We see great advances in the technology environment as the 3D-Printer market keeps pumping out new type printers, and great changes on different areas, tons of projects trying to solve existing problems.
3D printing world is changing, Startups are constantly developing new products in order to attract more customers, we could say that we are living in a 3D printing bubble << certainly is one of the most hot technologies at the moment>>.
OLO is ready to change the game as a startup from San Francisco. is launching their Crowdfunding campaign to begin their development.
But.. ¿What is OLO?
is a new way of 3D-printing, it converts any Smartphone regardless of its operative system << Windows Phone, Android or IOS>> into a fully functional 3D printer.
Of course it’s not a new 3D printing method because its sytem is much like the normal SLA process. But.. its way more fun having a 3D printer just with your phone.
How OLO works?
It uses your Smartphones screen as a light emitting device to harden a photosensitive resin as stereolithography works when using lasers or through a projector. The OLO app controls the layers during the manufacturing process, it hardens the right parts of the piece in the resin and leaves the rest of the resin to its normal liquid state.
While the platform on OLO is raising layer by layer, a casing protects it to prevent ambient light from affecting the resin. All this parts makes a perfectly synchronized 3D printer but, the light manufacturing volume is limited by the size of our smart phone screen and a 42 microns resolution in XY axis and 36 microns on layer height.
Of course OLO is not like other 3D printers, its commitment is to be a portable 3D printer that you can put in your pocket use it at any time and anywhere.
Since it’s powered by four AA batteries and with enough battery in our phones we can 3DPrint any object where ever we are. it works with a variety of resins in distinct colors to make flexible or wax-castings resins models. These resins have been “redesigned” to function better with our smartphones lit up screens.
The gadget will be offered at 99 dollars, seeing its possibilities and simplicity I think it will be very successful. Now is working on future versions for tablets and OLED displays and High-resolutions Super AMOLED.
Who will want a 3D printer with that small of a build volume? Or takes that amount of time away from your smart phone? Won’t it also require gloves to handle the resins and prints? It just seems like a waste of money compared to a decent desktop printer.
I do. I just ordered an olo. 😀
This is one of the niftiest ideas on a kickstarter page in a long time.