Convert your cheap 3D printer into a manufacturing machine with this belt printer kit

While visiting the Midwest Reprap Fest this year, I saw a lot of tape printers. In fact, I was surprised by the number of tape printers of different types. One table however caught my eye very quickly with their kits to turn your ender into a tape printer.

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The company is called Aditiva3D and makes kits that convert your fairly inexpensive 3D printer into a tape printer. They have pre-made kits for a few models, just bolt them on and you're pretty much done.

What really stood out to me about these kits is how incredibly beefy they are. You can kind of see what I mean in the video just by looking at the thickness of some metal parts. I was pleasantly surprised at how rigid these add-ons were.

I've been watching the tape printer field for quite some time, ever since I first experienced the Creality CR 30 tape printer. belt drive on a 3d printer was owned by maker bot, this innovation stalled for a while. However, recently we have seen more and more of these cool machines appear. Makerbot's patent was filed in 2011, so it should technically still be 10 years old unless my knowledge of the patents is wrong. many printers (like the CR30) avoid the patent by tilting the head 45 degrees, which technically changes the belt to be one of the axes of motion of the printer and makes it look different enough. These kits, however, seem to be able to do just fine with vertical placement.

At the Midwest Reprap fest alone, there were several to watch, including this super cheap one I shared on our youtube channel recently

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However, the Additiva3D kit seems to offer very good value for money, allowing you to take a cheap 3d printer like and ender 3, put in a few hundred and have a complete printer and very solid tape printer.