LumiPocket is a compact, high quality DLP 3D Printer. It has a printing area of 10cm diameter, 10cm tall, and supports many different types of printing materials, from a resin similar to PLA and ABS, to castable for jewelry. Other types include flexible or strong resins, even ceramic filled.

A big thank you to all our contributors! You made our LumiPocket a real product. We are currently producing our first batch.

The campaign is now closed.

Your support allows us to make high quality, affordable 3d printing available to everyone. We are still improving the quality, below you can see some of our latest printed parts!

What can you print with LumiPocket?

Check our instructables and learn how to print your own 3d printed speakers, how to make custom metal parts, or print jewelry designs with castable resin!

Lumi Industries supports now LibraryLyna, a company dedicated to bringing 3D models to blind students! Check their website: http://www.librarylyna.com/

LumiPocket, the story

We started this mission last year, when we were just Makers dreaming about Stereolitography 3d Printing being finally affordable. We designed and built a device so compact that it was even foldable! It was called LumiFold, and it started a revolution about compact and portable 3d printing. It gained a lot of popularity very quickly!

People were really interested and excited about a compact 3d printer which was affordable and also able to give them the results they expected when they first heard about 3d printing. They wanted a reliable and easy to use device, that didn't require any technical knowledge.

Thank to the supporters of our first IndieGoGo campaign and the enthusiatic comments we received every time we presented LumiFold to the public, from Maker Faires to international blogs, we decided to go furhter, and spent the last months designing and refining our next 3d printer, the LumiPocket, trying to make it as minimalistic as possible, removing everything that was unnecessary.

The result of all this work is the most compact 3d printer, with an high printing quality, easy to use and reliable!

(Above: samples printed at 100 micron)

is versatile!

Just by adjusting the projector height, you can go from printing very detailed object, like jewelry molds, from bigger parts up to 10cm diameter by 10 cm tall. This means that LumiPocket can be used to print many different objects, not just tiny parts!

is fast!

With the best projector we tested (AcerP1500) and our recommended resin (FuntToDo IB) the curing time per layer can be as low as 0,7 seconds, with a printing area of 10x5cm.

With a ~320$ projector like the Optoma DX325 or the Acer x1240/60, curing time per layer is about 3-7 seconds, that is still faster than even more expensive FDM printers, and remember that with DLP projection, printing speed is not affected by object complexity, or by the number of parts to be printed on the same tray.

is reliable and requires little maintenance

(Goodbye, disposable vats and expensive non-stick coating)
With our top projection system, we removed one the most annoying parts related with light curing resin: the need to replace often the printing vat, a delicate transparent contianer for the resin, that does also need expensive anti-sticiing coatings, often difficult to apply that last only for a certain number of prints before start degrading.
Projecting from above, we removed the need for a special vat, and it will double its function of printing vat and resin container with its cover for storing the resin. You can have one for each type of resin you have and changing material on your printer is as simple as swapping the vats.

  is really easy to use!

We designed a cross plaftorm software that takes care of everything: you just need to load a .STL  file and it will take care of the slicing and printing. If you don't have 3d modeling knowledge, you can use our integrated 3d search engine that will let you browse online for 3d models , our use our basic templates to print many customizable objects, from Litophanes to personalized rings or keychains.

It supports the newest input technologies like the Leap Motion, an innovative devide able to track your gestures and hands movements, providing a new way to explore and model 3d objects.

The software we provide is also retrocompatible with our first printer LumiFold, and will also add support for the HoloDock, a visualization device that we launched on our first campaign.
The program also assists you during the calibration of the projector.
It will later be available on our website for free.

Technical specifications

LumiKit

Includes

Finishing tray, a set of tweezers, 2 scrapers, protective gloves and glasses.

Supported projectors

Almost every DLP projector can be used. We do not recommend any modification to your projector (unless you really know what you are doing and want to void its warranty): instead, we provide you with a list of compatible projectors we already tested. Should you want to buy another model, we also provide a set of technical specifications that meets our requirements.
For jewelry and castable resin for metals a FullHD projector will provide the best results.

Minimum Requirements	2000 lumen, 1024x768
Recommended	2500+ lumen, 1280x720 or above
Tested	Optoma dx325, Acer x1260, Acer x1240, Acer 6510bd, Acer P1283, Acer P1500

Why an external projector? Is it difficult to setup?

This is the standard setup: the projector is mounted on a standard tripod. Then you use the auto calibration software included with your LumiPocket and it will help you to position it correctly. It is really simple and takes just a few minutes! And you are able to use the projector for normal use (watching movies, playing games) when not printing, since the projector is not permanently fixed to a frame or inside the printer.

Resin

An high quality, reliable and affordable resin is also important. We tested many different resins seaching for the one that worked best with our setup, and gave the most reproducible results. We can offer different resins, from a standard version, affordable and fast curing, to an industrial version, extra hard, to a castable resin, designed to cast your pieces in bronze, copper, tin or iron using standard vacuum investment casting methods and setting.

Above: typical projector setup, the 3 different resins for different use and their logo , and UV curing after printing.

With your support, we will continue designing high quality, easy to use and affordable 3d printing solutions. Thank you!

FAQ

There are other cheaper compact resin-based printers, why should I buy LumiPocket?
Many cheaper resin-based printers have tiny printing areas, so their use is really limited. LumiPocket has a printing area of 10cm diam. by 10 cm height, so you can print objects that have some use, like miniatures, toys, molds for dental or jevelry use, and much more!

I think that LumiPocket is still expensive.
LumiPocket uses some precision parts, like IGUS miniature nuts and Misumi linear shafts, so it will last longer and will not require a lot of maintenance in order to work properly. We designed the electronic board to be modular and use standard parts, so if you need to replace the microcontroller or the motor board you will be able to use standard commercial parts.
We also wanted to keep as much as possible the production in Italy.
We are collaborating with Arduino , that is also based in Italy, and with Heliv, which produces the special UV ink featured in our logo on the LumiPocket cover.
We could have just selected the cheapest suppliers, but we want to offer you a product that is really reliable and made to last without all the maintenance that many 3d printer require.
This is not the cheapest resin-based printer: it is an affordable resin based 3d printer, with an high printing quality, easy to set up and use, with a printing area big enough to print useful parts and not just tiny objects. It is a product designed in Italy and we will do our best to select manufacturer and suppliers from Italy, to have full control on the quality and production.

Can I use LumiPocket for casting jewelry?
Yes, we offer FunToDo Castable Resin, that  has been designed to cast your pieces in bronze, copper, tin or iron using standard vacuum investment casting methods and settings.

What materials are available on the LumiPocket?
Our standard line consists of Standard, Industrial, Castable Resin. Available colors are black and red, since they offer the best quality and printing times. We recommend Industrial since it offers strong parts with a very fast curing time. Parts can be spray painted after curing. If you need a differently colored resin, or special resins like Ceramic or aluminium filled resins, for automotive, mediacal or research, just contact us.

How much will it cost with the projector?
The price range for a projector compatible with our LumiPocket is from ~300$ to 600$ if you want the best and need to print at the highest quality for jewelry use.
Remember that unlike other 3d Printers we do not ask for modification on your projector, so you will not void the warranty, you will be able to use it for other uses when not printing (you can use it for watching movies, and when you need to 3d print, you just put it over the LumiPocket), and it will last longer!

 Will you make a kit with the printer and the projector?
We are also offering a kit with all you need. It includes the printer, the projector, the tripod and 1Kg of resin.

Is the software included?
The software is included, and we spent a lot of time to make the whole printing process really intuitive, even if this is your first 3d printer!

Production Challenges

Development of the product has already completed. We have built and tested many generations of prototypes until we found the most cost effective option. We already have been dealing in the past months with suppliers in order to be able to provide all the parts in high enough volume to support production. Our initial plan is to scale our existing setup to meet the demand. We already have the parts designed and have received manufacturing quotes. With any project there may be unforeseen difficulties and delays. In such a case we ask that you be patient while will make every effort to minimize potential impact.

Production Timeline

The Team

Davide: CEO and Founder, he developed and published many projects as a simple Maker, before working on 3d printers : you can find some of his works on Instructables, Design Boom, or on his blog.

Manuela: after years of traveling and working all around the globe, from China to India, now she takes care of administration, customer care, and dealing with suppliers.

Marco: software developer and R&D: when he is not working on the code, he loves spending hours trying to find the perfect alchemy bewteen resins, curing time and projectors to find the best solution (so you just have to follow our instructions to get perfect prints!)

Dario: main software developer: if our software works so well on windows, OsX and Linux, and is so intuitive, is thanks to his exceptional programming skills.

We are a startup incubated at H-Farm, a venture incubator in Italy.
We would also like to thank Giovanni Gaio, for supporting us in the initial stage of our project, Beltramini and Paternich for their support on the design of LumiPocket, Technogroup and NuovaMacut for their software and hardware support!

What if I was a backer of the first campaign?

We never stop thanking all our first backers, they supported us and helped us improving both the hardware and software; their feedback was, and still is really important for us. So we decided they earned some special reward:

If our campaign will reach its target, everyone who bought a LumiFold from our first campaign wil receive a LumiPocket, for FREE.

(Shipping not included).

So if you are a previous backer, and you still believe in us, we encourage you to spread the word to friends and collegues, in order to help us continue make affordable, high quality 3d printing available to everyone!

Stretch Goals:

Get us to 75,000 USD and we will include structured light 3D scanning functionality, that will allow you to use the same projector used for printing to scan real objects into 3d models; all you need is a webcam and our software.

Get us to 100,000 USD and we will add an extra perk: a Raspberry Pi based docking station. It will provide a stable support for your projector, UV post processing area, and will remove the need for a dedicated PC or Mac for the printer control.

[Update] LumiPocket Live!

October 3-5: We are presenting LumiPocket to the public at the biggest Italian Maker Faire in Rome, so if you pass by, we would love to answer all your questions!

We were reviewed on the official Maker Faire blog. Read more here!

[Update] A 3D preview of LumiPocket