UPDATED 13:51 EDT / FEBRUARY 15 2016

NEWS

Print your favorite toy with ThingMaker, Mattel’s upcoming $300 3D printer

American multinational toy maker Mattel, Inc. announced the release of a $299.99 3D printer that allows kids to make their own toys, called the ThingMaker. The product is named after a previous toy sold by Mattel that children could use to create figurines from molds by heating then chilling liquid plastic.

This represents one of the first broadly marketed 3D printers directed at consumers from a major toymaker, and an affordable one at that. Most desktop 3D printers exceed the budget of the everyday consumer and have a cost that starts in excess of $1,000 and goes up from there (see this 2015 round up of desktop 3D printers).

The ThingMaker looks much like a small appliance, about the size of a microwave or a toaster oven, with clear glass bezel sides for viewing the printing and progress and bright orange molding. According to USA Today, the reveal of the ToyMaker saw the device at the New York Toy Fair 2016 trade show surrounded by  toy fairies, dolls, dinosaurs, robots, skeletons and jewelry.

The printer works with an iOS and Android app developed in collaboration with 3D software maker Autodesk, Inc. that allows consumers to put their imagination into operation with templates and a variety of drag-and-drop parts that can be assembled into toys. After that it’s as simple as the tap of a button to get the toy printing.

Photo: USA Today

A quick look at the ThingMaker Design app; let your imagination do the walking and then with the tap of a button turn it into reality. Photo: USA Today

“All the physical behaviors are as it would be when it was actually printed out, so you can get an idea for how it is going to mechanically move and what the limits of all the joints and sockets that you create are,” says Dan Pressman, creative director at Autodesk.

The app and the printer are designed to allow the production of articulated figurines with joints and attachments. However, only one color of plastic can be printed at a time, so each set of pieces using a single color must be printed in separate batches. In the end, the toy can then be assembled after the print has completed and components have cooled to make a wide variety of figures and dolls.

A single print job could take from 30 minutes (for a small piece) and 6 to 8 hours for a large toy.

Mattel considers the printer as more of a consumer electronic product than a toy, however, and it is rated for users 13 and up. For safety reasons the door automatically locks and seals itself when printing is taking place, and the small pieces printed by the printer are rated as safe for children aged 3 and up.

Photo: Mattel, Inc.

Photo: Mattel, Inc.

Consumer level printer uses standard filament and opens a whole new market

The $300 price tag on the ThingMaker makes it a novel entry into the 3D printer market for obvious reasons and that it’s coming from a toy maker is no surprise. Consumer-end 3D printing is perfect for producing custom toys and Mattel does already have a history of “maker” styled kits sold to engage the imagination of children.

To keep up with its humble cost, the ThingMaker uses standard PLA (Polylactic Acid) 3D printer filament, which is sold widely and comes in a large variety of colors and materials. It’s hard to tell how much filament would be used for any given print job on the ThingMaker, but USA Today estimates an average 1 kilogram spool can print 20 figures, more than 30 jewelry items or about 100 rings.

Aside from pre-orders soon-to-appear on Amazon.com, Mattel has not mentioned any other distribution partnerships. The company appears to be hoping to test out the market to see where consumers go with the product.

The app is already live, but the 3D printer itself will not launch until August. “We’re going to use these seven months to really learn and gain analytics of how people are using it,” says Aslan Appleman, a senior director at Mattel. As customers make toys with the app (dreaming of the figurines that they will have when the printer arrives) Mattel will have an idea of how to expand the ecosystem surrounding the product.

Pre-orders should appear on Amazon.com today.

Featured image credit: Mattel, Inc. from http://thingmaker.com/design

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