08/08/2026
Happy Friday Everyone 😻
It's been another busy and tough week. Let's just jump right ahead into the...
📰News-news📰
We're pounding right on with our annual maintenance, and work remains painstakingly slow 😭 but, we've thankfully turned a corner... both of our Snapmaker U1s are back in service. And another helpful arrival will be in play this weekend, but that requires a little explanation...
It's no secret that we're not fans of Flashforge. Their hardware is decent, but they have a privacy problem. Before Christmas, we'd had hope to offer their machines as a flagship offering. Specifically, the AD5X. We had many interested in purchasing one until Flashforge made a declaration that proved hugely problematic 😬 Their attempt to backpedal didn't work for our customers, and interest in Flashforge's products died overnight. 🙀
I pressed them as hard as I was able to make a meaningful apology and back it with action that showed a commitment to change in how they do business. I never got a satisfactory response and we've been at ends since. 😕
Semi-Recently, Flashforge launched a new product to compete with the Snapmaker U1 - the Creator 5. We were cautiously approached to accept an evaluation machine. There was much negotiating, but in the end, we worked out terms that we feel were mutually beneficial and fair to each party. 😸
We took delivery of that unit Tuesday 😹 Due to our Annual Maintenance, it is not in service... YET. With a little luck, we’ll be putting that Creator 5 through its paces before Monday rolls around. 🙏
On a different note, I’m sorely disappointed in the Ender 5 Max 😡 As our largest print area of all our machines, I’m incredibly disappointed that the more layers we peel back, the more issues that we find. has produced a real disappointment in the reliability and trustworthiness of this machine. As this was a candidate for larger format offerings at one stage, I’m glad we evaluate every machine carefully before offering it to you. We will return it to service, but its future in our farm is being carefully evaluated.
As you can see, we’ve reconfigured our racks quite a bit. We’d had the U1s up top since they’re so reliable, but unexpectedly, the heat that the other printers were sending up to them became a problem 🥵 We’ve swapped them with what was the storage space underneath and added debris shielding from the printers overhead so that they can zip away and remain nice and cool. Between them and the Creator 5, we expect to achieve a whole new gear with our production.
But this isn’t the only place we’ve been busy… As you can see, we’ve been busy with our market space as well 😹 There’s something coming very soon that needs space in the spotlight, and there’s no better place to put it. We still have work to do – our “commercial screen” will need to be moved up so you can still see it well – however, this is a great start 😼 But… to show you why, we need to change over to…
🥳🤩😹😻New Products😻😹🤩🥳
As far as printed items, we have very little tonight. Only one model in fact… Because we didn’t get the U1s back until Thursday, I only really had time for one flight of fancy in a mad scramble to finish some leftover special orders, and we tried something fun with a manatee. 😹
But that didn’t stop us from bringing something big for you… These have been a long time coming, and we’re finally in the ending stages of bringing our Three Dee CFS system to you! 😻
Creality’s Multi-Material-Unit design, the CFS (Creality Filament System) has always left much to be desired. An attempt to copy the Bambu Labs AMS, the Creality CFS is prone to jamming, especially when spools are below half capacity, and is finicky about what size spools it can accommodate.
We’ve addressed these short-comings as well as we can, and we’re in the final stages of testing our configuration. We’ve reduced jamming to roughly 1% 🙀 which is enormously improved over the stock system.
To celebrate this milestone alongside our 3,000th Student, we are extending the 3,000th Student sale to the end of August! 😹 Four more weekends to take advantage of our sale offers, on Printers, Filament with Printer purchase, 3D Scanners, and now our modified CFS while supplies last! Beginning this weekend, we will accept pre-orders for our modified CFS units, and they will be discounted for our sale! Also, keep an eye out for our conversion kit for your own CFS units! 😹
The last bit of product news is that we will be putting in another order with , and you know what that means! 😹 Another Sidecar Order opportunity is coming soon! We will be placing our order on Sunday Evening, August 16th, making your deadline to place your Sidecar Order 4pm on Sunday, August 16th. Sign up with me for our notification list so that you never miss a chance! 😹 This isn’t the last train out of this station, but, it will be a few weeks before we order again!
For now, it's time for me to call it a day 😅 Come see us tomorrow in Building 3, #72, 73, 74, and 31 - at the Tri-Cities Flea Market. If you're coming in the front door, look for our blinking sign in the distance, all the way down in the corner where you turn towards building 4, right across from Sweet Talkz.
Coming in the back door, turn left, go around the corner, and you'll find us right across from Bill's Coins/ Kingsport Coin and Jewelry.
You guys Be Safe, watch the weather (Cool in the morning building to a hot afternoon Saturday, with a low chance of thunderstorms all day Sunday!), and we'll see you tomorrow
