Cheetah 3D Printer is Built for Speed

If you are at all familiar with additive manufacturing (AM) you’ll realize it isn’t a fast process. Some manufacturers have attempted to sell AM systems claiming the whole family, or even an entire party, could be entertained by watching democratization of production in action. Anyone who enjoys watching an entire print might well find snail racing equally as riveting.

The search for better speed from 3D printers has been expected to be one of the technological milestones that lead to a wider acceptance of AM. South African designer Hans Fouche has produced AM speed in the form of his Cheetah 3D printer, but it might not take the shape most people would have expected.

The Cheetah doesn’t look like anything special. With a build envelope of 1 cubic meter, and a 3 x 2 x 3m footprint (9.8 x 6.6 x 9.8 ft.), it’s essentially an oversized RepRap system. If you feel chunky strata is unattractive in other AM systems, you’ll find the Cheetah’s 3mm layer height absolutely appalling. What the system loses in curb appeal, it gains in speed.

For one of his projects to test the printer, Fouche printed the body, wheels and engine casing for a lawn mower. It might take days and additional assembly to complete the same task with your standard 3D printer. The Cheetah finished the project in seven hours.

Along with a larger build area, the Cheetah has a larger extruder allowing it to physically move more plastic in a shorter amount of time. Fouche’s system also dispenses with filament, preferring to melt pellets to further speed up the printing process. Some of these design principles are similar to those used by the Oak Ridge National Laboratory to develop its new Big Area Additive Manufacturing (BAAM) printing process.

Fouche has decided to test the waters of 3D printer sales with the launch of Fouche 3D Printing. The website’s sole offering is the Cheetah, which is priced at 100,000 ZAR (around $8,500). For those individuals and companies willing to work with an obvious layer of strata, it’ll be hard to find a faster system for an equivalent price.

Below you’ll find a short video featuring Fouche’s 3D printed lawn mower.

Sources: Fouche 3D Printing, Kempton Express