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3D printer south africa prices
SA 3D printer prices revealed
04 Dec 2014
Gareth van Zyl
3D printing devices from MakerBot on show in South Africa. (Gareth van Zyl)
Johannesburg - Hobbyists and techies looking to buy 3D printers in South Africa will need to be prepared to part with over R14 000 for an entry-level hi-tech compact device from US company MakerBot.
3D printing entails computer controlled devices using electronic data or models to ‘print’ successive layers of objects in any shape and geometric form. The technology was invented in 1984 but has started taking off this decade.
Objects created by 3D printers range from spanners, shoes and even flying drones.
Engineers and architects are also using 3D printing technology to build project models that can be tested in the real world.
And South Africa has taken to this craze as the likes of Cape Town last month witnessed the opening of the city’s first 3D printing studio.
Meanwhile, Rectron has become the first official South African ICT and consumer electronics distributor for a popular US 3D printing brand dubbed ‘MakerBot’.
But these hi-tech gadgets come with hefty price tags, costing R14 018 (excluding VAT) for an entry-level compact MakerBot Replicator Mini 3D Printer, R20 380 (excluding VAT) for a MakerBot 2 Desktop 3D Printer and topping R66 256 (excluding VAT) for its biggest model, the MakerBot Replicator Z18.
And these prices exclude the 3D printing material or filament costs, which for the "Mini" 3D printer range from R212 for a “khaki” colour to R587 for “glow in the dark”. Filament for the Z18 has a minimum price of R1 349.
Examples of objects that can be created using 3D printing technology. (Gareth van Zyl)
However, Bruce Bradford, group business unit manager for the printer category at Rectron, told Fin24 that his business is targeting a mix of consumers and bigger education, engineering, architecture and design organisations.
Rectron started selling MakerBot devices in SA on 1 November.
"We've sold a fair amount of units; we've met expectations on it,” Bradford said, without disclosing exact sales numbers, but claiming the company has sold “dozens” to date.
"So, what's nice is that we've sold a mix. So, we've sold the consumer the entry Mini and then we've also gone right through to the Z18 and the ones in between, which are obviously for more of the commercial use,” he said.
Bradford said Rectron are also busy negotiating with a big retail chain. In the meantime, Rectron is selling 3D printers via its national reseller network, smaller retailers and e-commerce channels.
Owners of the MakerBot devices can also buy designs on an online store via the likes of an Apple iOS app with an Android app in the pipeline. Free 3D designs are also available on websites such as Thingiverse.
MakerBot 3D printing products on display in Joburg: pic.twitter.com/lepA9fHJRo
— Gareth van Zyl (@GarethvanZyl) December 3, 2014Solid global growth
Worldwide shipments of 3D printers are forecast to reach 217 350 units in 2015, up from 108 151 in 2014, according to research from Gartner released in October.
Gartner’s research further forecast that “3D printer shipments will more than double every year between 2015 and 2018” to reach over 2.3 million.
"Unit shipment growth rates for 3D printers, which languished in the low single and double digits per year throughout the 30 years since the first 3D printers were invented, are poised to increase dramatically beginning in 2015,” said Pete Basiliere, research vice president at Gartner.
“As radical as the forecast numbers may seem, bear in mind that even the 2.3 million shipments that we forecast will be sold in 2018 are a small fraction of the total potential market of consumers, businesses and government organisations worldwide," Basiliere added.
* Follow @GarethvanZyl on Twitter. For more tech news, follow Fin24tech @Fin24_Tech.
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what incredible things they can do with these increasingly affordable machines.
However, in Africa, the situation with 3D printing is not developing so fast. Having said this, one man named Pieter van der Walt set out to change that fact. nine0003 3D printer from OpenHardware
Peter van der Walt is the owner of OpenHardware, which manufactures and sells various 3D printers (RepRaps), CNC machines, spare parts and other electronics. Also, they are the only organization in South Africa that promotes open source hardware. After two years selling printers like RepRap, Printrbots, Ecksbots, Prusa Airs and Morgans, Van der Walt decided it was time for a change. He decided to take advantage of other technologies at his disposal and create a printer that would be more affordable and easier to manufacture. nine0003
“The most pressing issue here in South Africa is cost. A set of stainless steel threaded rods for a Prusa-style frame costs at least $25, while a set of 3D printed parts costs about $50. Whereas a laser-cut steel frame and CNC-bent and powder-coated (with the savings of high volume production) is cheaper,” says Van der Walt.
“So you get a frame that is as strong as stone, perfectly square in all directions, and easily reproducible on both small and large scales.” nine0003
So van der Walt and his team set out to design a 3D printer that was both well made and affordable. Deciding to use sheet metal, CNC machines and a laser cutter, they created an extremely durable and reliable 3D printer, and found one way to reduce the cost of building traditional RepRaps. After working hard on their task, the team created not one, but three different 3D printers. They are all the same design, but different sizes. nine0003
The 100 x 100 x 100 mm build volume version (actually a little larger), currently called "Babybot" and yet to be officially named, will sell for less than ZAR5000 (around $500) .
The medium size version, ZAR7250 will feature a build volume of 200 x 200 x 200 mm. The price for it will be about $725. The largest version will have a build volume of 200 x 200 x 300 mm and cost around ZAR9000 (~$900).
Regarding some of the specifications for these new printers, van der Walt said they will print layer heights of 0.1 to 0.3mm, at a speed of about 80mm/sec. In terms of resolution, the team assured that it would be the same as most standard FDM printers.
Van der Walt plans to begin accepting pre-orders for these printers on his website this month. He also plans to send demos of the printers to other retail stores in South Africa, such as Communica and Pretoria University Workspace. Soon, these retailers will also be selling printers. nine0003
Although van der Walt plans to initially sell these printers only in South Africa, he said that, subject to demand, he would consider working with partners in the US and UK.
Do you think you would buy one of these extremely durable printers for $500? Leave your comments on this subject right below the article.
Article prepared for 3DToday.ru
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In South Africa, they invented a 3D printer to turn ugly vegetables into attractive food
06/15/2018
Science in the CIS and the world
Let's remember how you choose vegetables or fruits in a grocery store, what do you pay attention to? Isn't it true that you try to choose the most beautiful fruits, avoiding those that have spots or a strange configuration? This is exactly what so many people do, and this is what leads to a huge amount of food waste, as unattractive products remain on the shelf until they go bad, writes agroxxi.
ru. nine0003
For example, food waste is a huge problem in the United States - the USDA estimates that 30 to 40 percent of the nation's food supply goes to waste. By the way, some substandard fruits do not end up in supermarkets at all, because companies believe that customers will not buy them. Even in not the richest countries in the world, this problem is relevant.
Here are some statistics for South Africa:
- Approximately 30% of edible fruit and vegetable crops are screened for sale simply because of their appearance.
- 44% of all food scrapped is fruits and vegetables. Also, 26% of grain, 15% of meat and 13% of root crops, tubers and oilseeds fall into the waste.
- In the South African food supply chain, 26% of food waste comes from agricultural production, 26% from post-harvest processing and storage, 27% from processing and packaging, 17% from distribution and retail, 4% from to the consumer level. nine0062
These facts were taken into account by the young company Studio H, which was developing a food printer in South Africa.
To demonstrate what can be done with a printer, Studio H has collected ugly fruits and vegetables rejected by supermarkets and customers, processed them into puree, and then 3D printed them in an attractive way.
“3D printing could be the perfect way to reduce food waste,” said a spokesperson for the studio. - In order to experiment with the environment, we developed the program Salad 2.0. We have added gelatin to mashed sub-standard fruits and vegetables to 3D print the concentrate into colorful 3D forms in the form of high nutrient jelly. Imagine how happy the kids will be!” nine0003
South Africa, food printer, vegetables
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