http://www.soliforum.com/topic/2642/sd3 … er-weight/

So hopefully tomorrow when I pick it up it will be fully functional and will stay that way for many months at least.

Glad that you found someone to help, but if you want to make good use of the machine you do need to learn how to maintain it eventually, especially (read: definitely) if you want to use it to make money.  The machine will break, like all 3D printers are prone to doing.  Fortunately, the fixes are generally well-documented here.

These 3D printer experts found it very tedious to do the repairs on the Solidoodle and they've built the printers from scratch. I guess it uses both metric and non-metric measurements and the new hot-end is not of the exact same measurements as the old one so there was issue putting it in. And also the issue that both the new and the old thermisters were build improperly as that the new one would have ultimately caused another burn out simply because it wasn't made well before I spent $70 to have it sent to me.

So hopefully tomorrow when I pick it up it will be fully functional and will stay that way for many months at least.

Glad that you found someone to help, but if you want to make good use of the machine you do need to learn how to maintain it eventually, especially (read: definitely) if you want to use it to make money.  The machine will break, like all 3D printers are prone to doing.  Fortunately, the fixes are generally well-documented here.

ive seen some amazing results from solidoodles, ive also seen incredible results from $500 kit built repraps, its all in constant tweaking and printing enough that you get a feel for what settings a particular model will need.

in fused filament deposition machines, everything currently in the consumer market is considered the bottom of the barrel as far as quality goes. if you want turn key perfection with minimal adjustments and dedicated support techs to come fix your messups, you would probably need to sell you car and take out a mortgage on your house, because, they do exists, and they do not come cheap. paying $800 for a SD3 or $2000 for a makerbot, doesn't matter, its essentially the same machine as far as mechanics go.

No need to be a dick. The machine breaking was not my messup.

in fused filament deposition machines, everything currently in the consumer market is considered the bottom of the barrel as far as quality goes. if you want turn key perfection with minimal adjustments and dedicated support techs to come fix your messups, you would probably need to sell you car and take out a mortgage on your house, because, they do exists, and they do not come cheap. paying $800 for a SD3 or $2000 for a makerbot, doesn't matter, its essentially the same machine as far as mechanics go.

I have to ask. Was this as is or with finishing effects like melting or sanding?

Rocketman wrote:

You're from the Buffalo area also? I finally found someone else around here with one of these. lol.

Yea, there's at least a 3 or so on here from the Buffalo area.

http://www.lifetimeservice.com/

Ever hear of these guys? I called and the customer service person made it seem like they had some experience with 3D printers. Also a couple people from buffalolab seemed willing to work on my printer for free. I'm worried there is a catch of some kind, but at this point both seem like viable options.

Would you say Makerbot produces higher quality models? So far Solidoodle has created models for me with a lot of ridges around the outside. At least the model pictures at thingiverse make the models seem smoother by far and I just assume they weren't made with a Solidoodle.

If you're asking "Does a properly dialed-in Makerbot that has had hundreds of dollars of upgrades produce higher quality results than a perfectly dialed-in and upgraded Solidoodle?" my opinion is the answer is probably yes. But the path is every bit as expensive, time-consuming, and frustrating, and to pay $2k extra for the machine from the get-go is untenable for many people. I personally think that if you put the same amount of work into a $600 machine to get great results that you would need to put into a $3k machine to get greater results, why not pocket the difference and call it a day?

I think by now you should have seen that many Solidoodle users are creating beautiful prints, flawless pieces that most people wouldn't be able to guess what printer they came off of. It takes a lot of time and work, but it is proven to be possible.

2n2r5 wrote:

Here is one of my bad prints.

which part is bad?!

The face is malformed and the hair in front is supposed to come straight down. looks like I have some artifacts from using an old version of RH.

Here is one of my bad prints.

which part is bad?!

You're from the Buffalo area also? I finally found someone else around here with one of these. lol.

Yea, there's at least a 3 or so on here from the Buffalo area.

Charles_Xavier wrote:

Rocketman wrote:

Had I realized it was more of a beta testing model I would have saved up for a makerbot.

I spend a LOT of time over in the Makerbot communities, and the grass is no greener over there, my friend. People have many of the same problems as they do here (imperfect mechanical design/assembly, poor documentation, slow support response times, complex machine marketed toward non-tinkerers). In fact, the entire 3D printer consumer market is rife with these problems. The main differences from my perspective is that the Makerbots are more expensive (so people feel more outraged when their machines don't work) and there are more numerous 'experts' available to give advice to people having trouble.

Would you say Makerbot produces higher quality models? So far Solidoodle has created models for me with a lot of ridges around the outside. At least the model pictures at thingiverse make the models seem smoother by far and I just assume they weren't made with a Solidoodle.

Here is one of my bad prints. I would say that it is as good or better than prints that you will find on some other machines out there. This was done with my solidoodle 3