DIYtechshop Bad Experiences

I ordered an i3xl from diytechshop in December 2013. Upon assembling the printer I realized that two of the z axis smooth rods were not shipped with the kit.

DIYtechshop claims "We will help with any questions you have, or we can point you in the right direction to find a solution, we will also replace or exchange defective or damaged parts** for 30 days."

I emailed DIYtechshop about the missing parts, about two printed parts that broke during assembly, and asked a question to clarify an assembly question I had.

The email was sent 12/28/2013. As of 1/12/2014, DIYtechshop has not replied.

Any similar experiences or recommendations on how to move my build forward?

Have you tried contacting them again. I know from experience it is easy for small businesses to miss emails. You think I will deal with that shortly and get distracted and forget about it. Also are you sure you are emailing the correct address. Most companies have multiple addresses.

Dealing with high maintenance customers who want parts after the 30 day return period is tricky. I tend to just give them parts to avoid the hassle of negative feedback. I assume there was no malice intended if they in fact didn't ship the smooth rods. It's more likely they simply didn't and think they did. There's nothing to gain by not shipping them and saving the $5.

However if they didn't ship the rods and did so on purpose, then they are extremely stupid, because the cost/benefit scenario in doing so is so lopsided as to be ridiculous.

I'd say that they're not a small business, because small businesses have about ten guys with jobs to do. I'd say it's a medium sized business, because a medium sized business is just a small sized business who's hired a bunch of low level employees to be a buffer between the guys that do real work and the customers. Your objective is to break through to the guy whose in charge of the low level employees, the mid level employee, who can tell the high level employees that a replacement part needs to be shipped.

Did you ever try calling?


Email: purchasing@diytechshop.com

Mail- DIY Tech Shop llc Po-box: 2132 Vancouver, Wa 98668

Washington (360) 258-1519

Toll free number: 1-877-889-4696

The above from their website. I have called several time and gotten a human. They generally only answered the phone in the afternoons, I believe this is a family shop, very small business. Let us know how this works out.
b

great experience for me. i damage couple of printed part and they send me new one free.

I ordered an i3xl kit Nov. 2013 time frame, they responded to my first few emails in a reasonable period of time. However, after the first few the length of time extends in their responses, and I have literally two or three emails to them with no response ..

The fact that you got no response is not suprising at all, I would expect anyone that orders from them will experience that. These aren't missed emails either, they receive the emails they just don't respond. It's very frustrating.

Similar story with me. Pretty un-responsive unless you call.. I did get most of my issues resolved, but not 100%.. Prices are good, but over all experience was very hit and miss.

Ohh ok gonna have to tell you guys how this one went for me.

Dec 10th i orderd the i3xl.. with the understand it would be shipped jan 3rd. I get the box its missing half the parts. So i get an email saying "btw the other half the parts are comming" like jan 16th the other half the parts get there ( not exactly).I got most of the other half the parts minus a few things. Start the build end up spending $60 at hardware store for parts that never arrived. I also orderd the LCD so i wouldnt have to keep it chained to a pc. Well the LCD works as long as i have usb connected. Thier tech told me i got the wrong board. Still havent been able to get any of those issues resolved.

The z-stop switch mount plan(aka a zip tie ) wasnt really working for me i ended up using a piece of hand cut plastic until i could get an end stop mount printed.

I would recommend finding a company who actually ships what you pay for to you.

Going to update this. I was just contracted by this company whos willing at this point ( dont know about acutal delivery yet) send me the missing parts or refund the amount i spent purchasing them. So i will say they are atleast trying and thats something.

Ha so maybe it helps to write about he experience here?

Partial shipping before christmas, missing rods and plastic parts for plate support.
Rods came a week or two later, I already bought rods myself, but theirs were nicer so I replaced them.
Then the LCD stopped working after a week.
They did respond to my first two mails. But now it is radio silence.
No parts for plate support and a non-working LCD.
Ok, I guess I can find the things elsewhere. Oh and the endstops are a joke.
Naah not very good experience.

i find them very helpful and send replacement part for free when i mess up printed parts.

just wondering with these new account with 1 post writing bad review.

falwty99
doug1
dwalker
jermac17

jermac17 and Doug1 seem to be the same persons, both bought on 10th of Dec etc. Besides that, I agree, it's smelling of someone trying to make them look bad.

I ordered my I3X from DIY Tech Shop on 1/3. When I ordered, I knew upfront they were back ordered and would take about 3 weeks. The package arrived in good condition and had foam peanuts and some of the items were in smaller cardboard boxes inside. I just got my kit today. I did a complete inventory, down to every last nut and bolt, everything is here and in good condition. I will be posting more of complete kit pictures and build as I go. I will post in the Mendel and Prusa Mendel Forum, but from my initial take on this kit, I feel I got a good deal.

I did call a few times and speak with Ben about my order, he was very helpful. He even sent the hotend separately via USPS overnight express!


b

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Ohmarinus
jermac17 and Doug1 seem to be the same persons, both bought on 10th of Dec etc. Besides that, I agree, it's smelling of someone trying to make them look bad.

They do at least have different IP addresses.

Posts from brand new users do need to be taken with a grain of salt, but baseless accusations aren't helpful either.

---

Help improve the RepRap wiki! Just click "Edit" in the top-right corner of the page and start typing. Anyone can edit the wiki!

Ok first I am sure who ever runs this board can do a fast ip search and figure that out one person isnt just being mean.

Now falwty99 the X end stop worked ok for me with the zip tie plan(that said i had to solder the wires on because there isnt enough room to fit the connector between the bottom of the end stop and the ground ). Y end stop i ended up micro drilling and putting a screw though the plastic on y-0 side to hold it. - Works for now..

Z i used a hand cut piece of sterophome and some good old fassioned duct tape to hold together until i could print an endstop mount

file available here - [github.com]


- The LCD problem im still dealing with strange that you are as well, Mine seems ok as long as its got usb power but doesnt self power anymore. My next plan is to try a usb wall charger.

- Additionally since the excruder head moves when it gets plastic forced into it i use an m8 washer hold that in place but its alittle fun to thead after that.

- See attached picture it should help as well. - Wireing diagram that helped me allot. d9 is actually where your fan goes. Thank the reprap irc gods for that tidbit.

edit: also going to add in here they did send me the wrong firmware make sure you have the version with lcd support.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/2014 04:47PM by Doug1.

Doug,
can you post or tell me what version of the firmware you used?

Also, I have a separate thread for anyone interested that I will be keeping on my entire DIY Tech Shop I3X Build
[forums.reprap.org]

here ya go

You know problems with the company and build aside i still love the printer lol.


edit: the only real diffrence i have seen here is in the config.h but it works. Also check the other settings i think this is a generic i had to modify a couple things so it fit the I3xl

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/2014 03:54PM by Doug1.

Thanks for the post Doug
b

I'm glad I saw this post, I'll be checking in on the builds with you. My "kit" arrived yesterday as well but they failed to ship all the parts. I also had the same experience with them never answering e-mails. My shipping was delayed twice but then I got Fed-Ex tracking updates for an arrival yesterday and took the week off of work to build this thing. Aggravating to say the least, I called them up and got a prompt answer and explained the situation, the woman I spoke to over the phone said they apologized and would have it to me in two days and give me tracking on the new package.

Now I have yet to see an e-mail with tracking on the missing parts, I'll follow up again today to see whats happening.

*edit*
Missing entire plastic parts package, Missing LCD screen, Missing Hot-End.
And a quick question, in the build PDF it states that 4 motors are supposed to be 40 cm while one is supposed to be 50 cm, is that correct because I received five 40 CMs...

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/29/2014 11:02AM by kithrax.

I am not that experianced but the problems i would worry about

1. Does it fit in the excruder ( you wount know this till ya get the plastic parts )
2. is it strong enough to feed the filiment.

But yea one should been an NEMA23 i would contact them about that. Maybe someone with more time in this could tell if you if thats going to be a problem.

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NewPerfection

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Ohmarinus
jermac17 and Doug1 seem to be the same persons, both bought on 10th of Dec etc. Besides that, I agree, it's smelling of someone trying to make them look bad.

They do at least have different IP addresses.

Posts from brand new users do need to be taken with a grain of salt, but baseless accusations aren't helpful either.

Indeed. One thing to remember is that while brand new users should be treated with caution, it also depends on the scenario. Good or bad feedback is an interesting example. It's easily possible it's a competitor or a pissed off single customer (in case of multiple people complaining), but it's also not that surprising that the first post from someone will be praise or particularly a complaint. People do tend to seek out places to complain when they have problems (and to a much lesser extent, to praise).

And this thread is now and I suspect has been for a while one of the top results for 'diytechshop'. So if you had a problem with diytechshop, it's the obvious place for you to come to complain. Plus if you did just buy a RepRap printer from diytechshop, the reprap.org forums are a place you're likely to end up at if you need help and diytechshop isn't helping or you don't think they'll help or prefer to seek help elsewhere first. Edit: And lurkers, seeing a thread on something similar to their experiences, particularly a complain with some company or product are want to join in. And I think the number of people who are like me and joined 5 years ago and still haven't used or even seen a 3D printer in real life of any sort must be slim ;-) It's likely a big percentage of people only join when they are building a RepRap and have problems (as with most things) or occasionally because they want to offer feedback on something.

Also perhaps I'm missing something but when did jermac17 say they bought it on the 10th December? That would be quite a coincidence but their one and only posts just says December without a specific date and hasn't been modified. Doug1 did say 10th December.

One point, since it sounds like a lot of the problems have been with email support it may be useful for those who've had problems (edit: or good replies/help) to say whether they emailed or called. Personally I greatly prefer email but I know some companies handle it very poorly, even for things which can easily be handled by email so it's not completely surprising if that's part of the problem. Is useful information for both current and possible customers.

Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 01/30/2014 08:11AM by Nil Einne.

A follow up, I didn't receive an e-mail with tracking info... yet. So from personal experience I would say they are lacking on the E-Mail side of communication (something I prefer to use), so I called them on the phone and asked them to e-mail me the tracking information on my missing parts and the guy on the phone sounded like he was going to follow through on that request. Only parts I am waiting on are the plastic pieces and the hot-end, I won't be sure about these motors until the plastic parts come. I will be following n9jcv through his build as we bought the exact same unit, I'll add my build pictures when I get the product here and ready.

So if anyone is buying from these guys it definitely seems that phone calls in the afternoon are the best way to contact them (so far the only way for me to get anywhere).

Hello, thank you all for the feedback. We have been trying to figure out why so many of our E-mails have been slipping through the cracks after hearing about your negative experiences, and after a couple days of searching to find out where the problem is we have realized that on top of the chaos of moving our operation out of our house into a proper shop our shipping program (stamps.com) has been giving our customers an improper E-mail address to contact us at. We are sorry for the problems the E-mail situation has been causing people, I would like to reiterate that we are always happy to supply missing parts even if it has been more than 30 days. Our main priority is always making the customer happy.

As far as our size there were 4 of us now we are 12.

Our parts come from different sources, and everyone of them is commited to replacing bad or misprinted parts even if it was broken during assembly.

Our commitment is the same as the past two years that we want to support the Reprap community with a Reprap kit.

Most of these problems of a DIY kit are why we are putting out the Iron3D Pro-printers!

Please use sales@diytechshop.com to contact us.

We have a hard time making printers, answering 150+ E-mails a day, and 20+ phone calls a day!!! But we are training staff, working hard, and we wish we could have you all over for pizza and beer, ;] but for now we'll try to keep up with guys on the forums when we can.

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Through self sustaining actions comes freedom

DIY Tech Shop

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Doug1
Ok first I am sure who ever runs this board can do a fast ip search and figure that out one person isnt just being mean.

Now falwty99 the X end stop worked ok for me with the zip tie plan(that said i had to solder the wires on because there isnt enough room to fit the connector between the bottom of the end stop and the ground ). Y end stop i ended up micro drilling and putting a screw though the plastic on y-0 side to hold it. - Works for now..

Z i used a hand cut piece of sterophome and some good old fassioned duct tape to hold together until i could print an endstop mount

file available here - [github.com]


- The LCD problem im still dealing with strange that you are as well, Mine seems ok as long as its got usb power but doesnt self power anymore. My next plan is to try a usb wall charger.

- Additionally since the excruder head moves when it gets plastic forced into it i use an m8 washer hold that in place but its alittle fun to thead after that.

- See attached picture it should help as well. - Wireing diagram that helped me allot. d9 is actually where your fan goes. Thank the reprap irc gods for that tidbit.

edit: also going to add in here they did send me the wrong firmware make sure you have the version with lcd support.

Is the D1 diode on Ramps present? It is located under X axis driver(remove power from board before removing driver) and this diode is required to power the Arduino from power supplied to Ramps through the detachable plug.

Do not add the diode if you are supplying 24v to Ramps unless your Arduino has caps rated for 24v+.

I actually went to the reprap site and refrenced every componet on the board and yea its there. I am thinking something happned to it.

I supply it with a 12v / 15a power supply i got from rat shack and im pretty sure it worked for a short period of time. Really at this point i could care less about the darn thing although some day i will want it to work on its own.


Question for anyone out there is can i just use a usb to wall plug ( aka phone charger ) to power the lcd when its not attached ?

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Doug1
I actually went to the reprap site and refrenced every componet on the board and yea its there. I am thinking something happned to it.

I supply it with a 12v / 15a power supply i got from rat shack and im pretty sure it worked for a short period of time. Really at this point i could care less about the darn thing although some day i will want it to work on its own.


Question for anyone out there is can i just use a usb to wall plug ( aka phone charger ) to power the lcd when its not attached ?

Yes, the LCD gets its power from the Arduino so any type of power to the Arduino will work, be it the barrel connector or the USB plug. The only issue with a cell phone charger is that it may not have enough current.

The problem is that the lcd i not getting power meaning i can turn on the power supply and it doesnt light up. Add usb and it lights right up.

So basically to print and use the lcd i have to have my 12v / 15 amp connected to both main power screws the 11amp and 5 amp. So im going to gather that something burned somwhere since it only worked for like an hour before it died and had to have usb plugged in to light up.

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Doug1
The problem is that the lcd i not getting power meaning i can turn on the power supply and it doesnt light up. Add usb and it lights right up.

So basically to print and use the lcd i have to have my 12v / 15 amp connected to both main power screws the 11amp and 5 amp. So im going to gather that something burned somwhere since it only worked for like an hour before it died and had to have usb plugged in to light up.

The LCD gets power from the Arduino, Ramps power does not go to the Arduino unless the diode is present. If the diode is present and you don't have power to the Arduino then something is wrong. You could try maybe putting a new diode in or checking it.

I´ve bought the i3xl kit from DIY Tech shop at the end of December and received it after 5 weeks. That was not too bad since I´m living here in Austria (Europe).

I was quite happy with it, because on first sight there weren´t many parts missing, just some washers and the wing nuts for the printer bed. But after starting with the built I realized 2 things:
- too many parts are missing
- the quality of some parts are really poor

In the meantime I managed to put the printer together at least all the mechanical stuff, including the belts and the extruder. I had many of the problems mentioned in the threads here in this forum as well, so e.g. I had to repair some plastic parts and replace nuts or threadened rods. This was one of the really nasty things that many of the nuts didn´t fit on the threaded rods, cause it takes time to find out. Fortunately I´ve many of the needed hardware in stock and a great toolset as well, so I managed to get around almost all problems.

The entire list of missing parts:

4x wing nuts
16x nut 8mm
2x threadened rods 400mm
3x endstops

The provide firmware does not meet the reqirements on the printer (e.g. LCD) and there was no answer to my email from DIY Tech Shop whe I asked kindly for some support.. With a lot of help from some forum members here in this forum I finally got the printer nearly working, but failed to print so far. But I know now, that some parts are not working:

The list of parts which are not working:

- 1 stepper motor from the extruder (tested on my printer and with stepper driver from my CNC milling machine)
- Arduino and / or RAMPS board, i´m still investigating on that

One of the biggest problems for me so far is that the "manual" is not really helpfull, it misses to many steps in the built process. Moreover the "Manual" does not contain anything regading the software or settings, not even a hint, what the programms are that you will definitely need for printing (Pronterface, Skeinforge a.s.o)

Together with NOT answering ANY questions on email (I can´t call them from Europe and discuss problems then) I finally have to say that I would rather spend 100 or 150 bucks more to get a kit from a company that has better reputation.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 02/21/2014 05:16AM by ciutateivissa.

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ciutateivissa
The provide firmware does not meet the reqirements on the printer (e.g. LCD) and there was no answer to my email from DIY Tech Shop whe I asked kindly for some support.. With a lot of help from some forum members here in this forum I finally got the printer nearly working, but failed to print so far. But I know now, that some parts are not working.

Not saying what they did was right but Marlin and Repetier (the two most common firmwares now) both support and have supported LCDs for a while. It's like 2 settings in the firmware to turn the LCD on or off. I feel you are yet another of those that buy a printer and think it should just work when plugged in. This may be the case for a few (very few) but if you have to build it, you can guarantee that you should be looking at the firmware.

Yes, they forgot hardware...not sure how you forgot the threaded rods that are nearly 16" long but the firmware is your responsibility. It has many settings that can be tweaked for quality, you may need to adjust the thermistor or PID settings, travel, speed, and set up the endstops. You can also tell you have done no research on the firmware since you are complaining about a setting that is set just by removing "//" and changing a number to define the type of LCD. I see the LCD is an option so I don't see why they would go through and pre-configure everything when you should be doing it yourself.

So put your big boy pants on, open the Arduino IDE and learn to use the firmware. From what I seen, the i3xl included everything except a power supply for a very low price of $475. That would be difficult to source all of those pieces yourself for $475 let alone do it and sell it for some type of profit.