“The Inspire 3D Printer Kit is being developed by Accessible3D to be the cheapest 3D printer kit ever. Our current developer kit is being delivered for $30, and I am hoping to keep the price-point as close as possible to that in the final kit, once developed. I was inspired when I saw similar products and felt I could do it cheaper. My hope is that if I can bring the price-point down, it will lower the barrier to entry for 3D Printing, and make this empowering tool more accessible. The Inspire 3D Printer is a small LCD Resin 3D Printer that cures UV-sensitive resin (designed to work with standard 405 nm resin) layer by layer to build a solid 3D object. On this page, you will find information about the Developer Kit, how the printer works, and my progress in developing it. It is still a work in progress, but I hope you will stay tuned here on my Shift4Shop site to see it all come together.
The Inspire 3D Printer is still in development, and I am not yet in a position to offer it for sale in its final form. However, I believe we have made a lot of progress and proved that the concept is feasible with these inexpensive components. There is still a lot of work I need to do, but I wanted to open up the work I have done so far and raise funds for the St. Jude School Program. If you are an experienced maker and interested in getting involved in this work, you can buy a Developer Kit that includes all of the components for the current design excluding any 3D Printed Parts, which only takes about $5 worth of filament to print.
I want to be very clear, the prototype you can build with the components in this kit is not a fully functional printer in its current form. I have made a lot of progress, and I believe I have proved it is feasible, but it will not serve as a 3D printer right now. This kit is ONLY for experienced makers. UV-curing resin has some inherent dangers, and the kit will require access to tools like a 3D printer and soldering iron. I am working to design additional safety features and finalize the physical design to produce the mechanical pieces so that everyone can build and use it, but the developer kit is only for people who are experienced, want to prototype, and potentially contribute to the printer’s development with their own additions. I repeat, do NOT buy the developer kit unless you are experienced. I am working to develop the most Accessible3D Printer in the world, but this is not it, this is just an important step on that path. As I continue to update the design, I will try my best to only use the parts in the kit (which is why I am also including some parts not currently in the design, but I anticipate I will incorporate), so that you can update your prototype along with me.
You can check out the development progress below to fully understand the state of the printer prototype and its current capabilities. If you aren’t as confident as I am that I will reach my goal, then I would encourage you to hold off, follow my progress that I will document here, and order when I have gotten a little more work done (also check out the cool space-related 3D prints I am selling! The proceeds will also go to the St. Jude School Program).
Click the “Order The Developer Kit Now” link below to see exactly what’s in the kit, and when you can expect to receive it. By the time I ship the kits, detailed instructions on the assembly will have been put together. I will also put together an open-source product list that can use the instructions. I envision it will have some affiliate links that will not cost you anything but will still raise money for The St. Jude School Program. It will likely be a good deal more expensive than our kit since you won’t benefit from bulk pricing, but you can probably get all the parts a little faster that way.
If you have followed the 3D printer field as I have, you know there are a lot of projects that have failed to deliver (particularly the crowdsourced kind). You can be confident that you will get this kit because I am not trying to deal with any complicated manufacturing or tooling (I do want to do that in the future, but that is something I will work through when I get there). I am just providing inexpensive electronics already readily available packaged together and saving money by ordering multiple units that I have already priced and sourced for a small batch.”