Community Approved Printing Scheme
If you'd love to get your hands on some AuthentiKit but really don't want to get into 3D Printing, at least to start with, then the Community Approved Printing Scheme (CAPS) is for you. Community Approved Printers (CAPs) are members of the AuthentiKit community who are experienced at printing AuthentiKit controls and have agreed to print parts for others at low "mates rates" prices and to offer a quality guarantee to customers. CAPs are based around the world so hopefully there is one near you to keep shipping costs low.
What to expect as a CAPS customer
If you choose to use a CAP for your AuthentiKit project we want you to have an entirely positive experience.
Price
To remove all uncertainty about price AuthentiKit has developed a highly pricing formula which allows us to determine the price for 3D printed parts for any flight control. It is based on the number of printing hours as well as the labout involved in handling parts and batches and we call it the Recommended Selling Price (RSP). We publish this price so it is clear to everyone in advance and we require all accredited CAPs to charge no more than this price for a standard print.
Another important aspect of price is that you pay the CAP directly. AuthentiKit does not participate in the transaction and neither AuthentiKit or any other party takes a fee from the transaction.
Quality
The parts you receive should fit together without any rework whether that is reaming, sanding or tidying. You will not see any of this in our assembly videos and we don't expect you to have to do any either. To achieve this for you we require CAPs to keep their printers calibrated correctly and to carry out sampling and quality checks to prevent problems creeping in.
Quality also include longevity. Unless there is anything very unusual about a part you should expect reasonable durability from the parts you purchase and assemble and this should be guaranteed by the CAP. We leave the specifics of the guarantee to individual CAP but you should expect it to last for some months.
Customer Service
We understand that you are likely new to AuthentiKit and may not understand all aspects of the configuration of Universal Hub, flight controls and mounting system. The CAP should discuss your requirements with you to make sure you are ordering what you need. This service should continue during and after production. The CAP should be accessible and responsive to questions. If you have any concerns after purchase the CAP should be receptive and make reasonable efforts to address your concerns.
Shipping
Our aim is to establish a network of CAPs in all major regions so that printing is relatively local to you keeping both the timescale and costs of shipping down and to avoid avoid import duties. We cannot always offer this depending on where you are in the world but we continue to strive for it.
Accreditation
If anyone in the AuthentiKit community is willing to print parts for you that is entirely a matter between the two of you. The purpose of CAPS is to provide an option to those who are less comfortable paying money to someone they may never have met. There are a number of steps involved in achieving accreditation as a CAP.
- The potential CAP must first demonstrate a sufficient degree of printing aptitude by submitting test pieces for review.
- Read and agree to the quality standards as listed above
- Participate in periodic quality control reviews
The CAP scheme is administered by our friends at SimKitSupplies who oversee and keep track of introductions to help ensure a high quality of service. If you would like to request parts to be printed for you just go to the relevant product page on the SKS website and enter a request in the relevant box. For example here is the shop page and request form for the new Spitfire MkIX Flight Stick G2.
Key Benefits of using the CAP scheme
