{"id":844,"date":"2017-04-14T12:33:56","date_gmt":"2017-04-14T12:33:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/?p=844"},"modified":"2017-08-29T14:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-08-29T14:00:00","slug":"micro-3d-printer-m3d190420174","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/micro-3d-printer-m3d190420174\/","title":{"rendered":"3Dnatives Lab: Our Test of the Micro 3D Printer by M3D"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">If you\u2019ve been watching the 3D printing market for some time, you\u2019ve heard about the Micro from M3D. The Micro 3D printer is\u00a0a compact printer that was launched through a Kickstarter campaign in April 2014, and was advertised as one of the cheapest on the markets.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The printer from M3D had gathered a lot of interest at the time because it had nearly 12,000 backers and raised more than $3 million. With so much interest in this machine, the 3Dnatives lab decided to test this small printer thanks to our friends at Toon Remakers, who participated in this\u00a0campaign and\u00a0allowed us to come try out their machine for our review! (Thanks again guys!).<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\">Unpacking<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">We decided not to post a photo of the packaging the printer was delivered in because the packaging in which it arrived in showed, quite obviously, that packaging was the least of their priorities. The M3D was delivered with a USB cable, the main plug, a filament coil and the installation instructions. With not too many items, it was pretty much ready to go right from the moment we took it out of its box.<\/p><div class=\"dnati-inside-article-leaderboard\" style=\"text-align: center;\" id=\"dnati-4169856351\"><a data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/app.swapcard.com\/login\/event\/additiv-defense-2026\/ticket\/VGlja2V0VHlwZV83MDM4MQ==\/page\/UmVnaXN0cmF0aW9uRm9ybV81NjE4Ng==\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"a2t-link\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"LB (4)\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/03\/LB-4.gif\" alt=\"\"  width=\"850\" height=\"150\"   \/><\/a><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_846\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/image-1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-846\" class=\"wp-image-846 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/image-1.png\" alt=\"Micro 3D printer M3D\" width=\"620\" height=\"330\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-846\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Everything given<\/p><\/div>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\">Installation<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">There is nothing special to say about the installation of the printer. The filament coil is housed under the construction tray, which is rather good in terms of both visually saving space. It is important to note that the coils are not proprietary and that it is possible to use a commercially available reel by placing it next to the printer.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_847\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/image-2-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-847\" class=\"wp-image-847 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/image-2-2.jpg\" alt=\"Micro 3D printer M3D\" width=\"620\" height=\"330\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-847\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The coil housing under the tray<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_848\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/image-3-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-848\" class=\"wp-image-848 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/image-3-1.jpg\" alt=\"Micro 3D printer M3D\" width=\"620\" height=\"330\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-848\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The USB and power port of the M3D<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">To illustrate all this, there&#8217;s nothing like a\u00a0video:<\/p>\n<div class=\"video-container\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Micro 3D Printer: Quick Start Video Guide\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8mm0g1WWUJc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\">Software<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The software that was supplied with the Micro-3D printer is relatively easy to use and everything is configured in a very harmonious way. Because this, it puts\u00a0this printer in the category of Plug &amp; Play printers.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_849\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/image-4-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-849\" class=\"wp-image-849 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/image-4-1.jpg\" alt=\"Micro 3D printer M3D\" width=\"620\" height=\"330\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/image-4-1-160x86.jpg 160w, https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/image-4-1-300x161.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-849\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The software offers a clean interface<\/p><\/div>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">On the flip side, there is a configuration level that is limited to only four options: low (300 microns), Medium (200 microns) and Ultra (50 microns). The same logic applies to the filling parameters of your object (infill), which has the following levels: Thin walls, thick walls, low, medium, and high.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">As a result, you will not be able to change settings for things such as the extrusion temperature, print speed, or retraction (for you experts). That being said, it\u2019s up to you to control all of this on another software such as Cura or Repetier. When doing this, you\u00a0will then need to import your G-Code onto the software of the M3D, but even here, some of your parameters will be overwritten by those of the M3D..<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/image-5-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-850 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/image-5-1.jpg\" alt=\"Micro 3D printer M3D\" width=\"620\" height=\"330\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/image-5-1-160x86.jpg 160w, https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/image-5-1-300x161.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: justify;\">Printing<\/h3>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The Micro has a layer height of 50 to 350 microns with a print surface that is quite limited with only a tray that is 109 x 113 x 116 mm. The major advantage of this printer though lies mainly in its Plug &amp; Play side, with\u00a0the only negative point being \u00a0that the print time is very slow.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Our object came out without any problems, but it took us almost 10 hours of printing (at 200 microns). Whereas a Replicator 2 by MakerBot can do a print like this in less than 4 hours.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The M3D\u2019s printing plate is not heated and PLA is favored in comparison to the ABS, which is sold on their site. While they launched a Kickstarter soon after their original to fill this missing element, according to their website today, there is still no heated tray<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The creation of our object in photos:<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_852\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/image-6.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-852\" class=\"wp-image-852 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/image-6.jpg\" alt=\"Micro 3D printer M3D\" width=\"620\" height=\"330\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-852\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Printing of the object<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_851\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/image-7.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-851\" class=\"wp-image-851 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/image-7.jpg\" alt=\"Micro 3D printer M3D\" width=\"620\" height=\"330\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-851\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Our result<\/p><\/div>\n<div id=\"attachment_853\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/image-8.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-853\" class=\"wp-image-853 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/image-8.jpg\" alt=\"Micro 3D printer M3D\" width=\"620\" height=\"330\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-853\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">It did a nice job on the bridges<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div class=\"dnati-after-content\" id=\"dnati-1072403827\"><a data-no-instant=\"1\" href=\"https:\/\/amcoe.org\/event\/design-for-additive-manufacturing-design-at-elevation\/\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"a2t-link\" target=\"_blank\" aria-label=\"DfAM course-850&#215;150\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/DfAM-course-850x150-1.jpg\" alt=\"\"  srcset=\"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/DfAM-course-850x150-1.jpg 850w, https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/DfAM-course-850x150-1-600x106.jpg 600w, https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/DfAM-course-850x150-1-768x136.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/04\/DfAM-course-850x150-1-160x28.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 850px) 100vw, 850px\" width=\"850\" height=\"150\"   \/><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If you\u2019ve been watching the 3D printing market for some time, you\u2019ve heard about the Micro from M3D. The Micro 3D printer is\u00a0a compact printer that was launched through a Kickstarter campaign in April 2014, and was advertised as one&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6051,"featured_media":854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2,1,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-3d-printers","category-news","category-tests"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6051"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=844"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1090,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844\/revisions\/1090"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.3dnatives.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}