So I came across the Mod-T printer today. Seems like the X/Y control is different, but doesn’t seem smooth enough. What I can’t tell is does the build plate just sit on the turning axis rods?
Here’s a decent video on the functionality. The prints I saw in an article look rough IMO. I think a ground breaking printer has to offer ease of use and provide stellar output.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pmn9BIwsE1w
Opening new ways is always positive, and this is a good idea. It works or not, but it is creative 
Agree, I like how simplified the approach is and it certainly is a cool idea.
For larger area bed stability I would add two parallel idle rods on bottom, one on each half.
@Tim_Sills Yes, the platform just sits on top of the two pinion rods, with nothing else constraining it. Very interesting proof-of-concept, but it never should have been turned into a product.
I wonder how it’ll function after 20 hours use…lubrication, wear, and dust will all conspire against it…which might by why it’s got an enclosed chamber…it also might be a moot point if they sell pinion rod/build plate replacement kits for $20.
Didn’t see any mechanism for adjusting the plate either.
The design is very attractive from a cost and repair ability standpoint. Dirty? Pick up the build plate, run a cloth along both rods, and put the build plate back down. Rods damaged? Easy to replace. Buy several build plates and when a print is done, swap it out and start printing again while you deal with the old print on the old build plate. Build plates, including the racks, are cheap. Have them injection molded and use a new one for each print.
No, it’s not a great mechanism for machining or other operations, but for fused filament additive manufacturing you don’t need a lot of force in the x and y axis.
The biggest downside is that the machine size has to be at least four times the volume of the build area, which isn’t very efficient, but that’s a trade off consumers can make based on the very low cost of the machine.
@Adam_Davis at this price to gain a good margin they’ll need to sell many/fast without dealing with to many customers, so their only reliable option would be distribution. Otherwise they’ll run into the makible trap of dealing with 1st lvl support and all the warranty shit from EU. Good luck
One possible downside is that it may be hard to print at a very high speed, since you have to move the print bed and the object all the time. Then again, the bed is likely to have a lower center of rotation than some repraps, and has the widest possible stance on its support, so you probably won’t see too much acceleration-induced wobble unless the print gets very tall. Giving it guide rails would mitigate some of this, but make it harder to swap beds. One (slight) point against swapping beds might be that you’d have to swap out the heating element as well if you need a heated bed.
This won’t ever have the added cost and complexity of a heated bed.