First Belgian-made 3D printer TripodMaker wins big at Bizidee

TripodMaker, the first 3D printer manufactured in Belgium, was developed by 27-year old civil engineering student Pieter-Jan Vandendriessche and his partner Eva Spillebeen. The duo were center stage this week at the close of eleventh annual Bizidee competition where their business plan for the TripodMaker 3D printer won the first prize of 25,000 euro.

Bizidee is an entrepreneurial event sponsored by the Flemish organization Agentschap Onderneming which helps new entrepreneurs develop detailed business plans over the course of a year. Participants received support, coaching – and even a special bootcamp. Bizidee awarded prizes to select participants Tuesday evening at Technopolis, a platform for science and technology in Mechelen, Belgium.

The second-place prize of 7,500 euros went to Inge Gypens en Caroline Braeken and their plan for gluten-free bread distribution and the third prize of 3,000 euros went to Koen Wauters and Nico Staels and their plan for Partheas, a hospital patient-tracking system.

With the prize money from Bizidee, Vandendries plans to hire a full-time employee to work on increasing sales of the TripodMaker 3D printer and to continue product development.

 

The TripodMaker is a professional delta 3D printer and is available through the TripodMaker website. The site highlights the 3D printer's large building size, aluminum extruder, stand-alone work capability, and high print speed.

 

The TripodMaker's building size is 30cm in diameter and 42cm high. It has an aluminum extruder driver and 'features a 5:1 gear reduction for optimal force generation which is required when printing at high speeds with a Bowden Tube'. It's possible to let the LCD Arduino-based controller take over the print and adjust the speed, temperature, and other settings without pausing the print. The moving parts of the 3D printer are lightweight in order to maximize print speed without compromising quality.

 

The TripodMaker has a heated printbed which can reach up to 110 degrees C. It prints using a 1.75mm diameter filament in PLA, ABS (depending on the print size), Laybrick and Laywood.

 

TripodMaker uses open source software and can run on all operating systems – although, currently, initial calibration of the printer is only guaranteed for windows XP.

Specifications:

• Building plate: 30cm diameter
• Building height: 42cm
• Layer resolution: 75 microns
• Filament: 1.75mm
• Nozzle: 0.4mm
• Controller with SD-card slot for stand-alone printing (ramps 1.4 based)
• Non-moving platform
• Software: runs modified Malin
• Hosting software: Printrun, Cura or Repetier host
• Slicing software: Slic3r, Kisslicer or Cura
• Aluminum extrusions
• Bended aluminum lasercut structure connections
• Delrin v-groove wheels

The TripodMaker is priced at € 1,400.00 (Kit, no heated bed) – € 1,950.00 (Assembled, with heated bed) ex. VAT.

For a better look at the TripodMaker, check out this introduction to the printer:

or this calibration demonstration:

 

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