Ideas
Explore the world's #1 largest database of ideas and innovations, with 462,330 inspiring examples.
Trend Reports
Discover why 1,242 brands rely on our AI-powered Trend Reports to get better, faster insights.
Newsletter
Join 320,986 subscribers who rely on our weekly newsletter to keep up with need-to-know trends and insights.
How to Hunt
Learn more about how to hunt megatrends, ideas, patterns and opportunity.
Consumer Insights
Uncover major shifts and emerging opportunities with our exclusive PRO research.
Trend Reports
Discover why 1,242 brands rely on our AI-powered Trend Reports to get better, faster insights.
Newsletter
Join 320,986 subscribers who rely on our weekly newsletter to keep up with need-to-know trends and insights.
How to Hunt
Learn more about how to hunt megatrends, ideas, patterns and opportunity.
Advisory & Services
Accelerate innovation and ignite disruptive thinking with our award-winning programs and research.
Trend Reports
Get fast, customized trend reports, presentations and deep dives 20x faster than traditional research.
Plans
Get started today with a free consultation, our self-serve tools, or a dedicated program.
Articles & Magazine
Get inspired with our 4,213 innovation strategy articles, keynote, videos and innovation tools.
Innovation Awards
Trend Hunter’s Innovation Strategy Awards recognize the best innovation tactics gathered from our interviews with some of the world's most notable business leaders, authors and change makers.
Advisory & Services
Accelerate innovation and ignite disruptive thinking with our award-winning programs and research.
Innovation Assessment
Enhance your innovation potential with a deeper understanding of your unique innovation archetype and how your organization benchmarks.
FuturistU
Prepare for the years ahead with 100+ lessons, tactics, tools and frameworks with our full learning database.
Innovation Books
Join 20,000,000 people getting better and faster with our New York Times Bestselling books and keynote videos.
Jeremy Gutsche
Ignite your event or virtual event with our CEO, a NY Times Bestselling Author and one of the top innovation keynote speakers.
Our Team of Speakers & Virtual Presenters
Inspire your group with our most popular speakers on innovation, trends, change and futurism.
Custom Training & Events
Bring the Future Festival experience directly to your team or co-hosted custom event.
Custom Masterclasses
Join the world's leading brands who leverage our custom programs to accelerate innovation.
FuturistU 5-Day Program
Become a Futurist with our immersive 5-Day program at Future Festival World Summit.
Online eLearning
Learn the fundamentals of futurism and trends with 100+ online courses about innovation.
How to Hunt
Learn more about how to hunt megatrends, ideas, patterns and opportunity.
Contact
Get in touch to learn more, ask a question or submit a tip.
About Us
Learn more about Trend Hunter and how we accelerate innovation.
Follow-Us
Join our 3,500,000 social media followers, on the cutting edge.
How to Hunt
Learn more about how to hunt megatrends, ideas, patterns and opportunity.
FAQ
Get answers to common questions about Trend Hunter.
Community
Stay on the cutting-edge with the help of the Trend Hunter community.
Team
Meet the team trusted by hundreds of leading businesses worldwide.
Jobs
Find opportunities to accelerate your career with the #1 Trend Firm.
News
Catch up on noteworthy Trend Hunter news and media mentions.
Join
Build a portfolio and put your trend-spotting abilities to the test.
Advertising
Supercharge your marketing by partnering with Trend Hunter.
Portfolio
Visit your public portfolio and browse your past articles.
Add a Trend
Write up an article and showcase your trend-spotting skills.
My Trends
Edit your articles and see how they stack up on the leaderboards.
Settings
Edit your profile, connect your social media accounts, and more.
Add a trend, customize your dashboard, or track topics.
Future Festival
Innovation Events
Join the world's top innovators at our in person events.
Free Webinars
Learn to innovate through chaos, navigate the new normal and maintain work culture from home.
Custom Training & Events
Bring the Future Festival experience directly to your team or co-hosted custom event.
Search our database of 462,330 cutting edge ideas.

Unibody 3D Printers

The Tiko 3D Printer Has Prealigned Beams That Reduce the Need For Maintenance

— April 2, 2015 — Tech
The Tiko 3D printer is a new budget 3D printer, currently the subject of a Kickstarter campaign, that is designed to make it easy to bring interesting, peculiar and unconventional design choices to life while minimizing costs. Crucially, all of this is done without compromising on the quality of the print. The use of an inexpensive, single-part 'unibody' frame -- that requires very little calibration -- makes this possible.

Usually, 3D printer's frames are the most expensive components of the machine. Multiple beams that need to be of a high standard also have to be regularly aligned during their lifetime to ensure a consistent performance, raising costs. The Tiko 3D printer's unibody design incorporates pre-aligned beams.

3D printing is one of those activities that has a lot of potential but won't be more widely adopted unless costs of maintaining 3D printers goes down. The Tiko 3D printer bids to do exactly that.
Trend Themes
1. Unibody 3D Printers - The use of an inexpensive, single-part 'unibody' frame with pre-aligned beams in Tiko 3D printer reduces maintenance costs and produces quality prints - disruptive innovation opportunity lies in streamlining of additive manufacturing and democratizing design.
2. Budget 3D Printing - Tiko 3D printer's affordability and reduction in maintenance costs offer disruptive innovation opportunities in desktop 3D printing for home-based and hobbyist users, as well as enabling educational institutions and small businesses to offer prototyping and production services in-house.
3. Consolidated Calibrations - The Tiko 3D printer's pre-aligned beams can reduce the frequency and complexity of maintenance tasks, offering disruptive innovation opportunities in industrial 3D manufacturing for lowering production costs, reducing downtime, and increasing volume output.
Industry Implications
1. Additive Manufacturing - Tiko 3D printer's unibody design with pre-aligned ultra-light beams offers disruptive innovation opportunities for streamlining 3D printing - especially in areas of prototyping, modeling, and small-scale production.
2. Desktop 3D Printing - Tiko 3D printer's affordability and easy maintenance offer disruptive innovation opportunities in home-based and hobbyist 3D printing scenes, specifically in enabling users to customize designs, create personalized products and services, and experiment with new possibilities and materials.
3. Industrial Manufacturing - The use of Tiko 3D printers with consolidated calibrations can offer disruptive innovation opportunities in large-scale manufacturing and production industries, including aerospace, automotive, architecture, and medical, by improving speed, precision, reliability, and cost-effectiveness of additive manufacturing processes.
3.3
Score
Popularity
Activity
Freshness