The Buccaneer is an affordable and wireless 3D printer that actually looks like a finished product rather than a construction site. Inspired by Apple’s industrial design standards, the Buccaneer hides all of its inner workings behind an acrylic covered aluminum façade. With the mission of making a product suitable for mass adoption, the Buccaneer costs only a couple hundred bucks, and combines quality, an accessible user experience, cloud printing, and, yes, affordability.
Wireless printing
Incorporating the current trends of cloud-based system and mobile integration, Buccaneer eliminates the USB connection entirely in favor of a Wi-Fi-only approach. The device is controlled through a cloud accessible using a browser; meaning, you can send a command to your Buccaneer from anywhere in the home or office.
Easy setup and no visible parts
Many experts claim that 3D-printers are not quite ready for the mass consumer market – 3D printers tend to look clunky and unfinished. Buccaneer challenges this notion by cramming all its electrical components behind a casing while simultaneously maximizing the available printing area. There are no visible screws or wires, only smooth uninterrupted lines. The printer is fully assembled and ready for us straight out of the box.
High-quality printing
A gorgeous exterior housing poor interior components results in a gimmicky product. The Buccaneer is no such product; the internals were developed to produce nothing but high-resolution prints using a Core XY axis platform.
Before settling on a final solution, all other printing systems were tested and ruled out. The ball-screw system proved expensive and unreliable, the belt-driven system was difficult to assemble thus resulting in higher costs, the gantry system ended up being too bulky. Alternatively, the CoreXY is exceptionally rigid to ensure accurate printing, and can be assembled using stamped steel parts to drive manufacturing costs even lower.
Additional innovations – z axis system
To hide the gritty printing process and maintain its pseudo futuristic look, the Buccaneer features an upwardly retractable printing platform that moves across the zaxis. Once the printing is completed, the print bed maintaining the end product is strategically lowered down across a system of linear guide rods to achieve the desired effect.
Additional innovations – top loading filament
To avoid disturbing the smooth aesthetics with a bulky 2-lb spool hanging off the side of printer, Buccaneer accepts plastic filaments through a filament cartridge that is loaded through the top.
The plastic filaments are 100% recyclable and wrap within the top cartridge.
Smart Objects
The Smart Objects software complements Buccaneer to create a full-bodied 3D printing solution. And unlike other 3D design programs, Smart Objects doesn't require the user to spend tens of hours learning the software before being able to create a spoon. Smart Objects works by clicking, dragging, and selecting — all very intuitive yet rich. Contours can be edited by placing specific nodes along the designated side; click the nodes and move them in a direction of your choosing and watch the shape change.
Electronics
Buccaneer's heart and soul are controlled by the awesome power of a low-cost Raspberry Pi single-board computer paired with a reliable Sanguinololu motherboard. The boards are tethered together using a serial connection, with the Raspberry Pi's GPIO connected directly into the Sanguinololu's communication interface. The Pi's USB port is hooked up to an internal Wi-Fi receiver to enable wirelessness.
Visit Buccaneer's Kickstarter page to follow the rest of the campaign and view printers precise specs.
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