Low-Cost SLA Bean 3D Printer Surpasses 800% Funding Goal: Kickstarter Stretch Goals Added and a Livestream/Meetup Planned

Last week, we took a look at the Bean 3D printer, a compact SLA machine that has been wildly popular on Kickstarter since literally the moment it launched. It took two minutes for the Bean to hit its funding goal of $50,000, and an additional minute for it to double that. Now, as the Bean campaign approaches two weeks, it has raised well over $400,000 – more than 800% of its original goal.

With over a month left in the campaign and more than 1,000 backers already, there’s no telling how much money this 3D printer will bring in before the end. Kudo3D, the company behind the Bean, is thrilled with the progress of the campaign and will be hosting a meetup this coming Saturday, June 17, from 2:30 to 4:30 PM PDT.

“We created the Bean with the hopes of making SLA more accessible to everyone,” Catherine Park of Kudo3D’s Business and Operations Team told 3DPrint.com. “How will the 3D printing industry grow if only a select few have access and experience to it? In hopes to involve more people, we have arranged a meet up and live stream event for everyone to join in. During this Saturday, people in the SF Bay Area can visit and see the Bean 3D printer up close and in action. For people not in the area, they can still have the opportunity to join in through our live stream event. We hope many people can join in!”

The meetup will be taking place at TechShop San Jose, a local makerspace. You can learn more about the event here. If you can’t make it, you can still watch the livestream on YouTube.

If you’re interested in supporting the Bean Kickstarter campaign, there are still plenty of rewards left, though the early bird rewards are long gone. You can still get the Bean 3D printer for as little as $399, plus a bottle of resin, a resin container, build platform, and a starter kit that includes scrapers, a LAN cable, gloves and a funnel. At the request of several of their backers, Kudo3D also added multiple stretch goals – which, if the campaign keeps going at the rate it has been, it should have no trouble meeting.

Stretch goals include:

• $500,000: two sheets of FEP film
• $750,000: a build platform holder or model cleaning
• $1,000,000: a bottle of 3DSR resin
• $1,250,000: a PSP-D cover
• $1,500,000: a Raspberry Pi 3

The Bean is an LCD-based SLA 3D printer, meaning that it uses a high resolution 2K LCD panel along with a purple 405nm LED lamp rather than a laser or DLP to project 3D model patterns. According to Kudo3D, the Bean has an extremely high resolution that’s comparable to a DLP 3D printer, plus it’s more eco-friendly – the average power consumption is about 50W, one of the lowest rates out there. Originally called “The Green Bean,” the Bean’s green color is meant to reflect its environmentally responsible design.

While the eco-friendliness of the Bean is certainly a perk, it’s the high resolution and inexpensive cost that are likely the most responsible for drawing in so many backers. Accessible, affordable SLA 3D printing is still very new, and with an MSRP of only $1,200, the Bean will likely continue to win fans long after the Kickstarter campaign has closed. As this year has seen several collapsed Kickstarter campaigns for 3D printers, it’s encouraging to see that people are still enthusiastic about supporting a promising 3D printer – and the fact that the Bean is doing so well isn’t overly surprising. Kudo3D proved themselves with the Titan 1 3D printer, also a Kickstarter success, and has gained many fans over the few years they’ve been in existence. This latest campaign is likely being buoyed by those loyal fans as well as some new recruits, and the Bean has a good chance at surpassing the nearly $700,000 that its predecessor raised in 2014.

“This is amazing and would have never achieved it without the help of our supporters,” Park told us. “We expect to have an awesome campaign for the remaining 35 days!”

Discuss in the Bean forum at 3DPB.com.