First impressions. (Page 1 of 2)

I look at it from this perspective.  If they had a great support team, and if they had all the bugs worked out, and if they had custom packaging, and if they had a killer website where you could track your order progress, and if they had bullet proof electronics.....etc, then the price couldn't be $500.  Someone has to pay for all those things.  I for one am happy to suffer through the waiting and debugging to be able to get into a technology that otherwise would have cost me $2000 or more.  If you wanted a polished unit from a larger name company that is further along the process of customer support, then you should have opened up your wallet and went that route.  You're buying a 3d printer from a company that has focused on making something for as inexpensive as possible in an effort to get this tech into everyone's hands, I will stand up for that no matter what, the rest of it , support, website upgrades, better communication, more robust components I can wait for them to grow and be able to support that extra burden without closing their doors.  Just my $.02

Thanks for the replies.

I mailed the solidoodle support and got an answer within 24 hours so I am satisfied with the customer services I have experienced.

I also mailed them about the problems that "should" have been made right at the testing stage of the printer. I gave them every error and my serial number at arrival of the printer. I think everyone should do the same. I hope they got a system for everyone doing the mounting and checking.

I work in a PC company where about 500 computers are shipped yearly and Im responsible for everything at a age of 21.
I make sure that one person picks the parts needed, another person builds the PC, and a third person checks the PC. Its a good quality control and its fast, even though its running by serial numbers on post-it notes. Me and my 2 employees make about 6 to 7 PCs a  day, with everything documented. If a Sata cable is placed wrong I can determine who did the error and tell them right away. After 150 cases shipped I have yet to receive a customer complain. Triple check is the way to go. It takes some time, but it is really worth it.

You must put the $500 (now $600) price tag aside, it's no excuse for some of the incompetence we've seen. 3D surprise summed it up perfectly. I am the one who brought the firmware up to date and working with some pointers from others, and I did it over a couple of nights in my spare time with no training in the area.

Solidoodle eventually said they would adopt it as their official firmware, which entails changing one link on their site to point to the Github zip file, but weeks later, it hasn't happened. When your customers are doing the hard work for you and you can't even be bothered to use it, what chance do you have?

No doubt support spend all day answering emails from customers. Isn't it much smarter to invest in properly documenting your product so the questions are already answered? The typical customer that seems to be quite capable of reading documentation.

When people like Ian and myself find time to provide illustrated guides and videos outside of our real jobs, how is it possible  that there is not one Solidoodle employee available to do something similar? How can it be that they don't even contact and say: "great guide, do you mind if we use your work on our site and credit you?". In that case it would be a two minute job to copy and paste some html.

Lawsy:

Thank you for your efforts and the willingness to share them with the rest of us. Without the contributions from you and Ian this product would much, much, less useable.

It is astounding that Solidoodle has not adapted the things you guys have done to be a standard part of the product. Successful companies listen to their customers, tell them the truth, and are making sure they ship quality products.

'Support' has been working on a software upgrade for more than a month. They say the upgrade will basically provide what you have already done, but it takes the company a month to do a few days work. The software is not even developed by Solidoodle, they are just adding profiles to public domain products. The solutions exist and have been tested and are making a lot of customers happy, why not use them?

The instillation of the software, particularly for Mac's, has caused a lot of people problems. There are youtube video's that provide much more useful information than the Solidoodle web site. How hard could it be to sit a few people down over lunch and make video's showing each step of the instillation process? The 30 minutes that would take would save weeks of support time helping people sort out things. It looks like the customer experience is not high on the list of priorities.

When there is very strong input that there are easily configureable and better alternatives for slicing and printer control why on earth would you not use them? The work and testing is already done. And based on comparison to the initial software release from Solidoodle it appears that there has been a lot more testing and verification for the alternatives than for the company supplied solution.

Support often says something like, 'we are a start up and trying hard to improve things'. Most successful startups have an unrelenting focus on customer satisfaction, communication, and delivering what was promised. Why not just tell customers the truth about delivery times so they can plan around it? Why are there no responses to a number of people repeatedly asking for when June and July orders will be started? This question has been asked multiple times here, on the Google groups, and on their Facebook page. During the last week or so the questions have just been ignored.

When Solidoodle finally redesigned some of the fragile parts and made a cover for the electronics several people asked for the STL files. The answer was basically 'no, perhaps sometime in the future'. If you are shipping the product with an electronics cover that you print why would you not send the STL files to people who have the early models? Just another example of not listening to or focusing on customers. The problem is not being a start-up, it is attitude.

Why not support better software solutions that have been tested and are working right now instead of month long waits just to add profiles to publicly available software?

Why not get some styrofoam and pack the shipments properly, so that they do not have to spend time fixing a number of products that do not arrive in working condition?

Why not have clear instructions on the web site for unpacking, setting up, installing software, and making prints? Even the people just selling kits have this information. If they know how to do these things, and the product works they could have a number of very helpful videos up on the site in a day. There are even users offering to help them do this, it is as if they do not want the information out there.

It is hard to tell if the issues come from a few problem people, lack of leadership, or just not caring. The end result is a disappointment, and a lot of un-necessary extra work for Solidoodle. If any of the management is listening, the solutions are not that hard and you have people willing to help.

Since I am the one who has prepare the working and updated firmware, why wouldn't you involve me in the discussion? Tell that x has changed, and I'll look through the code and see if it effects anything.

I called for a wiki long ago, and originally you said the company policy was no. Now that it is coming, you told me you wanted me on board, and then haven't bothered to involve me. Clearly I am willing to invest time and effort in making your product better, and have the right skill set to be able to do so. Why would Solidoodle be so lax with this?

As a product I am really happy with my printer, but the overall experience is horrendous. If I wanted to buy a 2nd printer, I would prefer a Solidoodle, but would likely go elsewhere just to avoid the stress of dealing with the company and its processes. The order page STILL says 8-10 weeks, which is totally unethical and dishonest.

-Did it arrive undamaged?
Yep.

-Was it properly packaged?
Sure was.

-Was it working like it should at arrival?
More or less. Had to level the bed (took me some time to figure that out).

-Which software did you end up using etc..
Used Skeinforge/pronterface for the first few days, but got fed up with how slooooowwwwww skeinforge was and moved to Slic3r/Repetier.

-Other thoughts.
I like puppies. Life's too short. I wish I could see what it would be like in a thousand years. I once dreamed I was a... What? ow. 3D printing stuff?

I had no idea what I got myself into, zero 3d design experience, never touched a 3d printer in my life. Now with Sketchup, Repetier, Slic3r and Solidoodle, all of a sudden I can make things materialize.

It's like a fucking miracle (can I swear here? There's no kids right?). I know I still have a lot to learn, there's buttons and config files all over the please and printing really isn't that simple. I just swapped my roll of filament and to my amazement this second role behaves completely different than the first! Anyway, it's amazing. No it is unbelievable still. I just can't believe it... a few weeks ago, if I wanted something to materialize, it wouldn't. Now all I have to do is take some measurements, move my mouse around a bit and it just appears.

This is how life should be, I can almost feel my neural pathways shifiting towards this new paradigm. The last time I felt like this was when I got my first internet connection.

This is amazing.

You said the Mac software release has been delayed for Pronterface issues.

We are working on official Repetier host / Slic3r support. I can't comment as to why we have resisted that change, or why it is taking so long. However, we can in fact see things from the community perspective.

You say you are 'striving to make big changes'. You have been striving for six months and depriving your customers of readily available and superior solutions. Why?

Remember that we are a small company. Until we had a slightly larger support and engineering team, changes moved very slowly.

Could you please address the following specific questions:

What 'long needed changes' have you made to the website?

- General heuristics improvements including updated tutorials, pictures, software installation information. 

When will the web site include clear and step by step instillation instructions for both PC and Mac?

- As of now this already exists, though I agree the process is less than ideal. We already have a one step installer for the PC and we are working on the same for Mac.

When will you tell us what the shipping plan is and when June, July, and August orders can plan on delivery?

-This could most likely be best answered with it's own post, as it's best considered in the wider situation of reducing the lead time of the printers. As of this post there are about 50 May orders left, meaning that June shipping would start in less than a week. June and July were leaner months, so I imagine that we shall move past them in less than a month each.

The average number of orders per day for June was about 10.
We average about 22 printers out the door per day 5 days a week with parts prep shifts on the weekend.

If we make some speed improvements, we may be get ahead of this. I wouldn't blame you for feeling dubious about such wishful thinking, as we have employed it far too much in the past. I will say that we are making some wonderful improvements on the printer which may very well cut down on build times. This part I cannot be more specific about.

Why do you keep saying 8-10 delivery when that is clearly not the case?

-In the past, I was going off of estimates given by the factory staff. We did not have enough data to properly estimate how soon the wait time would expand and contract. Our current calculations put us ahead of schedule toward early 2013, so I find it plausible that someone who ordered today might get their printer by Christmas. I can also understand how someone who is more experienced with the company might find that hard to swallow.

When will you tell us what is in the next software/firmware update and when it will be released?

-We still haven't gotten a lot of feed back on the latest release. I am arranging for an official Solidoodle Github to be made which will allow for formal feature requests. I am in almost daily contact with Kliment about software issues. Nothing is Solid right now, but let me throw a few potential futures out for you:

1) Official Support of Slic3r/Repetier - in which case we would simply provide a profile and leave the Slic3r development to the slic3r developers. This is the simplest and easiest route.
2) Continued support of the Solidoodle Pronterface package - Solidoodle makes some rather trivial changes in pronterface to make it run well with the Solidoodle 3D printer. We may slowly fork away from the standard Pronterface suite for better use with the Solidoodle printer.
3)Changes to the Solidoodle Printer to allow use with Kliment's standard pronterface builds - again this would take software development duties away from Solidoodle, and centralize pronterface development.
4)Developing a new solution from scratch - this is most likely ages away. Solidoodle sees its focus in the present to be hardware and shipping. While we have found that custom solutions like replicator g and the most effective programs for 3D printing, we do not have a dedicated software team at this time.

When will you make STL files for the newly designed parts (electronics cover, etc) available?
I'm working on this right now. Perhaps a software "nightly build" solution will become available.

Why not support better software solutions that have been tested and are working right now instead of month long waits just to add profiles to publicly available software?

Unfortunately it's not as simple as this. We would to spend some time converting our documentation to the new software, training all the employees who use it, and learning all the bugs / problems. It is a direction we may go in, but it may not be so simple as changing the download file.

Why not get some styrofoam and pack the shipments properly, so that you do not have to spend time fixing a number of products that do not arrive in working condition?

The packaging will in fact change. This has been in the works for some time, though I am not at liberty to discuss the specifics. From what I have seen, I am sure everyone will be quite happy with the results.

Why not have clear instructions on the web site for unpacking, setting up, installing software, and making prints?

These exist in the how-to sections. If you have specific criticisms, please do not be afraid to give them.

When will the Wiki be available and what areas will it cover?

The Wiki will be a source of lasting community information, as well as in depth information on the printer. It will be available when it has accumulated a large enough body of knowledge to be of great help to the community.

What are the current lead times for filament and why hasn't that question been answered after being asked several times?

Filament should ship the same week as it is ordered. If your filament is late, feel free to send me an e-mail and I will send it along. There is no "back order" on filament, and it doesn't have a lead time the way the printers do. It should just go out.

Wow! Lots of great questions. Feel free to keep asking. You're keeping us honest Solidoodle fans, and we are happy to tell you what we can. We are always here to help.

Administrator:

You noted that you are working on 'official Repetier host / Slic3r support' and that 'we are a small company' so things have moved slowly. The odd thing is that users with full time jobs got Repetier host / Slic3r up and running, and tested, in their spare time. It is being used successfully by the user community and Solidoodle is still 'working on it'. Again, no indication of what your plan is, or when it might be done. Why ignore the existing solution? Can you tell us if this solution will be available in November, by the end of this year, by the end of next year?

I did not notice any changes to the Mac software instillation procedure. Look through the Google groups postings and you will see that it has been frustrating for a number of users. If your instructions lead to a number of frustrated users then the instructions should be updated, clarified, and improved.  The instillation instructions should list each step, show a screen shot and make it clear exactly what needs to be done. There are issues with Python versions and different versions of OS-X that are not addressed.

Thanks for some lead-time information, but what people want to know is: if they ordered in June when will they get the unit, if the ordered in July when will it be delivered, etc. People can live with the answer, the problem is that Solidoodle provides no information that allows customers to plan.

Lets say, using your information, a week to finish May orders, A month to deliver June orders, a month to deliver July orders, A month to deliver September orders, and October orders so far are delivered instantly. In this case an order placed today would see 13 weeks to delivery. There are ten weeks until Christmas. Your post said 'I find it plausible that someone who ordered today might get their printer by Christmas.' To make Christmas you would need to trim three weeks from your estimates, and then ship all orders received in October so far in zero time.

You were asked, 'When will you tell us what is in the next software/firmware update and when it will be released?' your reply was 'Nothing is Solid right now, but let me throw a few potential futures out for you'. It sounds like you have thoughts and ideas, but no real plans or even specific targets. Why can't you commit to supporting Slic3r/Repetier by a specific date? You do not write the software you just add configuration files, and those files already exist. Why not just use them and make for happy customers? Why can't you at least take it out of the realm of, 'a few potential futures out for you' and commit to it along with an estimate of when you can provide it?

You were asked, 'When will you make STL files for the newly designed parts (electronics cover, etc) available?'. You responded, 'I'm working on this right now.'...  which is an answer we see a lot. What is wrong with just emailing the STL file for the cover to existing customers. Takes ten minutes and you then have happy customers.

We see the same non answer concerning the packaging question. Again it is top secret and you are: 'not at liberty to discuss the specifics. From what I have seen, I am sure everyone will be quite happy with the results.'. ...  Is packaging really a top secret thing? Why on earth could you not just share a photo of the new packaging just to make people feel good? Everything seems to 'be in process' and 'we are working on it'. In fact, you are still working on May orders in Mid-October and saying new orders could get delivered by Christmas. You cannot go with a better existing software solution because you would have to document it. That documentation already exists, the software is public domain. The minor profile work you need to add has been done. Amazing that given this there is still no estimate of when this simple project might be done.

You were asked, 'When will the Wiki be available and what areas will it cover?'. You did not provide any indication of the timing on this. By year end, Q1 of next year, 2015?

Amazing lack of understanding of customers, business, scheduling... Your customers have been trying to help but nothing seems to come of it...

I understand your frustration on the topic, please remember that I am often only the bearer of the news.

You noted that you are working on 'official Repetier host / Slic3r support' and that 'we are a small company' so things have moved slowly. The odd thing is that users with full time jobs got Repetier host / Slic3r up and running, and tested, in their spare time. It is being used successfully by the user community and Solidoodle is still 'working on it'. Again, no indication of what your plan is, or when it might be done. Why ignore the existing solution? Can you tell us if this solution will be available in November, by the end of this year, by the end of next year?

I simply do not know. This is of a lower priority than improving the hardware on the printer. The vast majority of users have zero troubles with the current set up, so we are more concerned with hardware upgrades.

I did not notice any changes to the Mac software instillation procedure. Look through the Google groups postings and you will see that it has been frustrating for a number of users. If your instructions lead to a number of frustrated users then the instructions should be updated, clarified, and improved.  The instillation instructions should list each step, show a screen shot and make it clear exactly what needs to be done. There are issues with Python versions and different versions of OS-X that are not addressed.

Mac Users generally do not have to worry about Python versions as OSX comes with a Python installation that works. Again, the vast majority of users have zero troubles. I am not a big fan of the bash script work around that we've had to enact, but this is something that will change in time.  The scripts that run the software prevent any sort of 64/32 bit issues.

The latest Mac problems:
-Driver installation fails for users who use Roxio Mediafire
Solution: None known as of know. Roxio's software interferes with several other drivers, and some users have had to reinstall their Mac distribution to fix this.

-WX Python fails to install: Users with higher security settings may see WX fail. In all cases users resolved the problem on their own by changing security settings. We were not able to reproduce this problem in house.

Thanks for some lead-time information, but what people want to know is: if they ordered in June when will they get the unit, if the ordered in July when will it be delivered, etc. People can live with the answer, the problem is that Solidoodle provides no information that allows customers to plan.

Next week. June starts next week, and will go on for the month. If your order was say, June 28th I would imagine you have 3-4 weeks to go.

Lets say, using your information, a week to finish May orders, A month to deliver June orders, a month to deliver July orders, A month to deliver September orders, and October orders so far are delivered instantly. In this case an order placed today would see 13 weeks to delivery. There are ten weeks until Christmas. Your post said 'I find it plausible that someone who ordered today might get their printer by Christmas.' To make Christmas you would need to trim three weeks from your estimates, and then ship all orders received in October so far in zero time.

That is assuming stable rather than increasing delivery rate. We anticipate significant gains in the future. No Christmas order shall be left behind.

You were asked, 'When will you tell us what is in the next software/firmware update and when it will be released?' your reply was 'Nothing is Solid right now, but let me throw a few potential futures out for you'. It sounds like you have thoughts and ideas, but no real plans or even specific targets. Why can't you commit to supporting Slic3r/Repetier by a specific date? You do not write the software you just add configuration files, and those files already exist. Why not just use them and make for happy customers? Why can't you at least take it out of the realm of, 'a few potential futures out for you' and commit to it along with an estimate of when you can provide it?

This is not my decision to make. As I have said before, Solidoodle is focused on hardware upgrades at the moment. Most users do not feel the need to switch to Repetier/Slic3r, so it is not priority number one.

You were asked, 'When will you make STL files for the newly designed parts (electronics cover, etc) available?'. You responded, 'I'm working on this right now.'...  which is an answer we see a lot. What is wrong with just emailing the STL file for the cover to existing customers. Takes ten minutes and you then have happy customers.

Because I am not authorized to do this, nor do I possess the files. If we were to do this, we would want to provide a well formulated policy that could be applied in a consistent manner. I think you are all aware of that mistakes we have made by doing things hastily.

We see the same non answer concerning the packaging question. Again it is top secret and you are: 'not at liberty to discuss the specifics. From what I have seen, I am sure everyone will be quite happy with the results.'. ...  Is packaging really a top secret thing? Why on earth could you not just share a photo of the new packaging just to make people feel good? Everything seems to 'be in process' and 'we are working on it'. In fact, you are still working on May orders in Mid-October and saying new orders could get delivered by Christmas. You cannot go with a better existing software solution because you would have to document it. That documentation already exists, the software is public domain. The minor profile work you need to add has been done. Amazing that given this there is still no estimate of when this simple project might be done.

I am sorry I cannot give more information, but we are moving forward with packaging changes. I do not know when these changes will be implemented. I'm sure all of you can understand that I cannot relate information about on going business deals. Those familiar with industrial processes know that the situation is not quite so simple as ordering packaging from an online provider. For many companies, what I have related to you would already by far in breach of confidentiality agreements.

You were asked, 'When will the Wiki be available and what areas will it cover?'. You did not provide any indication of the timing on this. By year end, Q1 of next year, 2015?

We are working on the Wiki, but not full time. It could be in an state to be opened in as little as two weeks if all goes well. Seeing as how Wiki's are never finished, we are simply waiting for when it feels professional, and has enough seed content to start the community on the right foot.

Amazing lack of understanding of customers, business, scheduling... Your customers have been trying to help but nothing seems to come of it...

Part of Solidoodle's strategy for providing such low cost printers is to run the company more like a traditional business than some of our competitors. With industrial processes sometimes comes industrial secrecy. I wish I could relate every bit of information I knew about new improvements, or projects in the works, but I cannot. I am here to help, and we and the Solidoodle team listen to the voice of the community. We are working hard every day to make things better.

The vast majority of the complaints against our company relate to delays in shipping. This is our number one priority, and I assure you that you will see significant improvements going forward.

Again, let me know if you have any other questions.

Ok,  I will use an alternate username.

Just tried that and no such luck.

Also tried with a new username:

Never heard of this wiki software before. I've set up a couple of different types before and they all run from your file host using php and mysql. They were also free. Best one was the same one Wikipedia uses, but it did need a bit of setup to get going.