[ Closed ] Introducing Three New Solidoodle Models (Page 13 of 28)

Anyone know what's going on? Are they really a few weeks behind? Not trying to complain. I'm just really wanting to figure out when to expect it. Lol.

I am sure there are lots of reasons. from various angles.
my humble opinion.

SD is pushing forward on multiple markets.  1 ) the Maker home shop market  hence the workbench model for the serious maker and the apprentice for the new  limited budget  people.

the press is a new venture more into the home appliance type machine that looks good in the living room  den next to the family computer. From what I see a complete plastic case and intergrated plastic fram remove the plastic and you have a pile of printer parts.  Remove the cosmetic cover of the SD4  abd you have an sd3.

the press cost less now  but this is an introductory price subject to upward movement.   I expect there is inventory of  sd4s and parts that still need to be sold . Plus usually not wise tho chance all assembly lines at once  shut down one at a time then the others can keep going.

the 3d printing business  is very competitive. The Chinese are getting into the market with blatant clones  most of this is OS technology .  so if you move forward too slowly you get lost in the dust of others . Move too fast or take steps that are too big and you risk falling and stubbing in the transitions forward. To have 4 product choices drop 3 and introduce 3 new choices is bold . to drop all and start completely fresh foolish. 
Tin

Just heard back from Solidoodle. The current sale price is not retroactive and cannot be applied to any old orders. Oh well, that's life in the business world, just have to suck it up and continue to wait for my printer.

funny...they are cool doing it with me. maybe just depends who you get on the other end of an email

The following email has been sent to all customers who have ordered a Press, Workbench or Workbench Apprentice model:

A Letter From the CEO
Greetings Solidoodle Fans!

Thank you for ordering a new Solidoodle printer. I am very excited about our newest 3D printers and I know that you are just as excited to receive them. I apologize that we have not provided an update sooner and I thank you for your patience and understanding.

We are working as fast as possible to ship your order, but due to the overwhelming demand we have had to adjust our shipping schedule. In order for us to guarantee that you will receive the best product possible we are taking some extra time for quality assurance testing before we box them up and send them out. We expect to begin shipping orders by October 30th. As soon as your order ships you will receive a confirmation email which will include a tracking number so you can monitor the delivery from our home to yours.

Thank you so much for being a member of the Solidoodle family. I assure you that you will be satisfied with your new Solidoodle printer and I look forward to seeing all of the great things that you will create.

Happy printing!

Sam Cervantes

I just received the email as well.

Thank you for the information! 

just out of curiosity, what is the QA/testing process you guys use?  is it an inspection/test print or do you guys do something else specifically?

Thanks!

Yep, good to hear the seem to have gotten the feedback from this forum and probably other places about the demand for more info. Looking forward to getting a well-tested printer, even if it arrives a little later. ^.^

OK that excuse is responded to. now about the questions of what does or dont come on the printers and more pics/detailed specs. thats why more of us havnt ordered yet fearing the old price/model changes of past. its not as much 'low budget buyers' as careful buyers not having money to waste.

Only 2 weeks since the letter, my guess is 4 weeks more, before sending, pure guess.

Par for the course with small 3D printing companies like this (and kickstarter campaigns).  They always wait until they have no choice but to say something while (I presume) hoping for that last niggle to resolve itself so that they can be triumphant and say "We're shipping now!!!".  Instead, they put out a massive update that doesn't address the important question of what the holdups are and what we can expect going forward.  We're just supposed to trust that the issues will be resolved and they'll be shipping "in a month or a week or a day or whatever".  Then they go back and do the same thing again.

I've said this before here, but SD needs to learn that small quick updates on a weekly (or even better, twice weekly) basis are far better than larger updates when you have no choice.  The former builds goodwill capital, the latter uses it up.

I'm still behind them but I wish these guys and companies like them would learn these basic customer interaction tools.

SD, learn to manage expectations of your customers for your own sanity!