Project Update #5: Updates for April 22st 2014

Posted by M3D LLC ♥ Like
Dear Backers,
Hope you had a great Easter, we have a few very exciting updates for you…
We’d like to invite you to meet us in Person!

The M3D team has been hard at work preparing for our first show since our launch. There are many shows we’d love to attend this year, and we are going to attend a select few so that we can stay focused on production and getting you your Micro as quickly as possible.
If you are in the DC area this weekend, we’d love for you to come meet us in person and see The Micros at the 3rd USA Science & Engineering Festival! It takes place this Saturday & Sunday April 26-27, and is a free event for people of all ages, especially those involved with STEM education.
It will be at the Washington Convention Center and you can find us at booth #3244. For more information please visithttp://www.usasciencefestival.org/2014-festival.html and tweet us once you get there - @USAScienceFest @TheMicro3D. We really look forward to meeting you, and giving you a chance to see The Micro in action!
Full speed ahead…

Right now the prototypes that we’ve been working on give us fantastic results. We've been testing how it prints to replicate what our backers are planning to create and are making sure that it will suit your application. Here’s an example print in ultra fine detail (50 microns). Thanks to you, we can work off this prototype to the production version, making it ever closer to perfection.

We also tested a really cool use of the 3D printed molds to make metals for the first time. We melted tin (232 degres C) in this case, casting into the silicone mold made from our custom 3D printed logo from the previous update.
Tin casting
Meanwhile, we’ve been gearing up for production, screening different filament materials, and testing smaller nozzle sizes. We’re studying the advanced filament materials from different suppliers to see if they are consistent and compatible with the Micro. We know that having the ability to print in the finest resolution was also important to many of you, especially for printing miniatures - so we’ve got you covered! We’ll be rounding up all of the options for you soon, so stay tuned!
Nozzles from 0.40 down to 0.15 mm
Sample materials from ProtoPlant

Adding Extra Filaments or a T-shirt to your pledge…

We’ve had quite a few questions regarding how to get hold of more micro filament spools, and you easily and quickly can modify your pledge by following a few simple steps! All you have to do is go to “backer history” in your Kickstarter account and click on “The Micro 3D Printer”. You can then “edit” your pledge to increase the amount. For every $12 above the amount of the tier, we’ll know that this means you want an extra spool of filament. We’ll send a survey after the campaign ends to confirm what filament colors you want.

You can also add a T-shirt to your pledge to show your support - we’re currently finalizing a few designs. Here’s our first design (the mural of names will be added):
First design (backer names will be added)
What do you guys think? As always keep commenting and sharing your thoughts, and we hope to see you at the USA Science & Engineering Festival this weekend!

The M3D Team