As some of you may already know, Filastruder is taking over the retail sales side of Railcore printers from Project R3D. This is something we're pretty excited about - we've held off for a long time from carrying a 3D printer, because we wanted to find one that would be a good fit. Railcore ticks all the boxes - open source, properly engineered design, and a great community (kudos to you guys!.) In addition to Railcore kits and fully assembled printers, we'll be carrying some great upgrades too. Some are already available, more to come soon.
If you want to jump in and see what we have to offer, here's the link:
https://www.filastruder.com/collections/railcore
For more details/FAQ, please do read on!
Q: What is different now about the printers?
A: Kits now have pre-tapped extrusions, all genuine Gates belts/pulley/idlers, free shipping in the US, and more options/configurability - things like a choice of electronics. They are also in stock, heavy emphasis has been put on maintaining stock, which is not easy - requires both capital and supply chain coordination.
Other aspects (using genuine parts, being open source, Tony and Steve's involvement) are all unchanged.
Q: Why is this happening? Where is ProjectR3D going?
A: ProjectR3D isn't going anywhere! They will continue to produce many of the parts for the kits, such as side panels, wiring harnesses, printed parts, and more. Joe and the rest of the Project R3D team prefer to focus on the manufacturing side of things, and have really been stretched thin by the demand. Handling both production and retail sales has made it difficult to keep up on things, from email response time to lead times on orders.
Q: Why is it more expensive! Highway robbery!
A: This is a tough one. The truth is, the old pricing wasn't sustainable. It was right around the cost of self-sourcing, and that doesn't leave much margin for things like paying employees, insurance, rent, paying for replacement parts, etc. It wasn't possible to have a sustainable business at the old pricing, and this is reflected in the fact that there are no printers (to my knowledge) with the Railcore's specifications, performance, and print quality, under $2,000.
Also, as the Railcore project has grown, demands have grown, both in terms of expectations (as a project matures, mistakes are less easily tolerated), and in terms of demand on people. Tony and Steve, the creators of the Railcore, are spending increasing time on support, and they deserve to be compensated for that.
So yes, the price has gone up, but the product itself is better, is in stock, includes free shipping, and is more sustainable for both Project R3D and Tony/Steve. Without them, none of Railcore would be possible, so it is important that we all work to keep them around. :)
https://www.filastruder.com/collections/railcore
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out here or via email, using support@filastruder.com.
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