I paid for a cool printer that was not ready to be shipped and was delayed repeatedly. When I finally got the printer, the filament never arrived and I had to take part in en intensive email conversation with support trying to tell them that I had not received any filament and that it could not be my fault that it had not arrived. The shipment was not tracked online, so no one knows where the filament has been shipped. Finally, after many unnecessary conversations, I got my filament. At that time, it had been more than a year since I had paid for the printer and filament. Only to find that parts of the printer was rusty when it was unpacked. This cannot be right considering that it has been stored with other PC equipment in a software company – in my office.

First, look at the two attached pictures. I have removed the two rusty vertical rods and the long rusty screw. It is clear that the company at the assembly time has greased none of these items. The four horizontal rods have a layer of grease and looks good. The two pictures shows this very clearly. I offered to send these items back to the company for them to examine, but support was not interested in that. The only feedback I get is to grease them up and use the rods as they are, or purchase a new set from their web shop.

I have 3 different companies, and if I had been treating my customers like this, I would not been up and running today. It is not about the money and how much each part cost – it is about how you treat your customers.

[John at Solidoodle support]
"We fabricate the rods ourselves, daily, and thus there is literally no way for them to ship rusted - they are minted fresh for the printer on each printer."

Check the pictures and judge yourself. I have not printed one single item yet on this brilliant printer……

That said, those bars would not have been that rusted if they had been lightly greased from the shop.

EDIT: On reexamination, I have no idea if the Z supports use linear ball bearings or not. Can't quite tell especially while my machine is printing.

I understand. As shown on the pictures, there are no grease on these three items. What do you suggest I should do?

Grease them. Use lithium all purpose grease. Try to avoid petrol based greases - they will degrade printed parts if they contact them.

To ronsii; The two outer rods in the back of the cage is only rusted part of the way. It seems that its rusted where the bed have covered the rods. Almost the Whole screew is rusted and its making a load noise every time the bed is moved up or down.

We can't speculate, seeing as how you've had the printer for a while. However, many of the parts on the Solidoodle are not stainless steel, and will rust in time. Generally this is not an issue.

I am curious about the rods under the bed... are they also rusty down to the bottom of the cage?

It looks like those rods were exposed to something.  Possibly bad grease?  It is odd that you have one hex screw that holds the z stage adjustment rusted on one is not.

Today I had to remove the cover from the cage and noticed that there should have been 2 screws in the back, but only one was assembled. This is now obviously to me that the assembly line has failed on this printer.  Im truly unhappy today.