Daid

Hello fellow dutchguy! The Orca is a RepRap machine as far as I can see? Unless you don't mean this one: http://reprap.org/wiki/Orca What I've seen from RapRap machines is that they look unstable, and take a look of time to tweak for usable results. The RepMan looks like a crossover between an early RepRap (Darwin) and an Ultimaker. From personal experience, from unboxing to first print took me 8 hours with the Ultimaker. Community support is good. But currently has some lead time issues (hopefully solved soon) The Ultimaker should get a heated bed upgrade option, we've seen the prototypes in the Ultimaker HQ. As for finding someone with an Ultimaker, mine is in Amersfoort. But check the fab-labs. There might be a fab-lab near in in Eindhoven that has an Ultimaker.

See this image: http://wiki.ultimaker.com/File:El1.5.4-PCB.jpg For how the jumpers need to be placed.

You can ignore the TK message. It reports that TK is missing during the PyPy slicing, but that's normal (I should have removed the message). The real problem is that PyPy crashes. Which version of Windows are you using? And how old is the computer? Because PyPy need SSE2 instructions.

RepG might show up as a Java process instead of ReplicatorG.exe That's why you might not be seeing it in the task manager.

The URL you use to generate is the "stored" option. It's not that user friendly, but you can link other people to it and store it for yourself. The most important changes I needed you have already merged, those where the new Arduino and compiler fixes. Couldn't have done it without your stable beta version!

That's one option. It's clearly one of the defective electronics I would say. (seems like the last batch had some quality issues, because you're not the only one with problems) Another option is, if you feel comfortable doing that, is to solder the 2 pins of the MS1 jumper together on the bottom of the board with a blob of solder. It would save you a lot of shipping time. Soldering works because all it needs is an electrical connection, it won't need to carry a lot of current. Or you could replace the jumper header. It all depends on if you are comfortable with a soldering iron (and have access to a good one) If you do solder on the board, it's recommended to remove the step drivers and Arduino before you solder. Just to make sure you don't kill those. As extra bonus you'll also save 1 good electronic board on the Ultimaker team, so they can ship out 1 extra kit, making 1 extra person happy ;-)

Double the distance is not really possible if you have low or high current in the pod meter of the stepper. (You'll get missed steps or overheating if the pot is wrong) Still, I remain at my previous statement. The jumper. Maybe a bad soldering on the jumper, maybe a bad contact of the jumper or a bad trace. Or a bad step driver. Try swapping the Z and X drivers to see what happens?

Ever seen a crane move? You need very stable motions for a 3D printer. A crane construction would be most likely to weak. As a crane will flex.

That's less restrictive then the GPL license, which says you cannot and any extra conditions to the license in any way. So you cannot combine GPL with any software which has a clause a bit stricter then GPL. So you cannot combine GPL with a "Buy me a beer if you like this software and meet me" license. (Exception: You can combine GPL with a newer version of GPL) (And there is no GNU license, there is GPLv2, and GPLv3, and LGPL and AGPL, and even those may have a v2 and v3, confused yet?) I've quite a bit of knowledge in the whole open source software license corner. Because we use a lot of GPL software in our products.

The text ring is possible because of the high Z resolution. If you would try to print it rotated 90 degree so the text faces upwards, then it wouldn't look so as good as it does. This is because the Z resolution is very high, while the X/Y has some limits because of the 0.4mm nozzle. The Signet ring would be a disaster if you print it with the emblem up or down, but might print with some support if you print it in the same way at the text ring. Still you would lose some details. The trick in printing small things like this, is a low temperature and a low speed. You don't want any oozing or stringing.

Most likely cause is a jumper problem. The steppers can be put in different modes, and the Z stepper needs a different mode then the other steppers, see the jumpers on this picture: http://wiki.ultimaker.com/File:El1.5.4-PCB.jpg

Check for bad solder connections. There have been boards with bad solder connections, that could be causing this.

The amount of steps per rotation of the motor say nothing. You need to look at steps per mm, unless they use the same threaded rods. Also, they did 0.01 mm layers on a Prusa Mendel. So I think the Makerbot can do the same if you want. http://blog.reprap.org/2011/12/001-laye ... endel.html

ABS shrinks a lot more when it cools, so if you print thin layers with ABS you'll run into more problems. Personally I think Makerbot is behind on the Ultimaker, but as a dutch person I might be biased. But the Ultimaker is: [*:jjq0dz9o]Faster [*:jjq0dz9o]More build area per machine size It does has a slightly larger stringing problem then the Makerbot.

My suggestion (and self made sollution) http://wiki.ultimaker.com/SkeinPyPy It has the defaults right, you'll need to use Marlin, which makes better quality prints, and comes with Printrun which is more stable to use to print then ReplicatorG.

Also, some parts on the kit are clearly an older revision. Thin bed, slider blocks.

Actually, they can ship with normal mail. I've had my missing PLA shipped to me with normal mail, because the normal mail man delivers at 6 o' clock in my street (because nobody is home at other times) but DHL delivers mid day. All I had to do was ask. But that was before the huge amount of attention they got, and the shitloads of orders, and the electronics problems, and the new building.

My thought: Z feed rate. The Z might be controlled to fast and it's skipping steps. Slice something really small with both Skeinforge (RepG) and NetFabb, look at the differences in GCode. If the Z values are the same then it's possible that it's a Z feed rate issue. Your steppers might be underpowered in that case.

The general consensus right now is not to print from Netfabb until they update it. While it can work it's proven to be unstable on long builds.

I have thought about the dremel mount, but taking another look at the mechanics of the ultimaker, and the amount of stress put on a machine by a dremel this didn't seem wise. I would love to have a PCB mill. Doesn't even has to be large, only 100x100mm. I do have ordered a laser not sure if I will attached it to my Ultimaker or build a 2nd X/Y bed. For anyone thinking about this option, read about laser safety first. And look at this pretty picture of someone who got hit in the eye with a 1W laser. topic. Laser safety is no joke, and I spend about 30% of my budget on quality safety glasses.

Awesome result especially for a 5th print. If you haven't yet, you should look into the upgrade to Marlin. This will make your prints even smoother.

The nozzle is 0.4mm, so it prints 0.4mm lines. It doesn't come with other nozzle options. But the nozzles from http://www.makergear.com/products/nozzles fit. And they sell a 0.25mm nozzle.

There should be no gap between the bowden tube and the brass. Having a gap there will be a disaster as PLA will build up in there and you'll get the famous plug. I have a 1mm gap between the aluminum plate and part 8B, because my tube sticked out a bit to far when I re-assembled my printer head. It prints great, without any problems. But 3mm sounds as a bit much. Just make sure the connection between the tube and the brass is perfect. But be careful with both the brass and the peek, it's easy to break both!

Black PLA? Black PLA is horrible it's very reflective and shows every single flaw. But a perfect print looks awesome.

Maybe if you stuck a laser on the ultimater printer head...