Before we got the last batch from our current supplier a few months ago, I spoke to them and told them about the quality issues we were seeing. \u00a0Besides the largely cosmetic issue of improperly rinsed holes, which caused them to fill with white gunk, a lot of the rail had dents, scratches and other small defects that made it unusable. \u00a0The supplier assured me that they would change their procedures and packaging methods, and that they’d make it so that the profile got to me undamaged.<\/p>\n
In short, they didn’t. \u00a0The only improvement was that they rinsed the rail a little better: “only” about a quarter of it had white gunk, down from two-thirds. \u00a0The amount of damage from handling seemed to have stayed the same, or maybe even increased somewhat. \u00a0One third to one half of that batch was rejects, with the longer lengths being even worse (two-thirds bad in the 2 m lengths). \u00a0This meant there wasn’t enough good MakerSlide for the planned eShapeOko kits, and by the time I realized the extent of the problem, there wasn’t any left to tide us over until the next batch arrived.<\/p>\n
The supplier then refused to accept another order. \u00a0They didn’t do it overtly, though: they simply stopped responding to email, set up and then cancelled meetings to talk about quality issues, said they would call back and never did, and so on. \u00a0Only many weeks later someone mentioned that they were reluctant to take another order because they weren’t confident they could meet our quality standards. \u00a0That was when I began looking for other potential suppliers, but I still hoped I would be able to order one last batch from them, to have something<\/em> to offer, even if I had to carefully examine each length and dispose of half of it.<\/p>\n However, they kept dragging their feet, so I’ve given up on them. \u00a0I’m going to have to write off the cost of their extrusion die.<\/p>\n I now have several quotes from potential suppliers, and I have narrowed it down to a few that I like (not the lowest quotes). \u00a0I still need to get an updated quote from one of them and answers to a few more questions before I decide, but it looks like I will be able to get the ball rolling on a new die and a new batch of MakerSlide early next week.<\/p>\n All the potential new suppliers have several advantages over the existing one, which I’ll explain in anther blog post one of these days.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, with a new die needed and most extrusion mills being closed over the entire Christmas and New Year period, it will take at least two months before we’ll see the new MakerSlide. \u00a0I’m planning to make good use of this time:<\/p>\n\n
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