In the past, we asked if 3D printing would appear in every home. ONO is a sub-€100 3D printer that has me as excited as a child at Christmas, Easter and four years worth of birthday’s rolled into one.
The problem with 3D printing
There are no shortage of “affordable” 3D printers on the market today. Companies such as MakerBot, XYZ Da Vinci and Formlabs are constantly trying to reduce the cost to what small businesses can consider affordable. What if that would become affordable for the general public? Currently, 3D printing is still a little expensive, but ONO has that price tag in its sights.
How ONO solves the problem
ONO is extremely cheap and simple to set up, costing only €100. The ONO is a small box which you slide your phone into. Simply choose the item you wish to print, slip off for a cuppa tae and when you come back, your piece is complete.
That seems a little simple…explain
The printer consists of three main components. The reservoir, the photopolymer resin and the mechanised top which houses the platform upon which the printing happens and controls the electronics. Your phone sits under some polarised glass here. From here your phone screen lighting up the box allows the polarised glass to arrange photos vertically. The beams of lights are then solidified by the resin. These methods actually removes the requirement of 3D printing, hence the nice big saving.
What does this mean?
The whole idea behind 3D printing is how cheap prototyping costs by using this method of creation. The ONO isn’t going to start a home manufacturing movement, but for €100 it certainly going to destroy some barriers for those a little more hesitant to adopt 3D printing.
It also means that you can get involved for pennies as the ONO is currently available on Kickstarter for €99. We’re going to need a lot of shelves for random printed stuff.
