Using so called filament, usually plastic, to create a physical trinket or other more useful item from a 3D model
I was exposed to 3D printing in a news article talking about how it has a lot of potential in both industry and personal world. Never have we had such easy access to creating a working prototype as we do now. It is in our homes and our schools. People everywhere are gathering together to create so called maker spaces where electronics, code, and technology knowledge are shared and a beautiful collaboration is created.
In my time at Eastern Michigan University I had full access to a 3D printer the entire time I was there. Call it stupidity or just bad timing on my part, I never took advantage of that opportunity. I did have an experience that was much closer to home than the articles I continued to read about 3D printing. I was taking a class called Unmanned Vehicle Systems and the object of the class was to create a multicopter, in our case a hexacopter (six motors.) We succeeded in building and flying it. But one of the other students in my class was inspired enough to create his own multicopter design and used EMU's printer to his multicopter frame. Ever since then he was extremely interested in exploring this on my own.
I heard about the Micro 3D printer from an article on Engadget in the spring of 2014. They were talking about how you pay $200 to back the M3D kickstarter project and would receive the 3D printer when production starts. The $200 printer was limited to only 250 people so I was not quick enough to back that tier. However, I liked the idea of having a small affordable 3D printer so I backed the $300 tier. I backed an extra $12 for another roll of filament in addition to the included roll. I was expected to receive my backing reward November 2014. Due to uncontrollable circumstances on Micro's end I did not receive my printer until March, 4 months after I was supposed to. I was still pleased as a prince to have my own 3D printer. I will document my experiences with the Micro 3D printer on this site in a continuing effort to help and share with others. It is shown to the right printing a raft which is the bottom piece of a print.