Update on Nov. 8 at 11:21 a.m. Pacific: Corrected to reflect the printer’s resolution which is 10 mil, not 10 millimeters, and to the timing of its fundraising plans.
Cyril Ebersweiler, hardware accelerator Haxlr8r’s founder, believes that if hardware startups learn how to prototype, iterate, and manufacture quickly, they can launch a consumer product within months and without much capital.
So it’s not surprising that Voltera, a startup that built a low-cost circuit board printer, was among the accelerators graduating companies yesterday. Voltera’s printer aims to do for circuit boards and prototyping what MakerBot did for the Maker movement with its low-end 3-D printer.
The printer itself, the V-One, is actually a three-in-one tool: a circuit board printer, a solder paste dispenser, and a soldering oven. Customers can order whatever combination they want (a paste dispenser, an oven, or both, and so on). Currently, it prints on the circuit boards with silver nanoparticle conductive ink, which has the highest conductivity, cofounder Katarina Ilic told VentureBeat.
But as it’s Voltera’s first version, the printer still has limits. Although Voltera’s team can print at six millimeters and up to four layers, Ilic said the upcoming V-One will print only at a 10 millimeter resolution, with a maximum of two layers.
via Venture Beat
Above: Voltera’s V-One printer
Image Credit: Kia Kokalitcheva
