3D printers tend to do extraordinarily well on Kickstarter, even more so when the 3D printer in question is ridiculously cheap. The latest to do so is the cheapest 3D printer to shoot for crowdfunding success.
Pirate3D Inc took their 3D printer – The Buccaneer – to Kickstarter last week hoping to raise $100,000 for an initial production run. It’s only been five days and the team has now raised over $600,000 for the 3D printer that only cost $297 for the first 360 backers. Now the price has gone up to $397, but that’s still an incredible value for a desktop 3D printer.
The guys at Pirate3D are also doing some impressive work in 3D modeling software. They call it “Smart Objects” and it allows users with no experience in 3D modeling to customize 3D objects on the fly before sending it over to The Buccaneer.
Those who pre-order The Buccaneer on Kickstarter will get a fully assembled 3D printer and one cartridge of print material for $397. The 3D printers will start shipping out in February of next year. If you can’t back it now, Pirate3D says it will start selling The Buccaneer on its own site later on for the same price of $347 plus $50 shipping.
As an added bonus, here’s a video of The Buccaneer printing… something: