Delays on Form3 delivery

#32

yeah- I need the volume, and more importantly, I don’t have the time to be babysitting a printer, teasing more resin into the tank as each build progresses…
I waited to buy my own machine for one that would dispense resin automatically, know the heat and exposure settings so I didn’t have to fiddle with them, was smart enough to detect an issue and pause a print- rather than produce a rat’s nest…
And that offered a wide range of materials for a wide range of different prototypes.

Oh- and cost less than 10,000- which left me with One viable option.

I am watering at the mouth over the IDEA of the Form 3L… but I won’t buy one until I have squeezed every bit of usability out of my Form 2 … and have a year or more of user reviews on the Form 3L on which to base a major spending decision.

#33

“Quality control systems should…”

Sorry- but those placards and qualifications are merely saying that your management is good enough that when they see a product in production that’s not working, they know enough to rework the design.

Look, I’ve been in product development for 35 years.
I’ve worked with bureaus running Stratsys printers for 25 years, and their $100K plus machines have as many problems if not more than any Form 2. And they have a long history of NOT supporting very expensive machines that are only 3 or 4 years old, too.

And, no, We don’t call it beta testing, because production runs are sold to the general public. But in today’s world of "pre-selling’, beta testing is exactly what it really is. When you pre-sell, you have forums threads like this full of folks who forked over money, trashing your company reputation for not delivering on time. That is a HUGE pressure to start shipping products that you know still have issues…

But in fact, NO complex product is fully finalized until AFTER it has been released to the public. And No complex product is fully designed until AFTER it has been put into mass production.
Products ARE routinely tweaked and altered while in production because of problems that only mass production conditions reveal.
It could be that human beings can not reliably assemble a part that there is no automated solution for. It could be that a part that TESTED fine, turns out to fail unpredictably earlier than the supplier warranted. It could be because a Part simply can not be made by anyone in the volumes the market requires… ( remember when Apple was promising Sapphire iPhone faces? )

And products being used in the real world reveal other issues that even the most conscientious team of quality control nerds never could have foreseen.
The old saying in product development is that you simply can not make anything foolproof, because fools are so very ingenious.

#34

Ordered our Form 3 in early May 2019, original ship date was August 2nd, never head from anyone when that date passed by. I reached out to sales but my expectations are now very low. We absolutely love our Form 2 and I do not understand why Formlabs would discontinue the Form 2 before the Form 3 is readily available. My experience with this Form 3 order combined with the eternally evolving Fuse 1 delay tells me that as customers we need to expect that Formlabs will seriously over promise and under deliver on any new products.

#35

If the Form3 had been shipping on schedule then it wouldn’t have been as much of an issue that they had discontinued the Form 2.

Also, the Form 2 wasn’t delayed like this so it’s more of a unique situation.
I think it would help though that instead of taking full cost at the time of preorder they should have taken a deposit

#36

My Form 3, ordered April 10th, finally shipped on Sept 3rd.

#37

Crazy about these shipping stories. I didn’t plan on it but a local guy sold me a form 3 for a crazy price after seeing my post to sell one of my form2’s. Such a great deal I couldn’t pass it up. I hope you all get your machines soon.

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#38

F3 on the second hand market already! I hope you bought a lottery ticket as well!!:grinning:

#39

I ordered one … no clue when, canceled the order beginning of august and they still shipped me a machine that is here since 13 days instead of a refund). Nice machine, even if I cannot see it since it is in an unopen box.
So they are shipping … not necessarily to the right people

#40

Let us know if it works, I am on a Facebook Formlabs Dental group, and one users Form 3 printer says its a counterfeit and to contact Formlabs support! Crazy!

#41

:rofl:this is hilarious… now if they refunded and sent you the machine I’d say your deal was better than mine and you need to grab a lottery ticket

#42

What the hell!! Maybe this one will too? You never know seeing as tho I didn’t place the original order. I wonder what happens in that situation. :thinking:

#43

So now you know how you got it for a crazy low price! :stuck_out_tongue:

#44

Lol basically … if it doesn’t work. :rofl:… maybe they disable it using the serial ? :man_shrugging:t5:

#45

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This was the error that popped up on their machine. Hopefully that is not the case for you!

#46

Yeah I hope not ! That’s crazy ! I wonder what happens in that situation.

#47

I actually don’t have the resin tray so can’t even fire it up if I wanted right now.

#48

We will see, but I doubt I will get a refund before the printer is not back, which sucks since I was agreed a refund 6 weeks ago or so, and the shipping is their error.

#49

Damn sorry to hear that.

#50

I went ahead and busted it out and don’t seem to have that issue.

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But did notice how the plastic on top can scratch up the orange cover which is a bummer Im pretty sure I didn’t have this issue with my two form2 machines.

Its possible I could have issues with the machine if I tried to update the firmware but since I can’t even attempt to print anything I figure I will wait for a real important job to come through. Or for the selling of my two form2 machines to happen before really doing anything with this one.

It looks like he tried to update and got that message. Can he still use the machine as it is?

#51

I’m not positive, I asked in the group about an hour ago. I will let you know what he says. Glad to see that yours is working.