LePaul wrote:Very good write up
I wonder if Swordriff will respond
I just wanted to add something to this:
I think Carl has been quite important both for the success of the Olsson block and for Ultimaker as a company.
When the sales of the Ultimaker 2 skyrocketed, their support department collapsed people found them selfs stranded with broken machines and no support or spare parts available.
The old Ultimaker forum together with the 3DSolex helped Ultimaker a lot then by providing an additional source for support and components. Might not have been genuine Ultimaker components, but they got the machines going again in most cases, which was enough to make most users happy.
Carl is a great salesmen, I can not argue that, and 3DSolex started selling things people needed at a very suitable time for all of us.
Now when it comes to the
ruby nozzle, I am hoping it can push development a bit further, opening up new markets and attracting new customer groups.
It is a bit like the Ultimaker 3, which obviously is much more focused at industry and customers who has the money and who rather pay a bit more to get a reliable product.
The main issue I see here is that it is difficult for the new customer groups to judge what one really can do reliably with a 3D-printer, since there is so much stuff out there which is not working as good as the people selling it claims.
As and example, E3D claims that their hardened nozzles will basically not wear with XT-CF20, showing no observable wear after printing 250 grams, or even after 2,5 kg of various carbon filled filaments:
http://e3d-online.com/is-carbon-killing-your-nozzle
Users tells me the opposite though, like roboduck who says he sees signs of wear already after 1-1.5 spools of XT-CF20:
http://3dprintingforum.us/viewtopic.php ... 1630#p1630
I tested it myself the other day.
From basic testing, (which I assume that E3D has done) I know that wear from carbon filled filament depends a lot on what you print, so I selected one of the most downloaded models at thingiverse (a Millenium Falcon) and used normal quality settings in Cura.
After 24 hours and just 70 grams of XT-CF20 it is already obvious that the tip of the nozzle is getting rounder (!).
Before:
(Yes, the hardened nozzle rusts if stored in humid environments)
After:
I find this to be a big challenge, how are we going to open up new markets and attract new groups of customers who has money but demands properly working technology when there is this mix of products and when even the large players sells things based on claims that are questionable?
One would need much more time to test competing technologies and publish the results, because just commenting that things probably wont work as claimed will just make people think I am trying to protect my own technology and prevent development.
As an example, I was not involved or even aware of the Matchless block from 3DSolex.
I would not design it the way it is designed for various reasons and I find some of the claims unlikely based upon my knowledge and experience.
I don't want to comment this though, since I actually did not test it, and I am unlikely to find time to test it anytime soon.