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Great questions guys! In just 2 days Adam and Emmanuel will join us and answer them! If you have any further questions, please add them below. Don't forget to join in on the discussion Wednesday 31st if you want to ask any followup questions or if any questions pop up spontaneously!

Hi @Rpmaguire, I just went through the loops on an Ultimaker S5 to see if I can reproduce this behaviour and if we would need an extra failsafe. But the only way I could reproduce this by swapping print cores via the menu, and after installing the new print core and clicking confirm when it tells you to close the fan bracket to quickly remove the print core again while it is priming material. It looks like when you install the new print core there is not an option to click confirm accidentally. You can either install the new print core and it reads when it is installed, or you can abort the procedure and then it homes. Does this match with what you did?

@kmanstudios , wow! Great work, amazing!! How are you making walls transparent? A transparent filament with a coating? What is the scale on those spaceships? That is a bit hard to tell.

Hi asb and Shadowman, thank you both for your responses! It's always helpful to hear back from our users, the good reviews but also the critical notes that help us grow and understand your tangible expectations. It sounds like there are some areas where our products did not meet them, which is something we regret. We continuously improve our products and I hope your expectations are met in considerable time. Your feedback helps. A few things are said which I like to follow up on: ASB, you said Cura came with a culture of 'help yourself', can you elaborate on which aspect of the software you feel you are left behind? I feel like it is widely supported here and by our resellers, and even our software engineers are involved with our community. Can you also elaborate on how or why the cracking of prints is related to dimensional accuracy? Do you mean they crack when you try to fit them in another object due to deviating dimensions, or do they crack due to thermal properties of the material itself? If the latter; I don't see how this relates to dimensional accuracy. It's may still be an issue though, but I want to avoid confusing terms. Seemingly most in this thread, I've read a few times about multi-axis calibration. I was wondering if you could elaborate (in detail?) what you would aim to achieve with this and how you would expect it to work. Perhaps we can provide another guide or this functionality if we understand the need better. Regarding connectivity issues, is your Ultimaker connected to wifi or via a LAN cable? Wifi can be less stable depending on the number of connected devices in the area, the router which is being used and other things which are outside of our control. If there is a possibility to connect via a LAN I would recommend to do so. In general, it is not uncommon for Ultimaker to add new functionality to our products after launch. I think that is nice because your product gains more value in terms of functionality and usability over time. Obviously, we aim to do this hassle-free.If a downside of that cycle is that it introduces an unstable user experience (through a missed bug or just the continuous changing of things.) perhaps we could reconsider this strategy. Collecting user feedback is crucial here. Generally speaking, is this something you could appreciate or do you prefer no new features and plain stability? Speaking of improvement though, next week we'll launch a new firmware for the Ultimaker S5 which should include some connectivity stability and allow you to turn off the lights on your Ultimaker S5 for example. More detailed release notes will follow with the launch. Hope this helps, thank you again for your feedback!

Or ask @Anders Olsson himself. The AMA thread will be populated by 2 Owens Corning experts, unless they stock and work with Boron Carbide they may not know the answer.

It will be launched with a 0.6mm nozzle, because of the fibers that are in most abrasive materials you don't want to go smaller. It will significantly increase the chances of clogging.

Abrasive materials. It's a relatively new subject for most with the Ultimaker S5 and the (soon to be released) print core CC Red. Adding to that, Ultimaker is working close to various material manufacturers to include validated profiles from their materials into Ultimaker Cura as well. So, as a user, you are can rely on the same reliability as when you use Ultimaker materials, but with possibly enhanced properties. Some of these enhanced properties come from the additives that are being added to these materials. For example, XSTRAND™ is a Nylon material but it also has 30% glass fibers added to it which make it incredibly strong! Because of these new materials and their enhanced properties I've arranged for an AMA (Ask Me Anything) with 2 experts from Owens Corning who can tell you all about it. Adam Davis; additive engineer with a lot of experience with 3D printing (especially XSTRAND™) Emmanuel Vaquant; senior innovation leader and knows all about the material properties of XSTRAND™ So do you have any questions about the fibers that are added to XSTRAND, other materials they have which might be useful for a project you are working on or how you can create the strongest 3D print possible, make sure to check in with us on October 31st at 4pm (CEST) / 10am (EDT) If you already have any questions you want to ask, feel free to post them below! We'll start answering on October 31st ? If you are not familiar with the concept, during an ‘AMA/Ask Me Anything’ someone steps forward for around an hour or so to answer any question you fire. Usually, this person has a specific level of expertise or story which is interesting to know more about. But don't let this limit your questions ?

I'm not sure if that information is already available. If you sign up here you'll be the first to know ? Happy to hear you liked the article. What would you want to use the print core CC for?

Hi @AledEvans, thank you for your post. Sorry to hear it sounds like you're having some issues with your print core. It's always recommended to remove the PVA after printing when you're not using it. PVA is very sensitive to moist and will even attract moist from the air and it will get soft and degrade. (You can bring it back to life by heating it up in a box on your build plate but it's better to avoid this). You can indeed use an acupuncture needle and see if you can perforate the clog from the outside in, and do some more hot/cold pulls afterwards. Unless I'm wrong I think we have never had a print core we couldn't unclog, so there should still be hope ? (If time is of the essence, I can recommend indeed having an additional print core on stock, so you can replace the print cores and clean the clogged one while not loosing any print time.) Hope this helps!

Ultimaker has a long history of working closely with our users, and this has worked out really well for both sides. A particularly involved and knowledgeable user group can be found right here, in our community of 3D printing experts. Someone who has been in the spotlight before because of his contributions is @Anders Olsson . If you think that name sounds familiar, you are probably thinking of the ‘Olsson Block’. The Olsson Block is a response to the hot end we developed for the Ultimaker 2 and was later officially integrated in the Ultimaker 2+. Anders didn't stop there and continued to develop a Ruby nozzle which is wear-resistant. Fast forward a few years later, and we have a Print Core CC Red. It was time I sat down with Anders again and talk about these ruby inserts. - Anders Olsson during the Olsson Block campaign. Q: Anders, who are you and how may people have heard about you? A: I work as a Research Engineer at Uppsala University and I am the inventor of the Olsson Block for the Ultimaker 2+ series. Some people might also have heard of me printing boron carbide (link) composites for nuclear shielding. (Boron carbide is an extremely hard boron-carbon ceramic which falls just behind cubic boron nitride and diamond as one of the hardest known materials). Q: With the Olsson Block you could swap nozzles within a few seconds. Why did you continue your research and develop a more expensive wear-resistant nozzle, when replacing a worn down nozzle is so fast and easy? A: For some materials that may have been sufficient, but Boron Carbide is so abrasive, a brass nozzle can easily be destroyed in less than one print. Secondly, we wanted to prevent brass-contamination in the printed material in case we wanted to recycle it. Q: How did a Ruby nozzle end up in a print core? A: There is a type of enriched boron carbide which has much better performance than natural Boron carbide but it’s also much more expensive. By using the expensive material only in areas where it is really needed one can make components which has much better performance without becoming extremely and unnecessarily expensive. 3D printing - dual extrusion gives us these options. We really liked the reliability of the print cores and the quickest way to bring that reliability and the wear-resistance we needed together, was to make a prototype of a print core with a modified block to fit an Olsson Ruby nozzle. - Print core CC Red shown at TCT show. Q: Can you explain why you chose Ruby in the first place from all available options? A: Ruby (Alumina/Corundum) is a great material. It is chemically stable, not toxic or dangerous if you somehow wear it down (which for example, Cemented Tungsten Carbide would be in our case). What you also have to look for is availability and consistency. Ruby was the hardest material that could reliably be sourced with the dimensions I wanted. A scale to quantify hardness is the ‘Knoop’ scale. To put Ruby in perspective of other materials with a Knoop value, Copper is 163, Ruby is 2100 and Diamond is 7000. There are not that many materials between Ruby and Diamond. Diamond was too expensive and not feasible as a solution. Q: While using a Print Core CC Red, have you experienced any downsides with printing non-abrasive materials? A: I personally haven’t seen any disadvantages using the Print Core CC Red for any materials. I’ve also tried other abrasive materials besides Boron Carbide which worked fine. Q: Why is the Print Core CC Red 0.6mm? A: Abrasive materials often have fibers in them for reinforcement. A 0.6mm diameter gives a good balance between printing speed and detail, while being large enough so it won’t clog due to the fibers some materials contain. Q: Can you quantify how long a Print Core CC Red should last while processing abrasive materials? A: So far we have not been able to detect any wear with any commercially available materials. We recently cut open a nozzle that had printed about 25kg of carbon fiber and it showed no measurable wear inside or on the Ruby. To put things in perspective; Brass nozzles will typically last: 0,3kg, Stainless nozzles: 1kg, Hardened steel: 3kg of common carbon filled materials before print quality will suffer badly. - On these photo’s you can see that abrasive material not only wears out the nozzle diameter, but also shaves the brass from the outside shoulders. There is an important side note though, before you might consider Ruby as indestructible: although it’s wear-resistant Ruby can also be fragile. A user should avoid hitting it with hard objects and avoid using a flame cleaning the nozzle, because brass easily deforms when overheated and quick temperature changes stresses the ruby. Q: For some readers, abrasive materials may be a new subject matter. Can you explain what it is that makes a material abrasive when you are not sure which print core to use? A: Materials which are hard in a solid piece (like metals, ceramics and carbon fibers) will generally also wear down the nozzle. In general one should assume that any filament with a filler will cause more wear on the nozzle, except if the filler is obviously much softer than brass (like wood). Example: Glow in the dark filament has a ceramic powder to make it glow. Which makes it abrasive. Q: What are you using the Print core CC Red for yourself at the moment? A: Apart from printing with Boron carbide, we’re now exploring other fillers which stops different types of radiation, which are magnetic, which are electrically conductive or which can be fired into a ceramic object after being printed. Part of the goal is to combine several properties in the same object in three dimensions, which can only really be done with a dual material printer like Ultimaker 3 or Ultimaker S5. None of these materials can reliably be printed without a Print core CC Red. -- And that concludes my interview with Anders Olsson. I hope this has been an interesting read and you have discovered something new about the Print core CC Red. Since Ultimaker products were never compatible with highly abrasive materials, how to work with them may be a new subject for some of you. If you have any further questions, please feel free to post them below! More questions about abrasive materials? We'll host an AMA (Ask Me Anything) soon with 2 experts of Owens Corning (the manufacturer of XSTRAND) on 31st of October. Mark it in your agenda ? And finally, in just a few weeks the print cores will be available at your local reseller. If you want to be kept up to date and receive an email when it becomes available, please follow the link below and be the first to get one! Keep me updated about the Print Core CC Red

Really love the surface of the skulls, not too shiny. Very soft.

Hi! Let me see what the latest update is on the delivery date for the Aluminum plates and if you should have received any further updates on this. I do know that we won't be releasing any aluminum buildplates for other printers besides the Ultimaker S5 for now, because our research shows that the materials available for our smaller 3D printers don't require different types of buildplates for improved adhesion. Let me get back with you about the estimated delivery time frame!

Thank you for the information. My first thought was that perhaps a BB core was installed which can cause a material other than PVA to ooze more, but I understand you used 2 AA print cores. Can you see if in Cura you have 'Limit support reractions' is enabled or disabled? Can you perhaps share a screenshot of Cura layerview with travel path from the area where it strings a lot ? Thanks!

Hi @MedTech, which print cores and print profile in Cura are you using?

For your information, Ultimaker Cura 3.5.1 is now available

And I also wanted to add a final note about plugins since there was a reported bug about 2 of them. First of all, make sure to keep reporting them of course when you encounter one. Secondly, it's good to realize there is a difference in ownership between features available through Cura and the toolbox/plugins. Plugins are usually contributed by third parties (big or small), and even though we curate and check the quality we have little control over fixing bugs in them because we don't own that code. Features available through Ultimaker Cura are ours though, and we take full responsibility over those. Not to imply the toolbox is like the wild west, but it's good to realize who owns that code when you report a bug. And where possible, we'll accommodate the fastest fix possible. And finally, we all certainly do our utmost best to offer you the most reliable user experience.

Hi everyone, First of all, thank a lot for all the input we have received. Eventually, it helps us to deliver a better product, although I imagine it may seem gloom when your new Ultimaker Cura crashes, doesn't show your theme properly or doesn't slice properly. It has been an interesting read to go through these pages with good arguments from both sides. It is true, it is probably not realistic to deliver a new release entirely bug-free, but it is also true that some of the existing bugs could and should have been prevented. How to go from here? We've been keeping a close track of the reported bugs and we're happy to say we're working on a patched version 3.5.1 which should fix some of the most intrusive bugs, and should also be released today or tomorrow. Will it be bug-free? Probably not, but it should be a lot better. Cura 3.5.1 should fix most of the crashes, although it is good to mention we could not reproduce that bug reliably. And it fixes among others the speed and the connect support lines bug. I will write a message here when it's available. For future references, when you experience a bug it would help our developers tremendously if you could supply a log file and/or a clear description of when you are experiencing this bug. Being able to reproduce a bug significantly increases our chances of fixing it. Lastly, for some time there has also been a discussion going on, both internally as externally about the release cycle of Ultimaker Cura and where the focus should lie (reliability, new features etc). This discussion will certainly provide new input for this discussion. I don't know if it will be the deciding push into any direction, but it surely will have its impact. Thanks again for all the feedback and helping us make better products!

I don't see any images in your post, are they shared elsewhere? ?

Are you talking about the front fan bracket (the white part of the print head which you open when you replace print cores), or the silicon cover laying in the bottom of the print head?

You mean like a rotary (rock) tumbler or something like this? (quickly looked up a video for reference)

(extracted from guide 11 - tips and tricks) Question: Do you (often) post process your 3D prints, or are they often good to use straight out of the Ultimaker? If you do, what is it that you most often do? Answer @Stefania Dinea : I usually use them as they come out of the printer. However sometimes some extra attention is needed. See previous comments. Question: Is there perhaps a post-processing technique you would like to apply but are not familiar with yet? Answer @Stefania Dinea : A sanding machine ?! I heard there are gadgets that you can lay a model in for sanding. I am not sure for which techniques of printing they are used for but they sound awesome. Question: I just started a new job and we want to exhibit our Revit models as 3D printed models. What do you think we should invest in? Ultimaker 3 or 3Extension? Or do you feel Ultimaker S5 is better suited? Maybe some other suppliers of 3D-printers should be considered? Answer @Stefania Dinea : Well, I have personally tested all low end brands and I can tell you for sure cheap comes with the included headaches. The Ultimaker brand usually stands that their products will last a very long time and it never loses the intended purpose. The UM2 is a very reliable and usefull printer. However the biggest complaint in architecture was size, that is why the UM S5 came out in a different format than what we are used to. When you buy a printer for your company then I suggest the latest version available on the market, however if it’s for personal use, then whatever fits your budget.

@Stefania Dinea offered to take on questions which she would happily answer in a Q&A. If I can answer any, I would also be happy to! Stefania mentioned this in her latest forum post 'ArchiCad'. I'll just create this thread so the request is more on the surface. We're still taking questions! ? If you haven't yet, check out the great guides she has already written! PREVIOUS POST: THE ARCHITECTURE OF 3D PRINTING - 01 TOPOGRAPHY THE ARCHITECTURE OF 3D PRINTING - 02 MASSING THE ARCHITECTURE OF 3D PRINTING - 03 TOLERANCES AND SNUG FIT THE ARCHITECTURE OF 3D PRINTING - 04 ENTOURAGE THE ARCHITECTURE OF 3D PRINTING - 05 HIGH RESOLUTION BUILDING FACADES THE ARCHITECTURE OF 3D PRINTING - 06 INTERIOR DESIGN THE ARCHITECTURE OF 3D PRINTING - 07 STL EXPORT FROM REVIT THE ARCHITECTURE OF 3D PRINTING - 08 OPTIMIZE BUILD VOLUMETHE ARCHITECTURE OF 3D PRINTING - 09 MATERIAL PROFILES THE ARCHITECTURE OF 3D PRINTING - 10 ARCHICAD THE ARCHITECTURE OF 3D PRINTING - 11 TIPS & TRICKS

Yep, we'll exhibit at FormNext ? Let me check if that is a possibility. I'll get back with you!

Hi @Zwakie, technically the CC core fits in an Ultimaker 3 print head, however we do not recommend it when you also plan to use abrasive materials. The Ultimaker 3 feeder can not withstand those materials and will wear down. As far as I know, there are no clear plans of retro-fitting the Ultimaker S5 feeder on the Ultimaker 3. But I can also not look into the future.

What is your process of dissolving PVA? If you use warm water (not hot, not cold) and if there is a current that helps. Depending on the size of your container, if the water is saturated with PVA it significantly slows down the process too, so refreshing the water may also help.