Has anyone found a good alternative source for resin in Canada? Formlabs has proved not very good for anyone outside of the USA.
Yesterday I was going to order 1L of resin and a vat and I was shocked they jacked shipping prices and wanted over $90 to ship to Canada. I checked the cost to ship with Fedex and it was less than $40. Formlabs refused to use my own Fedex account.
So far the most trustworthy source I found for resin is AUTODESK because they are a solid company that has a good reputation so we can expect good service and good product. FYI- My order shipped to Canada was the same price as what formlabs charges everyone before shipping.
Please don’t suggest Madesolid resin because the stuff they sent me has yet to be able to build a part on my form1+ that has been able to hammer out parts perfectly since I paid to upgrade my defective Form1.
Perhaps we can combine orders and share shipping costs. I’m in Vancouver BC and have my import/export duty and GST numbers, which also eliminates brokerage fees.
Another solution to sidestep the huge shipping costs to Canada is to setup a Washington ship-to address which I’m currently looking into. For example, shipping Fedex ground to Blaine Washington for 1 liter of resin is $12.36USD. When the quantity is increased to four 1 liter resin bottles the shipping cost is a whopping $17.80USD
I have a USA warehouse I can use for this, it just takes longer to get, but If the AUTODESK resin works in the Form1+ we can buy it including shipping to Canada for less than what formlabs is charging for just the resin. Not to mention the resin is open source.
Once the AUTODESK re sellers stock the machine and materials you’ll be able pickup material locally.
With only good things being said about the printer, I had a hard time being on the AUTODESK website ordering resin and not buy the EMBER 3D printer.
The encouraging entrance of the Ember 3D printer and resin is…
Autodesk is primarily a software company and have been in the game for a very long time…Adobe being the other giant. If we are comparing computer pixel management/manipulation then these are the ones in the top tier with the strongest and most reliable marketshares. They are not going away anytime soon, and are very keen on keeping and increasing their revenues.
Hardware sales have always been a struggle when protecting and increasing profit margins.
Having said the above, I believe it’s in the best interest for these companies to engage in hardware sales that promote the use of their software interests.
A hardware appliance such as the Ember is a perfect fit for Autodesk software products. A high resolution 3D printer attached to Inventor, AutoCAD, Fusion360, and Revit to name a few, a perfect marriage for the Ember. I really like the idea of open-source resins and I hope Autodesk treat the resins as they should be…a “lost sales leader” to their “bread-and-butter” software. Not quite giving it away, but only charging enough to make their software and hardware solutions extremely attractive to those with consumable budgets.
Dan, we should connect and discuss the savings opportunity until open-source resins become a reality for Canadians. There really should be at least two shipping options; 1) place a rush order for resin and 2) I don’t need the resin immediately so I’m ordering resin stock in advance to save on shipping costs. Not having a choice of expedited or frugal slower shipping is extremely frustrating to me, not to mention very unfair for those conducting business from Canada in a global marketplace.
cheers and good journeys,
Brent
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