Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Does anybody have a printer from inDimension3?

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Does anybody have a printer from inDimension3?

    I'm looking at high-end 3D printers, and I came across these printers from inDimension3

    http://indimension3.com/our-3d-printers

    The printers look fantastic - big build platform, multiple materials, dual heads. But I can't find any 3rd-party reviews.

    Does anybody know more about these printers? Or about the company?

    #2
    inDimension3

    Originally posted by add7 View Post
    I'm looking at high-end 3D printers, and I came across these printers from inDimension3

    http://indimension3.com/our-3d-printers

    The printers look fantastic - big build platform, multiple materials, dual heads. But I can't find any 3rd-party reviews.

    Does anybody know more about these printers? Or about the company?
    Hello,

    I would like to comment on this post as I operate an inDimension3 3D printer for the company I work for. We use The Glacier Summit Dual print head 16 x 16 x 18 and have come to enjoy having it as part of the product development team. We purchased this machine and began operating it in October 2013. The team and I enjoy using the printer and enjoy having the ability to get high quality prints out of such an affordable machine.

    The benefits:

    I will go ahead and say that the inDimension3 Glacier Summit has some obvious and significant benefits compared to other machines. I work in Product Development for a medium sized plastics manufacturer and importer that wanted to stay on top of new technology but was not necessarily prepared to fork out the tens of thousands of dollars required to get a machine that would print builds of the size that the Glacier Summit allows. At the time, it simply did not make good business sense for what we needed it for. In this way, inDimension3 has addressed a great niche. Providing machines for companies, hobbyists, and the like that are affordable yet allow you to print high quality pieces that are larger than pocket sized models of the concept.

    The machine is also capable of printing high-resolution parts at 50 micron. From what I have read, this is higher resolution than MakerBot machines.

    Because it is a dual-head printer, we are capable of printing multiple colors or support material for our builds. Having the ability to use support material is an absolutely necessary feature for me. I could not imagine working without it and having to chip away PLA from the model afterwards. We run high impact polystyrene (HIPS) as our support material and dissolve the material away after the build using d-limonene.

    As I previously stated, SIZE MATTERS. This machine is capable of printing MUCH larger pieces than most other machines out there. In fact, it is capable of printing bigger pieces than is really feasible for the amount of g-code my computer is required to generate. This is not a problem for me, I just told IT to beef up my system requirements I am also confident it is one of the only companies doing it for the $6,000 price tag. I printed a very large flower vase and sent it to a customer just recently who plans to take the concept to big box home improvement stores. The customer loved the model, which was instant validation for our effort to purchase a 3D printing machine.

    The machine ships fully assembled, and when it arrives it ships with multiple prints the company ran for quality assurance.

    The company recommends using an open source CAM software referred to as Repetier with Sli3er built into it. From articles I have read, this is the software that just recently is starting to stand out as the overwhelming favorite in the maker community. It is a regularly updated firmware package. I will be honest, early on when purchasing the Glacier Summit, I was frustrated by my ability to use the machine. However, I believe I could not really point the finger at inDimension3 for my problems were related to the Sli3er and Repetier software. When purchasing the machine it was a buggy open source software package that has since been updated. NO PROBLEMS now!

    Whenever I have a question, I reach out to one of my reps within the company. He is a great help and answers my phone calls at anytime of the day. Even after hours and weekends.

    Comment


      #3
      Originally posted by add7 View Post
      I'm looking at high-end 3D printers, and I came across these printers from inDimension3

      http://indimension3.com/our-3d-printers

      The printers look fantastic - big build platform, multiple materials, dual heads. But I can't find any 3rd-party reviews.

      Does anybody know more about these printers? Or about the company?

      I've used both the newer Makerbot Replicator 2 as well as the Glacier Summit Plus. Both have their strengths and weaknesses. The ID3 printer's biggest benefits are the build size (huge!!) and their customer support. Being in the furniture and lighting design industry, we are able to print full-scale parts to review the form and proportions before we even begin prototyping in wood or metal. It has quite literally changed our company and the way we design new products. The open-source software (Repetier / Slic3r) has a bit of a learning curve - and a bit more complicated than Makerbot's Makerware. Our design team had some struggles with it - but once we setup a few standard configurations, things became much easier. If you are looking for something large and more "professional", I would highly recommend ID3. We'll actually be getting another one shortly.

      Comment


        #4
        I was recently reviewing the inDemension printers for our design studio. The Summit has a great build size and is a solid quality printer, probably the best in its class for size, print quality and price point. I was also lucky enough to be shown an operational version of their new iDeator12 which was hands down the best FDM printer I have ever seen! It massively out classes anything in its market segment. Not only is it a good looking machine the resolution is impeccable and it flies around about 5x faster than its contemporaries. Its print heads and leads screw mechanism far out spec its competition. The proposed price point was fantastic and initial launch build was rumored to be 12x12x13. I was told they would be announcing at some point in February so I am eagerly awaiting the opportunity to get my hands on one.....

        Comment


          #5
          I would be careful regarding this printer. I purchased the printer without the optional stand in late December of last year. It arrived in a crate with a broken limit switch and the forward guide shaft forward ends for the base plate axis off and resting on the support structure. We did not think too much about it thinking maybe that is how it is shipped. Wrong. We also then realized they did not send the tool kit nor the control box. By the time we got everything and started to run it, several days had passed. The first number of runs did not produce very good parts at all even with help from the manufacturer. After some time back and forth with the manufacturer, I asked what the return policy was. I was told it was 14 DAYS! What outfit only provides 14 days for a warranty on something costing over $6000.00? Their website was not very informative, especially in the area of warranty.

          After more back and forth with them, we decided to level the base plate of the build platform ourselves knowing that it was not done since it was shipped not fully assemblied. Here it is almost 4 months later and it still does not function as advertised. We recently tried using the support material as well with it being a mess. Now we have a $6000 piece of equipment that cannot produce a part as good as what we get in our $2300 MakerBot.

          Bottom line, be very careful in deciding to go with this printer. The build size is nice which is the primary reason for purchasing it however we did expect it to produce to the level of quality you would expect from a $6000 price tag. If you can no get satisfactory results in 5 days, return it.

          Comment


            #6
            I also have an issue with the 14day return policy at iD3. After troubleshooting Glacier Summit printer per iD3 Tech feedback past the 14day period, iD3 finally admitted that the wire could jam in the extruder and that other customers have had a similar issue. This was not disclosed at the time of the purchase and would have been a major decision making factor. Knowing the new information, I requested a return or an exchange but was told that my printer would be worth 0$ even though I also bought the extended warranty. Finally, iD3 notified me that my printer is being phased out 2 months after I bought it and dropped the price to 3900$ from 6000$, essentially rendering it worthless in return value. I feel cheated out of money and am handling a dispute with the credit card company at this time. iD3 return and exchange policy is not fair at all. I also question the morality of iD3 sales strategy (selling a printer they probably knew was going to be phased out at the time and knowing its defects). Oh and beware of having to pay for the return shipment cost that could go into the 2000$ range.

            Originally posted by dbyram View Post
            I would be careful regarding this printer. I purchased the printer without the optional stand in late December of last year. It arrived in a crate with a broken limit switch and the forward guide shaft forward ends for the base plate axis off and resting on the support structure. We did not think too much about it thinking maybe that is how it is shipped. Wrong. We also then realized they did not send the tool kit nor the control box. By the time we got everything and started to run it, several days had passed. The first number of runs did not produce very good parts at all even with help from the manufacturer. After some time back and forth with the manufacturer, I asked what the return policy was. I was told it was 14 DAYS! What outfit only provides 14 days for a warranty on something costing over $6000.00? Their website was not very informative, especially in the area of warranty.

            After more back and forth with them, we decided to level the base plate of the build platform ourselves knowing that it was not done since it was shipped not fully assemblied. Here it is almost 4 months later and it still does not function as advertised. We recently tried using the support material as well with it being a mess. Now we have a $6000 piece of equipment that cannot produce a part as good as what we get in our $2300 MakerBot.

            Bottom line, be very careful in deciding to go with this printer. The build size is nice which is the primary reason for purchasing it however we did expect it to produce to the level of quality you would expect from a $6000 price tag. If you can no get satisfactory results in 5 days, return it.

            Comment


              #7
              I have been waiting for delivery of he iDeator12 since February. The promise is always "next month for sure". I think I'm done waiting. Thanks for the feed back

              Comment


                #8
                Gene,

                Did you ever get your printer? I ordered in July and never received... I have now learned they have "ceased operations" as of October.

                Comment


                  #9
                  We have had the iDeator12 from inDimension3 for 8 months now. Still cannot get it to print as good as our $2,000 Replicator 2. I have to print things at 1/2 to 1/4 the speed of our Makerbot to get it to print somewhat decent. Still will not print acceptable support material through the second extruder know matter what programs or settings I try.
                  @ONEROOMSTUDIOS - You mentioned they ceased operations. Are they out of business?

                  Comment


                    #10
                    InDimension's website now shows a home page with no usable links and is unusable. Also, got a automated LinkedIn update stating Bill Reube, who we have contacted in the past, no longer works there and has a new job at a realty company. Pretty sure inDimension no longer exists................

                    Comment


                      #11
                      hi There, im trying to contact the ID3 to buy the Glacier Summit but they dont reply to emails !, anyone can help ?

                      Comment


                        #12
                        There is a good chance they are out of business. Their website doesn't work anymore and one of the main guys that worked there left for a realty company.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          I also had a problem with these ass hats. I bought 2 printers ,neither one worked. We negotiated a refund, sent the printers back to them. That was in May...still no refund. John Springrose gave me the run around and lied his ass off about all the details of our deal.I am trying to sue them but I am afraid they are out of business. If anyone knows different please post here, thanks

                          Comment


                            #14
                            @Greg - We ordered a Glacier Summit from them last year, never could get it to work right. They didn't want it back because they were phasing it out. So they sent us the ID12 in place of it for the difference in money. Well, we've had it for about 8 months now and I'm just now getting it to print somewhat decent, but only using one extruder and at slow speeds. We even had to make special brackets to modify it so the bed wouldn't vibrate while traveling up and down. If they are out of business, it's not a surprise........

                            Comment


                              #15
                              We have over $7000 worth of their printers, in reality only worth $1k in parts, and not able to get them to work right. They are not in business as far as I know and their salesman bailed and is working elsewhere in an unrelated field. I am a designer and am in the process of redesigning some of the hardware. I will get them to work and work better. We already have made progress by switching to different software. If you want to stay in the loop as to what changes we have made, send to dbyram@cad-a-syst.com or jbyram@cad-a-syst.com and get the word around that maybe together we can make them work and lose the funds.

                              Comment


                                #16
                                Pretty sure they are all gone. I guess they were thinking, how hard can this be? we'll just buy an immature concept company and start making tons of money!

                                diablorougerules@outlook.com

                                I had the wrong Email, I started one to deal with this and did not want to add noise to my other email.
                                Last edited by kengineer; 12-20-2014, 06:53 PM. Reason: incorrect Email

                                Comment


                                  #17
                                  Interestingly, their discussion forum is still up

                                  http://indimension3.forumbee.com/community

                                  Comment


                                    #18
                                    I purchased the Ideator 12C for our business to produce brackets and spacers to be used in our products. After several months we can produce what we need using mostly ABS materials. We have learned a lot about what works and does not work with this printer. Found when we changed to the Simplify3D software, the finished product was much better. Still unable to print small text anywhere near the quality level of the MakerBot we used at a local tech shop. Maybe if we share what works and does not work, we could all get some value out of this product.

                                    Comment


                                      #19
                                      Lasdee,

                                      your experience sounds like mine.

                                      I ordered a ideator12 when they showed the sexy case in feb 14, finally settled for the 80/20 extrusion unit (as a loaner until they got the real thing done, maybe ah, never?) in Sept 14. Better than nothing. I feel for the others that may have only gotten an order confirmation for their money.

                                      The basic design, and components seem better than most. I do not know why they failed except for the worst customer service and no tech support or understanding of what it was supposed to do.

                                      I spent many hours learning, modding, and hacking it. It works well now. Although I have many more mods to do. It fits my talents to make things better.

                                      I am getting some great prints, big and accurate from it. I will have a better filament delivery for it soon, involving the motor for extruders driving a "speedometer cable like" setup and eliminating the long flimsy tubing that gives me most of the problems. I ordered a flexdrive unit for it. I think that it will make this more into what I wanted.

                                      Some of the things I like are the bed material, the linear guides, the tablet material furnished with it, and it is actually open source, so it can be hacked.

                                      Some of the things I hate about it are, if I wanted a kit, I would have bought a kit. No instructions or tech support, Lies from Bill R. about when they would ship or why they did not, dealing with a tech company run by idiots or "money men" my offering to share and teach being rejected and in general not being kept in the loop as far as the development of the product.

                                      I have contacted several others who are making a go of it also.

                                      I just don't know where the money went, how did they manage so poorly that I may never get that IDEATOR12 that I ordered and what about the poor dogs that have nothing?

                                      Comment


                                        #20
                                        We received our unit about 2 months after order date by pressuring John Springrose of his verbal commitment to close our order. Unit arrived poorly packaged with the unit bouncing around on a single ply cardboard box with soft foam corners that were not designed to hold 90 lbs. Belts were tie wrapped to keep the head from moving but the jarring forces during transit snapped the belts allowing the head assembly to move around. Several screws were rattling around in the unit since no lock tight was used and transit vibration popped them loose. Once we repaired all the shipping damage, testing the new unit demonstrated the need for different software. We purchased the Simplify3D software and are very happy with the flexibility.

                                        A side note we found a UPS envelope in one of the boxes indicating a belt (inside the envelope) had been shipped to a different customer who must have put the envelope in the box when he shipped our unit back to the manufacturer. Of course John denied it was nothing but a new unit. Table was pretty scratched up when it arrived which we determined later it was from the test routines run on the printer with the tip height adjusted wrong prior to the unit being shipped to us. The explanation was all these units were in Montana and were bulk shipped to the east coast for sale and testing. Considering the poor sales response, no technical support to speak of, the owner handling issues from the golf course, I am not surprised they are out of business.

                                        Okay, enough of the past history, we just about mastered creating pretty good quality items using the standard 0.5mm tip and have moved on to purchasing a set of physically larger tips ranging from 0.2mm to 0.5mm and are finding 0.3mm and 0.2mm have a hard time getting enough material pushed through them to be effective. We want to be able to print small text on items but have not succeeded on flat surfaces. If the text is inset into the side of the object, layer by layer provides good clear text using the 0.5mm tip. Still working on the smaller size tips and small text on flat surfaces. I would guess the feed through the long tube is not providing enough rigidity to effectively push material through smaller tips. Your hardware mods sound like it is addressing a similar issue.

                                        Comment


                                          #21
                                          kengineer,

                                          What tip size are you using currently? What material do you use?

                                          We use ABS and have found black requires higher temperatures while clear requires the lowest temperatures. We measured the table temperature and tip temperatures and found both to be well below the temp setting of the manual settings for the printer as well as below the temperature settings of the software. We generally run the table at layer 1 at 150C then step it down to 130C after layer 2 or 3. The original tip is set at 237C for layer 1 except for black ABS which requires 240C to 245C. Layer 2 or 3 it is switched to 225C-228C depending on ABS color. We experimented with temperatures, nozzle tip settings, ooze control, retraction, etc.

                                          The original tips have a tendency to ooze excessively. Changing to a larger mass tip at the same 0.5mm produces smoother final layers and very little ooze to control. Print speed for 0.5mm tip seems to be happy at 5,000mm/s-6,000mm/s but is very consistent at 3,600mm/s. Smaller tip sizes seem to need a much slower print speed below 2,000mm/s and an elevated Extrusion Multiplier to push harder.

                                          Anybody found other settings that work for them?

                                          Comment


                                            #22
                                            I am using the .5mm tips supplied. I am printing ABS at 240/255 depending on the material and configuration.

                                            I think "thermal reserve" to have enough BTU's is lacking with the stock set up. I bored two pennies and shank reduced a nozzle to give a BTU reserve to the lower end of the hot section.

                                            I am not running as fast as you. I want a quality print first time, every time. My machine runs unattended. 4000 works for me. I do some stunning vase mode prints at 1500. Layer width, .5mm, height .15.

                                            Do you have the fabled Ideator 12, or the 80/20 enclosure model?

                                            One thing that really helped me was to add a "Lift Kit" to the top of the enclosure. The feed tube could not make the radius of the top sheet, so I added a 3" spacer to increase the radius of the tube. I routed the tube above the existing top rail so the material would not need to make as sharp of a turn as it entered the head.

                                            That was probably the most significant improvement in performance. Material feeds better and retracts better. I use about 3mm of retract on ABS to suck it back and a 2mm retract on the Z axis. So many options, print, alter print again. Save settings

                                            Comment


                                              #23
                                              kengineer,
                                              We also use the stock .5mm tip. We use PLA normally at 170-190C. I have to run at speeds of 20-60 mm/s to get decent prints. However, even at slow speeds when it prints an extrusion that is not big in width/diameter, the layers still do not cool fast enough, causing them to smoosh together. This in turn results in the extrusion not being the proper height (shorter than designed). Even at 10-20 mm/s and lower temp(170/175C) it does this.
                                              Our Makerbot Replicator 2 has a fan with a shroud that directs air to the nozzle. I can print the same part in the Makerbot at 100 mm/s and it comes out beautiful. The ID12 has no air flow to the nozzles whatsoever, and I suspect that is what is causing the problem. If you have any suggestions it would be greatly appreciated. We have the top off of ours and the filament tubes travel freely with the print heads, so they aren't pinched with a tight radius as you mentioned.
                                              The only software that I have used that seems to alleviate oozing while traveling and not crossing perimeters is Repetier Host using the Cura engine. I have tried Simplify3D and MatterControl, but no matter the settings in those I would still get stringing and ooze in unwanted places.

                                              Comment


                                                #24
                                                JSB,
                                                I asked Bill R. from the failed manufacturer how to control fans. Bill said something like, I need to be honest, we don't know how. There are taps on the Megatronics 3.0 board for fans, I do not think they are utilized on the machine, but could be.

                                                I have wondered if the PLA problem is a material problem. Have you tried other suppliers of PLA? I have only used PLA supplied with the machine and parts look like cobweb covered relics.

                                                The tube that the material is guided thru seems too tight for free feed of the PLA I have. I experienced jamming and feed roller slipping, along with the filament being ground away and stalling during printing. Since this is a problem, I think the retract that is programmed fails and result in oozing.

                                                I tried several other tube materials, but it seems that they are too tight or too loose for the supplied PLA.

                                                I was concerned about taking the top off of mine since that is where the dual fans are mounted. I will fabricate a fan or duct to direct airflow to the work next time I try PLA. I think it is important to have a climate controlled enclosure for ABS. I find that if I heat the table and head for 15 minutes before starting to print, I get a better print.

                                                I am firmly committed to Simplify3D for control. My tablet likes it, I like the machine control panel interface.

                                                Comment


                                                  #25
                                                  kengineer,
                                                  We have been using PLA because it is easier to print with, however I think I will start printing ABS on our ID12 to see if the different material changes anything. We usually get our filament from Matterhackers and the quality is good. Always prints good on our Makerbot and the ID12 (depending on the part). We have some rolls of ABS that inDimension sent us for free, I will try printing with that to see if ABS turns out better than PLA. They are unopened (sealed) so they should be good.
                                                  I have used their filament in our Makerbot and prints come out fine. I'm sure printing issues with the ID12 are because of the hardware and setup of the machine.

                                                  Comment

                                                  Working...
                                                  X