This is part two of a series of blogs that dive into our three company initiatives: Going Green, Giving Back and Education. We started with Going Green, which highlighted our goal to have as close to zero waste as possible. Read it here: Going Green.
Today, we’re discussing Giving Back, specifically how we are giving back to the 3D printing community.
We have benefitted from community support since day one. What started out as just an idea, and a beta test to a few members of the community has grown into a successful business. Because we know first hand the value in receiving support -- whether it’s feedback or monetary -- we believe giving back to the 3D printing community is an important step in helping it continue to evolve and prosper.
With this in mind, we wanted to share with you an overview of exactly how we are giving back.
Free Day
Let’s start with the big one. Last November, we hosted a Free Day as a thank you to our customers.
During Free Day, we gave away $10,000 worth of merchandise by way of 200 vouchers worth $50 each. Crazy, right? Well we didn’t think so.
This community has been so supportive of us that we believed giving back through tangible means was the perfect way to say thank you properly. We also gave 15% off any one item to anyone who was not able to get their hands on a voucher. This certainly made a difference as the vouchers were all gone in a matter of seconds, which was definitely not something we anticipated.
For those who remember, that day had a few hiccups, but overall was well received, and we certainly learned a lot in case we decide to do another one. You never know! (BTW the best way to stay on top of discounts and promotions is through our newsletter, which you can do on the bottom of this page)
Sponsorships
We pledge monthly through Patreon to two outstanding members of the 3D printing community -- Stefan Hermann (YouTube: CNCKitchen) and Thomas Sanladerer (Youtube: Thomas Sanladerer). We believe supporting their channels through monetary contributions helps them with their own production costs and gives them the ability to create regular content for the community via these channels.
Stefan Hermann
We’re big fans of Stefan’s. We have been contributing to his Patreon for awhile. Stefan creates great videos that include everything from builds to reviews, including this one reviewing the strength of E3D’s Edge filament. He really does a great job taking a technical approach to his videos. They are always based in sound engineering, which is something we appreciate.
If you haven’t checked out his page before, please do. And if you’d like to start sponsoring him as well, here’s the link to do so: https://www.patreon.com/cnckitchen
Thomas Sanladerer
We love Thomas' reviews, build guides, tips and tutorials, and just about everything else he does. His approach is very practical and relatable to the community. For example, here’s a great video he did called “How to make your 3D printer smart and silent with the TMC2130!”
The TMC2130 is a stepper motor driver that is specifically designed for 3D printers. We also sell these if you’re interested in learning more about them and grabbing one for yourself. Click here.
Take a moment to visit Thomas’ YouTube, and if you would like to start sponsoring him, you can do so by clicking here: https://toms3d.org/support-me/
Masterspool
Masterspool is our latest way of giving back. We recently announced that we are now carrying Veracity filament. If you’d like to learn more about how that filament is better for your printer and the environment, click here:
Today, however, we want to highlight the part about RichRap. We had no plans of becoming another filament reseller as there are plenty of those as it is. Then, RichRap came along and as he so often has before, changed the game with an innovative idea, the Masterspool.
The Masterspool is a refillable filament solution. Instead of buying filament on a spool, it comes in a vacuum-packed bag, which is then mounted onto a reusable spool. You read that correctly -- a reusable spool.
This innovation was exciting for us. Finally, there was a better solution out there than the status quo. And we wanted to see how we could push that forward for the community, especially since we take so much pride in reusing and recycling everything we can.
We found a manufacturer and reached out to RichRap to thank him for his contribution. In addition to our thanks, $2 from every spool purchased in our store will go straight to RichRap himself, just because we thought he deserved it for his open source contribution to 3D printing.
RichRap has given so much to the community. If you aren’t already, please take a look at his work at richrap.com.
What do you think?
How do you think we are doing in terms of giving back to the community? Let us know on Twitter and Facebook or email us at marketing@filastruder.com. We’d love to hear from you!
Comments will be approved before showing up.
