M3D just launched their second 3D printer on Kickstarter. The M3D Pro offers more professional features than its predecessor, the M3D Micro, which is still one of cheapest 3D printers around. Despite the higher price of $499, the campaign reached its $100,000 funding goal within hours.
The M3D Pro lures advanced users with a heated print bed from tempered glass, a larger build volume of 191 x 178 x 178 mm (7.5 x 7 x 7 inches) and a full-metal hotend that stands up to 270 °C. With 80 mm/s printing speed and 150 mm/s for travel moves, the Pro is notably faster than the Micro. The machine supports standalone printing from an internal memory, auto bed leveling, and resumes prints after filament shortages or power-loss. M3D also confidently includes a two-year warranty in all M3D Pro offerings.
Frankly, that all sounds like such a good deal it would ring our alarm bells if M3D hadn’t already successfully shipped a similar product. M3D doesn’t even require you to buy chipped filament cartridges. A high-spec printer that looks great, with a fully integrated software solution and at an affordable price may be exactly the all-round carefree package a lot of hesitant buyers have been waiting for.
However, the M in M3D also stands for marketing. With M3D advertising the Pro to feature a “Pro Sensor Network”, providing “full sensor feedback on all the motion axes” through “the same systems that made cell phones able to provide navigation guidance”, we somehow can’t help to keep our print-quality expectations where they were with the M3D Micro. Can our readers make sense of this? Let us know in the comments!
Filed under: 3d Printer hacks, Crowd Funding
