Ares All-in-One 3D Printer Heads for Crowdfunding

It could be that you’ve gotten jaded about all the 3D printers up for sale on crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Some end up being worthwhile (FORM1), but many others not so much. Maybe you’re looking for more utility for your investment. The power to bring digital objects into the physical world still seems pretty neat to me, but some people might want more.

For those bored souls and those wanting more, good news everyone! EasyArts has heard your sighs and has launched the Ares on Indiegogo. Ares is a fairly standard FDM-style 3D printer, but it also has the potential to transform into a number of other tools, including a laser engraver and 3D scanner.

As a 3D printer, Ares is nothing to get excited about. It has a fully metal body, and a suspended print head, rather than the traditional fixed design you’d expect from a RepRap system. That particular design attempts to offset a small horizontal print area with a flexible, much larger vertical print area.

In the case of the Ares, easy access to the print head is intended to allow users to swap different tools into place. Along with 3D printing, the system is capable of laser engraving, CNC engraving/milling, and 3D scanning. It isn’t quite a maker space in your garage, but it’s closer to a true utility device than a 3D printer alone.

Here are some of the specs offered by the various systems on the Ares.

• Build envelope: 190 mm diameter x 210 mm height (7.48 x 8.27 in.)
• Extruder: 0.3/0.4mm
• Layer thickness: 0.05-0.3mm
• Scanning resolution: 0.3mm
• Scanning speed: 12 minutes (depending on resolution required)
• Scanning color mode; 16 bit color
• Laser engraving travel speed: 200mm/s
• Laser engraver beam diameter: 0.4mm
• CNC milling power: approximately 6W
• CNC rotating speed: 4000r/minute
• CNC cutter diameter: 0.3-4mm

At the risk of sounding like a late night television commercial, how much would you expect to pay for all the features of the Ares? If you said $579 you guessed right! During the Indiegogo campaign, backers can get the full monty for less than the cost of many 3D printers alone. According to the Indiegogo page, that’s part of the idea.

“That is why we decided to develop a new printer integrated with multi-functional modules, as well as stable structure, friendly interface, easy operation and affordable price. We believe that 3D printers should be common items just like household laser printers, rather than high-tech products far from folks.”

Below you’ll find the Indiegogo launch video.

Source: Indiegogo