Layers of melted plastic between 0.05mm and 0.35mm in thickness are piped through a nozzle on to a plate about A4 size and built up gradually to create the piece. Progress can be tracked on a webcam inside the printer via a smartphone.
A plastic chess piece can be printed in less than two hours, the company said, and a jointed wooden Octopus-like toy took about two days.
The 16.2g chess queen costs about £1.40 to print, the company said, and the 746g octopus about £70.
A printed bolt is claimed to be tough enough for use in manufacturing.
Amy Horn, the firm’s head of collections, said the machine is ideal for homes and tech start-ups to produce prototypes. She said: “We’re very proud it’s manufactured here in London. It’s about creating something bespoke and unique, having that in your home and being able to say you 3D-printed it.”
Ms Horn said the company could do nothing to prevent people printing gun parts, but pointed out that they would lack a metal firing pin.
She said: “It can be used for printing anything, but the gun in particular, that plastic part of it is just a plastic part, you can’t create a whole gun on this, you do need the metal parts to go with it.
“If someone’s determined to create something then they will go and do it regardless of whether the 3D printer is there or not.”
