Progress Update — Warranty Upgraded to 24 Months

Progress Update — Warranty Upgraded to 24 Months

Hi everyone, I'm Vic. In this update, I want to cover four things: where we stand on mass-production readiness, our warranty upgrade, and the results of our recent thermal and print-performance testing. I'll also address a few questions from the community.


Production Readiness

A lot of you have been asking about our production timeline, so let's start with the bottom line: the project is currently in the DVT stage. As shared in our last update, we'll run another small-batch trial production in mid-October, formally kick off mass production on November 15, and expect the first shippable units to come off the line by the end of the month. To be transparent: we're still in the capacity ramp-up phase, so the number of units available for the first shipment will be limited.


Meanwhile, construction of the 3,000 m² mass-production line with Sunwoda is progressing quickly. Some module-processing lines are already close to ready, and worker recruitment and training have begun, with 200+ planned workstations.

On materials, we've locked in long-lead components for 5,000 printers — PCBs, chips, power supplies, camera modules, and linear motors are all secured. Thanks to Sunwoda's in-house SMT facility, supply risk for critical components remains manageable.

There are a lot of molds, so here are a few selected videos and photos categorized by module.



Compared with our trial-production line, the mass-production line introduces several automation systems to improve efficiency and consistency:Automated guide-rail locking equipment， automated magnet placement, automated coil winding, automated magnetic-pitch inspection, automated hotend NTC potting, and automated packaging.

Automated guide-rail locking equipment

Automated Magnet Placement Machine (test setup, not production operation)


SMT Equipment


Product quality is our top priority, and the factory manages it across three stages:
  • Incoming material QC: All 600+ parts have individual incoming-inspection standards, with 100% inspection.
  • In-process QC: 27 module-level tests are defined; only modules that pass move on to final assembly. After assembly, an automated production-test mode checks the working status of 46 modules; only fully passing units enter the 48-hour print test.
  • Outgoing QC: Before shipping, quality engineers perform a 100% final inspection of appearance, function, and print quality before a unit is approved for packaging.


Warranty Upgrade


At LightMake, we want to offer our customers solid after-sales protection. The industry norm is a 12-month warranty on the main unit and 3 months on consumables — that was our original plan too.
But through conversations with the community, we received a lot of valuable feedback:
  • What if a design-related defect only shows up after the warranty period?
  • If a future hardware revision fixes a defect, can early users get a free upgrade?
  • Is a longer warranty period possible?

I thought about these questions for a long time. As a company, I have to balance cost and long-term sustainability; but as a 3D printing enthusiast, I completely understand everyone's concerns. In the end, we decided to give Kickstarter backers a better answer:
  1. Kickstarter backer exclusive: 2-year main unit warranty — For all orders placed through Kickstarter, the L4/L1 warranty is upgraded from the standard 12 months to 24 months. Consumables and other accessories keep their existing warranty periods.
  2. Design defects covered — If a failure is confirmed to be caused by a design-level defect, we will provide replacement parts free of charge, even beyond the warranty period.
  3. Free upgrades for defect-fix hardware revisions — If a future hardware version is released to fix a confirmed design defect, early users can replace the affected parts for free. Note: hardware upgrades that add new features are not covered by this commitment.
  4. 24-hour after-sales response — We commit to acknowledging and responding to every after-sales request within 24 hours. Repair or replacement turnaround time depends on the complexity of the issue.
To get machines and parts to you faster, we're setting up overseas warehouses in our key markets, stocking complete units, accessories, consumables, and repair parts. When a replacement is needed, it ships directly from the nearest warehouse. Warehouses confirmed so far:

Country City
United States Los Angeles, New Jersey, Houston, Atlanta
Canada Toronto, Vancouver
Germany  Düsseldorf
United Kingdom London, Birmingham
Warehouses in other regions are being confirmed and we'll keep you posted in future updates.


Thermal Performance Testing


The heating kit is still undergoing intensive testing. We want every number we share with you to be fully validated.

As mentioned before, the heated-chamber kit is expected to ship between December and January, and it now includes an added filtration function. Below is the temperature curve recorded while printing PA material:

There's still room to improve the heating efficiency, and our next steps are to increase it in two ways: raising the heater power and upgrading the fan power.



Because we use linear motors, we also ran in-depth tests on how chamber temperature affects the magnets in the linear motors. The temperature data recorded during printing is shown below. The test results show that at a 60–65°C chamber temperature, the magnets operate normally, with no observable impact:


In addition, our heated bed has undergone rigorous thermal design analysis, and the temperature variation across the bed does not exceed 2°C.


Print Performance Improvements

Over the past few months, we've been working hard to improve the machine's performance. As you may have seen, the units we sent to some reviewers in July were still EVT versions. In the two months since, we've released nearly a new version every week, and the machines have improved significantly — especially in software stability, nozzle calibration, and print performance.
Software stability
  • Improved the Z-phase homing logic, eliminating homing consistency deviations between machines.
  • Optimized the nozzle mapping feature.
Nozzle calibration
  • Improved the optical sensor's trigger accuracy on glossy/shiny materials.
  • Implemented a magnetic-scale stall-detection homing solution, improving nozzle calibration accuracy from 50 μm to 30 μm.
  • Optimized the calibration model's print path and placement.
Print performance
  • Color-switching speed improved from 4s to 1–2s.
  • Purge-tower optimization: split the single large purge tower into 4 small wipe towers to shorten travel during filament changes.
Using the same model, here's the comparison of print time and purge-tower weight:
Version Model pic Print time Purge Tower Weight
New version
6h11m
24.06 g
(incl. 4 purge towers)
Old version 7h1m 54.84 g
Other filament-change printer 20h22m 41.44 g
Other tool-change printer 8h54m  
59.48 g

 

For model quality, we've focused on extrusion flow and temperature, and continuously tuned the linear motor parameters. Print quality has improved dramatically compared with earlier versions.

More printing processes:



Improving print performance is an ongoing process, and we'll keep working at it. Here's what's on our roadmap:
Timeline
 Focus
Mid-October
  • Z-direction smoothing to reduce speed differentials between high and low speeds and improve extrusion;
  • Independent wipe-tower mode to reduce filament waste and print time;
  • Arc-fitting algorithm tuning for smoother arcs;
  • Z-seam alignment for smoother surfaces and clearer small features;
  • Extruder and hotbed PID calibration for stable temperatures and even extrusion, fixing under-extrusion;
  • Print-time estimation optimization (target: within 0.5% of actual time)
Late October
  • Wipe-tower first-layer stability and oozing fixes to improve multi-color success rate and quality;
  • Merged organic tree supports to reduce thin support paths and improve support stability;
  • Hybrid tree-support parameter tuning for easier removal and better surface quality;
  • Assembly-model optimization for more accurate small features and threaded parts;
  • Input-shaping tuning with different resonance parameters per print mode to reduce vertical ringing;
Mid-November
  • High-speed, high-flow print parameters for better efficiency without sacrificing quality;
  • Material profile tuning for more filaments;
  • Top-surface quality improvements (fewer top gaps) and better bottom-surface features;
  • Corner speed reduction to fix bulging and ringing on high-speed corners;
  • First-layer leveling with a multi-toolhead bed mesh for higher first-layer success;
Late November  
  • Linear motor parameter optimization to remove resonance artifacts and improve precision and detail;
  • Stall-detection homing to improve offset calibration, multi-color print quality, and reduce gaps between colors;
  • Independent 4-hotend temperature, pressure advance, and auto-calibration parameters for finer control in parallel printing;


Finally, thank you again to every backer for your patience and trust. As soon as this month's trial production wraps up, we'll share the results and the latest progress on the mass-production line with you.

By the way, if you'd like to see more print videos, you can watch them on our YouTube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/@LightMake_official

—— Vic, Founder of LightMake


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