3D printer arriving soon (again)!

Order update!
Finally a breakthrough! I have to admit I feel a bit weary of the waiting and especially weary of receiving emails indicating over and over again my printer is soon done, but still have to wait some more. Delays were expected but it really starts to grow tiresome when you know that it was supposed to be here.

However about a week ago, I received an email with confirmation that my printer has been dispatched and on it's way. I've been following the tracking information closely and happy to discover that at this time being, the printer have arrived here in Norway and is currently located at the Custom Clearance sort facility. It's almost finally here, and that makes me both happy and a bit worried at the same time. Everything going through Custom clearance here in Norway means I have to pay additional 24% of the value of the item in just tax, which is massive considering how much the printer costs... Sigh.
But after a such a long wait, I'm more than blissful to know that my printer should be here within a week.

Remember I wrote about Solidoodle having 5 months lead time on their products? And if it weren't for that long lead time, I might as well went for that one instead. Guess what. I recently spoke with a guy who ordered from Solidoodle in early January, and he already received his just after a single month! Solidoodle have really been improving their work power to balance out the high demand and decrease the lead time. Well, the joke is on me then. I thought I would receive my printer within 60 days. And by now it's less than a week to we hit March, which hits the 90 days mark; three months instead of two.

Anyways, it is soon here now. I've been spending most of my time since the last blog entry with setting up a dedicated work space for both 3d printing and a general workbench with tools which will become handy for my later plans. More about what tools will prove useful will come later.

In the meanwhile, check out this cool student work of someone printing out their digital character, and assembling it like it was a build kit before finishing it off with some paint!
http://www.evl.uic.edu/sjames/pumpkin3D/

Also check out this easy and cheap Acetone bath trick to smooth out parts printed in ABS.

http://blog.reprap.org/2013/02/vapor-treating-abs-rp-parts.html

-WJ

LINKS: Overview of 3D Printers and a first look at unboxing a M2

Engadget.com - 3D printer guide
Engadget.com made a nice compilation of most of the popular and well established consumer range 3D printers available at the moment. Check it out now before it becomes outdated! Note this is only an overview of features and pricing and not a review of any sort.

Theregister.co.uk - Ten 3D printers for this years 3D modeller
If you want to take a look at the new and upcoming brands and models, check out this small list for what's in store for 2013. If you haven't heard about Formlabs Form 1 before, you should definitely look it up!

3ders.org - 3D printers

Printed by Chris Polis @ ByteMuse

Or head to 3ders.org you want to see a list of almost all 3D printers out there, both industrial and consumer types. They do a great job of updating the list with the new models and pricing! Well almost, I see the M2 is still priced at $ 1,299 from the last year.

Bytemuse.com - 3 days with a 3D printer
Speaking of M2, Chris Polis, a guy whom ordered the Makergear M2 a few weeks earlier than I did, received his the other day and made a very informative post with pictures of the unboxing process. In additional to the well written post, he also shares his expectations and impressions. The picture to right featuring his first print. I'm quite impressed with the print quality for being straight-out-of-the-box print! To me it looks almost perfect and impressive with the walls being able to be this thin! He also shares some good and useful tips when it comes to 3D printing, regardless of which model. I will definitely keep an eye on his blog from now on.

I for certain can't wait on my turn to unbox my printer when it arrives. Like him, I will do a lot of test runs and benchmark my printer. While doing so learn the software and hardware of the printer. When I feel confident enough I can finally start on printing the Corvo Attano mask. The only downside about my situation is I won't be able to start cramming my printer right away due to family matters. I'm going away for most of February and first half of  March, which really sucks. Well, we'll see... I might consider bringing it along though!

Order update

I received an email from Makergear as well today. This time they emailed me, and me not pestering them for an update. :'D

"Hi Wirat, I wanted to send you a quick update on the status of your Fully Assembled M2.Though I am sorry that we're running a bit behind schedule, I'm very glad to be able to tell you that your M2 is in assembly. We expect to have it done, tested, and ready to ship either later this week or early next week.We really appreciate both your purchase and your patience and we'll be sending over your shipping info as soon as it is available. Thanks very much,"

First of all, my hat off for their hard work to pull it through so far. It's hard to keep up with the demand and face the reality that they are going to be running behind schedule, and still maintain good service and support to everyone who have ordered. They have been most helpful in my email exchanges with them and they deserve the credit for doing so. Not everyone has a well reputation of customer service in the 3D printer market.

Well, to sum up my order, I estimate I will receive it by the end of February if everything go as planned with the assembling and shipping.

-WJ