We’ve seen an add-on that turns ink printers into circuit board printers, and even a 3D printer that specializes in printing circuits. A new company called Rabbit Proto takes prototyping to the next level with its eponymous product. It’s an add-on for 3D printers that lets you add conductive traces to an object while it’s being printed.
Rabbit Proto is a print head add-on that works with RepRap printers with dual-extrusion boards. It uses a 10cc syringe to deposit conductive ink, specifically Bare Conductive’s product. Together with its firmware, Rabbit Proto lets a 3D printer lay down circuits inside an object that’s being printed, saving a lot of time and effort. The video below shows a working video game controller made straight out of a 3D printer:
Here’s another example, a 3D printed electronic puzzle.:
As if that wasn’t awesome enough, you can actually use Rabbit Proto to extrude any viscous material that fits inside its syringe. The video below shows it being used with peanut butter:
You can pre-order Rabbit Proto for $350 (USD). It comes with one syringe of conductive ink. You can also get a Rabbit Proto dual-extrusion add-on – the syringe plus a filament extruder – for $450 or a whole 3D printer equipped with the dual extrusion add-on for $2,499.
[via Slash Gear]
