"Time with a Rostock Max"

m4r1n5 · Post by **m4r1n5** » Fri Oct 11, 2013 8:43 am

Found this while googling info.

http://www.kronosrobotics.com/3d/rostock/index.shtml

I thought it was really well written. Gave his issues, found different solutions. While he didn't give it the thumbs up, I thought his extruder and stop switch ideas were pretty good. His extruder/hot end were overall large (2 1/2- 3" in length) which shortened his height, I've seen a smaller stepper and hot end that could shorten the length.

My prints are hit and miss at the moment, but I thought this was the best written review I've seen yet.

Post by **geneb** » Fri Oct 11, 2013 10:54 am

Not impressed at all.

He may have looked on the forum for information, but he certainly didn't _ask_. That's his failing, not the forums'.

Slapping a huge extruder on the effector platform was a stupid idea. If you want a direct drive extruder, build a printer designed for it, not a delta.

I agree that the original extruder can be a bit finicky to get right, but he's obviously never asked for help about it so I have zero sympathy for him.

To me, there's a lot more issues going on with the reviewer than with the machine.

His little review doesn't mention the documentation updates or kit improvements either.

[edit] Also, the issue he had with the end-stop screw was because he threaded the damn thing in there at an angle. Don't blame the f*cking kit if you shoot yourself in the foot.

g.

Jimustanguitar · Post by **Jimustanguitar** » Fri Oct 11, 2013 10:58 am

Even though he didn't reach out for help or have all of the information, at least he seems rational. Compared to that YouTube guy anyway

I saw this review too. What I like most is the A/B comparison pictures. If you took out the article itself and just had pictures and captions (that's how I read anyway) it would make for a decent calibration tutorial.

lordbinky · Post by **lordbinky** » Fri Oct 11, 2013 11:04 am

What I liked about the review was that be bought a kit, then explicitly states he's not willing to put the time into it.

cope413 · Post by **cope413** » Fri Oct 11, 2013 11:06 am

Hell hath no fury like Geneb's scorn for the mechanically disinclined.

Post by **geneb** » Fri Oct 11, 2013 12:49 pm

Indeed.

I've built one printer twice (original Indiegogo machine and then Orange Menace) as well as two others and frankly, it's not that damn hard.

Is it finicky to calibrate? Yes. ALL delta printers require the same calibration steps. It's not rocket science. They ALL use bowden tubes (well unless you're too lazy to figure out how to calibrate your extruder and then slap a direct drive mech on it...but I digress...) and all have some issue or another that CAN be adjusted out. I guess it's just more fun to whine about things than learn about them.

/me grrrs

g.

cope413 · Post by **cope413** » Fri Oct 11, 2013 1:21 pm

My favorite part of his review is that he posts a print that he says is the best print he's ever done on any printer, but then gives up on it.

You'd think that if you could produce the best print you've ever made, that you'd understand it's YOU, not the printer that's the independent variable

Post by **Eaglezsoar** » Fri Oct 11, 2013 1:28 pm

I think Gene is about to burst a blood vessel.
That was just one dude's opinion and not much of one either.
I agree that if you just look at the pictures you would be better off.

dpmacri · Post by **dpmacri** » Fri Oct 11, 2013 2:14 pm

Interestingly, that's one of the reviews I found *before* I purchased my Rostock MAX. It concerned me a little because I hadn't done any 3D printing before and I was worried that perhaps I'd end up with the same problems. I e-mailed SeeMeCNC and John kindly responded that the reviewer hadn't bothered to contact them and had some problems (bearings wearing) that NO other users had reported. John suggested I join the forums and start asking questions and for help -- which I did! You guys have been awesome in helping!

I'm totally satisfied with my purchase! Does it require tweaking/tinkering -- absolutely. But anyone buying a "kit" should assume that!

lordbinky · Post by **lordbinky** » Fri Oct 11, 2013 4:04 pm

It was entertaining though. The review comes off like the start of one of those commercials "Cooking Spaghetti too hard?!" and then it shows someone fumbling about with a pot spilling water everywhere.... but they can then work a microwave perfectly right after that.

626Pilot · Post by **626Pilot** » Mon Oct 14, 2013 9:10 pm

I liked the review. It's good to get feedback from someone who isn't "in the club" every now and then. If he's not on these forums all the time, he doesn't have to worry about expressing his opinion and possibly taking flack for it. That means he has no reason to be anything other than perfectly honest. When I've put products on the market I've always appreciated that kind of feedback because it cuts through all the unnecessary social BS and tells me what I need to know to make my products better, even if I don't like what I'm hearing at the time.

Post by **Eaglezsoar** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 10:51 am

He has written a review on 3D printers for Servo Magazine and included the Rostock Max.
His review of the Rostock Max was not exactly great. The review is in the October 2013
edition of the magazine. I guess everyone is entitled to their opinion.

626Pilot · Post by **626Pilot** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:06 pm

Eaglezsoar wrote:He has written a review on 3D printers for Servo Magazine and included the Rostock Max.

Do you have online access? It says you can "share" issues with friends for a couple of weeks.

Post by **Eaglezsoar** » Wed Oct 23, 2013 11:36 pm

[attachment=0]RMAX-REVIEW.pdf]

626Pilot wrote:
Eaglezsoar wrote:He has written a review on 3D printers for Servo Magazine and included the Rostock Max.
Do you have online access? It says you can "share" issues with friends for a couple of weeks.

File Removed.

626Pilot · Post by **626Pilot** » Thu Oct 24, 2013 1:19 am

Thanks for uploading that. Overall, the review seems reasonable, but there are a few things I don't agree with.

I don't get what he's saying about the homing screws making it hard to get a consistent result because the switches don't care if the screw is at an angle. I think he was probably assuming that he couldn't get the bed level because of that, when it could be a bunch of things. (Like one of the towers not at an exact 60 degree angle from the others, or the arms being infinitesimally different in length, or whatever the popular theory of the day is.) He says these printers are a lot of trouble, and they can be. Getting them to produce a part that's a few inches across is fairly straightforward. Printing something that goes out to the edges with a .1 or similar layer height can be painfully difficult, however.

He's right that SeeMe is not always good at documentation. This complaint surfaces from different people at different times. Maybe they are getting better, but I remember ordering my EZStruder and spending a lot of time looking for installation instructions and finding none. I know documentation is boring, but it's important. (If they had a wiki installed, it would be a moot point because WE could fill in a lot of the documentation for them.) However, he also says that SeeMe expects you to get support from other users, which is partly true, but far from the whole truth. They do answer support requests and they have goodwilled stuff to me and others.

His conclusion that the Rostock is more for hobbyists is one I can agree with. If I could print this thing at 0.1mm layer height and come out perfect without having to spend dozens of hours figuring out why the same printer radius setting will never produce the same result on all three towers, I would think he was being too harsh, but these printers DO have usability issues. We can pretend they don't, and those issues will be more than happy to stay just as they are.

Blade-Breaker · Post by **Blade-Breaker** » Sun Nov 03, 2013 9:57 pm

dpmacri wrote:Interestingly, that's one of the reviews I found *before* I purchased my Rostock MAX. It concerned me a little because I hadn't done any 3D printing before and I was worried that perhaps I'd end up with the same problems. I e-mailed SeeMeCNC and John kindly responded that the reviewer hadn't bothered to contact them and had some problems (bearings wearing) that NO other users had reported. John suggested I join the forums and start asking questions and for help -- which I did! You guys have been awesome in helping!

I'm totally satisfied with my purchase! Does it require tweaking/tinkering -- absolutely. But anyone buying a "kit" should assume that!

Great post. I am planning on getting a Rostock MAX in the next week or two. It also will be my first 3D printer and I also seen this review and was concerned about the issues he had.

dbarrans · Post by **dbarrans** » Sun Nov 03, 2013 10:19 pm

They *do* have a wiki. See http://wiki.seemecnc.com/Main_Page. Feel free to help it grow.

- dan

Welcome to the SeeMeCNC Community

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