Project Update #8: Update 8: Miniature Figurines and New Materials

Posted by M3D LLC ♥ Like
There are just 3 days left to this exciting campaign and it has been an honor to have met so many intelligent, eager, and enthusiastic backers so far. It’s great to see so many people getting involved with 3D printing. Having so much support for making this technology accessible was our biggest dream. Thanks for believing in us!
As the campaign finishes, we have so much more to share with you. We’ll be updating you with new prints, testing the extents of The Micro’s capabilities, and providing updates about the state of our production and scale-up.
Miniature Figurines
By popular request, we’ve been testing out all sorts of new prints with The Micro. In our previous update we showed a sneak peak of a commander figurine printed in its individual pieces (Attribution:http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:153061). Here we are on step two, where we’ve assembled the individual pieces into a full figurine. The Micro handled this project with ease, allowing us to focus on the fun of painting and customizing his pose. In our next update, we’ll finish up with a fresh coat of paint to reveal the final product.


Smartphone Tripod Adapter
Here’s a fun fact. While recording a video we realized our smartphone didn't fit the traditional tripod mount. Within five minutes we mocked up a basic but sturdy adapter in Google Sketchup, sent it to the Micro for printing and Voila!

Scale-up and Testing Efforts
This past month has been a flurry, transforming our company to meet the incredible demand for a truly consumer 3D printer. While we’ve been keeping in touch with you, answering over 10,000 questions, here’s what’s going on behind the scenes: We’re already moving full speed ahead, working day and night connecting with talented individuals, finding the best space to grow the company, and nailing down manufacturing. We also wanted to share a preview of filament testing with you which we've been working on in response to your requests.
The Micro was designed to print ABS and PLA with ease. For those of you interested in working with more exotic materials, we are continuing to test the following materials which either work or show indications of working well on The Micro with minor optimizations: Ninjaflex, Taulman T-Glase, Taulman Bridge Nylon, ProtoPlant Polycarbonate ABS (PC-ABS), ProtoPlant High Temp PLA, M3D flex material, and High Impact Polystyrene (HIPS).
Thank you for your continued support!
The M3D Team