One of the main talking points of CES 2012 was the  number of relatively low cost 3D printers at the show from a range of companies. The rapid prototyping and extrusion technology are becoming increasingly affordable and at CES there were two companies printers that gained a significant amount of attention.

The 3D System’s Cube is a printer that is aimed at both adults and children and priced at a very competitive $1299. This 3D printer is set up to make a number of creations from the moment it is taken out of the box, with many of the products it can make priced at around $4. The 3D System Cube was even nominated for an award by large Internet site CNET’s editors, as part of their pick of the Best of CES 2011′.

The Cube has its own appstore and a library of products for customisation, from belt buckles to bracelets, to your own face, via software for the Xbox 360 Kinnect.It also uses a cartridge system, alike that of the ink and toner cartridge mould.

New York start up Makerbot Industries’ Replicator 3D printer also got a lot of noise at the Las Vegas show. This printer creates its designs on a spindle of plastic thread. This spindle is unravelled and melted and fed through the print head in a similar way to a inkjet, or laser cartridge and adds to the object in a layer, by layer format at a rate of 40mm a second.

Though, this technology is nothing new, it is the fact it is being sold for around £1100 that makes it notable. The CES, or Consumer Electronics Show only offers gadgets for as you can imagine form the title consumers.

Spools for this machine are selling for around $50, which is enough material to build a plastic castle and accessories, which would cost three times this price from a toy store.

These devices have been setup to use TinkerCAD, or Google Sketchup and when the CAD is finished, they are transferred to the printer via SD card. It is also possible to download other people’s designs from the MakerBot website and use them for your own requirements.

THese were just two of a number of 3D printer companies at CES, with some claiming the technology will reach a price point of below the $500 mark in the coming few years.

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