Dear Palette owners:
On July 31, 2017, we’ll begin shipping Palette+. We want you, as Mosaic’s earliest customers and supporters, to benefit from the advancements we’ve been making on Palette’s core technology. Below, we discuss the new features offered by upgrading to Palette+, and options for you to access Palette+'s technology.
New Capabilities
We discuss Palette+’s advancements in-depth in this blog post. Some of benefits of upgrading your Palette to Palette+ include:
Multi-Material Printing
In addition to more reliable PLA-PLA prints, upgrading will enable your Palette+ to print with select soluble, semi-flexible (TPU), and PETG materials.
Better Reliability
Your Palette will receive Mosaic’s latest splicing technology: closed splicing. Palette+’s new closed splicing technology creates bonds that are stronger and more reliable than Palette’s open splicing tech. (You can find an in-depth explanation of the new tech in the “Improved Reliability” section of the technical blog post.)
Two options to access Palette+
If you're interested in Palette+, here are two options:
Option 1: $100 discount for Palette owners
Palette owners may receive a $100 USD discount off Palette+ by contacting support@mosaicmanufacturing.com with your name, your Palette's serial number, and any additional information you can provide to confirm your Palette purchase. We will validate your purchase, and will create a custom discounted invoice for you to purchase a Palette+.
Option 2: Upgrade your Palette to Palette+
For a fee, you can ship your Palette back to us, and we'll upgrade it for you. ($249 USD + shipping.)
If you send your Palette back to us for an upgrade, here's what will happen:
Step 1: Assessment
There are a few variations of Palette in the wild—from the earliest Kickstarter units, to Palettes that were shipped in June 2017. When you ship your Palette to our facility, the first thing we’ll do is examine it to understand the exact changes your Palette requires.
These versions all go through slightly different upgrade processes—but each will leave our facility with our latest technology.
If you send your Palette in and it’s been having issues with any specific part(s), please send us an email (upgrade@mosaicmanufacturing.com) and we can pay specific attention to that area of your machine (both in the upgrade and during the quality control process).
Step 2: New Parts
Your Palette will have its core systems upgraded to the latest and greatest we have to offer. These changes may include:
- Higher precision drive system with 5 new motors and gears (more reliable splices)
- CNC machined unibody merger and clamshell (fewer jams)
- CNC machined unibody scroll wheel (it's much nicer)
- Closed belt cutter system (no belts slipping loose)
-
New tube splicer (multi-material functionality & increased reliability)
Every Palette will receive the upgraded Tube Splicer (the core & most important upgrade) but if there have been any updates/revisions to other areas of Palette since we shipped yours we’ll be sure to upgrade those as well. These include new mergers, drive gears, and cutter belts.
Following these upgrades, we’ll complete extensive quality control tests on the individual subsystems and components to ensure that they’re up to par.
Step 3: Testing and Quality Control
Once your Palette receives its upgrade, it will go through our entire quality control process (just like every new Palette+ does). These tests ensure that your new Palette+ hits all of Mosaic’s quality standards for a new product before we ship it back to you.
There are two main quality tests your Palette+ will go through:
- Splice test: Splices are a crucial aspect of your Palette functioning. Each Palette+ will go through a test where the strength and diameter of your Palette+’s splices are measured.
- Print test: The final gate for your Palette+ shipping from our facility will be a print test to ensure your Palette+ is firing on all cylinders.
Step 4: Shipment back to you
After all this, your Palette+ will be ready for shipping back to you, and good to go for multi-material printing! We’ll have it prepped and ready for shipping at our Toronto facility - either you can arrange or we’ll set it up and send an invoice for the shipping costs.
So... what does all this cost?
We did a breakdown and budget for the upgrades—please understand that we’re not aiming to make money on each unit; however, we’re not looking to lose money either. We’re trying to get the cost passed on to you to be as close to the end cost to us as possible.
Based on the breakdown of parts going into Palette, the tuning that needs to be completed, the tests that must be run to ensure it’s working correctly, and the labour that goes into all of this, we’re going to charge $249 USD/unit for the upgrade, not including shipping. You can purchase the upgrade (and get your Palette upgraded first) here.
Our goal is to make this option as attractive as possible to our current users, as it will allow your product to function more reliably, with new material options, and improve your overall Palette experience.
Can I complete the upgrade myself?
Unfortunately, there are a substantial number of changes, several of which include many nuances. We believe that even the most advanced Palette users would find great frustration in tampering with Palette's core systems, and for that reason we don't think it would be wise to allow Palette owners to complete an upgrade themselves.
Many 3D printer owners are familiar with how extruders work, how they can be cleaned, removed, and replaced—but Palette isn’t a 3D printer. Many of its parts are precisely tuned, and the risk of critical damage to the electronics or ruining calibration of other core components is too high for us to reasonably allow individuals to do the replacements themselves. It would be a frustrating experience for all of us.
How long do I have to purchase a discounted Palette+ or an upgrade?
The options to purchase a discounted Palette+ or to upgrade your Palette will be available until at least September 30, 2017. After this date, we reserve the right to end the upgrade program and Palette+ discounts for previous Palette owners without notice.
How long will an upgrade take?
Our goal is to process all upgrades within 2 weeks of their arrival. Don't send your unit right away—reserve your spot by purchasing the upgrade here, and we'll let you know when we're ready to upgrade your Palette. We expect the wait to be short (it depends on demand, but probably 2-4 weeks—you can always email us to ask for an update on your spot in line and estimated timelines).
Next steps
Please don't hesitate to reach out if you (1) want to purchase a discount Palette+, (2) if you have any questions about upgrades, or (3) want to discuss anything else 3D printing!
— Your friends at Mosaic.
upgrade@mosaicmanufacturing.com / support@mosaicmanufacturing.com