Low-Cost Hardware Merchant Monoprice Now Offers A $1,199 3D Printer

Monoprice, everyone’s favorite source for cheap $20-foot HDMI cables and other stuff that you don’t feel like going to Best Buy for, has just announced the availability of a new 3D printer, a dual extruder model that looks to be based on the original MakerBot Replicator. The $1,199 printer comes with two spools of PLA filament and has a 225 x 145 x 150 mm build volume.

Like most Monoprice stuff, this printer is decidedly low-key. It’s made of powder-coated metal and has a heated build plate so it can print ABS and PLA. I mention it here only because it looks to be, at the very least, a solid if generic printer that could be nice as a second device in your home workshop or design office.

Called Product 11614 (Monoprice rarely stands on ceremony) the device is built to the company’s specifications by a third party. Is it as good as, say, a MakerBot or Afinia printer? In all honesty there’s no way to tell yet, but given Monoprice’s Trader Joe’s-style sales tactics I suspect low price/high quality might be at play here.

The company recently began selling 3D printer filament for cheap, a move that made it a darling in the 3D printing community. Now that big OEM rebadgers like Monoprice are in on the 3D printing game it’s not much longer before the guys at HP and maybe Dell decide to drop a few models. Excelsior!

via 3DPrintingIndustry