Completely Frustrated With my R1+

I'll preface this by saying that I know I'm well outside of my warranty period, and that I'm familiar with the return policy and I know that as per that I'm not entitled to anything.

But this printer has been nothing but Hell since I got it around a year ago -- I'm no stranger to proper maintenance and the work that goes along with these types of machines. Through normal use, components have gone up. Support was good with responding to those requests while they were obligated to, though the RAMPS board replacement I received just before I fell outside of the period didn't work any better than the one that failed on me before.

Since then, I've been left to fend for myself. I've been no stranger to messing around with this machine. Third party components have of course not been very useful. Even the replacement RAMPS setup that I just purchased a few weeks ago has gone up; same old problem wherein the power connectors have melted despite proper cooling and the like.

I've gotten to use the printer for maybe a fourth of the time I've owned it, and I've gotten to enjoy the thing for much less time. I have completely torn it down and rebuilt it several times over that period of time -- the most recent attempt included fresh wire and either stock parts or parts or official replacements.

I'm not doing more than venting frustration here. But I do think it needs to be said; the printer was around $850 when I bought it. I've spent at least half that much in trying to keep the thing alive. At that point, I would have been better off going with a competing brand.

Tl,dr: I'm not sure what I think I'm accomplishing by complaining here, but I think I'm about done with this brand.

 

Sekel, So sorry to hear 'bout the issues............If you have a voltmeter, I would first check the Power Supply voltage...maybe that supply is too high, defective or spiking killing parts...which you would not see with a meter.....anyways Bro...hang in there....

 

Thanks for the tip. I think the PSU is about the only thing I haven't tested at one point or another so I will certainly give it a look when I can get around to it. If for nothing else than to shed some light on my difficulties.

 

Hey you can always ask for help in the forum. We have a good group here still that can help troubleshoot things with you. And even though you were out of warranty, I would imagine Robo would have continued to work with you since it was an issue they started to help with prior to your warranty expiring and their fixes weren't working. I've always found that it never hurts to ask. I've been surprised often by responses from companies when continuing to have issues after warranty periods are up.

 

Cant's agree more with Mark and Danzca. The folks here - including those two gents - are awesome!

 

I must jump in and admit the guys here are tops in my opinion. I've only been around a few months but I've watched the group pick up the pieces of failed printer projects and turned them into well running fine tuned equipment to be proud of.

These are not microwave ovens that produce a desired product at the press of a button (yet) they are a tinkerer's tool and part of the hobby is working on the printer itself.