Finally my SO3 arrived

I have been waiting for 25 days since I placed my SO3 order.

Finally today I got it.

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Grats. You should have been one of the first to order them. We waited for several months. I hope you enjoy yours as much as I have enjoyed mine. They are really nice machines and you can do wonderful things with them. Just remember, it is like riding a bike, you are going to fall of and skin your knees. Keep getting up and trying again. You will get it all figured out. It can be frustrating trying to get it together and everything working together, but when you get it all done and through the learning curve you will look back and say that wasnt so bad and I really love this thing.

Good luck and let us know if we can help. There is an awesome community here that will help you in any way possible.

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I really like the SO3. C3D did a good job with this machine for the price.

Make sure you check adjustment of the roller eccentrics and check every screw for tightness. If you don’t see any Loctite on a screw, go ahead and remove it and add Loctite so you don’t have to deal with it coming lose later. I would imagine that quality control is in place by now but a couple months ago the machines went out with nothing adjusted correctly and most of the screws were not Loctited. It wasn’t a big deal but just check before you get too far into your build.

Just something to consider… adding even primitive dust collection and some type of enclosure makes the machine much more enjoyable to use.

Good luck.

I’m so excited about using SO3.

And you are right about tightening the screws. I found bunch of the loss and even the stepper pully wasn’t turning because it was loss.

Please use the operating checklist:

http://docs.carbide3d.com/article/41-machine-operating-checklist

Sounds like QA is still nonexistent.

Operating checklist = Assume nothing was done right at the factory :slight_smile:

Trust, but verify. :slight_smile:

I found this is a little troublesome. This originally was designed as a DIY CNC machine. I have an early machine and I have to assemble the machine. And that was good because I know how everything suppose to put together and know what are the potential problem when something is not done right. With DIY, I gain the insight how the designer envision how it suppose to work. I can only have myself to blame if it is not done right. Not carbide 3D.

QA is not an after thought. QA is part of the process. You can not insert the QA process without redesign the whole manufacture process. IMHO putting together a DIY machine is not doing a client a favor but stripping the fun of putting the machine together and the knowledge gain about the machine by putting it together. By putting it together yourself you suppose to know the machine inside out. Also if the machine is not QA assure it is worse that not put together because now you are asking the client be a troubleshooter and QA assurance if it is not done right.

I might be too harsh, but this is suppose to be a DIY machine. I suspect most people buying the SO3 are DIY’er or handyman/handywoman even though they said they are novice.

I really was expecting and prefer to assemble it my self. I was shocked when I saw everything is assembled. It took me less than an hour to put it together and run hello world. I found it really bad when something wasn’t tight enough and some screws are not accessible in x-z unless you de-assemple it.

However, Carbide 3D doing grate job improving the SO3.

I love my SO3. I wish Edward have more help to do QA. Finding problem that are subtle. I just discovered that one of the plate are bent. It must have been bent when they punch the hole. It was an early machine so he might already changed vender for them. I contacted Carbide and they replaced them right away. :+1::clap: Although originally I have problem contacting them until Apollo chime in.

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Important to keep in mind. For the price and category of this machine, its a good deal even if you have to do your own QA on the machine. My SO3 XXL has allowed me to crank out a lot more work than opened up creative opportunities I would not have had otherwise. Startups are hard so I don’t expect everything to be perfect.

Are you guys saying that most of the machine now comes pre-assembled?

Apparently the major components now come pre-assembled — http://carbide3d.com/files/so3manual.pdf

My XXL was pre-assembled, received in late April. Final assembly was a joy.