Hey Lucky,
Thanks for the welcome.
I was one of the first people to invest in a Rep Rap kit many years ago. The goal was to print out the ideas I had dreamed up and then painstakingly created in software. The experience was awful: Oozing nozzles, constant calibration, warped layers, the smell, and the noise. The experience was more about learning the process and mechanics of FFD, than actually printing ideas. I quickly got bored of this. These days, I get my ideas printed on a Stratsys from a local firm. It has been quite an expensive affair.
I considered many of the options hitting the market right now. My choices boiled down to the Robox and the Ultimaker 2.
There are so many reasons why the Robox:
1. Needle valves on the nozzles (no more oozing)
2. Good resolution (for my ideas / prototypes, intricacy and quality is 9/10ths of the law)
3. Enclosed and temperature controlled build chamber (lowered emissions: audible and olfactory)
4. Minimal calibration / tweaking required (more time to focus on the design)
5. Interchangeable heads (oh the possibilities)
6. Good pricing on the filament, product and upgrades. (This means a lot for future investment if the experience is good.)
7. The access to GCode, and the freedom to modify the EEPROM on the reels. (This tells me that the company is not intent on caging its customers with proprietary addons. As a materials scientist, I have some interesting ideas for filament material. If I explore this route, I can test and then incorporate them into the platform without a hitch.)
8. The scalability. If this turns out to be an excellent product, I might be persuaded to purchase a few more; and even a larger one when released. When the ‘touch panel black box’ is released, having a single controller to monitor and manage the ‘farm’ is an excellent idea, and another instance of good design.
9. Their approach to the design and development has been quite intelligent so far. I often ask what else would I do in their position. So far, zilch!
10. CEL is located in Bristol UK . (From my location, I can travel 3 hours in any direction and reach the edge of this country with confusing weather patterns. Being able to knock on their door helps if I have any questions / issues and need their assistance. Something I hope I never have to do because they eventually hired a customer service team to manage expectations and communicate information to the team.)
11. I live in a beautiful part of the world, brimming with sheep, and yet regularly find lamb from New Zealand in my supermarket. While not entirely relevant to my point, investing in this company contributes to my economy. Finally,
12. Chris Elsworthy. As I read his blog entry on the 5th of February, his words struck a chord. So, I did a bit of stalking (nay research!), and he appears to be quite dependable, experienced, intelligent, passionate and HUMAN! I’m not looking to invest in a god! just a person on a mission. Good things come from that!
Bub
Baaa
Boooie!
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This reply was modified 1 month ago by Mark D.
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