Hey guys,
First of all, thank you to those who have contributed! Your support is very much appreciated
While this has definitely been a slow start I am now working on several things to increase exposure. Admittedly, the marketing of this project has been a bit of a stumbling block for me. However, I have received lots of great advice from people on the forums and I am now working to get this campaign noticed!
I have contacted publications including 3ders, 3D Printer World, and Hack-A-Day so they should be able to bring some press exposure to this campaign. I have also contacted RichRap (Richard Horne) about doing an objective review of the Prometheus Hot End. RichRap is a RepRap core developer and is well respected throughout the 3D printer community. A RichRap review of the Prometheus Hot End will show everyone how well this hot end performs and also help people understand why it performs so well and what sets it apart from other hot ends.
Within the next two weeks I am going to go ahead and order the Early Bird production batch of parts from my suppliers using a combination of private funds and Indiegogo contributions. I have realized that the key here is just getting my hot end out there ASAP so that people can see how well it performs.
At this point the campaign will be carried out to completion regardless of the funding success so don't be afraid to contribute!
Once I make the Early Bird production order and receive all of the components, I will start shipping the kits out to people who have backed this project. I expect to begin shipping Early Bird perks before the projected June shipping date
This project is going to happen no matter how successful the campaign is, so there is nothing stopping you from grabbing your Prometheus Hot End Early Bird perk right now!
Also, remember to spread the word to everyone you know so that we can put this funding goal behind us!
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@ Eaglezsoar
I did not find the info on the nozzle hole size. Did you find that info?
Yup, it's a standard 0.4mm Nozzle orifice. I am going to be coming out with different nozzle orifice sizes in the near future (0.25 and 0.6 most likely) but 0.4 seemed like the best size to start with. I found that I could easily print from 50 microns to 400 microns with the 0.4mm Nozzle. I also only use wobbly Prusa I2s so if you guys have more accurate modern printers you should be able to go down to 20 microns without issues
@McSlappy
Yeah it's a .4mm - and I'm guessing it would be one of the more expensive nozzles to replace, what with being full stainless, threaded and polished
While the 1-Piece SS nozzles will be a bit more expensive than the standard brass nozzles the only time you will have to buy another nozzle is if you want to try a different nozzle orifice size. The SS Nozzles are extremely durable and do not get damaged easily at all. I have found that brass and aluminium nozzle get very soft at high temperatures and are much more easily deformed or even broken. I have had the aluminium nozzle on my old J-Head get deformed and the nozzle orifice diameter partially obscured (the 0.35mm orifice was no longer circular!) by simply using tweezers to pick the "ooze" off the nozzle between prints
I have also twisted the head completely off a brass nozzle when tightening it at 300C! (and I am no superman, lol). The other small advantage is that the very low thermal expansion of SS eliminates the issues of resetting layer height when switching between plastics of different temperatures.
Finally, the most significant advantage to the 1-piece SS nozzle is that leaks and clogs are completely eliminated! No internal "melt-zone" junctions for the plastic to leak from or get stuck and burnt and cause clogs in the nozzle. The 1-piece nozzle is kind of "self cleaning" since what goes in can only come out the orifice. Of course, there is nothing stopping a clog caused my foreign debris. To solve that problem just don't buy junk filament
I think 1-piece SS nozzles are the way to go and we are going to start seeing a lot more 1-piece designs in the future
@McSlappy
Oh.. From a marketing standpoint...
Get your killer feature front and centre - that long threaded nozzle is the part which sold me, this is what needs to be at the top! Make a short video and just talk about the awesome customization possibilities! Show people and talk about the polished internals on that sucker, this is the feature that MAKES this hot end amazing right? As someone who prints mainly PLA, this is the killer feature and I honestly almost missed it.
Get 3 hot ends assembled with 3 different configurations. Firstly show off the nozzle and talk about how long it is (yeah you could have some fun with this), how smooth the bore is and why. Then talk about each hot end config. Pick one up, do a closeup, talk about why someone might choose a short MZ, the materials they might be running.. Pick up the second, talk about why someone might choose a short MZ and a long TZ... and so on.
I'm telling you this because if it works like you say it does (and based on your design decisions and geometry choices, I believe it does), then it's a very good hot end. It also has a clear differentiating feature with the customization options and long nozzle. Great product + unique differentiator is a great recipe for success. Just trust that and show it off!
...Also, don't offer free shipping worldwide - or at least do a flat rate of $10 or something... No reason to sell the farm
...I went ahead and got one
Thanks a lot for the support!
I have to admit that marketing has been by far the hardest part of the project for me. I can design stuff that works and I know how to get things manufactured, but somehow I can't even manage to bring attention to my work
As for the campaign page, there was so much info to include that I ended up burying some important points (I now realize that few people will actually read everything that I wrote...) I tried to put all of the key features at the top but there was so much to include that I may not have properly highlighted the most salient features as you mentioned.
The lack of a pro video is the result of my inexperience with marketing and my lack of marketing tools. I used my DSLR Camera for all of the nice high resolution printed object pictures that you can see on my Flickr account, but unfortunately this camera does not have a good video function at all. I don't have a proper Camcorder so I used the DSLR camera for the videos of the hot end printing, and if you watch those videos you can see how bad the video quality is, lol. The audio sounds like white noise
and the camera does not focus properly while taping a moving object! I experimented with recording a video of myself but it was just such a fail on so many levels
The sound quality on my camera is so off that I could not properly hear my voice while I could hear the children playing next door
Also it was impossible to focus... The video would have just turned people away so I decided to go with nice pictures and lots of explanation
I am trying to get the word out there and I really hope the publications can bring some press coverage of this project. I now realize that I should have contacted the press BEFORE I launched my campaign as this is what any reasonable person would do but unfortunately I was completely clueless...Anyway, its better late than never!
Thanks so much to everyone for all of the support and advice.
Happy printing!
Eric