Solidoodle announces budget, user-friendly 3D printer Press

Have you been thinking of getting a 3D printer, but felt a little intimidated by the size, as well as the price, of one? Solidoodle has something for you.

Today the company announced Press, a user-friendly 512-cubic inch 3D printer that looks more like a hotel minibar than a traditional 3D printer.

The Press can create plastic parts of sizes up to 8 by 8 by 8 inches with a resolution of .1mm. It uses 1.75mm plastic filament (ABS or PLA), and comes with a heated build platform with a glass bed which automatically calibrates itself to save you from having to do so if the machine is on an uneven surface.

The Press is very compact, measuring just 15 inches by 15 inches by 19.2 inches (38.1cm by 38.1cm by 48.8cm) and is quite light at 18 pounds (8.2kg). The machine has a plastic body, but comes with only one extruder.

Solidoodle says the Press is available worldwide and will ship by late September at tiered pricing from $350 (which converts to about £210 and AU$380) up to $500 (£300, AU$540) for those who buy early.

Apart from the Press, Solidoodle also announced two new printers for more advanced users, the compact 20-pound (9kg) Workbench Apprentice and the larger 30-pound (13.6kg) Workbench, which cost $800 and $1,300, respectively. (Also available worldwide, the cost of the Workbench Apprentice converts to about £475 or AU$860, and the Workbench cost converts to £770 or AU$1,400.)