CSP PowerWASP EVO
Massimo Moretti founded CSP, a unique project development venture with revolutionary thinking. He wanted to build 3D printers that can build houses, and therefore, save the world. By collaborating with a group of ISIA (Istituto Superiore per le Industrie Artistiche) students, the company introduced popular 3D printers like DeltaWASP, PowerWASP and PowerWASP EVO, the ground-breaking model. The CSP PowerWASP EVO is a pioneer among multi-format 3D printers. It is capable of milling, extruding with a syringe, and cutting fabric and paper as well. Along with regular materials like PLA, Nylon and PC-PS, the PowerWASP EVO also allows the users to print in other different types of filaments. This means that the EVO can be turned into a very powerful food printing machine as well. In fact, the company has tested with chocolate already, with plans to use other edible materials gradually as they can be tested.
Due to its structurally superior design, the PowerWASP EVO can be very useful in printing with subtle food components. As it uses the same technology used in commercial CNC machines, it is capable of providing more superior performance compared with other 3D printers. With a print area of 260 x 200 x 210 mm, the PowerWASP EVO is more powerful and versatile than ever. Along with a print resolution of 0.05mm, the printer has a maximum print speed of 200 mm per second. This extremely aggressive device allows enhanced precision in retraction as well. The pulley gear has been completely recalculated and redesigned in order to provide better precision both in terms of accuracy and speed.
Printing food with the PowerWASP EVO can be further enhanced by adding a LCD display and an SD card reader. These add-ons will be very useful in utilizing the full potential of the printer. The LCD monitor will allow you to control the print settings including flow nozzle material, temperature, etc. Compared to the traditional USB connection, the SD card reader provides greater speed and more secure data transfer. Using an SD card also makes sure that the data loss is kept to the minimum level possible. The scope of the PowerWASP EVO can be further enhanced by making use of various other upgrade kits. By using these kits, it will be possible to print food with intricate details and multiple layers.
A solid food printing job requires the perfect combination of different factors. As most of the print quality depends on the 3D file itself, the finally processed file should not contain any surface errors. It is the job of the printer to ensure that the actual shape of the food is properly reflected in the final output. The PowerWASP EVO does all of these things very precisely. Once you have finalized the .stl file, you can then use specialized software like Slic3r or Printrun to generate the machine language and define specific features like print speed, thickness, piece rate, extruder temperature and much more. All of the software tools required for processing and managing the 3D files are free and work with both Windows and Mac. If you use host software packages like Repetier-Host, ReplicatorG or Printerface, you won’t need to download Slic3r. Slic3r is bundled with this software, however, and can be used separately if it is something that you are more familiar with.
While the PowerWASP EVO comes properly calibrated and perfectly assembled, it is possible to re-adjust its extruder according to your filament. By doing this, you will be able to print different kind of foods and use a variety of edible materials. After making a number of prints, you may find out that the material is not as smooth as the initial runs or the printing process ends up taking more time to complete. In these events, you can try cleaning the extruder manually. Besides these simple tips, the tutorial section of the PowerWASP EVO user guide includes advanced tasks like drilling with the EVO, making a gcode file with Cura, changing the filament thread, etc. The assembly manual and other relevant firmware can be downloaded from the official website.
As the name suggests, World’s Advance Saving Project, or WASP for short, is a growth-oriented manufacturer, which always tries to provide the latest technologies to its customers. It is performing in-depth tests with different types of materials every day. Therefore, it is expected that the 3D printer will support lots of other edible materials in the near future. PowerWASP EVO users know that along with getting a revolutionary product, they are bound to get regular updates and improvements for their machine. The printer comes with a one year warranty and the offer of active collaboration with the company. WASP’s dedicated support team is always ready to help you with the smallest of issues too. All of these things justify that, with a price tag of $994, PowerWASP EVO will one day be one of the best food printers out there, which is one of the many reasons it rounds out our list of iReviews 2015 best 3D food printers.