The Micro 3D August Tier Production Update
Adam Milton-Barker | Oct 3, 2014 | 3D Printing and Scanning | 4894Earlier on this year I backed an a 3D Printer Project on KickStarter called The Micro 3D. The project went on to receive 11,855 backers and raised $3,401,36 towards building their company. Along with the 3D printer, I will also be part of the Beta feedback panel that will help test and debug the printers. I received an email yesterday about the Micro 3D KickStarter project. the email announces how creators, David and Michael are "personally performing the final optimizations and quality control on each unit before they leave the M3D building". The project also announced their current status: "Our current assessment is as follows: Due to minor prototype part delays, we predict that the October tier printers will begin and finish shipping during the first two weeks of November. We anticipate finishing all sub assemblies for the November and December printers in the first half of November. Meanwhile, we expect a few final molded components to arrive in mid-November, allowing us to close all assemblies for November printers for delivery at the end of November and December printers by mid-December. This our best guess and our main goal, barring any unpredicted delays from suppliers." The purpose of the Beta Printers are to help them test and ensure that the printers are just as good when massed produced as the first home made prototype was. Although getting to the Beta Printer stage took a little longer than anticipated by the Micro3D, they are confident that the delay was worth while and that changes they made will allow them to quickly scale up manufacturing: "With this first beta production batch, we were able to systemize the knowledge needed to assemble a printer to a team for the first time, and we added a 26-point quality control inspection to ensure the mass production process would match the attention we gave the first prototypes. This will allow us to quickly scale up manufacturing, and ensure that there are no deal-breakers to moving ahead." At the Maker Faire this year Micro 3D were there and apparently caused quite a stir with visitors, showing off the amazing capabilities of the printer to an audience of all ages that were eager to get involved. I have received our M3D Beta Program Survey which allows me to choose the colors for the filaments. I are very pleased to announce that The Micro 3D team have agreed to work with TechBubble cross-promoting so I will continue to share the latest information, photos and offers with you in the future.