Meet the 3D printer that can build circuit boards

If you thought the 3D printers that could build up your Warhammer collection without breaking your bank were impressive, wait until you see the EX1 3D print a circuit board that's fully functional and requires no soldering. It's not even in the conceptual stage either, the developers have a working prototype and they now want you to Kickstart it into full on production with a new campaign.

One particular impressive aspect of the printer – besides it's time saving applications – is that it doesn't create the circuits from copper, but from a pair of reactive chemicals (silver nitrate and ascorbic acid) that when printed on top of one another, form circuitry in silver. This process allows the printer to output its circuits on a much wider variety of materials, including certain plastics, stickers, paper and fabric, which could theoretically usher in a new wave of wearable electronics.

Because the video embedder doesn't want to play ball, head over to the Kickstarter page to watch the pitch, it's a good one.

If you like the sound of this 3D printer, you can net yourself an early bird version for $1200, though that doesn't include an assembled printer, just the components, but you can build it yourself if you're handy with electronics. If you want the full thing though, throw in an extra $500 and they'll build it all for you. 

Anything less than that won't get you the printer and anything more is for fancy extras, so around $1700 + shipping (£1050+) for a fully functioning circuit board 3D printer.

Worth it?

KitGuru Says: If I had one of these, I'd use it to start adding some sweet lights to my already 3D printed Warhammer models. That way I'd be a 3D printing god.

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