Nectar One 3D printer
The Dutch quarter at TCT Show oozed new talent this year presenting a range of fresh machines and materials. One of the most colourful stands was from start up company Nectar who came along with what they believe to be ‘the smartest 3D printer yet’, hoping to turn legions of visitors into Nectarians.
Coming from a young team in their twenties, the Nectar One has a great campaign behind it. It’s bright, has some intuitive features and is aimed at businesses and schools. I met with co-founder Stein de Haan at the show to find out a little more about what makes their machine so smart.
“We’re a young start up, nine months old,” explains Stein. “We’re now showing the Nectar One and its wonderful. The reactions are amazing. It’s a big, delta printer. We’re making it for businesses and for schools. When we started nine months ago we noticed that a lot of Dutch companies interested in 3D printing don’t want to spend €20,000 at this moment on professional machine but they are willing to have something.”
The team created quite a buzz at the show with what they reckon is that ‘something’. Stein said that they received a lot of interest from potential buyers and all-important backers for their upcoming Kickstarter campaign. The campaign will launch soon and the first Nectarians will get the machine for what Stein calls a “really interesting price” of €2299.
The Nectar One is relatively a tall upright machine and features a large print bed for ABS prints in comparison with other desktop machines. During the design process, the team was very conscious of health and safety and particularly mindful of the potential usability for children.
“We tried to get a solution so we made a printer that’s enclosed,” says Stein. “It’s beautiful, the air is filtered so ABS particles are filtered. It’s built for usability and safety. The usability part is for schools, anyone should be able to print.”
Nectar at TCT Show
The machine is simplistic in style with no interface, instead just one touch button to open and close the door. There’s also a webcam so that users can see what is inside the printer. It’s all very futuristic with a slight sci-fi edge and Stein jokes that they hope to have steam coming out of the door in the next generation Nectar Two (I suggested this should be a reward on their Kickstarter campaign, which, if happens, I’m coming for royalties!) The team are also working on an interesting cloud option to allow more freedom in how and where users can print.
“We’re making a work environment in a cloud so people can do work anywhere any time,” says Stein. “It can be at home, on your mobile phone or in an office with multiple users. We make it very easy.”
Perhaps my favourite feature is the way in which filament is changed. I know that my first ever experience with a 3D printer made changing filament seem like quite a task so it was good to see a printer that addresses this with a system that automates and can cue prints.
“Changing the filament is very easy,” says Stein. “The printer will recognise the colour right away but also the software will recognise what has happened and therefore all setting are changed.”
Nectar makes the most of its fellow 3D printing community and is partnered with Printr who engineered the software for the machine. They’re also not afraid to make their presence known amongst big 3D printing players (I am referring to a sneaky Nectarian t shirt which found its way into a pile of 3D Hubs branded t shirts on a nearby stand.)
Yet that is exactly why I hope they are successful. They are young, have some great ideas and are utilising the huge community that comes with 3D printing. For updates on when their Kickstarter campaign launches and to sign up to be a Nectarian, click here.