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.
My Trinus arrived some time while we were snowbirding in California. I assembled it yesterday and it has performed beautifully from the first print. It’s a solid, well-designed machine.
Took a little while to get it connected to Cura 15.04.6, but thanks to all my work with the 101Hero I know what all the Cura settings are for and how to maximize performance from the Trinus.
The Kodama Trinus at $349USD was worth the money and worth the wait. Is it any better than a $200USD Anet A8? I might have to get one to see…
Tom March 22nd, 2017 at 19:26