I don’t recall all the various issues off-hand (it’s been a while since I’ve dealt with them), but historically we’d had a lot of issues with the calibration sensors/limit switches not working, or prints failing for seemingly no reason, or not being able to hold a tolerance or print consistently, etc.
I think of our ~8 printers we have like 1 that actually works relatively well.
The more recent versions (for zip tie mounting, bolt-based mounting, and heat-set inserts) are all available via the Onshape source doc linked on that page. I would probably recommend the 10 bolt based solution, or a hybrid of that and the zip tie version for general use.
I do want to say, having known @ehochstein for a long time and having seen the benefits of Stratasys’s support of particularly FTC here in MN that I think it’s deeply offensive to open a thread accusing him and Stratasys of foul play in donating free, perfectly fine printers to teams, and I would strongly encourage the OP to be a bit more tempered in their posts in the future.
Not very well laid out, but this was the jist of it.
@Taylor, I think the reason you’re getting downvoted pretty hard is you still see the credits as free and not a resource (that was paid for when a team signs up). It is true that a team can choose to spend that resource on other FC items, but a lot of them chose what they thought was a good deal NOT knowing that support would be discontinued. Similar issue to a certain motor that a lot of teams invested resources in and we’ve been seeing the backlash on that as well. And I already addressed Evans steps.
And does it work without internet?
Are repair parts available?
Can you service the machine yourself?
Bambu labs have done some neat things, but their always connected business model with spare parts being very difficult to get has really been a warning flag to me.
FIRST Choice items are donated from companies. Based on that, it would seem that what teams are paying for when they register is the ability to get a chassis (or opt out), a few game pieces, some virtual vouchers, and the ability to compete at events. FIRST choice seems like a bonus imo*.
*Standard comment that these views represent my own thoughts and not necessarily the thoughts of my team or employer
Edit: moved question to this thread Need Bambu Lab 3D Printer Reviews - #17 by Japple
We also were one of the teams to receive one of the Stratays units. There is nothing in the announcement that the printer are discontinued is either surprising or reflects negatively on Stratasys. I don’t know much about the 3D printer market and I’m not sure on the model’s exact history, but there is a press release from 2008 announcing the 1200es and the user guide is copyright 2008. My read of the situation from moment we received the printer was that it was an older model nearing the end of its commercial life that the company had chosen to donate since its actual value was much less than the MSRP.
There is nothing wrong with that. Their company, their money. I don’t see why we would hold it against them that they chose to donate something other than their latest and greatest product.
If you started with an assumption that the value of the printer to your team was equivalent to a cash donation of the MSRP, then sure you would be sad to realize that it wasn’t that valuable. OTOH, if you compared to receiving the usual mix First Choice items, the Stratasys looks really really good.
For our team it was the difference between having a 3D printer and not having a 3D printer at all in the 2022 season. Now it is still easy to use and reliable.
At some point it will break and we’ll have to get something more typical for FRC teams, but for now we’re really happy.
That may be the case now. 1 year ago when I did my first round of research there was a disturbing number of people saying it was a fight to get spare parts, or to work with Bambu support.
It looks like most of those reports have died down, so it may have just been growing pains on the past of Bambu.
Yes.
Haven’t a clue! I’ll let you know if/when I experience issues that require me to contact their support team.
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