MakerBot Rolls Out $1,225.00 3D Printer At CES

At the Consumer Electronics Show last week last week in Las Vegas, MakerBot Industries demonstrated one of the most affordable three-dimensional object printers on the market, the new MakerBot Thing-O-Matic 3D Printer which lists at $1,225.00 and can be purchased at http://store.makerbot.com/makerbot-thing-o-matic.html.  There’s one caveat:  you’ll have to assemble the Thing-O-Matic yourself.

 

The Thing-O-Matic 3D printer (left), and one of its creations, a toy cathedral (right).

MakerBot says the Thing-O-Matic represents the “cutting-edge personal manufacturing future of tomorrow!”  The printer uses plastic as its consumable, and produce objects up to 4”x4”x6” in size.  While at $1,225.00 it may be out of the reach of most home users, so at one point were most digital cameras and even ink-jet printers.  Currently 3D printers costing thousands of dollars are being used in industry to produce three-dimensional objects for applications in engineering, architecture, manufacturing and more—but with the Thing-O-Matic, it may not be far-fetched to think that one day, many homes may be equipped with 3D for producing crafts, jewelry, children toys, models, and more.