design.   Where the Cupcake had a zillion little bits to assemble, the Trinus comes in 11 pieces, four of which are identical single-axis slides (compare this to the 101Hero, a delta printer which comes with three identical injection-moulded pylons). The version I backed has a heated bed, an enclosure for printing ABS, a laser engraver head, and some filament.  My deluxe package cost $629 USD including shipping and handling.

That's a lot more printer (and laser engraver) for a  lot less money and assembly than the old Cupcake.

How times change.