'New Matter' launching the MOD-t Affordable 3D Printer Soon via Crowdfunding Campaign

[Eddie]

Looks like there will be a new crowdfunding campaign launching soon for a new 3D printer, called the MOD-t. It is from a company called 'New Matter', formerly known as IdeaShaper. They don't provide many details, but they are going to be "affordable". It should be interesting to see what the price will be, and if they try to compete price wise with the Micro3D printer that was just on Kickstarter.

Read more about this at http://3dprint.com/3413/new-matter-mod-t-3d-printer/

[JRDM]

They're a few weeks away from a crowdfunding campaign, and the best they have to show for their development is a rendering?

[Feign]

A rendering that seems to have no y-axis and no reel for filament.

Either they really wanted this render to look clean, or they were lazy.

I'm sure they'll get millions and laugh all the way to Mexico.

[LoboCNC]

A rendering that seems to have no y-axis and no reel for filament.

Either they really wanted this render to look clean, or they were lazy.

I'm sure they'll get millions and laugh all the way to Mexico.

Hi - I'm new to this forum. I've worked on the development of this printer, and I can assure you that the rendering is quite complete. Well, the filament spool is not shown, but the complete X-Y-Z mechanism is all there - it's just really minimal. I've done a fair amount of printing on a couple of their prototypes that are functionally equivalent but are not nearly as attractive as the rendering of the production design they used in their announcement. Unfortunately, I can't say much more until the crowdfunding campaign launches in a couple of weeks.

[Feign]

Hi - I'm new to this forum. I've worked on the development of this printer, and I can assure you that the rendering is quite complete. Well, the filament spool is not shown, but the complete X-Y-Z mechanism is all there - it's just really minimal. I've done a fair amount of printing on a couple of their prototypes that are functionally equivalent but are not nearly as attractive as the rendering of the production design they used in their announcement. Unfortunately, I can't say much more until the crowdfunding campaign launches in a couple of weeks.

My apologies for the snark earlier.

I'm a bit curious though, how it moves in the x-y axis... At first, I thought I saw the plate attached to a threaded rod across the middle of the enclosure, but now I see that it's a smooth rod, at least in the render, which makes less sense for how the plate could move on it in both x and y axis on it. For that matter, now that I look again, it looks like the middle bar in the Z axis is smooth too, is the smoothness of the apparent driving shafts intentional, or is it for the cleanliness of the render?

[LoboCNC]

My apologies for the snark earlier.

I'm a bit curious though, how it moves in the x-y axis... At first, I thought I saw the plate attached to a threaded rod across the middle of the enclosure, but now I see that it's a smooth rod, at least in the render, which makes less sense for how the plate could move on it in both x and y axis on it. For that matter, now that I look again, it looks like the middle bar in the Z axis is smooth too, is the smoothness of the apparent driving shafts intentional, or is it for the cleanliness of the render?

No worries - I appreciate your skepticism. What you can't really see in the rendering is another rod under the build table in the Y direction. These X & Y rods are not actually smooth but are toothed splines that drive the table in X & Y. And the center Z rod is actually a threaded rod. (The rendering doesn't really have enough resolution to make out these details.)

[Sky]

Hi - I'm new to this forum. I've worked on the development of this printer, and I can assure you that the rendering is quite complete. Well, the filament spool is not shown, but the complete X-Y-Z mechanism is all there - it's just really minimal. I've done a fair amount of printing on a couple of their prototypes that are functionally equivalent but are not nearly as attractive as the rendering of the production design they used in their announcement. Unfortunately, I can't say much more until the crowdfunding campaign launches in a couple of weeks.

If this is the same LoboCNC as http://jrkerr.com/lobocnc/index.html then his positive review should be respected. I have experience using his CNC and was impressed with his extensive knowledge of both the hardware and software.

Been working with 3D printers for about 2 years now and the M3D and this one seem to be on the right track for consumer desktop 3D printer.

In my experience and cantilever design is total failure. Truly, any moving bed was failure. (MB you know who you are). Most of that was due to the acceleration of the beds mass, leading to vibration. Now that you are only moving in 2-d, you'll have uniform Z-axis acceleration for the print bed.

I'm very curious to see how the separated mechanics will operate in unison.

My assumption is you'll get the speed of having a fixed extruder while maintaining the capability to do high delicacy prints (something cantilever beds super fail at (( in comparison with non-moving bed printer))).

[LoboCNC]

If this is the same LoboCNC as http://jrkerr.com/lobocnc/index.html then his positive review should be respected. I have experience using his CNC and was impressed with his extensive knowledge of both the hardware and software.

Been working with 3D printers for about 2 years now and the M3D and this one seem to be on the right track for consumer desktop 3D printer.

In my experience and cantilever design is total failure. Truly, any moving bed was failure. (MB you know who you are). Most of that was due to the acceleration of the beds mass, leading to vibration. Now that you are only moving in 2-d, you'll have uniform Z-axis acceleration for the print bed.

I'm very curious to see how the separated mechanics will operate in unison.

My assumption is you'll get the speed of having a fixed extruder while maintaining the capability to do high delicacy prints (something cantilever beds super fail at (( in comparison with non-moving bed printer))).

Yes, I'm the same LoboCNC - thanks for the vote of confidence! One thing to be clear on is the distinction between a cantilevered bed that moves in Z (very difficult to do) and a cantilevered extruder that moves in Z. With a cantilevered extruder, all you need to do is accurately position a single point (the extruder nozzle) in space. Because the mass of the extruder is constant and the drag loads from laying down filament are small, you can position accurately without needing a hugely stiff structure. With a cantilevered build table you are not only need to worry about the position of the table but also the orientation of the table plane. Tiny deviations in your mechanism (rod straightness, etc) can cause the table to tilt which really magnifies these errors at the perimeter of the table. Also, just the weight of printed object can cause the table to deflect if the structure is not incredibly stiff. In general, though, it's hard to make any sweeping statements about the best place to put your X, Y and Z motion axes because so much depends on the actual implementation. For what it's worth, I've printed tiny 10 tooth 2mm pitch timing belt pulleys on the Mod-t prototypes, so it should be capable of pretty detailed prints.

And regarding the M3D printer - it'll be nice when New Matter finally releases some specs and pricing - it will make an interesting comparison.

[Eddie]

I've talked to some of the guys close to this company, and honestly I think they will be quite successful. Just my opinion though.

[pardonme]

Lobo, what are you feelings about it? Will it be something we want to buy and use?