There are already 300$ 3D printers around ... all this seems to offer is prettiness.
Not sure how solid or reliable it will be, but being pretty and more or less fully enclosed is a huge bonus for the average user - compared to the typical designs of low cost printers with shafts, cables, etc pointing in every direction.
Anyone who has ever had to mass produce a product knows this is not true. Something for them to learn I guess
Yeah, if anything they should be reducing their workforce as the project nears completion and is handed off to manufacturing. But learning on other people's money can be good.
I presume they were always planning on mass production - what I think they mean is now they know they have the money to ramp things up, both more internal staff (to manage order, suppliers, customer service, QC) and external suppliers. Their low initial goal was a major red flag though - can't see how they could have moved forward and delivered anything with much less than $1M.
My first thought was ok now you can order the raw material and print out crap you used to have to buy from china.
Yeah, I'm still not sure what the average user would do with a 3D printer - your need either engineering or artistic tendencies (both probably) to be able to design 3D parts. I own an 3DPS UP+ printer, and it has been real useful for prototyping parts for checking interference, and for design review. But I have to admit I use it pretty infrequently - even less than the CNC. That said, these would be awesome for education!
I really wish they'd put some tech specs in there.
There actually are some tech specs listed on the KS page, as well as on their website
http://themicro3d.com/ - and I think they've made mention of print speed in the comments (not incredibly fast)
One thing they don't really explain in any detail is their "Micro Motion Technology". Presumably they use some sensing chip (magnetic/capacitive/?) to sense the position of the printhead in XYZ space, and this allows them to use cheaper motors & drive mechanics with servoing rather than the more common stepper motor.
Disclosure - I'm a backer... for now! I will see in the last couple of days how things are panning out.