Wow, it looks like time is just flying past and we have some amazing updates for everyone.

Over 80% of C1’s Have Been Shipped!

We are extremely pleased with how things have been progressing with the tiered rollout of the C1’s so far.

Every now and again we get that warm fuzzy feeling when we see the test benches filled with printers, but more so knowing that in a few days, those printers will be in the hands of actual people that are not us, which is extremely scary but really rewarding all at once. And so far the feedback has been nothing short of glowing!

There is only a small handful of people remaining for C1 deliveries and I can promise they are on their way shortly – However, this also brings us onto our next topic.

International Customs Sucks. Why Can’t It Be Straight Forward?

(like it used to be)

With the last UK printer shipping on Monday, we are left with this weird situation of having fully completed machines unable to be shipped due to CE->UKCA compliance changes.

In order to ship printers to the EU we now need an EU authorised representative to sign off on our CE forms. You would think this to be straight forward…….no…. It has gotten to the point when we were even having discussions about setting up a Dutch shell company so we can import our own printers back to ourselves but as an official EU company.    Now as an avid cyberpunk enjoyer, the concept of setting up a shell corporation makes me giddy – but its really not as straight forward as that + legal ramifications and costs are not easy to swallow.

If anyone is willing to help us out with EU Authorised Reps – we would greatly appreciate the help at this stage! It’s getting done, but if anyone has a quick solution, any advice would be welcomed.

 

In other news

Trade Shows Galore!

First I want to say a massive shout out to Warwick Manufacturing Group for some reason thinking we are pretty cool and doing a trade show featuring our printers. It was quite a weird feeling as its the first show we had nothing to do with where our printers were the sole focus of someone else’s stand. Extremely cool!

Next we did our first maker focused show at “Makers Central“, and boi was that a blast! We had no idea to expect such an amazing show. So many people were interested in what we do, but most cool of all is meeting so many YouTube celebrities.  It was especially fun watching Therese whip out YouTube to quickly search who people were after I (Jacob) was giddily explaining why XYZ was such an important person!

Lastly! WE WILL BE AT TCT 3SIXTY,  come pop by and see the printers in action, you can even touch the side panels to enjoy that slight matte texture to them. No licking though, that costs extra.

 

UPGRADES PEOPLE, UPGRADES!

As some have already seen on twitter, the XL has a slightly new look to it. As we enter the C1XL to the production stack, we were concerned/paranoid for the safety of the printer in the longer haul transport (e.g. America) and how we can guarantee that in the case of rough handling, the frame would stay square. This is where the concept of removeable cross braces came from, and after some trial and error, we fell in love with the look of them, and decided to make them a permanent fixture to the machine.

After re-working the design, we have come up with something that not just looks fantastic (seriously, look at that beef!) but adds even more function to the printer.

But that’s not all. While you cannot see it in the photo, we now officially use MirageC’s WobbleX Z de-couplers.  With Z-rods this large, it is almost impossible to get 100% perfectly straight rods, and while we have an amazing supplier that does really REALLY good quality motors and rods, there is always a few minute curves to the rods every now and again.

This upgrade is 100% extra, and entirely not needed for the function of the machine, but I do love the concept of a completely perfect Z alignment at all times. Plus doing so allows us to support an amazing content creator who is helping to improve the 3D printing space one upgrade at a time!

Last notes

Quite importantly, as some have already messaged us after seeing a cart icon appear on the website. We are extremely close to finishing the web shop. It has been a battle of setting up UPS integration to work with the payment systems, but it’s almost done. Almost.

Oh, and also don’t forget to regularly check in with the website downloads page as we update the slicer settings to improve performance – we will be announcing over twitter when major revisions take place so just keep an eye on it as feedback rolls in and we make improvements to the settings.

That’s pretty much everything for this month, its been extremely busy getting everything built, shipped and setup, but it has been amazing and we cannot wait to see you at TCT!

 

Signing off — Jacob