Not necessarily in that order

I am a long time Solidoodle 3 user, with a heavily modded printer.  And I must say that even though their quality control is pretty darn atrocious at Solidoodle from my anecdotal experience.  I think they've got a very nice all-purpose design.  There are things that are for sure wrong with it, but then again this is part of playing the early adopter buying game that we are in right now with 3d printers. 

Not excusing there weaknesses in their design.  But I think for what is available Solidoodle offers a great printer for the tinkerers, engineers, and more technical users out there.  If you want a perfectly polished machine solidoodle seems to be a gamble so far.

All that being said I pulled the trigger quite impulsively on a Solidoodle Press because it's a Solidoodle 3 / 4 with a prettier cover, and auto bed leveling compensation.

It was a no brainer for me to drop $460 (that includes shipping) to get a pretty cover and auto bed leveling. Especially since I can turn around and sale my very nicely modded solidoodle 3 for $475. He wins because it's a standalone printing, beautiful calibrated, no risks solidoodle purchase-I have a buyer who is on the verge of pulling the trigger this thursday when he comes to see it in person--I win because I get prettier bones to mod again with minimal financial loss. I'm hoping, perhaps generously so, that after their multiple generations of design revisions we're finally getting close to a real polished consumer product in the solidoodle press as opposed to the mad scientist kit that was really what you bought when you got a SD2 or 3.  As far as customer support from solidoodle... The key is to inspect the crap out of the machine as soon as it arrives, call them immediately with anything that seems unreasonably outside published specs.  Than be prepared to be on your own, and work with the soliforum community.  I have little to no confidence in there customer support.  Even thought they have been very generous with me.  I hear too many horror stories.

From what i can gather the press is a SD3,4 + bed level compensation probe, power switch, and glass bed.  And I am pretty positive it's meant to take the place of the SD4 in their product lineup.  They are simply selling off their stock of SD4's before they kick them out of the lineup.  Honestly I think it's unwise for anyone to purchase an SD4 at this point.

They are obviously angling to be in more brick and mortar stores with the press.  And the workbench, and workbench apprentice is their answer to competition from makerbot, ultimaker, and everyone else.

Anyhow, I'm excited to be in the early batch of Press owners, and I also think that like most technology I expect it to be obsolete in 6 months to a year.  Just part of the tech world we live in.

One thing that keeps me wanting to get the 4 instead of the press is the fact that I'm not sure how upgradable the press is.

Not excusing there weaknesses in their design.  But I think for what is available Solidoodle offers a great printer for the tinkerers, engineers, and more technical users out there.  If you want a perfectly polished machine solidoodle seems to be a gamble so far.

All that being said I pulled the trigger quite impulsively on a Solidoodle Press because it's a Solidoodle 3 / 4 with a prettier cover, and auto bed leveling compensation.

It was a no brainer for me to drop $460 (that includes shipping) to get a pretty cover and auto bed leveling. Especially since I can turn around and sale my very nicely modded solidoodle 3 for $475. He wins because it's a standalone printing, beautiful calibrated, no risks solidoodle purchase-I have a buyer who is on the verge of pulling the trigger this thursday when he comes to see it in person--I win because I get prettier bones to mod again with minimal financial loss. I'm hoping, perhaps generously so, that after their multiple generations of design revisions we're finally getting close to a real polished consumer product in the solidoodle press as opposed to the mad scientist kit that was really what you bought when you got a SD2 or 3.  As far as customer support from solidoodle... The key is to inspect the crap out of the machine as soon as it arrives, call them immediately with anything that seems unreasonably outside published specs.  Than be prepared to be on your own, and work with the soliforum community.  I have little to no confidence in there customer support.  Even thought they have been very generous with me.  I hear too many horror stories.

From what i can gather the press is a SD3,4 + bed level compensation probe, power switch, and glass bed.  And I am pretty positive it's meant to take the place of the SD4 in their product lineup.  They are simply selling off their stock of SD4's before they kick them out of the lineup.  Honestly I think it's unwise for anyone to purchase an SD4 at this point.

They are obviously angling to be in more brick and mortar stores with the press.  And the workbench, and workbench apprentice is their answer to competition from makerbot, ultimaker, and everyone else.

Anyhow, I'm excited to be in the early batch of Press owners, and I also think that like most technology I expect it to be obsolete in 6 months to a year.  Just part of the tech world we live in.

For smell, you might consider printing in PET, since it has no smell, and also very little warp.

For auto-leveling, does it need to level after each glass removal?

PET is also 2-3 times the price of PLA and ABS. The bed auto levels each print automatically.

For auto-leveling, does it need to level after each glass removal?

Diecrusher wrote:

mdrVB6 wrote:

I would buy the press because of the auto bed leveling.  If you don't have much time for maintenance, you will appreciate not having to spend a lot of time leveling the bed.  It can take several tries.

Not to sound too negative but this auto bed leveling sounds like a trinket

I've leveled my bed once, maybe twice, and that was it for years.  Unless you have a crash why would you ever have to level it again?

Also, with the auto bed leveling your Z axis is constantly moving for each level instead of staying in place.  Seems like bad compensation for an improper set up of the machine.

The bed needs to be leveled any time the printer is moved.
Also, I don't think you understand how Solidoodle uses SoliTouch. Please watch this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Lp1k67B_HM

No, I understand exactly what it does and I stick by my points that I made above.

I've also move my printer multiple times and checked the bed level but never had to adjust it.  The bed needs to be leveled to the axes of the machine and that is all that matters.  My bed is mounted on stiff springs that just won't bounce out of adjustment.  The whole printer could be sitting at 45% and it wouldn't matter.

mdrVB6 wrote:

I would buy the press because of the auto bed leveling.  If you don't have much time for maintenance, you will appreciate not having to spend a lot of time leveling the bed.  It can take several tries.

Not to sound too negative but this auto bed leveling sounds like a trinket

I've leveled my bed once, maybe twice, and that was it for years.  Unless you have a crash why would you ever have to level it again?

Also, with the auto bed leveling your Z axis is constantly moving for each level instead of staying in place.  Seems like bad compensation for an improper set up of the machine.

The bed needs to be leveled any time the printer is moved.
Also, I don't think you understand how Solidoodle uses SoliTouch. Please watch this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Lp1k67B_HM

I would buy the press because of the auto bed leveling.  If you don't have much time for maintenance, you will appreciate not having to spend a lot of time leveling the bed.  It can take several tries.

Not to sound too negative but this auto bed leveling sounds like a trinket

I've leveled my bed once, maybe twice, and that was it for years.  Unless you have a crash why would you ever have to level it again?

Also, with the auto bed leveling your Z axis is constantly moving for each level instead of staying in place.  Seems like bad compensation for an improper set up of the machine.

599 makes more sense...I just hope the 399 price tag doesn't mean low quality components.

No it's a preorder price. It's the same model as the $599 one just lower priced to entice early buyers.

Don't mean to hijack the thread, but how in the world can they manage a $399 price tag?

To hype and promote the product I'm assuming. The model will retail for $599 so they're expecting the people who buy it now will rave about it enough to cause others to buy it thus increasing Solidoodle's profits. They still probably profit somewhate from the current price.

Hello... I'm new here... I was thinking about buying a Printrbot Simple Metal. It's not pricey and is small. But then I saw the Solidoodle Press. Relatively small and very cheap (for now). But as you're saying, it's new, not tested, not reviewed. And in terms of modding the Simple Metal is good. I don't want to spends more than $550 on a 3D printer, because I'm not from US, so I need to think about import fees and shipment price. But the press does 8" vs 6" on the Printrbot... What you think? Any other alternative? Thank you very much....

I was considering the Pintrbot but I decided against it solely because I needed an enclosed printer because I'm keeping it in my dorm and don't want to listen to my roomate complain that everything smells like melting plastic. Also you get less tendencies to warp with an enclosed space. If you don't need an enclosed printer and you have the time to tinker and mod the Printrbot then I would suggest getting it. Also, you have to use PLA because the Printrbot doesn't have a heated build plate. You could potentially use kapton tape or blue painters tape and throw in some ABS glue but it gets difficult and expensive really fast. I have never used a Printrbot though so someone else might be able to help you better as I can only speculate based on what I know about 3D printers and 3D printing.

Also: Please post your question in the "3D Printer Discussion" forum. This thread is for the discussion of the Solidoodle 4 vs the Solidoodle Press.