Printrbot Brings A New Affordable 3D Printer Plybot

With today's 3D printer market being very competitive and most of them following the traditional Prusa i3 designs, the Plybot 3D printer is a breath of fresh air. The Plybot 3D printer is designed with just one Z-axis, and two robotic arms for the XY plane. 

This revolutionary design will give easy access to 3D printing for everyone. With the printer taking even less space and being very sturdy this is the ideal set-up for both hobbyists as well as professionals.

Printrbot was well known for its revolutionary 3D printer designs until it unfortunately went out of business some years back. But now they are back with Brook Drumm bringing in some fresh energy with Josh Mitchell and Ian Wilding at the back. 

The Plybot is starting a Kickstarter Campaign (sort of crowd funding) to get this printer off the ground. The goal for their campaign is $50,000 and they have already raised $16,000. 

This 3D printer was originally designed by Josh Mitchell in 2018 when he was just 18 years old. His outside-the-box creation, which was originally made from plywood and intended to be flat-packed, was a bit like the lovechild of a delta-style 3D printer and a conventional Cartesian 3D printer. Two arms that ride on traditional Z axis rails hold the hot end and move it across the XY plane — a layout that we haven’t seen on any other 3D printer.

While Mitchell’s original Plybot design was constructed from plywood, this production version is made of metal and what appears to be injection-molded plastic. Both of the arms are actuated by steppers motors through high-end drivers that allow for nearly silent operation. Despite the very compact size of the machine, Plybot has a print volume of 7” x 6” x 5”. Like the printers produced by Printrbot in the past, Plybot does not have a heated bed included. That means that you’ll be mostly limited to printing in PLA. It does, however, have a removable flexible magnetic bed that makes it easy to pop off completed prints.

The entire printer weighs just 12lbs and can be controlled via a mobile app, making Plybot perfect for portable printing. It is equipped with a dual gear extruder that feeds the hot end through a Bowden tube, which reduces moving weight and improves print quality. While it can certainly go faster, Drumm reports that Plybot can print reliably at 60mm/s.

If you want to get your hands on a Plybot, you can back the Kickstarter campaign until March 7th. Early birds can get a Plybot in a limited edition matte black color for $299. Rewards are expected to be delivered in July.