Not a hobby for beginners, if new please reconsider

If you are considering this machine please also consider the time you must use to master it. I am in front of a computer everyday, but sadly it is excel and word files and not Gcodes which I still don't know what those are after a month in. I'm a plug and play guy. I can install your mouse or maybe a inkjet printer. The Robo takes more of a technician

$800 is a lot of money, at least to me. I came into some money a month ago and used the majority of it to pay off some bills. With the remainder I wanted one thing, a 3D printer to make cool things. I had been for weeks researching these, and found the Robo R1 the best on paper. The main feature I liked was that it was user friendly at least from what I saw.

I bought my first R1+ the week before Halloween. It came with the Z axis not attached so that was my first round of questions on the forums and calls to the call center. That was fixed but Halloween day I got a bad clog and nothing would get it out. I called and posted but given I had bought that one at Best Buy I just boxed it back up and exchanged it with their two week return policy. Maybe it was a lemon I thought. The new one worked great. The Z axis was attached correct out of the box this time. I was only working with PLA from a company called justPLA great until this past Wednesday. Right after a great print the filament just wouldn't climb after a couple of layers. Thinking it was clogged I took off the nozzle and cleared it with a piece of small wire. I thought I had it running good, until somehow the Z axis got messed up and it was printing in the air. On this forum they will send you a couple of videos and those could help if you know what a G82 is.

I just tried to today to print a calibration cube and it printed the bottom fine but nothing from midway up. It's very frustrating and if you don't have the time to invest in this thing and become an undergrad at MIT this might not be for you. The Robo R1 took the spot of an old treadmill that sat unused in my garage for years. It must be that corner because I don't see this thing being used after this week.

2 machines in 3 weeks, 2 clogs and now a head that will not hit the bed. Buyer beware

 

Really?

 

Well I guess I will be getting to know Don and Daniel from the 24/7 line a little more as I was on the phone with them several times Saturday night and will be calling again tonight. Also I am tweeting and emailing Braydon and Robo R1 to advise of unhappiness of their product and will start posting videos of my failed prints. I still need to review this thing on Best Buy and I have no intention giving it a good one. I have tried Tom's video on paper leveling but it does not address the R1 just an older model. It say nothing about how to save you marks in your software. You can put the head down on a piece of paper all day long but it doesn't change what the printer is doing. I have no problem being the floater in their punch bowl until this thing is working for me. Their should be a reset somewhere and I have tried uninstalling reinstalling MC etc.

 

Yeah, good luck with that. I gave them a negative review on Amazon to soothe my own frustrations but that doesn't really do anything to their sales.

 

You probably didn't do what I did after I left my review. I emailed Braydon Moreno at Robo of my 1 star review and he immediately emailed me back asking if I had contacted the tech department. The guy was supposed to call me yesterday but I never heard back from him. Since my review at Best Buy someone else gave their Robo 1 star. The consensus here seems to be this is a tinker's hobby. Well they make no reference to that with the shiny new end cap displays they now have at Best Buy. 3D printing is now mainstream with that statement. Now the machine have a 5 star (probably Robo related) and two 1 star ratings. That's not goingt o clear those end caps this Christmas if people review the items before they buy something. Many casual buyers will be turned off to the thought of having to break into the guts of the thing the first week.

 

I've been saying for a while now that marketing 3d printers as if they are anywhere near the level of turnkey/plug-and-play is ridiculous, but the Robo3D is not an outlier in doing this so acting like they're doing something egregious when literally the entire market claims their printers will run without any issues ever if the consumer doesn't break them doing something dumb is silly.

Plus, Best Buy is probably the worst place to buy something expecting anything the salesman tells you in the store to be true. Someone was talking in the Facebook group for Robo3D about how some dumbass at their local store claimed the Robo3D could print some object in 30 seconds while trying to sell it, so it all kind of falls out the window complaining about marketing.

 

It's not a hobby for people who don't understand that things will need work from time to time. Has nothing to do with a beginner or not, but rather a person's willingness to learn and be patient with new tech

 

I picked up my first printer 10/25 and started simple printing the next day. On 10/31 I developed a terrible clog and in frustration boxed it up and exchanged for another. Why didn't I get my money back? My wife has been asking me that. I guess I want this thing to work. The new one was working fine until 11/11. I had begun designing on Sketchup etc. Right after a great print I immediately started another and it clogged beyond belief. Saturday I thought I got that clog out tearing the head apart and finding some small wire to clean it out, but it was either printing off a few inches in the air to almost etching into the glass. I fired it up last night and the clog if back and now I have the nozzle head soaking in finger polish remover hoping it helps tonight. I knew there would be problems, I read this forum and did my research before I bought it. I was expecting some semblance of a honeymoon period though of at least a couple of weeks and I don't think this Robo provided that. It's not working on something from time to time

 

Telling someone that they need to invest more money in a machine that isn't delivering on any of the marketed claims is the worst thing to do.

 

Doesn't really matter what make or model of 3d printer you have. a .4mm nozzle has a high probability of clogging due to foreign particulates or other objects contaminants.

Go to any forum, and you hear the same complaints.


Maybe that dudes sapphire orifice nozzle will help improve on that, but at $90 a nozzle, i'll stick with brass

 

Not to be mean but I just bought another 3d printer wanhao 4s only used for a test print (about 8 hrs on clock) it goes for about ($950).
I got it for $600 and it just had a nasty clog in the right extruder.. Took me about 30 mins to clear it.Before that a refurbish Robo3d R1.

I had fun printing out some fixes and mods for it. If you don't like that kind of thing then you really need to send it back for a refund.
They will sell it again as a refurbished unit., it saves me a lot.of money so thanks.

 

http://makerspaces.meetup.com/ is supposed to be a decent place to start if you are starting from scratch, but even that assumes you know to look there.

 

I've definitely had my frustrations, issues, and I surely would never call Robo Tech support again. With that said, the best advice posted on this forum was "patience". I've used that advice a lot in the short time I've had my printer. It will surely come in handy today, tomorrow, and next week. Robo is a great printer to learn 3d printing on for the money and everything that makes 3d printing possible. Simplify 3d, lcd screen with baby stepping enabled, oiler, etc have made things very helpful. But out of the box success, that be a golden horseshoe. Fight it out, work it thru, make it an investment, not a loss. Surprisingly, it will come fast with each frustration.