Voxel8 Announced Electronics 3D Printer

Voxel8, who only last month announced that they had secured funding for the further development of their electronics 3d printing process, has just unveiled their first machine, the Voxel8 Electronics 3D printer. This machine is able to print using extremely conductive inks, as well as thermoplastics. It is able to embed circuits into the thermoplastic as it prints an object layer-by-layer. The printer also will stop printing and allow a user to insert a specific electrical component like a sensor or an LED into the object prior to the print process beginning again. The developers kit is now available for pre-order on the Voxel8 website for $8,999.

This could be quite a revolutionary machine, and will certainly be an interesting company to follow. The printer will be on display at 2015 CES this week if you are able to make it out to Las Vegas. Below is a picture of the Voxel8 electronics Printer. Let us know your thoughts.
http://3dprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/v2.png

Electronics made like that will be pretty damned hard to mend methinks.

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Originally Posted by Mjolinor

Electronics made like that will be pretty damned hard to mend methinks.

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I would say impractical at best to repair. Since you probably would often have have to destroy the part to diagnose it, you might not know what was wrong in the first place. That's a questionable property as a prototyping process.

Summary: Voxel8 is definitely reaping the rewards of years of researching and development on the part of Jennifer A. Lewis and the rest of their team’s efforts. The list of achievements and impending projects is already growing, amidst the unveiling of their electronics 3D printer at 2015 International CES. Now they’ve got the attention of The MITRE Corporation, who has enlisted their services—and their electronics 3D printer—for completing an array antenna project for a government entity needing to replace gimbal-based reflector dish antennas with single, low-profile, wideband electronically scanned antennas. They were invited to participate in the project after being in the spotlight, and winning $50K, in the 2014 MassChallenge sponsored by the MITRE Corporation. Further details on this announcement can be found here: http://3dprint.com/37074/voxel8-mitre-corporation/

The question of repairing these "hybrid modules" is valid, and i expect one that will resolve itself in the longer term. The plastic casing could be designed to split and be resealed perhaps.

The concern i have with this one is cost. When i hear "partnered with AutoDesk", i expect to read "purchased by AutoDesk" in the not too distant future, which of course means it'll remain prohibitively expensive for the average bear. Also, is the cost of this "proprietary conductive material", developed in the MIT labs. I wonder how that's going to compare against Buzzfeed's Top 10 Most Expensive Liquids on Earth scale (black printer ink ranks #7, btw).

Too bad, 'cause i think it's a pretty cool marriage of technologies.