I tried to buy a Tiko on kickstarter. I liked that it was lamp shaped and small. Aka apartment friendly. After the Kickstarter was cancelled, I bought a M3D micro printer. It’s an eight inch cube so still apartment friendly.

Set up was easy. You download the software from the website. It runs on Windows, Linux and Mac.  Once you download, it says it is beta software, but it works. My only complaint is they don’t sign it will. I chad to do “control open” on my Mac because it said the software was from an unidentified developer.

You have to plug the #D printer into your computer. I’m using the printer box as a little table and sitting on the floor so I can do this near the window and near a power outlet. This setup is decent unless I want to code while I’m printing :).

The printer verifies you removed the gantry clips and guides you through inserting the “ink.” This took me three tries. The first time no plastic came out. I think I didn’t shove it in hard enough. The second time, some white plastic came out then the color I inserted did. However, it came out in a bubble. The third try worked.

The manual shows a hook for loading the plastic externally. This hook doesn’t come in the box so you have to either print it or buy it online. It takes 4-5 hours to print it yourself. I’ll get around to that.

The manual also implies sample models are available in “recent models”. This didn’t happen for me so I had to download from the internet. I like that you can easily change the size and quality of your model. And that it tells you the print length before you start. I also like that it tells you the percentage complete down to the hundredth of a percent. Feels like progress!

Now to try to make something of my own! My second 3D print.