German RepRap Prepares to Launch X350

You may have heard about the RAPID convention going on next week. Along with tons of panels, a keynote address by Terry Wohlers, and a showroom that seems to get bigger every year, attendees are seeing some of the newest 3D printers.

Several of those new additive manufacturing (AM) systems will come from outside the US, and one is the newest offering from German RepRap, the X350. Even if you’ve never heard of this particular manufacturer before, the name is a pretty good hint as to what the company is doing.

German RepRap takes open source RepRap files and tweaks the designs for a professional audience. In place of off-the-shelf parts that are modified to make do, the company contracts out for mechanisms and materials that are meant to be durable, while still appealing to a professional aesthetic. What a customer receives when from an order looks like an AM system from the outset, rather than a kit that, when assembled, ends up looking like you stole half your kid’s K’NEX.

The newest system offered by the company is called the X350, and it occupies the middle spot among the company’s products. It’s bigger than required for a hobbyist, yet not so big that its sheet size drives the price beyond what a small business or “prosumer” might be comfortable paying. Technical specs are as follows.

• Build Envelope: 350 x 200 x 210 mm (13.8 x 7.9 x 8.3 in.)
• Layer Thickness Minimum: 0.02 mm
• Print Speed: 10 – 150 mm/s
• Travel Speed: 10 – 300 mm/s

The X350 uses 1.75 mm filament. Materials options include ABS, PLA, PS, PVA, Laywood, Laybrick, PP, Bendlay, Soft-PLA and SmartABS. Part of the draw of the new system is a redesigned extruder head that is made entirely of metal and includes a head-specific fan to assist with temperature control. The system also comes with an integrated web interface that allows the operation via Wi-Fi, LAN or through a web browser.

While there aren’t any videos for the X350 quite yet, below you’ll find a presentation of German RepRap’s X400, which is similar to the new system.

Source: German RepRap