Kickstarter Printers

In the past year I've seen a lot of 3D printer campaigns on Kickstarter. Most are reprap derivatives that don't involve any groundbreaking innovation - just refinements to offer more structural stability, or lower price, etc.

I've tried backing a few, but so far the follow-though has been pretty disappointing - lots of broken promises and missed deadlines, and lots of unhappy backers.

Aside from the more famous ones, like Makerbot - has anybody had a positive experience with a 3D printer Kickstarter campaign?

I ordered a Kossel Pro and the new delivery date is 7 months late. Still have high hopes for the printer but the wait sure is frustrating. The developers only give updates about once a month after getting a few complaints about not getting an update. The process would be much better if we were getting weekly updates, even if it is just a line or two saying there is no change.

Kickstarter is much more of a risk than folks give it credit for. There is not much you can do if the project is not delivered and nothing you can do if it is late.

I like the fact that you often can get a interesting printer for a low price, but the waiting time is often the killer. In your case, 7 month could mean the end of the FDM printer, who knows where the market is in 7 month. Just saying. But i get why you jumped on the Kossel, they are in my opinion the coolest FDM's out there.

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Originally Posted by KDog

I ordered a Kossel Pro and the new delivery date is 7 months late. Still have high hopes for the printer but the wait sure is frustrating. The developers only give updates about once a month after getting a few complaints about not getting an update. The process would be much better if we were getting weekly updates, even if it is just a line or two saying there is no change.

Kickstarter is much more of a risk than folks give it credit for. There is not much you can do if the project is not delivered and nothing you can do if it is late.

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Yes, I have noticed that printer design is, at a minimum, keeping up with what the KP guys are doing. There are lots of new things coming out that I may have gone for if I hadn't bought the KP. They seem to be doing a great job designing parts to make the KP as stable as possible and I think this is where the KP will shine. Half of the money they received has been used to pay for injection molding. I'm sure I will be as pleased with the result as they will be getting the last unit shipped and the whole project off their workbench.

I don't know if the Kossel Clear from Blue Eagle Labs is a famous one but I can't seem to find any posts about it on this forum.
It was delivered in time, there were some hiccups with the build but what can you expect from a start up company, I'm sure they were overwhelmed by their Kickstarter success.
I learned a lot from this project and know now how to adjust the printer to my liking, so I'm glad that I didn't went for a assembled one for double the price at least.

I have thought about backing a few printers, but they all just seem the same. I agree with 3DEP, they aren't that innovative, just tweaks that are purely subjective. They are all using the same few electronic boards, stepper motors, switches and software. They give the same results, but a touted as being better then the rest.

I thought about the Kossel Pro, missed the deadline, bullet dodged. Built my own for the same price, only because I was learning how to source parts and how to deal with all the different aspects to put things together, like the arduino environment, Repetier, the different slicers, step calculations.

What Kickstarters do is take all that out of your hands and give you a turnkey solution - supposedly.

I still believe that the disconnect is in troubleshooting and fixing small and big issues that come up. Things like adjusting the power on the trimpots to why won't my print stick to the plate.

Kickstarters should focus on software for printers. That's my opinion and I think I got off topic.

I purchased a ROBO3D R1, not as a backer but through their website a few months after the campaign completed. I didn't have a printer at the time so I wanted to buy one that was cheap but capable and had a good build volume. ROBO3D fit the bill with a $700 price tag and a build volume of ~8" cubed. The ROBO3D was by no means a plug and play machine, but I'm still very satisfied with it. I've had some issues with it but the forum on their website is very active and they're tech support is always willing to help out. The one thing I'm a bit disappointed in, is that they have continually upgraded the printer over the last few months. Since I've received the printer, they're replaced the Y axis slides with linear bearings, an easier bed leveling option and magnets to make the print bed removable. Even though i'm excited that they are continuing to improve the printer, I just wish that these features has come standard initially. But, all in all...great first printer.