Have had my SD4 for two weeks - final verdict...

Without this forum I would've been dead in the water. So glad y'all are here to help. I wonder how many Solidoodles just sit in boxes from folks who bought it that couldn't find the info they needed to get it running. A 5 page book could've saved me hours of heartache and panic. The most common problem--belt tension--sounds so bad that I initially thought I had wasted a lot of money. Glad I had the patience to get it going.

It also didn't help that the included slip of paper with the printer sent me to a 404. Super helpful. I already knew where to go, but some folks might not... (For the n+1'th time, yes, I'm certain I typed it in correctly. I'm not an idiot, promise.)

I definitely agree, but a wiki is not documentation in my opinion. It's the easy way out. "Let the community document it" is such nonsense. I've worked on large software projects, and if our documentation was as lacking as the Solidoodle, we wouldn't have had many users. The only reason people put so much time into learning about their Solidoodle is they spent $600 or more and it will go to waste if they don't. This is the reality of the situation. Solidoodle, take the time to write a book and ship it with the printer. It's not much to ask, and I'm tired of the tech industry assuming everyone is okay with wasting time troubleshooting when someone could just give you the answer. It makes me daydream about the days of when I was first learning to use Linux five years ago and "RTFM" was a valid answer. Because the answers were always right in front of you. I'm a PhD student, so thinking isn't something I lack, but time certainly is.

I've seen people try to defend Solidoodle about this on here before, and I don't know why they bother. "If they took the time to write a book, they couldn't build more machines!" They'd sell more machines and have higher customer satisfaction with an up-to-date manual or official online reference in a professional form like a PDF. It's unfortunate that I can't recommend a Solidoodle to my less technically-able friends, because I know they will suffer with it. Those lost sales all go to Makerbot or other more friendly printers which do a less good job at double the price. And that doubled price point isn't from documentation alone, I can assure you.

BUT... all this said... love my 'doodle. Love it a lot. Solidoodle makes a great product.

All the time on documentation has already been spent by Solidoodle on their website through videos and such. My point is that a single source of more directed documentation would be more useful than a 1000 videos. If you buy an SD4 like I did, you'll bang your head into the wall for days as you try to figure out why the hell the belt tensioning guide applies to all printers but yours. And this is but one example. The filament unclogging guide mentions acrylic parts. Nowhere does it discuss the new extruder design and how it's NOT hard to disassemble on the SD4. Just frustrating.

Thanks to Solidoodle I think I have that knowledge as well, and it is certainly in my future. No way I could've built a reprap before learning how the Solidoodle works.

I bought my printer to make money from my prints. Still in the negatives, but rapidly climbing out. Unfortunately my broken extruder (again, documentation for older printers had me running it too cold) set me back further. But if it stops breaking, I can eventually get ahead.

Fix the documentation Solidoodle! John (solijohn or other Solidoodle folks), if you're listening, hear my pleas. Give documentation higher priority after the Press madness ends. It is important. You only hurt yourselves, because us persistent customers will figure it out. The less patient ones throw it in a box and talk smack about you for the rest of their days. It doesn't have to be this way.

Think about all the people attracted to 3d printing by the Solidoodle who are immediately discouraged by your documentation problems. And if you think your customer support is helpful enough to close the gap, ensure you have data to back up this claim, or you are probably deluding yourselves.