I own a beta M3D since June 2015 and I used it until a couple months ago when I upgraded to an Original Prusa i3 Mk2. I wasted a lot of plastic on it.
I know this is not constructive but if you can you are better off selling the M3D and getting something better. Please forgive me for this, I am not being a troll, just talking from my own experience and frustration.
However, if you want to stick with it, here are a few tips:
- This is no.1: get on their forums, there are lot of knowledgeable users there that will be able to help.
- Contact their support: supposedly their support team has grown and they offer more professional help(I guess…)
- If you can, switch to the Windows version of the M3D software - you might get better results.The Mac version was always behind.
- Check that your extruder fan is working and cooling.
- Switch to a better slicer - I used Simplify3D since February and I have gotten consistently better results BUT it’s an expensive product and if you are not looking to spend more, the slight improvements might not be worth it.
- I also used M3DFio with octoprint, an excellent replacement for M3D’s buggy slicer. See GitHub - donovan6000/M33-Fio: The ultimate OctoPrint plugin
M3DFio also includes a better calibration routine for the bed.
- Do and redo the long calibration - the drive calibration. On OS X I also used a program called MicroPrint to do a better bed calibration, see GitHub - tomasf/microprint: Printing software for M3D Micro for OS X
- The lack of a heated bed is going to almost always interfere with the quality your larger prints - causing lifts, curls and whatnot. I used an IKEA box to try to seal my printer but that didn’t always help.
- Build a decent spool holder, ideally with ball bearings and some PTFE tubing to get the filament rolling in smoothly(the extruder motor is really weak, even when using their internal feeder it would fail).
I hope this helps but really, the M3D is a semi-failed experiment, made obvious by their M3D Pro; normally with a 3d printer you would get incremental updates and fixes but the M3D overhauled their printer because, well, it was just not good.
I, like you, probably was enticed by the small entry price.