If you remember the DeltaMaker, which built on the Rostock designed by Johann Rocholl, then this new printer will be familiar to you. Johann continued refining his design into a printer called the Kossel, and then teamed up with Terence Tam, the creator of OpenBeam, to build the Kossel Pro.
The Kossel Pro is a beefier version of the Kossel, larger and stronger, with more room for expansion and upgrades. To improve accuracy and longevity, none of the parts will be 3D printed; they’ll be either stamped or injection molded. The parts will also be backwards compatible so that they can be used to upgrade Kossels. The delta structure has been gaining popularity recently because it minimizes footprint by moving the XYZ motions to a vertical positioning system. This is beneficial because most people have more room over their desk than on it. Due to such a design, the Kossel Pro has a build envelope of over 12,000 cubic centimeters while occupying only about a square foot of desk space. Delta configurations can also be extremely fast at printing. Additionally, the BrainWave board that powers the Kossel Pro is built in the same room as the printer, so the hardware and electronics will play together well.
It’s important to note a trend here: though it’s a fine machine (especially for $1,000; $1,400 fully assembled), the Kossel Pro took over three weeks to fund its $60,000 goal. The Buccaneer, on the other hand, reached its $100,000 goal in eight minutes. There’s a huge difference in interest, clearly. But why? User friendliness would be my guess. The DIY 3D printer market demand has nearly been met with RepRaps and their derivatives. Now more people are aware of 3D printing, but they’re not all techies. They want printers that look good on their desks and come with easy-to-use software that delivers one-click printing. I love open source, but most people would rather have something that they can use without going through hours of tutorials.
