The company, Printr, which was set up in 2014 by three University of Twente students and a Saxion student, has just started a Kickstarter campaign. The aim of this young company is to make 3D printing accessible to everyone. Via Kickstarter, customers can purchase a box developed by the company – dubbed The Element –, that they can connect to their 3D printer and which contains all relevant software to be able to print simple objects in 3D. At the moment 3D printing is too complicated for most people; you need at least four advanced computer programmes in order to get from an idea to a 3D print.
The company Printr was set up in 2014 by four students from Twente: three students Creative Technology at the University of Twente and a Concept & Product development student at Saxion. The company is growing rapidly. It currently has sixteen employees and this number is expected to increase to 25 this year. The aim of this young company is to make 3D printing accessible to everyone. “Despite rapid technological developments in 3D printing technology, 3D printing is by no means open to everyone,” says Cecile van der Waal, one of the company's founders. She says that the most important reason for this is the software that is required in order to get from an idea to a 3D object. “You currently need at least four different programmes and you need to know how to use them. At the moment the complex configuration of a 3D printer is one of the biggest hurdles preventing the uninitiated from doing their own 3D printing.”
The Element
The solution Printr is launching, The Element, is an external box that you can simply connect to your 3D printer and which contains all the necessary software. This makes it easy for everyone who has a 3D printer to print a 3D object. For 95 euro, customers can pre-order The Element via Kickstarter. This will provide the company with the financial means to continue developing the prototype of The Element into a finished product that will be ready in July of this year.
In addition, the company is also developing a version that 3D printer manufacturers can integrate into their printers. The company has already concluded deals with six different manufacturers throughout the world.
3D print platform
The next step for Printr is to set up a 3D print ecosystem that goes by the name of Formide. This will make it easy for consumers who do not have a printer to have personalized 3D items made by professional printing parties.
The Kickstarter can be found on: http://bit.ly/PRINTR3D.
