The Upcoming Upgrade Package

[Lucas Hokanson]

I'm at an impasse with my Makibox, and what I do next is hinging on what will be available in this upcoming upgrade package.  Jon, can you clarify just what is going to be available in it?  It is just the Zen wheel replacement?  Is there a new hot end design?  Perhaps even more?

Any information would be greatly appreciated. 

I ask as my LT was shipped to me with the HT model's power supply and power board.  So I should be able to order a heated bed from Makible and drop it into my existing box to allow me to be able to print with ABS as I currently cannot with PLA alone.

Thanks in advance! 

[Willem Lijmbach]

Better be an improved hot end in it. I feel royally scammed as mine wasn't working even when it came fresh out of the box. Jon's quality control isn't worth shit.

Obviously no replacement unless i would send mine back which would cost me 15 euro. Just spent 20 euro on an aftermarket replacement.

Op 23 apr. 2014 20:16 schreef "Lucas Hokanson" <lucash...@gmail.com>:

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[Jonathan Buford]

It is an upgrade for the whole extrusion system to make the use more consistent for anyone and to help address the variable lifetime we are seeing for the current hot ends out in the field. Unfortunately, it will be an upgrade and not a free swap, as we both don't have the resources to do this, and it is a step up from the previous design in cost, and so the 1.1 MakiBox will have a slightly higher price as well. 

[Lucas Hokanson]

Oh that's good to know.  I have absolutely no issues paying for something like this.  The next question which you probably don't want to give a number to is" very roughly how long do you anticipate it being before going live for purchase?  A month? 3? 6?

I want to plan out my near term future for this printer.

Thanks Jon! Your effort is very much appreciated. :)

[Jonathan Buford]

We are currently doing extensive testing this week, finalizing the production design. After that we will send a handful of beta units to existing users and arrange for the production components, which will take around 1 month after the design is finalized.

[Lucas Hokanson]

Fantastic news!  I would gladly help out with this beta-testing initiative if that's at all possible.  (Hell I'll even pay extra to be in the beta group!)

[Kevin Reifenschneider]

I would like to get in on that beta testing too as it's now been a week since support emailed me back about what I think is a defective hot end I received. Can't even get a response as to weather I can buy one or not. Stinks waiting three years and then be dead in the water due to this problem, then have support get back to you in 24 hours, now a week since last response. Guessing they replacing defective parts are at the bottom of the priority list. I for one will purchase nothing further until the makibox team gets what I've already paid and waited for working.

Kevin R.

[Willem Lijmbach]

Tough luck, isn't it Kevin? Waiting for years for a broken product. I'm pretty angry too. Customer service mailed me back within minutes concerning the out-of-the-box defective hot end. Waranty AND quality control are on a very, very low level at Makibox. You will end up having to pay for sending it back. I will advise you to buy something better, lots of good suggestions of the forums.

 

I got one on ebay for 38 dollars (inc shipping)

[Austin Peasley]

I've been given the same runaround too, claiming they (and they alone as far as I am aware in the customer service world) need a product returned so they can examine it before they can send a refund. At my expense for the international shipping, and for the shipping back as well if they decide not to send the replacement for their defective part.

[Willem Lijmbach]

Good way to keep a customer happy, right? This company never ceases to amaze...

[Hans van Kleef]

Hi Jon,

 

Here's a message from the Netherlands.

Can you spread the upgrade parts also through www.banggood.com for instance.

This works great, fast and cheap. There are more 3D-printer parts in this web-shop.

 

Thanks, Hans

 

Op donderdag 24 april 2014 04:59:57 UTC+2 schreef Jon Buford:

[Wesley Woo-Duk Hwang-Chung]

I've already had TWO hot-ends replaced via customer support in the span of two months. If anything needs fixing, it's consistency in response (and responsiveness) from the customer support for all customers, and less the warranty replacement process itself.

First replacement was for a dead (not heating up) hot-end. Support said it needed to receive the part first, so I sent it via air mail. This exchange of e-mails took a few days. The part got there in a week, it was checked out in a week, and the replacement was sent out after that, taking a bit less than two weeks. The process took about a month total. I paid for the shipping of the defective part. The support said if I sent it via ordinary air mail, the shipping cost could be reimbursed via PayPal or store credit. But I was using a faster courier, so no reimbursement there.

During this process, I asked if I could buy a spare hot-end separately. I was told that it cost $25 including shipping. So I paid that amount via PayPal. The spare arrived with the replacement. One way to look at this is that, if it costs more than 25 bucks to send back, you might as well tell the support that you want to buy a new hot-end instead.

Second replacement was for a top-leaking hot-end. I sent a hi-res picture of this. I was told that a replacement would simply be sent my way. I guess the symptoms were pretty obvious from looking at the picture, unlike the non-heating one. The replacement arrived about two weeks later. During this time, I was using a spare purchased from the previous round, so I didn't have downtime.

To summarize the experience, when the customer service is properly going through the process with the customer, it works out fine. The only thing that takes up time is probably the physical material being sent back and forth. This should be expected by everyone. Jon and the team should check for where the cracks occur, so that people don't get stranded and frustrated.

Of course, if there wasn't any need for the replacement in the first place, that would've been much better. Unfortunately, the hot-end design does seem to have a relatively high defect rate. It's small wonder there's been a redesign going through.

Wesley Hwang-Chung
Tool-Box.info

[Paul Pangrazzi]

Perfectly summarized. Thank you Wesley.

Mobilized.

[Kevin Reifenschneider]

Starting week 3 with no response from customer service :( :( :(

Kevin 

[Jonathan Buford]

You can check your inbox and reset your timer. :)

[Kevin Reifenschneider]

One sentence and it answered none of my questions :(

Kevin 

[Jonathan Buford]

It was addressing your issue that was presented, from what I could tell. Please reply to it if it didn't solve the issue.

[zr yang]

Hi all,

i still haven't got my box. Customer support said eight weeks ago, it will be sent in two weeks. But it is still in packing. I can't understand it. I had paid 49$ more for a quick shipping. But....

Order Placed:
August 30, 2013 
PACKING

Order ID: 1320 

 What about you? When did you get it? or not? I have no idea how to get my box. I can't get the useful information from the customer support.:(

[Lucas Hokanson]

People! I understand you may be frustrated with *other issues* but please create separate topics for them! Don't keep hijacking other discussions to use them as a personal complaint box.

This really needs to be a group rule if not already one.

Thanks for understanding.

Oh, speaking of the topic at hand; Jon, how goes the upgrade package?

[Jonathan Buford]

We are starting to get good output with PLA going. It looks like the upgrade will include a fan on the hot end to give better prints. Other than that, the extruder drive mod seems to be holding up well. We are trying to wrap it up as soon as possible and disclose the final package.

[Lucas Hokanson]

Great to hear, looking forward to this.

[Paul Pangrazzi]

+1. Looking forward to it as well.

【ツ】paul

On Wed, May 7, 2014 at 4:35 PM, Lucas Hokanson <lucash...@gmail.com> wrote:

Great to hear,  looking forward to this.

[mak...@michaelkirkland.org]

On the note of upcoming upgrades, any updates for those of us that
ordered the Ramen? :)

[Lucas Hokanson]

Have the past two weeks led any significant progress for you Jon?

~Lucas