That’s a good point Kevin. I didn’t think of the international buyers. Maybe later on, they will setup service centers in some countries that would make it easier to send in the Form1 for repair. Or like you said, if you can change the part yourself, then that should be great, but I’m thinking they are worried that some people may mess things up even more by doing that.
@Kevin Holmes I did read the whole sequence, what started as an example of the unlikely event that FormLabs would sell replacement parts seems to have turned into a bash FormLabs comment really quick. That’s why I said something. I would hate for someone to be turned off the Form 1 due to what I think are unrealistic expectations on your part. The fact that you say it is useless for engineering prototypes demonstrates this most. I work as a CNC machinist in a shop that makes prototypes for some fairly large optical and aerospace companies, and very often the dimensions are plus/minus .005 or even as large as plus/minus .010 in for parts that don’t directly interface with lenses or each other. I was able to print all of the parts of the Indicator from Thingiverse and they all meshed fine with a little sanding(doesn’t work as the FL resin doesnt have the springiness I need for the spring.) If you are trying to do some close tolerance work with a 3D printer you are not going to have much luck with any of the machines available, let alone in this price range. I made it through 2.5 liters of resin before I had my first problem (which FL took care of in less than a week). This isn’t to say I didn’t have model failures and such, but they were all things I had done wrong in the positioning or supporting and things I needed to learn to make this machine run as good as possible. And I know I’m not the only one who has been printing with little to no issues.
Also unless you have heard from FormLabs directly about out of warranty repairs I’m not sure how you could possibly say that they aren’t considering/haven’t implemented a out-of-service warranty program. Hell, most of the Form 1’s haven’t been in the wild long enough for people to even run out of their warranty. How about we wait to see how they handle their first out-of-warranty problem before we make any assumptions? Also as Monger stated, a out-of-service warranty makes the most sense. It may not be a direct money maker, but keeping the Form 1’s that are out in the public running with little to no fuss seems like a pretty good idea if you want more sales and don’t want bad press. Also allowing you to install the component yourself only leads to more possible error and more possible ruined components. With FL replacing any broken part at least you would have accountability if anything went wrong due to the new part. Like Monger though I didn’t think of the international backers, that is a shame that you have to send it all the way back.
And to answer your comment, I am in no way associated with the 3D printing industry or FormLabs except for my Form 1 that I backed. I just did a lot of research into 3D Printing before buying one and also happen to be lucky enough to have friends who use expensive 3D printers as part of their jobs that I can compare with. Does the Form 1 do everything my friends Objet can do at work? Hell no. Does it come really close, is cheap enough that I have it sitting on my desk at home, and easy enough to use that I started printing right out of the box? Definitely
@Kevin Oh I misread your other post of the galvos. Thought you were getting 120.22mm from a 120mm part before tweaking them. 122mm is a bigger error than I had initially read sorry. I still don’t think its useless for testing designs out, you just have to adjust your workflow accordingly. Spending an hour or so sanding some parts to test fit is still much cheaper than giving a draft over to a machine shop to make a prototype to test fit only to have it come back wrong or misfitting.