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BigRep 3D printer can print entire pieces of furniture

A brand new 3D printer has arrived on the scene with the biggest print bed of any consumer model — large enough to print small pieces of furniture.

Michelle Starr Science editor
Michelle Starr is CNET's science editor, and she hopes to get you as enthralled with the wonders of the universe as she is. When she's not daydreaming about flying through space, she's daydreaming about bats.
Michelle Starr

A brand new 3D printer has arrived on the scene with the biggest print bed of any consumer model — large enough to print small pieces of furniture.

(Credit: BigRep)

The problem with many of 3D printers designed for consumer use is that the print bed is usually quite small. This is fine for small objects, such as, say, utensils, ornaments, toys and parts, but anything a little bigger is going to require multiple prints and assembly.

But we're about to see the entry of a new kind of printer. The open-source BigRep One allows for a build volume of 1147 x 1000 x 1188 millimetres (45 x 39 x 47 inches) — large enough to print full-scale objects.

(Credit: BigRep)

The printer itself, constructed with an aluminium frame, has a print resolution of 100 microns (0.1 millimetres), and can print in a variety of materials, including the usual plastics and nylons, as well as Laywood, a mix of wood fibres and polymers for a wood finish, and Laybrick, a sandstone-like filament, using the fused deposition modelling (FDM) technique.

The printer can also have CNC components built in for milling, if you so require.

The BigRep One was developed by Berlin-based artist Lukas Oehmigen and Marcel Tasler, and has just seen its debut at the 3D PrintShow in New York, and will start shipping to customers in March/April. The suggested price is US$39,000, but you can contact BigRep through its website to get a quote.