Printing the first object takes just the necessary time to plug it in, turn it on select the preloaded STL models. At the same time it made it seem like a… microwave oven or, worse, a VCR. This made the Cube 3 seem like the first in a new generation of digital products that will bring “physical” back, after we condensed all our entertainment in the virtual space. The truth is that very few of our modern consumer electronics products come in large cardboard boxes any longer. It comes in a rather standard, consumer electronics product cardboard box, which makes it look like an everyday necessity, almost like a microwave oven or a desktop computer. For its main target of consumers, the only one that could have granted the numbers required by the corporate world and Wall Street, though, it was still too much).įirst of all the Cube 3D was beautifully designed and, although its shape resembles that of the BEETHEFIRST very closely, it is certainly a different machine. However if you consider that this machine rarely misprints, it is well within most prosumers’ budgets. The base price, less than €1,000, is certainly not prohibitive however the cost of the materials cartridges (more on them later), €40 per about half a Kg, is. On the other hand if you are someone who just needs to 3D print PLA models of architectural and engineering projects, or if you simply want to 3D print basic toys and accessories, it did not get much easier and more efficient than this. That, at this momenti in time, is a weakness for a 3D printer. On one hand this means that it is easier to use if you have no idea what you are doing on the other it also means that it stifles one’s creativity. The reason why I suspect that 3D Systems has not sold enough of them, other than the fact that the consumer 3D printing market is still a “Chimera”, is that it was too much of a closed platform. The first impression is that, for engineering and part quality, this is, or perhaps we should say “was”, the best consumer desktop 3D printer (with dual jets) on the market. Thanks to 3DZ, one of Europe’s leading 3D Systems distribution groups, (covering Italy and many regions of Southern Europe), I had a chance to use and test a Cube 3 3D printer for a few weeks. A posthumous review of 3D Systems’ now departed Cube 3 3D printer.

Cube pro 3d printer review