I supported the kickstarter for the Cerambot last year, knowing full well that there was a chance my $350 was simply gone (one should assume this with any kickstarter). However, they delivered! I got my printer and now I have to put in the time and effort to actually print with it.

Assembly

Assembly of the machine was pretty quick and easy. The kit is a barebones delta printer with an additional extrusion system. The instructions were passable, but not great. I wouldn’t throw this at an absolute beginner, but if you’ve plugged in a few control boards before, you’ll figure it out.

Testing

Consistency is where this printer is extremely different than your standard filament style printer. The pastes you push through this are all going to have variations because no one is mass producing it to be perfect for this use. I’ll likely be mixing my own ceramics to get the consistency I want, which takes time and skill. Having inconsistent material seemed like a nightmare for initial tests, so I used peanut butter. It has a solid consistency and is easy to get. Unfortunately the oils in it make it sort of a pain to clean up.

Moving Forward

I need to purchase a kiln and start experimenting. I have a certain feel in mind that I’m aiming for, so I’ll have to not only sort out the proper consistency for the material to be pushed through the printer, I’ll then need to get my slicer settings dialed in, and then finally I’ll have to play with heat recipes on the kiln to get it just right. This is of course ignoring the entire subject of glazing. I’m excited to get started.