Topic: Solidoodle working fine
as usual with forums all you ever see is negative posts and problems, its the nature of the internet forum beast.
so I thought I would just chime in with a 'I have had zero problems with my solidoodle'.
extruder has never blocked, nothings jammed or snapped. it just works.. everytime..
only modifications I have made are really cosmetic, add panelolu board and larger atmega 128. printed a modifed electronics case with a big 12v CPU fan in it. door handle, rear grommet and filament tensioner arm, glass bed .. everything else is stock and never adjusted.
I calibrated the extuder, not done the X and Y yet .. I think they should be fairly accurate off the shelf.
I do not use it a huge amount, but it gets a run at least weekly, probably extruded 2kg of filament so far.
my only complaints .. speed of bed heating, filament hitting underneath of case. not deal breakers.
I am sure I will get a filament blockage, hot end failure, bed heater failure or similar at some point. I will tackle them as they arise and likely change things for the better. I think they are part and parcel of 3d printing .. its still newish.
I thank solidoodle for what I consider a good,cheap and at least for me reliable off the shelf solution. I think they have trimmed the profit margin to a very non greedy level, thats appreciated. i hope they continue to expand and make lots of printers, I have sent their details on to a few schools here in Australia who where considering other far more expensive solutions .. with a few warnings perhaps, but I still think they are great value.
I know these things are buildable from parts but trying to obtain these parts in a country like Australia makes it uneconomical and I just wanted a 3d printer, not a kit .. that may come later now I have the ability to build many parts as required.
I hope a few others with no hassles will also reply and maybe we can tilt the perception you would get by browsing here.