New Matter Unveils ‘Look-like, Feel-like’ Prototype of their $279 MOD-t 3D Printer

Back in May, a new 3D printer manufacturer burst onto the scenes, offering a FDM-based 3D printer at a price lower than anything we have seen before. New Matter, launched their Indiegogo campaign at the end of May, offering their MOD-t 3D printer for between $199 and $249 to backers, and they quickly reached their crowdfunding goal of $375,000 in less than one week. They went on to raise $683,804, through their Indiegogo campaign, and surely plenty more via subsequent pre-orders.

The MOD-t 3D printer, which is currently available for pre-order at only $279 + shipping, is slated to be the most affordable 3D printer to hit mass production. The developers behind it are able to keep the price so low due to a very simplistic patent-pending system that it uses.

The initial units of MOD-t 3D printers are expected to begin shipping, this coming March to the “3D All Star” backers, and then in April and May to other Indiegogo backers. Just this past week, however, the company released some photos of their latest prototype design. This is what the final MOD-t 3D printer is expected to look like. In fact the company is calling it their “Look-like, feel-like” prototype.

The Look-like, Feel-like Prototype

“The architecture is changing for the better,” explained New Matter employee “Rob”. “We’re heading towards high-volume manufacturing, ultimately leading to a higher quality machine.”

It appears as though New Matter is well on their way of mass manufacturing the product that they originally set out to create, while keeping the price tag, significantly under $300. The company plans to be at CES 2015 in January and are currently looking to expand with the possible hiring of a Marketing Coordinator.

It should be interesting to see if they can meet their original deadlines, and see some of the 3D printed objects that come off of the final production ready printer. If they are completely successful in bringing to market a sub-$300 3D printer, we might just be on our way to seeing this technology go mainstream. At $279, there will be plenty of people who purchase the MOD-t just so they can say they own a 3D printer, while others will jump into the market, finding it a useful tool in everyday life. There are those who would love to turn their 3D virtual models into real-life products, those who would like to see this technology in every school on the planet, and those who want to use it for product prototyping. At a price this low, the question may change from “who has a 3D printer?” to “who doesn’t?”.

What do you think? Have you backed the MOD-t 3D printer, or have you pre-ordered one? Do you think they will be successful in bringing this to market? Discuss in the MOD-t prototype forum thread on 3DPB.com.