I think my Minecraft fling is done now. Back to the videos I do well.
It’s difficult to tell someone that I do not want to review their 3D printers. On the one hand, I’m grateful that I still get asked to do reviews, the way my channel has been going recently. But a lot of these printers aren’t doing anything to move the field of 3D printing forward at all. They’re basically Ender 3’s, but maybe not as good. And I don’t need another minimally functional machine to hack on.
Side note, this is why I’m hesitant to get into SLA printing. Minimally functional plus toxic resin is, to me, a recipe for disaster. So far the tragedies have been minimal, so I’m glad for that. But I’ve got small kids. Anyways…
I might be wrong about this, but I feel like the field of 3D printing has already tapped it’s current audience. If you’re the sort of person who gets more of a thrill from making a better 3D printer than actually 3D printing with it, then chances are you’ve already got into 3D printing because it is so cheap and easy to do so. And that’s the perfect audience for China to cater too. Minimally functional machines with lax QA checks (or non-existent) that’s just one more awesome project for you to improve on.
But if you’re the sort of person who would rather do 3D printing, I don’t feel there’s enough options for that group. Lots of people are buying printers, getting a box of parts, spending an hour putting it together, and when it doesn’t work, getting discouraged and deciding that 3D printing clearly isn’t for them. And that’s a shame because there are options that are easier to setup and use and more reliable. But they do cost just a little bit more. But this is the market that I feel isn’t getting enough attention, and that I see is the future of 3D printing. We need a push to the appliance. And that’s going to require a shift. Can China do it? Don’t know. (But Germany seems to be killing it.)
However, what I am seeing right now is China printers taking their minimally functional machines and making them less minimally functional. Like the Artist D. Which is why when they approached me I gave them an emphatic yes. This is the first IDEX machine I’ve seen that was affordable, and it’s a promising trend. In fact I’ve already turned down another company who was also wanting me to review their IDEX machine. I turned them down because besides “We’ve got an IDEX machine” they had nothing except a tight time table. They didn’t even have a web page. And I don’t need to be the guinea pig for a company barely on their feet. As I said to them:
“I know this is a critical time for you. You need someone to partner with to succeed. And I want to help. But right now I’m seeing a lot of things to be concerned about. The tight time table you’re asking me to work with only means that if anything goes wrong with shipping, or if the machine doesn’t work right out of the box, I either have to be the one to either tell my audience about the trouble I’m having, and risk damaging my relationship with you, or lie to my audience and damage my reputation. And, for the record, I always choose to be honest with my audience over being easy on a manufacturer. I don’t want to be in that situation. I don’t want to put you in that situation.”
So far the Artist D has been a mixed bag. Assembly was a breeze. They totally thought about the user experience with that, and super kudos. Little labels on the connectors and the places where they connect. Love it.
But then I started the leveling process and the Z-Axis limit switch wasn’t reacting. (Insert sad trombone sound) So far I’ve traced it all the way back to the inside of the case. Hopefully it’s just a loose connector inside, but this means I have to find the time in my already busy schedule to do some hard core QA that they really should have done before sending me the machine. Not to make too much of my status as a reviewer (as I said, I’m grateful I’m still being considered) but if I were them I would have make extra sure the printer I was sending to a reviewer worked before letting it go out the door. There’s a reason McDonald’s hires food artists for their ads. You want to present to the eyes the same experience the taste buds are gonna get. Same thing here. They want to show people that they’ve produced and IDEX machine, then I gotta be able to show that it can make IDEX prints. If all I can show is that you’re getting a box of parts… this ain’t gonna go well for them.
But, once again, I get to be the other voice. I’m gonna stick with this one because I really want to do IDEX prints, but if I can’t get this to work, JGMaker is getting no quarter. So stay tuned.
