When Eugene Suyu was a student at Simon Fraser University鈥檚 School of Interactive Arts and Technology, he was fascinated by a 3D printer there that let him take his designs from ideas to finished products.
But the school鈥檚 3D printer cost tens of thousands of dollars 鈥� far beyond a student鈥檚 budget 鈥� so Suyu did what any enterprising inventor would do: He created his own.
That basic printer cost a few hundred dollars and marked Suyu鈥檚 first foray into 3D printing. It also led to the launch of Tinkerine (tinkerine.com), a 91原创-based 3D printer maker that is hoping to move 3D printers closer to the mainstream with its new DittoPro printer.
3D printers work a little like regular printers, except instead of ink being dropped on the paper, it鈥檚 melted plastic. Objects designed on a computer are built up one layer at a time by feeding the melted plastic out of a nozzle and you can make everything from iPhone cases and toys to 鈥� with large-scale printers 鈥� furniture.
The DittoPro, priced at $1,999, is expected to start shipping later this month.
鈥淚鈥檓 passionate about the 3D printing space,鈥� said Suyu at the recent launch of the DittoPro, held at the company鈥檚 office at West 6th Ave. near Cambie. 鈥淚鈥檓 a designer by training and once you use a 3D printer in school, you almost want to own one.
鈥淒esign school allows you to look at these different tools within the design process, a 3D printer was one of those tools and once I used it, I realized you can do a lot with it.鈥�
Suyu鈥檚 success comes as no surprise to Ken Zupan, a lecturer who taught him industrial design at SFU鈥檚 Surrey campus. Zupan said SFU had one of the first 3D printers in 91原创, a $30,000 machine that was state-of-the-art back in 2007. And Suyu was fascinated by what it could do.
鈥淎s his final project, Eugene created a perfect timepiece using a 3D printer,鈥� Zupan said.
While the process of creating objects from digital models is making inroads in manufacturing and NASA plans to send a 3D printer into space so astronauts can manufacture spare parts, 3D printers haven鈥檛 started showing up on the shelves alongside computers at your local consumer electronics store.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 a couple of years away but it鈥檚 definitely coming,鈥� said Suyu. 鈥淚t鈥檚 coming really fast and moving forward. Our focus on education is to help bring the skill sets necessary to push this to the consumer.
鈥淚t would be awesome if everyone had one of these at home and they could print the coolest iPhone case that鈥檚 coming out 鈥� that would be phenomenal.鈥�
Suyu isn鈥檛 the only looking to capture consumer attention with a home-model 3D printer. Saskatchewan鈥檚 Rylan Grayston raised more than $650,000 in a Kickstarter campaign for his $100 Peachy Printer. The first unassembled kits for the Peachy Printer have been shipped to early Kickstarter beta backers.
Suyu, who with John Biehler co-founded 3D604, a Lower Mainland group for 3D printing enthusiasts, hopes the sleek 鈥� definitely not homemade 鈥� look of the DittoPro will encourage consumers to try it out.
鈥淲e know these tools sit in your home and we heard a lot of feedback from individuals who said, 鈥榃ell, they look like things that are supposed to sit in your garage,鈥� 鈥� he said. 鈥淲e wanted to change that paradigm. We wanted to create a machine that was sleek, that would sit in your office and look like it fits there.鈥�
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