As most of you know, the GrabCAD Marketing team received the MakerBot METHOD last month. I was really excited to start using it but I’ll admit, I’m a MakerBot newbie.
Below, I share my experience and offer some tips so you (spoiler alert) enjoy the MakerBot as much as I did.
Unboxing & Loading Materials
Unboxing the printer was simple and quick to do. Even setting up the printer itself was easy. All I had to do was follow the onscreen prompts and load up the material.
When loading up the printer materials into the machine, however, I didn’t know that there was some grey material that you had to purge FIRST, until you get to your actual material.
- Tip: You have to let this material run for about a minute or two until you get your material or support.
MakerBot Software
After the material was ready, all I had to do next was download the MakerBot software, which I was really happy about because it supports Mac. I simply made a MakerBot account and then linked my account to my printer.
Next, I downloaded a few STLs from the GrabCAD Community and was able to print these models quickly and easy.
- Feature Highlight: The Heated Chamber maintains consistent temperature throughout the printing process, so layers bond at a controlled rate providing higher dimensional accuracy and part strength.
What I Really Liked
The MakerBot software was simple to understand and even gave me an estimated time when my print would finish. It also gave me an estimate on how much material would be used depending on how big my print was.
- Feature Highlight: The Smart Spool sends information to MakerBot Print using an RFID chip. The information can be on material type, color, and the amount of material remaining.
Overall my experience with the MakerBot METHOD was amazing. If you are looking for a starter 3D printer, I would definitely recommend the MakerBot METHOD.
I will be looking into more 3D printers in the future and I will continue to give you more honest feedback!
Haven’t watched the video of us unboxing the MakerBot METHOD? Catch it here!
