New Matter announced the development of their new USD$250 personal 3D printer, the MOD-t.
There are several ultra-low cost 3D printers within this price range, but the key difference presented by the MOD-t is that it actually looks quite good. This is no doubt due to their partnership with notable industrial design firm Frog. It comes in black (above) or white styles.
The machine is thought to be low cost due to its mechanical design in which the print bed moves on the X and Y axes, while the extruder merely moves up and down on the Z axis. This design apparently requires no leveling, which is a good thing for a printer designed for consumers.
We’re a bit curious about this approach, as it was abandoned by MakerBot years ago – it was used on their original CupCake printer. We believe it was passed by because the act of shifting around a platform with a potentially heavy partial print may reduce accuracy. Perhaps New Matter have solved this issue on the MOD-t.
Aside from the beauty design and unusual mechanics, the MOD-t is a pretty straightforward PLA-only 3D printer, except for the ridiculously low price of USD$250. It doesn’t include a second extruder, heated bed and has a fairly small print volume, but that’s what you should expect for this price point.
One other interesting feature is a curated 3D model store. We understand the models in the store will be pre-sliced for reliable 3D printing on the MOD-t, but this kinda looks like a closed system to us. However, can certainly procure 3D models elsewhere and use them on your MOD-t.
Unlike several of its competitors at this price category, the MOD-t does NOT require expensive proprietary filament cartridges. We suspect the competitors are subsidizing their low price by making it up on plastic sales, but this is not the case with New Matter. However, they may hope to gain from 3D model sales.
Via Indiegogo