UFO 3D Printing Mystery Boxes Updates!

Beginning with the January UFOs, the Full Mystery Box will be priced at $36, with free shipping. This is a small discount over the previous “box + shipping” price, and makes clear exactly what you’ll pay each month. Also beginning in January, we are offering a $17 Filaments Only box, also with free shipping. Read on for details!

First I’d like to discuss shipping. The Full UFO box costs anywhere between $6.70 and $10.40 for me to ship every month depending on where in the US it is being shipped to. This is because the weight of the box with the project parts and the accessory brings it over the 1 lb limit (usually it’s over 2 lbs) that would bring shipping down to less than $3. For a few months I was using flat rate envelopes that made it $6.70 flat rate to anywhere in the US. Unfortunately, I switched to bigger boxes to be able to fit the items in more comfortably and can no longer use flat rate. However!… I am not going to go back to higher shipping costs to make up for it. Instead I’ve decided to eat the extra shipping costs. I do this because in all honesty, making money with the UFO’s is not my top priority. Sure, as a business I need to make money to grow, but I can do that selling other products. I created the UFO because I wanted to do something fun for the community, I wanted to see what you all print and what designs you come up with, and see how much fun and useful the projects are for you each month. So while the Full UFO is a bit higher in cost than other subscription services, I promise you that I am mostly breaking even. Some months I do make a little extra, and on those months I either donate to community members trying to raise funds, or I re-invest the money in the next box to provide accessories and projects that cost a little more to include. So to everyone who is a subscriber, I thank you very much for allowing me to try to provide the best subscription box service there is.

Now, what sets the Full UFO Box apart from other 3D Printing mystery boxes?

Bigger Samples. While most other companies provide 16.5 meter samples, our samples are a minimum of 20 meters. I tend to add a little more so that there is less waste left over on the spool.

Custom Box Themes. Why have the same boring box every month? Each month, the UFO box has a themed design. October? Spooky. November? Turkey. December? Snowy.

3D Printing Accessories which add value to the items in the box. Over the past six months, we have included the following accessories:

• BuildTak printing surface / decal applicator
• BuildTak Spatula
• Capricorn PFTE Tube Cutter
• Slice Engineer Boron Nitride Paste
• Repkord Nozzle Cleaning Kit
• 3D Gloop PLA glue/bed adhesive/finisher

3D Printable Projects. We include downloadable 3D printing project files, and we include the electronics or other additional parts required to complete the project. These unique projects are created exclusively for the UFO Mystery Box. Prior projects include:

• Bipedal Walking Robot: Motor, battery pack, and screws
• Drift Motorcycle: Motor, battery pack, and switch
• Wall Clock: Clockwork, hands, and bolts
• Jack-O-Lantern Music Box: Re-recordable audio device and color-changing LED
• UFO Fidget Spinner: Bearings
• Kitchen Timer: Timer electronics
• Ice Skating Rink: Motor, battery pack, card with Skater cutouts, magnets, rubber
  feet

The Mothership! One random subscriber each month is selected to receive this prize. The Mothership prizes over the last 6 months have been:

• Free PEI Build Surface and 15% off a BuildTak Flexplate System
• Antclabs BL Touch Bed Leveling Sensor
• Capricorn 4 meter CapTubes Multi Bundle Bowden Kit
• Slice Engineer Mosquito Magnum High Flow Hotend
• Polymaker Polybox Filament Dry Box with Humidity Sensor
• Repkord Multispool Filament Storage Solution with customized Alien3D Panels

So that’s the UFO Monthly Subscription Box. Now we come to…

The UFO Filaments Only Box!

Over the last few months, I’ve received feedback that I’ve thought long and hard about. I have been convinced to do a Filaments Only box. This will contain the same 20 meter samples as the full monthly subscription box, with a variety of brands instead of a single brand in different colors. This box costs $17 per month, with free shipping!

Now, the full UFO box has a Mothership prize, and we brought that concept to the Filaments Only box. So each month, a random Filaments Only subscriber will be selected to receive a Full UFO box, with the accessory and parts for the project for that month. We’re calling this… the Scout Ship!

Initially, the Filaments Only box will ship in a black box with the Alien3D logo, like the original UFO boxes did. As the product gains subscribers, we can move to custom themed boxes.

I hope you all are as excited as I am with these announcements, I look forward to hearing what you think!

Thank you,
Josh ~ Alien3D