Budmen Industries’ New Minimal, Modular Buildini is a Practical 3D Printer for the Creative Mind

Pennsylvania-based company and post-digital workshop Budmen Industries, the “Home of Industrial Imagination,” was founded by lifelong creatives Isaac Budmen, author of The Book on 3D Printing, and Stephanie Keefe. In addition to creating some truly unique projects, such as a 3D printable Hillary Clinton logo and a 3D printed Interactive Art Synthesizer, the company also developed the large-scale, patent-pending Budmen Builder 3D printer, and put the system through its paces earlier this year by creating the “All of the Lights” installation.

Now, Budmen Industries has introduced us to its newest invention – the practical Budmen Buildini 3D printer, meant to be used by, as Budmen tells us, “creative minds of all ages.”

“We first built the Buildini as a reliable, large format 3D printer for our use here in the workshop,” Budmen told 3DPrint.com. “Within the walls of Budmen Industries, experimentation is the name of the game. It’s not uncommon to find a paste printhead 3D printing pastry on one machine while another whirls away 3D printing tests on fabric swatches. Needless to say, this sort of constant experimentation can be very demanding on a 3D printer.”

The company was looking to create a second large-format 3D printer that would keep maintenance fast and simple, be able to “print big beautiful objects,” and keep up with the demands of experimental materials, tool heads, and substrates. That big, beautiful objects part has definitely been achieved – the Buildini has a build size of 500 x 300 x 490 mm, with a print resolution of 0.1 – 0.4 mm layer height and +/- 0.5mm precision. It’s also been used so far to 3D print everything from art and models to furniture.

“We started from the ground up with the essential functions of a 3D printer, challenging the industry’s traditional ideas and construction techniques,” Budmen told us. “We obsessively pushed for a simpler, more reliable machine. Thousands of hours of experimentation and refinement resulted in a 3D printer that is minimal, modular, and maintainable.

“The radically simple design makes it easy to understand how it works and invites you to experiment. Its power is in its simplicity.”

The reliable Buildini 3D printer features high-quality components and an open frame build area, which gives makers the ability to enjoy unlimited access to their prints. It also has the ability to print with multiple materials, including PLA, PETG, TPE, TPU, carbon fiber-filled PLA, wood-filled PLA, and metal-filled PLA. You can even put paper and fabric on the 3D printer’s build plate in order to make digital drawings.

The company designed the Buildini modularly, so it can adapt to the user’s needs and grow as their ideas do. You can expand the 3D printer’s size, or even change it from the 3D printing medium to carving, drawing, or painting, simply by changing out a few screws.

If you’re a little too over-zealous in your experimentation with the Buildini and accidentally break something, no worries…its modular design makes it quick and easy to fix or replace any of the components.

Additional features of the Buildini include:

• All-metal construction
• 1.75 mm filament diameter
• Down-up dial for fine-tuning tool height
• High-volume extruder
• Motion-rated cable
• Tangle-free corkscrew cable
• Spin & select interface
• Universal spool holder
• Windows and Mac operating systems

“Ultimately with these processes, we created a 3D printer that is great for creative minds of all ages,” Budmen tells 3DPrint.com. “Its radical simplicity makes it intuitive and easy to use – allowing creators to focus on what to make rather than how to make it.”

The Budmen Buildini 3D printer is now available for purchase on the company’s website, with a $100 deposit, for $2,300. Shipping will begin in September, and will only take place in the US for the time being. Purchase includes the Buildini, a 1 kg spool of filament, an SD card, and a helpful toolkit.

Discuss this new 3D printer, and other 3D printing topics, at 3DPrintBoard.com or share your thoughts in the Facebook comments below.