NEW Y Axis Linear Motion System and Print Bed Upgrade

Husker PM me your contact info and I'll get jerry to push yours out.

They had a huge demand to sell these kits and are doing so at very little benefit to themselves. It sucks their lead time is so long on it, but it's only a small portion of their business.

 

I'm not in a rush. At this point, yes, people who are disappointed in lead times are correct in that communications are really lacking from the Robo team. However, I am consistently surprised that anyone is still ordering from them with the expectation that the estimated delivery dates are accurate. They are pretty consistent in that they get your order to you eventually, and it only takes a few minutes to get that understanding from the forums.

I'm patiently printing in the meantime.

 

The only thing that I am trying to point out is that they should either hire on more staff, full fill current orders or take preorders and if China tells you delivery date is April you tell the public June. Again I work in a similar profession with radio control products. When the design engineers and vendors in China tell me estimate delivery is one date I usually add 6 to 8 weeks to that promise date. (No I am not a sleazy mall kiosk supplier) I work for The Firelands Group that sell proprietary rc products to HobbyTowns across the country) If the items come when the vendor says they will I look like the hero.

It really goes back to there constant improvements and going to all the trade shows on such a small staff and leaving there paid customers hanging because they are getting behind doing so. You need to do both to grow but you also need the staff to do so. I really do want to see the company succeed. I am not trying to bash just trying to give a little constructive criticism.

Mike I will PM you my info in a few

 

Huskerfreak, seeing how you are just repeating yourself and I don't wish to hear it a third time. I'll tell you exactly why.
What was one main selling point for you in buying your ROBO? I'm willing to bet it was price.
If they hire a ton of staff, where do you think the money comes from to pay them? In the price of the machines. The cost of everything goes up.
They are busting their butts to keep prices as low as they can running a crew of just a handful of guys. You should also be grateful they are a company that cares enough about existing customers to sell upgrades at next to zero profit instead of leaving them stuck with what they have or buy the "new model" with new features if they want better. (*cough*- makerbot)

The business they are in is a brand new market, these trade shows and conventions are critical to survival in this game. If they don't keep their name out there and stay on top. The company will DIE. There is too much competition not to attend every major event and stay part of the action. Sure they could hire people to do that for them, and eventually they might but for now there is no money for it unless you want all of us to pay for it in the end.


Sorry if this comes off aggressive in any way but it's damn true.

 

They definitely hear your criticisms, but they're between a rock and a hard place. They're struggling with growing pains big time.

They recently hired more people, but with every new hire there's a training process and verification that these new hires are up to snuff of building printers. They also need to ensure that they're hiring the correct number of people to not require lay offs should business slow. It's a fine balance and I can assure you they are working on it.

Once these backorders are out there's a definite risk of being over employed, but hopefully that takes the role of more community interaction!

It's definitely been a crazy year for them, exciting to see how their future will hold out.

 

Well, here's something to make you laugh. Because I'm not comfortable doing the upgrade, an fortunate to live in San Diego, I asked Jerry if he'd do it, for a price of course. He said yes, on the 14th. I live in San Diego so I told them when I bought it NOT to ship it across town since I'd be coming down. Well, guess what I got notified today what was on its way?

 

That is where you are wrong you can have more staff sell more support your customers more and do it all an a more efficient manor and keep the cost down. More staff does not always mean more cost. I rather have 6 employees and pay straight time then 3 and pay 120 hours of overtime that would cost a lot more and work quality would go down.

We are getting off topic I am confident my order will come I was just voicing my opinion as if it mattered

 

My order shipped yesterday #2379, should arrive Friday according to Fedex.

Jerry indicated they just got in a shipment of the parts they were waiting on. I am sure more people will start receiving shipping notices very shortly.
When there is a short supply of parts and they are on back order there is not much they could do but wait. Sending out email updates everyday saying so is just an unproductive waste of valuable time.
I am sure it was more productive for them to work on the printer backlog during that time.

 

Hey Mike,
I received the upgrade today and while I've commissioned Jerry to install it in 2 weeks, I am feeling techi and looked it over along with your instructions considering giving it a shot. Don't know when you posted the instructions, but as usual things have changed. One good thing, it looks like they included the two pin female header on the harness, which are now white and green wires. The two red wires are now red and black.
One thing I'm concerned with is the notch on the new middle platform. There isn't one. Since it is expressly for the x axis limit switch, I'm wondering if the board wasn't cut right.
Looks like I'll be bringing it to Jerry after all.

 

Cosber- you could probably just pass the wire through one of the other holes in the middle plate.

 

Ok, so after a week of using the upgrade i can report that its totally worth the money. My print precision is such that i can safely print at higher speeds and still get amazing results. I still have issues with the printer that are causing irritations but the upgrade on the y axis was TOTALLY worth the money and time spent on installing it

 

To the left of the middle plate should be a slight indent which allows the cables to pass through. It's underneath the left Z axis screw.... well at least it is on mine. If yours doesn't have the indent then i would recommend getting a file out and making the groove; it doesn't need much space

 

Thanks for the tips guys. Saturday is upgrade day. Either I do it right, or I take a jumbled mess to Jerry the following week. Either way, I guess I can't lose!
I'd also like to try the automatic leveler. Without seeing the instructions for that, is that something that you'd be better off doing at the same time as the upgrade as far as tearing things apart, or is it less "invasive"?

 

It's less invasive by a lot. Hardest part is removing the nut and installing the coupling.

Here's a thing I wrote up for it: http://forums.robo3dprinter.com/index.php?threads/robo3d-autolevel-via-mike-kelly.2574/

 

Any recent updates to the status of the upgrades? I'm order #2395 still no word. My old Y axis is jammed and not functional and I'm really hoping to get this one soon so i can start printing again.

 

He was out on vacation this weekend so couldn't get any out. He's mailed 30 so far out of the around 80 orders. He hopes to be able to get out about 15-25 per week, including weekends.

I let him know about your circumstance.

 

Just wanted to share with you guys a picture Jerry sent me indicating where to connect the wires of the y-axis upgrade kit.

 

Does anyone know what the expected lead time of an order placed 'now' would be?

 

Hopefully around 3-4 weeks.

 

mm don´t think so.. this is my order, more than 8 weeks and waiting..:

Order: #2366
Date: Apr 10, 2014
Payment Status: paid
Fulfillment Status: unfulfilled

​