But This is just incremental improvements. They have cut down lead-time, redesigned a few things, and replaced the electronics to save money.

The problem is that out-of-box still requires alot of work to tweak in. The entire design is too sloppy for a true out-of-box ready to go printer. The amount of work to get to a point where the slop could be 'designed out' would double the price of the printer at this point.

For the money paid, and extra 'at-home' calibrations and add-ons, its not a bad printer, and its not worse than anything else out there. And I would not reference anything that has yet to ship to consumers. Mentioning any of the kickstarter printers that have yet to become mainstream is like comparing the Dreamcast to the PS5 (that is not a typo). Robo3D has barely shipped their first units, and I would put money they will have the same problems that plagued all other starting printers. And the others are months away from shipping. 

I do agree that a discount LCD kit would be nice. I am already getting the parts to build one from scratch and wire up to the new SD3 motherboard. If I get it working (I have no doubt I will) I can break out the EaglePCB and whip something up.

I think Ian hit square on the head of Solidoodle's niche, and how well it owns that niche.

If I were at Solidoodle and looking to expand the product line at all (and there may be no good reason to do that -- if they're at capacity doing what they do now, they could go a while longer just doing it and getting better at it, like how they've gotten turnaround time on orders way down), what I'd focus on is taking some of the aftermarket mods that the people in this forum have made, and making similar products.  Perhaps making the SD4 very similar to the SD3 in terms of capacity and cost, but with a few more "hooks" to add these aftermarket SD peripherals (more jacks on the circuit board they can be plugged into, points on the frame and bed where they can be affixed, etc.).  I mean, if there was a "plug and play" (or at least closer to that than some of the mods) way to add a small SDcard-supporting control screen that you could buy after you already bought your SD4 and snap right into clips already set up, that gives Solidoodle another revenue stream without significantly raising the price of their basic product.  They could do ready-to-drop-in enclosures, an automatic bed leveler (or at least easier one than now), etc.  I think this would help them stay in their market niche while also providing a path to open their product to more "I just want something that works" consumers.

Whether that's their plan or not, I have no idea.  My guess is they're just catching their breath at this point and haven't gone as far as planning the next step, just gathering ideas.

I hope they aren't entirely about volume. Fastfood restaurants, Walmart, and Chinese Trading are all volume, but they rarely improve upon their shortcomings. They just try to win on price. Even Facebook was about light weight coding at one point, and after they took away almost everyone from Myspace they started to replicate Myspace in the ways people complained about before. lol.

As to the jigsaw head they may not be fully aware of manufacturing processes that are out there.  They could do it in a casting.  Even diecasting would be stronger than the jigsaw.

I'm pretty sure they're aware. Injection molding is an order of magnitude more expensive than lasercutting acrylic, and metal casting is 2 orders of magnitude more expensive. Those acrylic pieces cost around 25 cents a set in material, and a capable lasercutter is around $4k. You could probably push 100+ sets a day through a single lasercutter.

If I were at Solidoodle and looking to expand the product line at all (and there may be no good reason to do that -- if they're at capacity doing what they do now, they could go a while longer just doing it and getting better at it, like how they've gotten turnaround time on orders way down), what I'd focus on is taking some of the aftermarket mods that the people in this forum have made, and making similar products.  Perhaps making the SD4 very similar to the SD3 in terms of capacity and cost, but with a few more "hooks" to add these aftermarket SD peripherals (more jacks on the circuit board they can be plugged into, points on the frame and bed where they can be affixed, etc.).  I mean, if there was a "plug and play" (or at least closer to that than some of the mods) way to add a small SDcard-supporting control screen that you could buy after you already bought your SD4 and snap right into clips already set up, that gives Solidoodle another revenue stream without significantly raising the price of their basic product.  They could do ready-to-drop-in enclosures, an automatic bed leveler (or at least easier one than now), etc.  I think this would help them stay in their market niche while also providing a path to open their product to more "I just want something that works" consumers.

Whether that's their plan or not, I have no idea.  My guess is they're just catching their breath at this point and haven't gone as far as planning the next step, just gathering ideas.

I think that's what is still needed with a 3D printer, especially one on the low end of the cost scale.

Have you considered evaluating where 3D printing stands and whether it's the thing for you? The guy I bought my SD2 from decided he had a young kid, and way too little time for the intricacies of playing with a 3D printer.

Tomek wrote:

Rocketman wrote:

Doesn't Solidoodle have anything new in store coming up to make it more comparible to the nicer commercial 3D printers, or does it just want to be like Walmart and be more about low price and minimal quality?

Rocketman, I'm inclined to name you a troll. You have been having problems with your printer and are being very negative.  That's not fair. People want to work with you and help you, but your negative energy is a downer.

219 posts, and I can't find a single one where he's offering someone else help.

What could I possibly do to help anyone else? I can't even keep my own printer from breaking down.

Rocketman wrote:

Doesn't Solidoodle have anything new in store coming up to make it more comparible to the nicer commercial 3D printers, or does it just want to be like Walmart and be more about low price and minimal quality?

Rocketman, I'm inclined to name you a troll. You have been having problems with your printer and are being very negative.  That's not fair. People want to work with you and help you, but your negative energy is a downer.

I don't recall you ever commenting in my threads. I'm sorry if my machine breaking all the time is putting you in a bad mood. It has been no picknic for me.

OMG! that's fast! I waited 5 weeks to receive mine, that's big improvement!

@Topic, aluminum Z axis "bed" was a pretty nice improvement, i feel lucky that i got this one instead of wood. 
I am sure the next improvements (After printrboard) would be the motor,heat sink, belt, linear bearing.

* I don't think they are improving heatsink anytime soon, since they just changed from "ceramic core" to "block"

It's cheaper because you bought an assembled base, and then took a kit approach to the added quality and capabilities.  If you want all of those things preassembled then you can pay $2k+.  Keep in mind that the banner for the Makerbot Replicator 2X still says "Patience, know-how, and a sense of adventure required", and that is the supposed to be the most turn-key ABS capable printer on the market.  If you really want turn-key and pro support you can get a Cube, if you don't mind getting locked into filament that costs $156/kg.

There isn't really any reason for Solidoodle to go higher priced, higher quality.  There are plenty of printers already in that space, but hardly anything on the low end that isn't a kit.  Any competitors will have a lot of catching up to do to match them in price and volume of production.

Rocketman wrote:

Doesn't Solidoodle have anything new in store coming up to make it more comparible to the nicer commercial 3D printers, or does it just want to be like Walmart and be more about low price and minimal quality?

Rocketman, I'm inclined to name you a troll. You have been having problems with your printer and are being very negative.  That's not fair. People want to work with you and help you, but your negative energy is a downer.

219 posts, and I can't find a single one where he's offering someone else help.

Doesn't Solidoodle have anything new in store coming up to make it more comparible to the nicer commercial 3D printers, or does it just want to be like Walmart and be more about low price and minimal quality?

Rocketman, I'm inclined to name you a troll. You have been having problems with your printer and are being very negative.  That's not fair. People want to work with you and help you, but your negative energy is a downer.