I work for a medical imaging company and have a dozen or so people  (ranging from warehouse, customer support, software development, sales, and even the company president)  coming to check out the gizmos I've been printing and asking all sorts of questions.

The design is based off open-source, where people tend to experiment more than they tend to perfect.  Consumer 3D printers is a risky, developing industry;  which is why the option is to buy from a start-up rather than Samsung or HP.

That said, I full-well _EXPECT_ my printer to crap out-  but so far Solidoodle has got Murphy in a gimp suit.

On the other hand, I've had to professional pleasure to find even some big corporations produce gadgets that cost well into the $30k range which aren't quite "perfected", either.. 

solidoodlesupport wrote:

jon_bondy wrote:

That was my original point. This is not a printer that you can expect to arrive ready to print, and continue to print, without adjustment.  It needs frequent adjustment.

You say "be patient".  They say they respond quickly.  It's been two weeks.  What should I do?

Jon, I can help you out if you'd like. Since you responded that you need Raff specifically, you will have to wait until Monday at least. I sent him an e-mail reminding him to get back with you.

Thanks.  Who are you?!?  Why are none of these Solidoodle emails signed?

This is always John. Raff doesn't deal with the forums, that's my job.

jon_bondy wrote:

frozensoda wrote:

When you buy something like this you are almost buying into a beta test.

That was my original point. This is not a printer that you can expect to arrive ready to print, and continue to print, without adjustment.  It needs frequent adjustment.

You say "be patient".  They say they respond quickly.  It's been two weeks.  What should I do?

Jon, I can help you out if you'd like. Since you responded that you need Raff specifically, you will have to wait until Monday at least. I sent him an e-mail reminding him to get back with you.

Thanks.  Who are you?!?  Why are none of these Solidoodle emails signed?

frozensoda wrote:

When you buy something like this you are almost buying into a beta test.

That was my original point. This is not a printer that you can expect to arrive ready to print, and continue to print, without adjustment.  It needs frequent adjustment.

You say "be patient".  They say they respond quickly.  It's been two weeks.  What should I do?

Jon, I can help you out if you'd like. Since you responded that you need Raff specifically, you will have to wait until Monday at least. I sent him an e-mail reminding him to get back with you.

frozensoda wrote:

When you buy something like this you are almost buying into a beta test.

That was my original point. This is not a printer that you can expect to arrive ready to print, and continue to print, without adjustment.  It needs frequent adjustment.

You say "be patient".  They say they respond quickly.  It's been two weeks.  What should I do?

There is no such thing, every 3d printer needs adjustments, calibration, maintenance, etc.  Even the over $10k machines need work.

When you buy something like this you are almost buying into a beta test.

That was my original point. This is not a printer that you can expect to arrive ready to print, and continue to print, without adjustment.  It needs frequent adjustment.

You say "be patient".  They say they respond quickly.  It's been two weeks.  What should I do?

Jon we appreciate your concern, but we have worked with you quite a bit. When your parts break, we have offered replacements in the past.

I have purchased parts when the originals failed.  Some of those parts failed, and you replaced them.

I have been waiting for two weeks for a call back from Raffaele. I have left a phone message or two, and an email or two.

After a few tries, it sometimes seems simpler to just give up.

The printer worked perfectly out of the box.

The only thing that bugged me. And would continue to bug me is that wait...

I understand that Solidoodle wants to keep their reputation good, but after spending weeks without any useful support from Solidoodle, and with two printers, neither of which worked, I can tell you that pretending that these printers always work or that you will always get rapid and useful support is simply not true.  You need to be able to understand the printers, disassemble them, tweak them, and adjust them if you expect them to work.  Mine worked fine for a month, and then lay useless for the next month.  I have no way of knowing whether most people have no problems at all, but every week someone is on here wrestling with clogged hot ends or failed wires or warped prints or prints popping off of the bed or unreliable extrusions.  The reliability of the Solidoodle may be no worse than any other printer under $2000, but it is not a printer for an end user.  It is a printer for a dedicated hobbiest.

solidoodlesupport wrote:

Books wrote:

If you're looking for an easy and quick out of the box solution with good accuracy, the solidoodle is not for you. However, you already knew that so I would recommend that if you're willing to go through the reading and calibration, it is worth it.

I don't know how often or how important it will be to your business, but definitely have a backup plan (probably whatever method you're doing now pre-3d printer). I would rather have all the controls open to me to tinker with (and break) rather than having to call up tech support and have them do it.

The technology is close, but not quite there yet so as long as you keep that in mind I think that it is worth the trouble and hopefully will open new opportunities for your business(?). The question really is, are you willing to put the time to fix it?

Don't forget that this will also be a great topic during interviews if you're looking for a job after you graduate!

I'd hate for this sort of post to become part of the "common knowledge" - it simply isn't true. For most people the Solidoodle works perfectly fine out of the box. Remember that as a forum that gives technical help we have a certain confirmation bias toward the negative. Think of the thousands of Solidoodle users out in the wild. The vast majority of them are having zero problems out of the box.

Jon we appreciate your concern, but we have worked with you quite a bit. When your parts break, we have offered replacements in the past. We have sent you a number of replacement parts, and we're always open to refurbishing your machine in any way possible. I don't see how the qualifies as "no useful help."  - again if there is *anything* we can do for you, we shall (within reason) do it. If you have been waiting for support to get back to you, please give us a call and we will straighten things out.

Again, I will reiterate that if support does not get back to you within 24 hours please do call us, e-mail us, skype us, twitter us, reddit us, facebook us, or contact us via any other means possible. We are here. We ignore no one.

Again, all I can say is that the vast majority of users have zero problems. That might be hard for those who have had problems to swallow, but it is the truth we have seen so far. For those who have had problems, we are here to help you every day.

Is support slow?

Yes, sometimes it is. We have a finite number of workers, parts, and shipping personnel to work with. This is something even large companies struggle with. You should be able to get replacement parts within two weeks, and contact about you issue within 24 hours.

We are always open to differing opinions. Sometimes I get the sense that some folks are frustrated less by a lack of help, but by the style of help they are getting. If this is the case let us know. In our knowledge, offering free replacements is the cheapest and easiest way for both parties.

Just wanted to throw out there that even with the very few issues that I have had with either the printer or the company themselves, I do not regret one cent spent nor the time it took to get the machine. Out of the box the printer worked great and immediately was put into heavy use. I got mine towards the end of the school semester, and many of my classmates ended up paying me to use my printer over the school's as there was a long sign up sheet and post print clean up apparently is a lot with whatever powder type printer they have at school. So you stand to easily recoup some money since you're still in school.

In regards to the banding, and me mentioning earlier about the few issues that I have had, the issue was that when I got the printer the z screw rod was not attached to the motor. I got a prompt response telling me what to do to attach it. My z screw currently is not even down on the motor shaft all the way as it should be from what I have seen on other pictures. I couldn't apply enough force to get it on all the way and so the screw sits only partially on the shaft, but the glue has still been holding it tight with no failure since last November. I mention this because even with my z screw not being mounted totally straight, the banding I see on my stuff is hardly noticeable. I have used the parts for appearance models so I do have to finish the parts off, but for the proof of concept mock ups, the banding has never been an issue as far as functionality and fitting of the parts.

This is all good to hear!

See our school has a rapid prototyping lab as well, we have both the powder layer style (don't know the technical term for that one yet) and the style most common for the home use models.  We have the same problem, or rather will in time. There are about 20 ppl in the course and we are always running parts for the sake of class, so when you have something you want, it needs to be fit in between running parts for class. So I'm sure I could recoup some money as you said. I've also been trying to determine the cost of the material per cubic inch and then deciding how much more I want to take on to actually make a little profit.

As for the troubleshooting, I think what it boils down to is being the 1%. Being that one that I open up and the motor isn't functioning right or I have the clogged extruder head. Obviously most of what the company sends out are good working models, but, since its so cheap and this is a fairly new field (putting 3D printing in the home), there is going to be a risk.

In regards to the banding, and me mentioning earlier about the few issues that I have had, the issue was that when I got the printer the z screw rod was not attached to the motor. I got a prompt response telling me what to do to attach it. My z screw currently is not even down on the motor shaft all the way as it should be from what I have seen on other pictures. I couldn't apply enough force to get it on all the way and so the screw sits only partially on the shaft, but the glue has still been holding it tight with no failure since last November. I mention this because even with my z screw not being mounted totally straight, the banding I see on my stuff is hardly noticeable. I have used the parts for appearance models so I do have to finish the parts off, but for the proof of concept mock ups, the banding has never been an issue as far as functionality and fitting of the parts.

Jump in man, water's fine.

I really am starting to lean into ordering the new SD3, it looks like they took everything that was simple and good working with the 2 and expanded its print size to 8^3. 

As for calibration and adjusting, I think I'll luck out more than some since I already have a dial indicator, calipers and micrometer.  I also read in some article on here one of the first things to try to print is the components that make up the extruder assembly, I have the link saved from Thingiverse with all the files to reproduce those parts. I imagine it would be good practice to have extra's of the parts of the printer that in themselves are printed.

Also what is upkeep like on the bearings, motors, etc?

Is it good practice to enclose the machine to keep odors down and keep heat in the unit?