IRobertI

Yes it's to preserve detail. I'm not sure how to put it into words exactly but if you print that object lying down each layer will see a bigger change from layer to layer. Say you want to print out a football (or soccer if you prefer that name) and you can only cut it up into 10 slices compared to 100. If instead you stand it up the change in geometry gets "spread out" over more layers. Not sure if I'm making sense here but there you go hehe. In addition to that point there will also be a TON of jumps to go between the peaks and that will generally produce worse quality. What you want to have working well for jumping between objects, or just jumping in general, is what's called retraction. As soon as the printer stops pushing out filament you will have ooze coming out of the nozzle. If the print head moves while it's oozing it will leave strings that needs to be cleaned. With retraction the machine will pull filament back before jumping in an attempt to stop this oozing from happening. These days retraction is working pretty well on the Ultimaker (it wasn't always that way) and you can get quite clean prints even with jumping. This may require some tweaking depending on what you're trying to print though, it's not quite as easy as checking a box in the software quite yet (but the default settings in cura for example are already quite good).

I'd print it as it stands in the right side of the pic. I think you might be able to print that without support with thin layers. I'd mostly be worried about the overhang at the bottom right. But if need be you can just turn on support in the slicer and it'll handle that for you. Since support should only be needed on the right and possibly left side (as seen in the left side of the pic) it will be a quick easy clean as well. As for reliability and long printing, it'll get the job done. Personally my longest print is only 5-6 hours but others have done 10+ without problems. edit: Btw, that object there wouldn't take that long to print, not even close.

What ticks me off the most is that they don't even seem to care. I mean, for how long has that title been on the google pages that it's going to be replaced by the forums? Personally I can't stand the google groups. It's a disorganized clunky mess.

Even Erik still posts on google instead of the forums so I can see why he wouldn't...

It's a pain in the ass to re-string the neck strap so I think I'll skip that hehe. Just lots, and lots, and lots of cleaning... Man I hate using support. I printed it as it's shown in the first pic. It was possible to print it on its side to reduce cleanup considerably (no need for support) but unfortunately it's impossible to print the tiny little threads that the cap is supposed to grab onto that way. I tried creating just a small lip instead of threads but with the relatively fat head on these printers it just came out too smooth and the cap came off a wee bit too easily for my taste. No, haven't played around with that and I shouldn't have to, the dang thing should stay in place :evil:

Came up with a new lens cap holder because I thought my previous one was way too bulky. Unfortunately it looks like the f#¤"ng bowden is popping again since the last few layers are very sparse. And that's with a ridiculously tight bowden clamp on there, so tired of that problem.

I think what he means is to put the actual extruder part on the head. To get away from adding massive weight in the form of steppers on the head he wants to transfer the power of the motors via a flexible shaft similar to the extension thingies you can get for Dremels and the like. IIRC this has already been discussed in some thread but it was a long time ago and I don't remember what came out of it.

Are you sure it's extruding while moving the platform down? I'd think it's simply oozing you're seeing. Regardless, you can fix this. Look under the "Machine" tab and you'll find a button with three dots in it (...) to the right of "Machine type". Click this button and you'll get a popup window full of settings. At the top of that window is a check box for "Move Z down after printing", uncheck this. Now switch tabs to the "Ultimaker (volumetric) specific" tab and you'll find a box where you can put in a GCode footer. You could probably steal the footer from cura and put that in there. If memory serves what cura does is retract a little bit and then move the head straight out to the side. Underneath the "Move Z down after printing" checkbox there's also a "Move to position after printing" setting where you could tell the head to move to the side. However, I'm not sure how fast it will move and if it will do one after the other (that is, move down first, then move to the side thus having the same issue). Some experimentation is in order But I think the first suggestion is better since it gives you better control. Hope that helps.

Would be a fun little project to try but unfortunately all I have is PLA and that's not suitable for this. The model looks a bit tricky to print, it will need support for sure. It doesn't look TOO bad though and it should be possible to print it without too much hassle. Would probably need to adjust the holes post print but I doubt that's an issue. The reason the holes would need to be adjusted is because it's hard to print perfectly round holes vertically (at least in my experience). A couple of thoughts on what you could do to make it easier to print: In the picture below I've put in three arrows that point to "trouble" areas (if printed in this orientation). These areas are so called overhangs that means the printer has to print in mid air or add support to be able to print it properly. If you taper the model slightly sort of like I tried to show with the curved lines it can be printed without support. Of course, that particular shape might be needed for the other hardware. There's also a big circle cutout in the red part. I assume this is just for weight reduction? If so, you could modify the top arch to help the printer there as well as it will be a very steep angle at the upper part of the circle. Of course, you can still print this with support but I personally try to design around having to use support to save the hassle and also to produce a better surface quality. Sounds like a pretty cool job to have though I hope it works out for the little guy!

Sure, just select "Outline" under the same option.

Videos, we need them... NOW Hell I can't even get ripple free corners at 70...

Yep, that's SolidWorks. And no I haven't uploaded it since it's so specific to my (homebuilt) desk so I doubt it'd fit anything else really

Got tired of picking up cables from the floor...

You're wondering if anyone is interested in more pictures and info? What a silly question! Of course we want more info and pics

Just a few questions to get things going Did it strip the filament? What temp were you printing at? Did you make sure to put in the correct diameter? Does it work at lower speeds?

On the print tab there's a "Raft type" setting, set this to "No raft" and you should be good to go.

Good to see it is finally out but at €91 shipped I think I'll wait a bit and see what other peoples experience with it is like first. I know you've done extensive testing in the office but nothing beats actual testing in the wild

As an alternative to the tensioners you're using you could go with these that don't take up any additional space: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:17058 (and contrary to what one might think considering how often I plug these things I am in fact not getting paid for it )

The v3 bolt does not twist the filament like the v2 does, it goes in and out straight. I had trouble with retraction working reliably with my v2 bolt and was suggested to upgrade to the v3. For me the upgrade was a pretty big improvement. But, as daid said, I don't think it's a must have upgrade if your v2 is working reasonably well.

I may be wrong but I think the wast majority of owners are just printing for themselves with the occasional print for a friend.

All I can say is it better be priced well for early adopters, we've paid enough in tears.

If there is an area of the model that sticks out and has an angle that makes cura think it needs support it will fill the entire layer. At least that's what my experience is. For example on the classic "Pink panther woman" cura/skeinforge will fill the entire layer when it reaches the ... private parts. Netfabb on the other hand doesn't fill the entire layer but instead puts a smaller filled area there to keep things together. As for the other slicers, I don't know, haven't tried that particular model with them.

Se he posts about it in the google groups but not on their official forum? Brilliant...

You can change the nuts to so called nylock nuts, it's the kind with a little blue (usually) disc on one end. IIRC the Ultimaker uses a few of those somewhere but I've forgotten where. These are usually a bit fatter than the standard kind so clearance might be an issue. Another alternative is to put a bit of Loctite thread lock on the screws. It comes in a little tube kinda like super glue and that's basically what it is, glue for threads.

Just a couple of quick thoughts. - Have you cleaned the bolt? - TOO much tension on the thumbscrew may cause the filament to deform and make it harder to get through the system. Tight enough that you can't yank it out by hand should be enough. - Have you checked the filament to see that it isn't too thick? - When you tighten up the hot end too much tension on the four thumbscrews might put enough pressure on the end of the bowden to make it squeeze together at the connection to the brass so that the inner diameter gets too small. (I don't think this is likely though) - This one happened to me once but I think it's very uncommon. Check that the nozzle isn't clogged.