26 Reply by Tomek

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Re: What are the future improvements to Solidoodle?

Look, printers do have problems. Check out my post where I had the most mysterious extrusion problem. I had to try a many number of things before I could *diagnose and troubleshoot it.* There were some forum members who pointed me in the right directions, but no clear path.

I think that's what is still needed with a 3D printer, especially one on the low end of the cost scale.

Have you considered evaluating where 3D printing stands and whether it's the thing for you? The guy I bought my SD2 from decided he had a young kid, and way too little time for the intricacies of playing with a 3D printer.

27 Reply by Hunter Green

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Re: What are the future improvements to Solidoodle?

I think Ian hit square on the head of Solidoodle's niche, and how well it owns that niche.

If I were at Solidoodle and looking to expand the product line at all (and there may be no good reason to do that -- if they're at capacity doing what they do now, they could go a while longer just doing it and getting better at it, like how they've gotten turnaround time on orders way down), what I'd focus on is taking some of the aftermarket mods that the people in this forum have made, and making similar products.  Perhaps making the SD4 very similar to the SD3 in terms of capacity and cost, but with a few more "hooks" to add these aftermarket SD peripherals (more jacks on the circuit board they can be plugged into, points on the frame and bed where they can be affixed, etc.).  I mean, if there was a "plug and play" (or at least closer to that than some of the mods) way to add a small SDcard-supporting control screen that you could buy after you already bought your SD4 and snap right into clips already set up, that gives Solidoodle another revenue stream without significantly raising the price of their basic product.  They could do ready-to-drop-in enclosures, an automatic bed leveler (or at least easier one than now), etc.  I think this would help them stay in their market niche while also providing a path to open their product to more "I just want something that works" consumers.

Whether that's their plan or not, I have no idea.  My guess is they're just catching their breath at this point and haven't gone as far as planning the next step, just gathering ideas.

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28 Reply by IanJohnson

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Re: What are the future improvements to Solidoodle?

I think their next step should be injection molding all the parts that they are currently printing.   I would hope that they have enough money to cover the upfront costs by now.  It would pay back in reduced breakage and probably be cheaper than managing a wall full of printers.

29 Reply by Downeasta

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Re: What are the future improvements to Solidoodle?

As to the jigsaw head they may not be fully aware of manufacturing processes that are out there.  They could do it in a casting.  Even diecasting would be stronger than the jigsaw.

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30 Reply by elmoret (edited by elmoret 2013-08-17 19:00:52)

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Re: What are the future improvements to Solidoodle?

Downeasta wrote:

As to the jigsaw head they may not be fully aware of manufacturing processes that are out there.  They could do it in a casting.  Even diecasting would be stronger than the jigsaw.

I'm pretty sure they're aware. Injection molding is an order of magnitude more expensive than lasercutting acrylic, and metal casting is 2 orders of magnitude more expensive. Those acrylic pieces cost around 25 cents a set in material, and a capable lasercutter is around $4k. You could probably push 100+ sets a day through a single lasercutter.

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31 Reply by Rocketman

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Re: What are the future improvements to Solidoodle?

Hunter Green wrote:

I think Ian hit square on the head of Solidoodle's niche, and how well it owns that niche.

If I were at Solidoodle and looking to expand the product line at all (and there may be no good reason to do that -- if they're at capacity doing what they do now, they could go a while longer just doing it and getting better at it, like how they've gotten turnaround time on orders way down), what I'd focus on is taking some of the aftermarket mods that the people in this forum have made, and making similar products.  Perhaps making the SD4 very similar to the SD3 in terms of capacity and cost, but with a few more "hooks" to add these aftermarket SD peripherals (more jacks on the circuit board they can be plugged into, points on the frame and bed where they can be affixed, etc.).  I mean, if there was a "plug and play" (or at least closer to that than some of the mods) way to add a small SDcard-supporting control screen that you could buy after you already bought your SD4 and snap right into clips already set up, that gives Solidoodle another revenue stream without significantly raising the price of their basic product.  They could do ready-to-drop-in enclosures, an automatic bed leveler (or at least easier one than now), etc.  I think this would help them stay in their market niche while also providing a path to open their product to more "I just want something that works" consumers.

Whether that's their plan or not, I have no idea.  My guess is they're just catching their breath at this point and haven't gone as far as planning the next step, just gathering ideas.


I hope they aren't entirely about volume. Fastfood restaurants, Walmart, and Chinese Trading are all volume, but they rarely improve upon their shortcomings. They just try to win on price. Even Facebook was about light weight coding at one point, and after they took away almost everyone from Myspace they started to replicate Myspace in the ways people complained about before. lol.

32 Reply by ronsii

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Re: What are the future improvements to Solidoodle?

You may see certain design decisions for the SD printer as shortcomings but every part on the printer was carefully weighed on cost versus performance.... they wanted to meet a certain price point while leaving room in the price structure for distributors and wholesalers and being a manufacturer myself I know how hard that can be even with something as simple as their printer is... it always comes down to cutting costs or cutting sales smile Also 'lightweight coding' differs a bit from making hardware...

33 Reply by Hazer

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Re: What are the future improvements to Solidoodle?

Solidoodle is a business. They could switch over to injection molding, as a China direct part though, that would require heavier inventory load and leadtime. It is cheaper than lasercut considering the labor involved (yes, I know its easy to setup a printer farm, but it has to be manned all day regardless). Robo3d did just that with their kickstarter, they farmed all plastic parts to China.

But This is just incremental improvements. They have cut down lead-time, redesigned a few things, and replaced the electronics to save money.

The problem is that out-of-box still requires alot of work to tweak in. The entire design is too sloppy for a true out-of-box ready to go printer. The amount of work to get to a point where the slop could be 'designed out' would double the price of the printer at this point.

For the money paid, and extra 'at-home' calibrations and add-ons, its not a bad printer, and its not worse than anything else out there. And I would not reference anything that has yet to ship to consumers. Mentioning any of the kickstarter printers that have yet to become mainstream is like comparing the Dreamcast to the PS5 (that is not a typo). Robo3D has barely shipped their first units, and I would put money they will have the same problems that plagued all other starting printers. And the others are months away from shipping. 

I do agree that a discount LCD kit would be nice. I am already getting the parts to build one from scratch and wire up to the new SD3 motherboard. If I get it working (I have no doubt I will) I can break out the EaglePCB and whip something up.

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