Does a 3D printer have to be expensive? According to Filippo Moroni and Pietro Gabriele at OLO 3D Inc., the answer is no! In their Kickstarter campaign they offer a 3D printer with a unique design for just $99. The trick is that the printer uses the screen of a normal smartphone to cure a special photosensitive resin.
 
The OLO 3D printer consists of two half-shells with a recess in the bottom for the smartphone. The digital model of the object to be printed is first loaded into the smartphone, and the app software (available for iOS, Android and Windows) displays the model layer by layer on the screen. A special photosensitive resin is poured into the bottom half of the printer, where it cures (hardens) when exposed to light from the smartphone screen. The top half of the printer contains a moving platform that pulls the object being printed upward during the fabrication process.
 
The project has already collected more than 2 million dollars in pledges, and the first backers can expect to receive their printers in September. We are very keen to hear about their experience!