Back in December of 2015, Alex Bolderoff and Joe Mosfet of Arcadian 3D came together to bring the ARC-one 3D printer to the world through crowd-funding website Kickstarter.
The Centennial, Colorado based company boasted that the Arc-one’s capabilities rival those found in the upper tiers of desktop machines costing as much as $10,000, while coming in at a much lower price of $1,399. Indeed, if you look at the features this machine was packing, it’s easy to see why the ARC-one was a machine that would surely entice any Maker in the market for a decent printer.
Ultimately however, Arcadian 3D failed to meet their funding goal of $300k with just over $53,000 received when the pledging ended in January of this year. With an outlook that looked nothing but certain, it begs the question of what has become of the ARC-one and will it be making a comeback anytime soon?
https://youtube.com/watch?v=9SyyP0Crl4E
What made the ARC-one seem like an incredible option were the many features it was purported to have including a 400 x 400 x 400mm print area–larger than the popular printer options–compatibility with open-source/aftermarket software, a 5-inch interactive display and the ability to use a single or double extruder. What set it apart from every other platform on the market was its ability to connect directly to websites and access print files directly without the need for a PC or thumbdrive. If that wasn’t enough, it also made use of a Raspberry Pi running independently from the onboard processors, allowing users to run different apps in the background, making the printer faster in printing tasks.
While all of those features make the printer seem like a dream, it may have been just that as Arcadia 3D’s Kickstarter failed to meet its pledge goal. The Australian/US tech startup seemingly disappeared shortly afterward with their last update posted on January 6, which stated that ‘it was a great learning experience’ that will give them motivation to move forward. They go on to say that they still want to move forward and get the printer to the masses at the same price point and ‘invite backers to stay in touch with them in order to bring the best possible printer at the best possible price’.
Their Facebook page has comments from people wondering if their still moving forward with their printer and even several companies willing to back them to get it up and moving, however the responses are limited and essentially reiterate their Kickstarter update. Their website posts no new information either, however their twitter profile states they’ve moved into new offices and that there are “interesting things to come.” Indeed, it will be interesting to see what becomes of the printer and whether or not those original backers will receive theirs.
I’ve written several emails to Arcadia but have yet to receive a reply, if any readers have any information please feel free to add it in the comments.
