Please give me a few facts...

I m very lurking at the Hyrel 3D Printer but need some facts.

Are there any printers already in consumer hands? If yes are there any first hand experiences out there? If not when will the device ship?

For me the main selling point is to use interchangable extruders for all kinds of materials. I see there are two different printing heads available for now. Can anyone comment which materials might be also on the to do list.

Can this printer really print down to 25 microns? I am wondering because this kind of precision seems to be exclusive to laser based printers, for now. Can anyone confirm that you can produce the same details like let s say the Form1 by FormLabs?

This all sounds too good to be true, that s why I am asking. My main reason for this printer would be to mix materials. Are there any alternatives I should consider?

Thanks for your advice.

Hi... garbage.

We've delivered about 18 units so far. We're presently shipping a few per week.

If you would like to suggest a material for us to try, please do so.

Yes, we had one of our 25 micron prints with us at CES. I don't know what other printers do, so I have no basis for comparison. I can just tell you what ours do.

It's not too good to be true. We use all metal construction and high quality components. Anyone can make a printer like this, but many people opt for less expensive components and construction methods, and they lose precision in the process.

You should consider every alternative. We are not the fastest, cheapest or easiest printer on the market, but I don't know of any printer that can even come close to the variety of materials we can print with (EDIT: or close to the precision, given similar technology). Based on what you want to do, other printers may be a better choice for you.

We are not the right printer for everyone. But we are the perfect printer for some people, and those are the people we want to sell to.

Cheers,
Davo

Thanks for the reply.

I have some experience with the Solidoodle 3 printer for nearly a year now and therefore wouldn't call myself a newbie. On the other hand I have a daily job beside my hobby and therefore cannot spent endless time to try every imaginable way how to print stuff with reasonable quality. Do you have exact guidelines for the official materials to get satisfying results? Is there a resource for pictures of printed models? I would suggest the famous Eiffel tower to see the quality of fine details.

Don't get me wrong. I don't refuse to tweak the process but what I am looking for is a good base level of quality. With my current printer it is always half an hour or more before you can actually think about starting to print.

I would really love to get in touch with one of the very first customers. Do you have some kind of official community?

In addition I would like to ask you if there are printer heads in development which were not announced yet. I would really love to expand the capabilities of the printer besides simple printing. Do you have considered to provide some sort of laser cutting heads or even milling?

last but not least if I would order the next days can you give a reliable shipping date for new orders?

Thanks again!

We send the printers out with established "recipes" - ratios of flow rates and temperatures for different materials and nozzle sizes. These are used when slicing, to create the gcode.

The Eiffel Tower lends itself to Stereo Lithography because of the huge number of isolated builds (starts and stops) that would leave strings to be cleaned up on most Deposition Modeling printers. I have been meaning to cad up a nice sample piece with complex curves, and slice it for various layer heights and print it in various materials as well, but I haven't gotten to it.

We have our own community forums set up, but I haven't had time to go through and finalize it to go live (or the go-ahead). Hopefully we will do this before too long.

We have several heads in development at present, including the heated EMO-25 (VOL-25, up to 100C) for materials (like wax and chocolate) that don't flow at room temperature; several laser heads for cutting foam, separating anchor pads, etching revision numbers onto parts, etc.; a 3mm filament head; 1.75 and 3mm filament heads to go up to 400C (present filament heads go to 260C); and more. We are working on other heads as well.

Lead times are approximately eight weeks after we receive the deposit.

If you'd like to set up a skype/teamviewer session, you can try the printer out yourself. Just let me know.

-Davo

Thanks again for your reply. I would be happy if you could give me a mall demonstration of its capabilities. Would it be possible to test a 25 micrometer print? It does not have to be big but it would be interesting to see how it works...

Here is our normal process:

1. I send a quotation
2. We do the first skype/teamviewer session, covering the interface, tramming the bed, setting the Z height, and printing in plasticine, including diagnosing under/over flow and some gcode editing.
3. I send a sales order (if you still wish to proceed)
4. We invoice for 10%
5. We build the printer; also, we do the second skype/teamviewer session, covering making a simple CAD model, exporting the .stl, healing the .stl, slicing it, and printing in ABS.
6. We invoice for the balance plus shipping, and we ship.

I'll be happy to book you for the first session, but we print in plasticine at 600 microns during that session. We can print at 25 microns in session two if you like.

I really appreciate your kind offer for a first free demonstration. Would it be possible to arrange one for the end of the week? As I'm located overseas the best time frame would be at noon to 3 pm EST.

Would it be possible to have a little chat after the first demonstration? I have still some questions and I think it might be a good idea to discuss them face to face.

Sure thing, garbage.

I'm not booked on Thursday or Friday, but the boss sometimes puts me in production all day (like today) versus dealing with customers. Let me check and get back to you. :)

I checked my time table and came to the conclusion that Thursday January 30th 2-3pm EST would be the very best option for me. It would be great if we could agree on that appointment.

As Thursday is over I would like to suggest another attempt next Tuesday. Same time frame?

Sorry, I've been doing assembly all week (except for Wednesday's snow day).

I have you booked for Tuesday, 2/4, 2pm EST. Please post or PM your real name and skype ID, and please have teamviewer installed.

I have sent you a private message!

See you soon.

Yes, thank you. See you tomorrow. :)