Slowing down to speed up
Improvements coming…
A couple of reviews - one negative, one positive - from NZ’s premier NZ120 blog have got me thinking about quality checks and continually improving processes.
Since I started 3 Foot 6 Models nearly 3 years ago, I’ve upgraded my 3D printers three times. I’ve gone from a 2K resolution printer to 4k, and then 8k. The next step will be 16k as funds allow. As a result, quality has improved greatly.
However, that doesn’t account for the human factor in quality. I’m now processing about 10 orders a month which is great, but also means sometimes I have missed quality issues in the rush to get orders to people. I’d set myself the goal of dispatching orders much faster than Shapeways did. What I’ve found is that I’ve not (a) cured prints for long enough and (b) not checked the whole model for defects etc. So I have decided to cure prints for longer and double-check that everything I send out has zero defects.
The result of this will be longer order processing times, but I’m sure everyone will appreciate higher-quality prints, even if they take a bit longer to get to you.