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Micro 3d printer kickstarter
Meet M3D's Micro, Kickstarter's most popular desktop 3D printer
Last April, David Jones and Michael Armani made a humble crowdfunding request on Kickstarter: Help us, world, to raise $50,000, and we’ll deliver the first inexpensive, consumer-friendly desktop 3D printer.
Within a week, the co-founding duo of M3D had raised more than $2 million. When the Kickstarter campaign finally closed, 11,855 people had backed the Micro 3D printer with a little more than $3.4 million in pledges, making M3D’s campaign the largest ever on Kickstarter for a 3D technology project. (This, according to the people at Guinness World Records.)
Last Friday, the world finally got its first glimpse the Micro when M3D’s desktop 3D printer went on sale. For a limited time, the bare bones version of the Micro—the printer, plus a three-month warranty—is selling for $349. After that, the Micro goes on sale for $449, a price that includes a year-long warranty and some starter filament (the raw material needed to make 3D-printed objects).
The printer itself is a fairly basic, plug-and-play machine that weighs two pounds. It’s compatible with spools of PLA and ABS filament, and works with the standard 1.75 millimeter size filament. The print bed is nothing elaborate or overly large. In a conversation with Fortune, M3D CEO Armani compares the setup of the machine to setting up a standard inkjet printer: After downloading the software from M3D’s website, the printer will automatically do a calibration check and move the print head around to ensure nothing is obstructing its path. Then the user enters a filament value, a three-letter code provided by M3D that serves as a fail-safe to make sure the user isn’t printing ABS plastic at the temperature required for printing PLA plastic.
In other words, Armani and Jones made sure their printer is as easy as hooking up a PlayStation. Whether it sells is another matter.
MORE: This startup wants to put a desktop 3D printer in every small business
M3D’s printer comes at a time when the consumer market for 3D printing has been in question.
As Fortune has reported a number of times in a variety of contexts: When it comes to desktop 3D printers, there are surely people purchasing them, although not in the volume perhaps predicted by some of the larger, more established desktop 3D-printer manufacturers. As Terry Wohlers, the president of Wohlers Associates—the firm that puts out the annual, enormous report on all things 3D printing—told Fortune recently: “They’re not going into homes. … For the most part, the majority of low-cost desktop printers are going to companies and schools.”
Indeed, numbers from the 2015 Wohlers Report bears out Wohlers’ thought. Industrial 3D printing is solid: $1.12 billion in sales. Desktop 3D printing, by comparison, maxes out at $173.3 million.
“This is hardware, and the hardware market is going to take decades, or at least a few years,” Armani says. “The Micro is a long-term play. This is something that’s going to require nurturing over the next five, 10 years.”
Armani, as well as M3D president Jones, seems optimistic.
The pair, who have known each other since their undergraduate days at the University of Maryland, College Park, employed just eight people at the time of the Kickstarter launch. Today, M3D employs 70 people full-time in a 12,000-square-foot factory in Fulton, Md., which is where the Micro printers are designed, manufactured, built, and shipped. According to Armani, pre-orders for the Micro are approaching 10,000. Counting those who already requested a Micro printer by donating via Kickstarter, that puts M3D’s current sales figures close to 20,000 printers.
“People buy a vibe. People buy into a community,” says Armani. “When they look at our product, it’s something that really gels with them. They’re picking up that community sense—I don’t think that’s existed yet.”
Sign up for Data Sheet, Fortune’s daily newsletter about the business of technology.
For more Fortune coverage of 3D printing, watch this video:
M3D Micro 3D Printer - The Most Compact and Affordable!
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The M3D Micro is a mighty little printer made famous by its record breaking Kickstarter campaign. This printer had over 12,000 backers on Kickstarter, which is a testament to the value, appeal, and functionality of the printer. We've personally tested this petite printer and found that it prints exceptionally well for an inexpensive printer and is very easy to setup. Within minutes you will be printing your first part. This printer is the perfect introductory printer for anyone who wants to dip their toe into the 3D printing waters.
The M3D Micro is the perfect printer for anyone new to 3D printing. This printer is compact and takes up almost no desk or counter space. The printer has a build area of 4.3 x 4.4 x 4.6 inches which is larger than other printers in this price range.
The Micro also has automatic bed leveling and calibration which means easy and hassle free 3D printing. One of the best features of the Micro is that it uses regular 1.75mm filament rather than cartridges.
We are selling the "Retail Edition" version of the M3D Micro, not the Kickstarter version. That means that this printer comes complete with a retail box and packaging, a 1 year warranty, as well as 1 spool of PLA filament. The printer comes in black.
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The Micro 3D Printer is available on Kickstarter for only $199
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Bethesda, a Maryland-based startup, launched a Kickstarter campaign to support its 3D printer today micro. By the way, the first buyers of the novelty will get only 199 dollars. Micro is a lightweight (weighing only 1 kg) amateur 3D printer that comes to you fully assembled.
Compact Micro fits easily on any desk. Its overall volume is 185 mm³, while it can print products up to 116 mm high. The layer thickness is 50-350 microns, and the X and Y positioning accuracy is 15 microns. The printer is equipped with a sensor and brake system built into the print head for automatic alignment and calibration.
Micro supports standard ABS and PLA filaments with 1.75mm filament. Thus, you have little choice. On the one hand, you can use special spools weighing 227 grams with a filament thickness of 1.
75 mm, which are very conveniently inserted into the base of the printer. On the other hand, you can buy any spools of 1.75mm filament and thread the filament through a slot in the extruder head. Bethesda offers special small coils for the Micro (120mm in diameter) that cost as little as $10-$12.
In addition, the Micro 3D printer can print with fiber that changes color. This can be seen in the video below:
The printer connects to Mac, PC and Linux via a direct USB connection. It uses open source software for advanced users. You can also use a program designed specifically for Micro. Using the touch screen, you can search and manage countless 3D model files found on the Internet and uploaded to the library.
Features:
- Displacement: 109 mm x 113 mm x 116 mm
- Layer thickness 50-350 microns
- X and Y positioning accuracy 15 microns
- Lightweight, approx.
1 kg - Carbon rods
- Removable print bed
- Ceramic heater for rapid heating
- Overall volume: 185 mm³
You can go to Micro's Kickstarter page right now. Early buyers will receive it for $199. The printer is assembled and manufactured in the USA.
By the way, Micro raised the claimed $50,000 in the first 10 minutes of the campaign.
Article prepared for 3DToday.ru
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| 3DNews Technologies and IT market. News printers, print servers, scanners, copiers... A 3D printer project has been launched on Kickstarter... The most interesting in the reviews 04/09/2014 [02:00], Konstantin Khodakovsky There are a number of challenges facing the mass adoption of 3D printing, the most important of which is the cost of the devices. But the M3D team thinks they can get around those hurdles with their $300 The Micro printing press. The project has already appeared in the service of Kickstarter micro-investments - about three thousand people have raised almost a million dollars for its implementation. The Micro is said to be the first consumer 3D printer that is both affordable, affordable and pleasing to the eye. According to M3D CEO Michael Armani, the goal is to make connecting and using a 3D printer as easy as working with a conventional printer: choose a blank and send it to print - people should not care about the process itself. bulk printing. But despite the simplicity of all operations for users, the latter will have to be patient before receiving the finished product. For example, it will take more than an hour to print a cup. Today, a 3D printer can be interesting in itself, even if the real benefit from it for a particular owner turns out to be low. Therefore, the M3D team intends to create a full-fledged 3D printer at such a price that users can decide to purchase this interesting device without risking a significant amount, and so that it can be bought as a gift. To keep the price low, The Micro has chosen a modest size, which is reflected in the name itself. The company is also working to reduce the cost of ownership by optimizing the power consumption of The Micro, which is already an order of magnitude more efficient than any other 3D printer, according to the developers. By optimizing various components, they have achieved a significant reduction in power consumption and, as a result, a cheaper power supply, less wires and less cost for protection systems will be required. This device is also the least noisy of the existing 3D printers. The Micro looks like a simple, finished and attractive home product that can be easily placed on a desk next to a computer. At the same time, as conceived by the developers, its appearance creates the impression of a fun toy rather than a complex industrial device. Users will be offered a choice of 5 colors of the glossy frame: orange, light green, blue, black and silver. Printing can also be done in different colors: all you need to do is to change the universal spool with a special 1.75 mm elastic thread, which, when melted, serves as a material for 3D printing. Supported materials include nylon, impact-resistant acrylonitrile butadiene styrene resin, biodegradable and biocompatible polylactide, and others. The spool is located under the removable print platform. The Micro is a cube with a side length of 185 mm and a mass of about a kilogram. It connects via USB to a computer running Windows, Mac or Linux. The print resolution is determined by the following indicators: offset with an accuracy of 15 microns and layer thickness from 50 to 350 microns. The maximum size of an object made on The Micro is 116×109×113 mm. M3D will ship its own uncomplicated software, but the device also supports open source software, which is important for advanced users. To achieve reliability and low weight, the rods on which the print head rests are made of carbon fiber. The first batch of The Micro's full-featured printers should be ready in August and mass production will begin in February 2015. “We hope to be the best available consumer 3 D-printer that is easy to handle and can be placed on your desk. When we combine all the developments into a common user environment, the product will take a fairly prominent place in the market space” , said Michael Armani. By the way, last year Kickstarter funded the creation of a similar, but more expensive and larger 3D printer Gigabot. And in Amsterdam, the construction of a house from blocks printed on a 3D printer using the same printing technology as The Micro has begun. Sources: If you notice an error, select it with the mouse and press CTRL+ENTER. |
By halving the linear size, an eightfold reduction in the amount of material, volume and delivery costs is achieved. 
The heating chamber is made of ceramic, which is designed to speed up the melting process, improve energy efficiency, reliability and safety. Interchangeable nozzles allow you to experiment with the printing process. 
