Warranty & Quality.

My 3D printer died.  It's one of the most expensive options on the market.  The manufacturer said this mechanical failure can't be fixed and the entire printer will need to be replaced.  It was purchased new from them in January of 2021 and is no longer under the 1-year warranty.  It's still one of the highest resolution SLA resin printers on the market.  There are a lot of cheap, sub $400 printers on the market, albeit with less features and lower resolution.  For me, the resolution is the most important thing and at 25 microns, it's pretty darn good. I explained to the manufacturer that I have been considering switching to a different brand considering the huge price difference and small resolution difference (28 microns).  They offered me 1/2 off a new machine, which is still 4 times the price of the competition.  Considering all the options are made in China, this isn't about where it's made.  It's about security for the investment first of all, but also a higher level of quality in printing and in longevity.  With such a hefty price tag I need a better warranty.  That's exactly what I told the manufacturer of my broken machine.  The agent gave me a phone number to call their sales team so I could learn about their warranty options.  I'm going to call, but I'm not paying for a greater warranty!  I expect a greater warranty for something as expensive as that.  I don't believe I'm wrong to expect that.  If they can't afford to deal with 2 years of warranty coverage it means they know their products will fail.  Doesn't it make sense to improve your build quality?  That's how you stay relevant when the competition is 1/8th the price!

This experience had me thinking about my own warranty more seriously.  I'm going to expand the warranty duration for the Dark Storm from 1-year to 3-years.  I have actually been making a lot of advances lately, which help this to make sense.

Over the past couple months I've been working with Trav to design a new enclosure for the Dark Storm.  The idea is to keep the look similar and the dimensions the same, but to significantly improve its structural integrity.  I was concerned about potential breakage from Artists touring with them.  The design is now complete and the first prototype is getting powder coated on Wednesday.  The metal was thickened on the top/bottom and additional bending and hardware were added to increase the number and types of internal supports.  The side panels now have a bit of a contour to them, which adds to the look, but doesn't affect the overall dimensions.

I made a minor, but good change on the motherboard of the Dark Storm a while back.  I found that on occasion during shipping the LBA opamp, Dark Yeller, would sometimes pop out of its socket.  It would be rolling around the inside of the Dark Storm and would require the customer to open it up and remount the Dark Yeller on its socket.  As a result, I'm no longer using sockets and instead solder the Dark Yeller directly to the circuit board.  Problem fixed.

With build quality improvements it becomes easier to offer a better warranty.  Once the new enclosure is in production, the price of the Dark Storm will need to go up by $50 and the warranty will be 3-years instead of one.