A 3D printer that you can take anywhere

During Maker Faire 2012, Ben Huck talked about two things. The first was Raspberry Pi and the second was a portable 3D printer that can be taken anywhere by the user. The Raspberry Pi project is a great success. Now Ben Huck is focusing on his latest project related to a portable 3D printer, which he has named as the Briefcase Printer Project.

Idea behind Briefcase Printer project

Ben Huck has used a 3D printer to create many of the parts for his various projects. For his latest project, Ben not only developed a 3D printer, but he designed a more portable kind of 3D printer with extra features and named it the Briefcase Printer. He also made the printer mod autonomous, which means if you do not have a computer to connect the printer with, you could print from a CAD file stored on an SD card.

Features of Briefcase Printer

The Briefcase printer measures 18 x 14 x 4.2 inches, making it suitable for the users to fulfill their printing needs while on the go. To print, two panels drop down on either side of the main printer body, allowing the object to glide through as it’s being printed. The most important part of making the briefcase printer was wiring up the Y carriage extruder (this heats up plastic and pushes it through a nozzle) and the Y carriage itself, which runs along the track while an object is printed. The 3D printer also has an expanded 200-square-millimeter print area with a solid copper lid for added protection and accuracy.

If you’re interest in a briefcase printer of your own, but are new to wiring things up and coding then you may have to wait for some time till a more streamlined 3D printer is available in the market for sale.

News and image credit: element14