Disappointed! future buyers beware (Page 2 of 2)

I am presuming that you have the most recent board.

If Solidoodle offers their firmware.  You can get a board that is similar to the current board for around $125 on E-bay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Reprap-PrintrBo … 4d2193e8bd

This is the same board that both Solidoodle and PrintRbot use on their machines, yet of course they have had their company name silk screen printed on the board.

I have had my SD3 for seven months now I had some problems from the beginning . It took awhile but I think we have them all worked out . I spent a lot of time with the SD techs on phone calls and emails. We tested and replaced several parts ( motherboards, power supplies and bed heater) . As each problem showed up we tested and corrected the problem . It has been several months ( 5 to be exact ) since I have had any problems. I feel that SD has done their due diligence to solve all my problems . I also got a lot of help from people here on the forum. At no time did I ever feel that the techs where blowing me off . They where very helpful and really seemed to want to get my machine working well. AND THEY DID .
     I wanted a machine that I could tinker with and learn from ( I learn with my hands ) . And for the Price this is the machine to have . It is built to be rock solid and yet easily modifiable. It is priced so if I screw up something I don't panic, I just fix it , or modify it and move on to next learning opportunity. If I had paid $2000 or so I would be much more reluctant to try different things. I would not have  learned nearly as much as I have . Solidoodle techs have been very helpful in explaining how their printers work and for that I thank them. I also have gotten many helpful posts from this forum . Thank you all for all the help I have received from you. 
      As I have explained before I am a truck mechanic with little formal training in electronics and no formal training in computing just what I have picked up over the years. Thanks for the all help I have received from all of you ( SD techs and Soliforum contributors ) I have a great printer and a fairly clear understanding of how it works.   
             Thank you all            Bill D.     
PS.  I have a Printrbot MB  Rev E.

all of its replaceable.. if you've got the skills for SMT work.

If you don't, then connectors, headers and FETs is about the size of it. You could do the Drivers too since really they aren't that fine a pitch.. but lots of people get scared it seems when you mention the word soldering (with or without pronunciation of the 'L' )

Regardless.. the latest versions from Geeetech are back to quad-layer and have fixed the dodgy traces.. so every few weekends they'll pop up on sale for $29....

They are still, no matter who you get them from, as far as control boards go, pretty crappy.

Geeetech Sang is $23.00 on sale now:

http://www.geeetech.com/reprap-sanguino … p-609.html Note: Sale will be over soon, so this link will probably be back to $60 when others view it. But also note Geeetech has a sale every weekend.

Also, printrboard is usually on sale for $40. The connectors are backwards, but it only took me 40 minutes to make some short extension connector cables to switch back and forth between clone and SD original board. I beleive they have also fixed the problem with the bed heater trace being too small.

I understand both sides comments and agree with many from my own troubles with my SD2. but among my many job duties in my life one was purchasing both for parts resale and commercial/industrial supplies/parts.
until the 1980s here in the USA (when companies 1st got in bed with China) manufacturers had to offer potential customers a copy of a written warranty of no less than 30 days on any product sold. high end appliances etc (over $500) had to have a 1 year for non commercial industrial use (90 days TV and electronics) consumer use. commercial was about half life. also they had to make replacement parts avail for 10 years after end of production. then in the 1980s that was reduced to 5 years. obviously since then we now just have to "put up with what China offers (asis or taillight warranty as used car salesman call it). however typically MADE IN USA manufacturers set the bar higher than that due to reputations at stake. I dont think its asking too much for Solidoodle to at least have a written 90 day limited warranty for consumers and 30 days for commercial users. and make replacement parts available at discount for purchasers at least 1 year after model is discontinued. also offer buyer protection plan extended warranty through even a 3rd party like many retailers (ask Wa-lMart TV dept) do with electronics. thus giving potential buyers a better sense of future security in their investments long term usefulness.
I too have had the afore mentioned tech help but it was not enough to get my printer back in use and had to look elsewhere for assistance plus DIY repairs. which the "average consumer" (Solidoodles target buying group) would not be able to do. which is what worries most here when they see yet more "plug N Play models" released. we just dont see that Solidoodle is there yet at this point.

Mitch

I don't think thats enforceable. According to the website...

http://europa.eu/youreurope/citizens/sh … dex_en.htm

Solidoodle is not based in the EU, and therefor is not bound by the regulation according to that website.

point to you IF you buy it directly from Solidoodle, BUT as solidoodle sell it thru retailers (like The iMakr Store ) in the UK
(England is in the EU even if they didn't use the money, and imakr fall under eu laws as a brick and mortar company selling goods in UK),  Imakr will be obliged to put this 2 years warranty even if solidoodle didn't want to...(and for free) 
i don't think that imakr will still sell solidoodles if they refuse to repair their printers after 60 days as that's imakr that will pay for repairs instead of solidoodle