A little rant and a suggestion

My process to introduce a new model is something like this:

1) Upload the new model
2) Order a test print in WSF
3) Receive the printed model and check if it looks ok
4) Make it available for everybody at my shop in WSF only

Then I repeat the cycle for the detail material.

A few weeks ago I received a test version of my Yak-38 model in WSF and it seemed ok. I made it available in my shop and announced it to some potential customers. A couple of customers ordered it and one of them actually told me he received it already.
A couple of weeks ago I ordered a test print in white detail. I imagined that there might be some issues that I would need to fix.
After a longer than usual time for production, yesterday I received an email informing me that the White Detail version of the Yak-38 was too fragile and some parts were breaking-up during the printing process. Which I knew could happen.
But then, totally unexpected, the email message also said that the WSF version could not be printed anymore too.
After I requested a clarification, the explanation was that the WSF version took several attempts from the production team to obtain a good copy.
I totally understand this and I am willing to fix the model to avoid these problems.
However, I am very frustrated by not receiving any information about these problems that the production team faced when printing the test copy that I received. If I knew there were problems I would not have made it available nor would have announced it to my potential customers.

So, as a suggestion, please let us know when you face problems with a model, even if you are able to print it after a few attempts. If we know you guys are having difficulties with a model, we may change it before a customer buys it.

Thanks
Luis

I second your suggestion, Glehn!

CGD

Yes, I agree too: the designer should know about the difficulties to print one of his models.

These and plenty of other suggestions have been made multiple times.

<frustration on>
Having watched and sometimes commented on them for a while, I feel there is very little progress on those issues. The dreaded wall thickness lottery (with all its consequences) is a prime example, but there are plenty of such procedural issues without perceivable reaction and change ....

Yes, their prices are among the lowest at the moment, but if that's the only remaining argument, I have my doubts about long-term sustainability.
<frustration off>

Hey guys,

We understand and share your frustration and our engineers are working on solutions to all of these problems.

Yes, easy to say but difficult to implement..

Wall thickness is incredibly complex to automate but we have a solution we are testing at the moment, once it is robust enough to withstand the torrent of files uploaded every day we will use it in the workflow.

As you may now know we now have a 3D printer set up in the same building as our customer service team. This means we will be able to keep a closer eye on what works and what does not, we can give you more feedback so you can design for the materials and processes.

With our new product lead and production manager in place, we also have the resources to go back over all of our design rules and update them with all that we have learned over the last few months.

Again, we appreciate your frustration and value your feedback .
We do have people working on these problems now and you should see changes in the coming weeks.

Duann