Tiko - The Unibody 3D Printer

Tiko - The Unibody 3D Printer

| Source: Kickstarter Author: Mark Campbell

Tiko - The Unibody 3D Printer

If any of you guys, like me, have been looking for an affordable yet accurate 3D printer, the Tiko may be the 3D printer that you've been waiting for. As it's Kickstarter page says it looks simple, accessible, and costing a very affordable pledge of $179 (£121).

As an soon to be Engineering graduate, the ideas behind the Tiko make a great deal of sense, with it's UNIBODY providing a stable, and consistent support for the 3D print head. Simply put the TIKO's printer head is almost impossible to misalign, making it a far more accurate alternative to most other similarly sized and priced 3D printers.

For the price of $179 this printer comes complete with everything you will need to use it, including a 1kg spool of 1.75mm filament, which is non-propriety, meaning that you can buy almost any off-the-shelf filament in order to print, making it ideal for any of us international buyers.

The printer supports PLA, ABS, Nylon, HIPS and even more, though I would not advise varying too far from these standard filament types.

With this printer being fully enclosed, you do not have to deal with many of the issues of similarly priced 3D printers, which could have your printed models warp with just a small breeze and allow the hot printing head and liquifier be touched by children or runaway pets.

Thankfully the TIKO has an automatic shutoff when the printer is disturbed, so even if it was tampered with while in use, the hot components have a chance to cool down and your current 3D print is not entirely ruined.

In terms of accuracy this printer is fantastic compared to similarly priced alternatives, being able to print to a resolution of 50 microns. The picture below is printed to 200 microns, so at the printers highest resolution your prints will be exceptionally accurate. One thing to note though is that when you print to a higher resolution you will have to wait much longer for the TIKO to print your model, just like every other 3D printer.

Right now the TIKO is fully funded and has been pledged a total of $458,136, which is over 4x the $100,000 target that TIKO 3D set. This means that this project has already been successful, so you should consider any future pledge as an order for the unit.

At present I myself am very close to ordering a unit for myself, even though the company has yet to detail the cost of postage to the UK. TIKO 3D do say that they will collect shipping fees in the fall of this year and that they should not cost more than $65 (£44) globally per TIKO.

You can join the discussion on the TIKO Unibody 3D Printer on the OC3D Forums.

Tiko may be the 3D printer that you've been waiting for. All for a pledge of $179. http://t.co/nraoOeeGSS pic.twitter.com/oQkz3QKMjh — OC3D (@OC3D) April 2, 2015

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