Full Details Emerge on Arduino & Sharebot’s Materia 101 3D Printer

This weekend, Arduino founder Massimo Banzi announced on an Italian television show called ‘Che tempo che fa’, that his company would be entering the 3D printing space via a collaborative effort with Italian 3D printer manufacturer Sharebot. For those who are unaware, Arduino is the most commonly used open source hardware platform. It is used by both amateurs and professionals to create interactive electronic projects. Along with the various electronic boards offered by the platform, there is also a free Arduino software which can be used to program those boards, as well as a thriving and helpful community. Launching in 2005 they have quickly become the preferred platform for thousands of makers and tinkerer worldwide.

Their entrance into the 3D printing space is certainly an interesting one, one that is sure to garner a lot of attention, especially from those familiar with their platform. After lots of speculation, the company has announced the full specifications of the Materia 101 3D printer, which we have provided below:

• Printer Size: 310 x 330 x 350 mm
• Printer Weight: 10 kg
• Printing Technology: Fused Filament Fabrication (FFF)
• Build Volume: 140 x 100 x 100 mm +/- 5mm
• X and Y Resolution: 0.06 mm
• Z Resolution: 0.0025 mm
• Filament Type and Size: 1.75 mm, PLA.
• Experimented filaments: Cristal Flex, PLA Thermosense, Thermoplastic Polyuretane (TPU), PET, PLA Sand, PLA Flex
• LCD display 20 x 4 with encoder menu

The electronics board will be compatible with Arduino Mega 2560 with open source firmware. The entire printer is open source and is targeted towards collective use, such as in classrooms, maker spaces, and cooperative work environments.

This announcement comes at a very interesting time for Sharebot, who has recently announced several very interesting new 3D printers. Over the last three to four months, if you include this latest announcement, the Italian company has unveiled six different machines, including affordable SLA and SLS 3D printers. They could certainly be considered one of the more exciting 3D printer manufacturers, not only in Italy, but in the entire world.

It will be interesting to see if Arduino’s foray into the market will convince those familiar with their name, who do not yet own a 3D printer, to finally take the plunge.  Are you considering purchasing this Arduino branded Materia 101 3D printer? What do you think about Arduino entering the space? Let us know in the Arduino Materia 101 forum thread on 3DPB.com. The printer will be officially unveiled at Rome’s Maker Faire on October 3rd, and will be priced at under 600 euros ($755) in kit form, and under 700 euros ($883) assembled.