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Robo3D may be out of the consumer market

Discussion in 'Off Topic' started by WheresWaldo, May 23, 2019.

  1. WheresWaldo

    WheresWaldo Volunteer ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)
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    Based on a few responses on their Facebook page, it appears all the Robo3D consumer printers are discontinued and no new models are expected anytime soon (or ever). Their entire focus now is the Education market.

    You need to read quite a few responses to coagulate this information, but it is there in pretty plain English.
     
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  2. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Yea and most of the familiar faces that we have interacted with at RoboHQ have gone away as well.
     
  3. albert3d

    albert3d Member

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    Reading through a few of those responses, I see they are now offloading all their parts sales to https://www.partsbuilt.com/robo-parts/. They seem to have a lot more offered on their site, but lots are out of stock at the moment. Also read an email someone posted from Brayden saying that he is paying out of his own pocket to keep this forum running. Wonder how long that will last. Lots of good info here that I have used in the past year.
     
  4. WheresWaldo

    WheresWaldo Volunteer ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)
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    There probably needs to be an effort made to preserve some of the information here. I don't know how that would be done, I don't know the resources required to make it happen. All I can tell you is that there are a few of us here that want to see the R2 / C2 continue running, good hardware hampered by inadequate software. We are working to revamp RoboOS and bring it up to date with newer versions (actually latest versions) of all the moving parts. Hopefully we will have something to show for it before Braydon decides the ROI is too low to keep the forum running.

    Since I have run companies before I can tell you there were a lot of mistakes Robo3D made along the way that got them to this point in time. Sometimes the worst people to run a company are the ones that started them. Creating and growing are two very different things.
     
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  5. Geof

    Geof Volunteer Moderator
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    Not that it will do any good but ive asked for details/info on all subjects in this thread
     
  6. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Long as you are still in touch with reality :)
     
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  7. Bemster

    Bemster New Member

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    I have have been getting the feeling this is so. Support personnel have change and went down hill fast. Robo support referred to a 3rd to purchase hardware. And now will not respond to email inquires. Lack of spare parts before and now no parts store. There should be a good spare parts business. I came to the decision a week or so ago need have backup solution(s) to Robo boards and software. I just do not like how their not public coming out and being up front with everyone (Well I do) but I would not recommend buying a new printer for education if it can not be supported.

    I have downloaded a number of article in pdf form and webpage archive format. I guess better go thru the entire R2 section and their help section. I have most of it backed up.

    This group has been a lot of help. Thanks for your support.
     
  8. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    They are supposed to be handing off their repair/parts work to a shop that specializes in that sort of thing.
    Couldn't be worse ...
     
  9. John Pearsley

    John Pearsley Member

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    Does anyone know if they will post or provide the specifications (parts numbers) for the components of the R1+, C2, and R2?
     
  10. WheresWaldo

    WheresWaldo Volunteer ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)
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    I asked for a bill of materials (BOM) for the R2 / C2 on their Facebook page, it was ignored
     
  11. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    We can get you any part numbers you need for the R1 series, the R2 / C2 - not so much.

    It is largely custom parts, but nothing you can't swap back for standard ones...
     
  12. albert3d

    albert3d Member

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    Most of the custom parts seen to slowly being added to https://www.partsbuilt.com/robo-parts/. They have the suppliers info and they sounded like stock will be taking up. Uptown and downtown boards might be added in a week.
     
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  13. Paul1967

    Paul1967 Member

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    As of Aug, I would have my R2 for 1 yr and I have the 2yr warranty plan, and I have a warranty item (Hotbed cable) but they are not responding to my ticket, not answering the phone... So far they are in breech of my warranty... I already started using partsbuilt and they have helped me as far as hotends, heater cores, therms etc.

    Paul
     
  14. WheresWaldo

    WheresWaldo Volunteer ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)
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    Having a resource like partsbuilt.com is good, but doesn't negate the fact that Robo has abandoned the consumer market. I have asked in a couple of places for a Bill of Materials. All those requests have been ignored also.

    Robo made some very novice mistakes during every launch so far. One of the biggest was machines that were never 100% reliable or consistent. Even though I generally despise the talking heads on YouTube, they sent out a few review units really before knowing if they were 100%. That is an issue when you only do internal testing before release, or no testing at all. They got mostly bad reviews from those talking heads. Even hostile reviews from one of them. Arrogance is the only word that springs to mind, when you don't think you shit stinks, as they mostly ignored any criticisms or took offence at helpful suggested improvements. Then their price points were simply too high. Just because a 3D printer is pretty, doesn't mean you can charge a hefty premium over what it is worth. Expecting their printer to become an appliance, just a pipedream. Honestly I am surprised they have lasted this long. It looks like they are moving completely away from being any kind of manufacturer of 3D printers, becoming more of reseller or rebrander of other printers instead. If the E3 is marginally successful, the next printer will be for the education market also, I would put money on it. Although I wouldn't bet on Robo surviving before that happens.
     
    #14 WheresWaldo, May 30, 2019
    Last edited: Jun 1, 2019
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  15. Bemster

    Bemster New Member

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    They have had their problems but they also sold the company I believe or got other investors? So that probably a reason for changes also. I also hate to be batching but there are a lot of rookie mistakes from a business stand point and engineering stand point. Not to mention the spare parts business or lack of now. I have been in contact with Partbsbuilt but are still waiting on boards and a lot of their parts are out of stock. Looks like it is just hard to get the parts. Robo 3D looks more and more like they abanoned their customers. It not that customer do not want to buy spare or replacement parts just can not get them. Crazy but I guess that is lesson on creating your own hardware not fully realizing the support side of it.

    I am wondering about other 3d printer company as most have probably similar issues with design and spare parts? All industrial companies have deal with this but you have to take care of your machines or you're out of business as word spreads. Once you loose faith of your customer base your in trouble and it is very hard or impossible to get that faith back.

    Getting a BOM of Robo design parts is no use if there are no parts. Maybe we just start creating a R2 BOM ourselves but probably has a list of replacement non-Robo parts. Yes there will be no "drop in" replacement but at least the printer does not become paper weight and granted not everyone will be able or choose to do these upgrades/changes. I am currently trying upgrade my second R2 (purchase on Ebay for mainboard part replacement) to a Lerdge board setup and then try a ramps version. Then maybe something else. Thinking of making upgrade on control solutions as parts look to become less and less available.
     
  16. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Robo3D started off in 2012 as a private company.
    2013 was the kickstarter for the beta and that later morphed into the R1 and then the R1+.

    The Australian mining company Falcon Minerals Limited
    bought them out a few years back.
     
  17. Bemster

    Bemster New Member

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    Thanks for the info. I thought it was last fall they were sold.
     
  18. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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  19. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Heck I forget that the R2/C2 have been around nearly that long.
     
  20. BrooklynBay

    BrooklynBay Active Member

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    When I purchased my machine as an open box deal from a Micro Center store, I could see that parts were damaged & missing. Robo advertised "free parts" at the time. I called them to explain that I was about to make this purchase, and they told me to compile a list when I get home.

    After I emailed them a list, they told me that open box is considered used, and there was no warranty or free parts! I chose to buy parts from them anyway to repair it. The parts only lasted a short time, and replacements were always out of stock.

    When the parts came back into stock, the price shot up. I ordered them again. The first set of parts was supposed to have a warranty. They told me that there was no warranty when I ordered the second set of parts, so I had to pay again. Those parts broke quicky then customer service didn't exist anymore. There was no response to emails or phone calls. I started to look at EBay & Amazon as well as this site, and discovered that I could obtain parts from many different sources which are cheaper & more reliable.
     

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