SmartRap and the Benefit of a heating bed?

Hey guys,

I was wondering if I could get some of your thoughts on the smartrap printer. Here's a link to their indigogo page

[www.indiegogo.com]

It looks great. Its also extremely cost effective and seems to use all its parts more efficiently and effectively then my Prusa Mendel i2.

The big selling point for me, besides the price, is that auto-leveling feature that looks incredibly useful.

The downside is the lack of a heating bed. I've never actually owned or built a printer without a heatingbed, so I am curious how beneficial they actually are. Your thoughts?

Thanks as always guys,
Jeff

Based on the way it's built, there's no way to retrofit a heated bed into that design. Auto bed leveling is a ~ $10 to $20 add on to any of these printers.

That printer has a very small print area. On a cost per area printed, it's not going to win the race....

Is a heating bed all that important though, in your personal opinion.

If you want to run anything but PLA, you need a heated bed. With PLA you can get away without one. Even with PLA they are helpful. I would not have my only printer be one without a heated bed.