CES this week has been absolutely buzzing with news from all quarters, and another great new company is now showcasing their first line of 3D printers. Toronto, Ontario, Canada-based NEA (which stands for Newly 
“Throughout 2014 we engineered the NEA family of 3D Printers to be able to offer professional quality and specifications with models for home, education and professionals – whether in art, entertainment or medical and professional prototyping and final product,” said CTO and chief inventor Stoyan Tadin.
The development process at NEA was thorough, and backed up by team members with significant experience in R&D, 3D modeling, branding and visual effects, and successful entrepreneurship of previous startups. Stoyan Tadin and William Chang, the co-founders of NEA, trace the beginnings of NEA to an idea born at Playfight VFX, which Chang founded in 2009. NEA and Playfight are now partners, and the new company is able to draw from the experience in modeling, model curation, and the support of a strong community that Playfight has to offer. The partnership of these two companies brings together a 3D printer maker with the 3D media/visual effects and online community building background of a visual effects production/3D modeling concern.
“We’re applying two decades of experience in high end 3D modeling to further enrich peoples understanding of what can be created and how it can be applied to the rapidly growing 3D printing industry and community,” said Chang. “We’ve brought together a team of 3D printing experts to design one of the coolest, most innovative 3D printers in the world. Our unique online maker experience puts customer support and education at the forefront, empowering professionals and hobbyists to share their creations and knowledge with everyone.”
Once they had the right team assembled — led by Tadin, Chang, and chairman/partner Rene Pardo — NEA sought to bring their vision of affordable 3D printers to fruition. The inspiration came from the desire to bring “the best industrial 3D printer for consumers and professionals” into being, as they were collectively disappointed by the existing offerings in the sub-$5,000 3D printer space. They call the team the “NEA 3D Family,” and are happy to see their family grow — NEA is building the NEAT STUFF community for interested parties: makers, innovators, builders, and designers who want to share their thoughts, plans, designs, and inspirations.
“In my 30 years of management and involvement in Research & Development, this has been and is my most exciting endeavor because it is only the beginning of the many innovations we have in the pipeline,” Tadin continued.
The development time seems to have paid off. NEA’s line of 3D printers share a similar design based on a steel cylinder that focuses on providing an optimal footprint-to-build ratio. The printers all feature NEA’s Proprietary Vibration Dampening system, which allows for consistency of prints. Further features include wireless access, resolutions up to 50 microns, modular assembly, self-leveling, and the ability for the filament holder to raise another 2″ to allow for taller builds.
Print areas and estimated prices (in USD), according to NEA, are: 
- NEA PRO
- 10″ x 10″ x 10″
- $1,295
- NEA PRO Mini
- 6″ x 6″ x 6″
- $995
- NEA PRO+
- 14″ x 14″ x 14″
- $1,995
During a meeting at CES, the company told 3DPrint.com that they will be launching an Indiegogo campaign for the printers by the end of this month. Special pricing will be available through the crowdfunding effort, with the above-quoted prices the projected retail prices for the final launch.
In addition to these big announcements is another, which may just be a first: for every ten NEA 3D printers sold through the Indeigogo campaign, the company will donate one to designers for prosthetics. The focus on the bigger picture runs clearly throughout NEA’s materials, as they note that they seek to “further democratize building practices in production and medical worlds to benefit a greater good.”
“In our business we understand and need to produce quality, excellence and performance,” said Chang. “We simply weren’t satisfied with the 3D Printers we had purchased on crowdfunding platforms. So we embarked on engineering out the flaws we had experienced with those products, the result producing what we believe is not only the most stunning series with superb engineering craftsmanship, but fully featured and calibrated out of the box.”
NEA is at CES this week at booth #75087 in Eureka Park. Check out more photos of the NEA 3D printer line below, taken by 3DPrint.com’s Brian at CES, as well as a video from NEA laying out more details about their printers. Let us know if you’re interested in NEA’s business model or printers in the NEA Announces 3D Printer Line, Soon to Launch on Indiegogo forum thread at 3DPB.com.
https://youtu.be/ciQtOdmFQ1k
