Perfect Prints; Amazing Printer

[Duck]

I was a February-tier backer and took delivery of my printer on Wednesday. This little thing is fantastic. While the internals certainly seem fragile, it's very rigid, the outer shell is solid, and it seems very well built. Compared to the 3DS CubeX and Stratasys Dimension 1200 printers I work with daily at the office, I have to say that from a dimensional accuracy standpoint, I can't believe it, but this little $200 printer does better than both of them.

Here are a couple of videos and photos.


Portal Companion Cube


Cuddling Cats

IMG_3975.jpg IMG_3979.jpg IMG_3985.jpg

[curious aardvark]

certainly looking better than the eary prints I saw.

But is there still no option to print without a raft ?

And it looked like your right hand side endstop switch wasn't working on the cat print.

But yeah - certainly major improvement on the prints from the beta models that I've seen.

One thing that needs mentioning.
The micro is currently available for pre-order for $349 and will soon be going up - most likely to $399.
And that's without p&P and import tax - if you don't live in the states.
It is NOT - any more - a $200 printer :-)
Plus there is no mention of postage and tax costs until you've basically gone through the whole ordering system and practically bought one. Which i didn't do.
But it would be interesting to know what the overall cost of getting a micro shipped to the uk would actually be.

And here's a question for you. The micro site sells abs - so does it have a heated build platform ?
It's not mentioned anywhere on the site.

[Duck]

Yep, you can print without a raft. The default setting is "On". I was a raft-hater while I waited for my printer to show up (since the CubeX at my office doesn't use them - I couldn't see the point)... not really a big deal to peel it off at the end of the day. It does print fine on the BuildTak, though.

My total postage costs were $50 shipping + $32 to enter Canada at Customs, so $82.

For $281 (I was a $199 Super-Early Backer), I'm absolutely thrilled. Agreed that once you get to $400, there are a lot of other options out there (PrintrBot, XYZ Davinci, etc.)

No heated build platform - I wouldn't touch ABS on this.

[curious aardvark]

yeah that's what i thought. Weird that they're still pushing it as an abs compatible printer, I don't get that.

The raft thing is simply that it adds a lot of time to the print and uses a lot more plastic. But if it's turn offable - then that's good.

Certainly looks like they've ironed out the earlier printing quality issues. Your's is the first set of prints from a micro I'd consider acceptable :-)

They are cute little things.

[ericwongyellow]

Very happy to hear that 3D printer so fantastic! I am a newbie on 3D printing, and no experience on any 3D printer before.

Just ordered M3D too, looking forward to get it soon!

[curious aardvark]

lol well not that soon :-)

[chadmart]

So... I ordered six spools of ABS when I ordered my Micro... based on this thread that was a mistake? In the months since I ordered, I found that I can acetone smooth the ABS, which I was excited about... but then I see this thread and I am worried now that I won't get a successful print.

P.S. if it isn't obvious, I'm new to 3D printing of any kind.

[curious aardvark]

yeah it is weird. Generally for abs you need a heated bed. Mainly to stop it warping as soon as it's laid down.
Plus pla is just so much better to design for and print with.

But they clearly state it will print abs, so until someone tries, who knows ?

[chadmart]

What about PLA makes it better to design for and print with?

I guess I'll find out, since I have seven spools of ABS coming with my printer.

[chadmart]

I got my "Ready to ship" email today. I think it was really awesome that they let me modify my order if I like, and I went ahead and swapped all of my ABS for PLA. I kept one roll of ABS, just to try both out. I figure if I have something that I want to mold, then I will have ABS which I can acetone smooth before molding.