Lix 3D Printing Pen, Delays and Changes

Looks like the Lix 3D Printing pen has run into some issues. First of all, they seemingly were not ready for the huge number of presales they received from their Kickstarter campaign. This has forced the company to push back delivery dates for backers considerable. The second issue involves the design of the pen itself. The company says that the engineering team they hired to get the pen ready for mass production has found issues, and will need to change the design a bit. The exact changes are really anyone's guess at this point. More details on the dates when the 3D pen will ship to backers, as well as additional information as to why this has happened can be found here: http://3dprint.com/4281/lix-3d-pen-problems/

I would be interested in hearing opinions from Kickstarter backers on all of this.

Many different questions arose from that "product". No one is sure if it's realistic or going to be reliable or usable. The team seemed to be shy of engineers. They didn't explain how the filament was going to be pushed through. Concerns over whether the power available in a USB jack is enough to heat up the hot end, the plastic and with power left to push filament. It was apparent that there was a lot of sleight of hand going on.

So, no, I didn't back them.

I backed it and I'm really at a loss to decide whether to go on or not. The KS forum is really fired up and a lot of it is mostly point of views and no facts. Their competition certainly seems to be behind some of the more ruthless posts.

Admittedly, they made a few blunders, especially in communication. The update regarding delayed delivery was "backers only" which is either active deception or beginners' lack of experience.

According to the latest posts they are now selecting an engineering company to help them deal with the unexpected volume in a semi industrial way. Some people see it as a honest status report, others choose to see it as the admission that the prototype is a sham and the KS funding will be used for development (which is contrary to KS rules I think).

Facts :
There is a working prototype as seen in the videos.
The extrusion speed is not a spec they have detailed, and probably relatively slow as seen in the newest videos.
The prototype doesn't yet have a temp selection switch, hence at the moment it's either PLA or ABS but not both.

Would 2 serious engineering companies be wiling to risk their reputation on a condemned project ? I think not. In the meantime the subject is still raging in the KS comments section with over 600 posts. Time will tell.

It's easy to show a "working" prototype when it really isn't, through very simple video sleight-of-hand , especially with selective framing on partially built prototypes. Just watch and ask yourself what parts aren't in the frame of the video at the same time, when it's being used?

That they had to post a new video to more properly represent actual speed, if they were trying to be honest, why wouldn't they mention the speed-up in the first place? If a backer's going to get bored watching actual speed video, then they're going to get bored with the actual product - one apparently designed for looks first and functionality second - assuming they can get that to run off of a USB port.

Engineering companies have done worse.

The problem with taking the generous side and saying they did things in "beginner's lack of experience" is that it bodes poorly for the project as a whole.