LePaul

I know there's several of these out there....I'm waiting to install mine until I can see more prints too

A week later, no squeaking and the Bowden tube hasn't flown off the print head...!

Pete, I've posted a great deal with my kit, build and subsequent frustrations along the way to getting quality prints. As others have said all along, 3D printing (rapid prototyping) isn't turn key. While many will make it sound like you simply load the PLA/ABS material and just go print, I've found that isn't the case with any of them. When I bought my Ultimaker kit, my friend ordered a Solidoodle 3. His arrived, assembled and ready to go. He was up and printing before me but has had a number of issues and malfunctions along the way. The support he receives from them is essentially a short sentence and that's it. Here, I can go directly to the forums or post a support ticket. I wish I had gone with the assembled kit, and had I known the Ultimaker 2 was waiting in the wings, would've bought that. However in hindsight, building the printer has helped me understand it, learn how it functions and be less wary (i.e. scared) to get in there and adjust things. I'm an IT guy who deals with mainframes, servers, desktops, etc...but I was really leery of building a 3D printer out of wood, a stack of stepper motors, belts and pulleys. I've had all sorts of interesting issues along the way and managed to get thru them. Since you are leaning to the Ultimaker 2, it would seem a lot of the hurdles you have read about will be reduced since it comes pre-assembled, heated bed and many enhancements from what us Ultimaker 1 owners have. Nancy has been posting a lot about her experience with the one she has had on loan for the past few days. What sold me on the Ultimaker was the print quality and also the community support. I followed these posts for months and while I had concerns like you did, I was intrigued and impressed how many minds came together to resolve and improve the product.

I have to ask how long the owl took to print!

I have the upgrade kit and haven't had the heart to dismantle my machine yet to install it....I have been hoping to see what others are doing and printing! I'd love to see what others think of the dual extruders and how their prints are looking

I am curious about this too! It would be nice to just beam the data to the printer via wifi,

Actually is was a great fix...I made the Bowden clamp part for the print head...but I haven't installed it since the clip and ip tie seems to have fixed the problem (for now!) If you can print the part, its well worth it

So Daid is promising we can print out edible cat treats soon?? Just kidding! I'm pleased to see there is very active development on the bed, with heating and better leveling. I think I spent more time getting the proper bed height/leveling than any other aspect of the kit build. Now that I am getting good print outs in PLA, I am very excited about printing in other materials, which the heated bed will be a requirement

Ok I looked at the start.gcode and wondering where to add that entry? Here's what mine looks like ;Sliced at: {day} {date} {time} ;Basic settings: Layer height: {layer_height} Walls: {wall_thickness} Fill: {fill_density} ;Print time: {print_time} ;Filament used: {filament_amount}m {filament_weight}g ;Filament cost: {filament_cost} G21 ;metric values G90 ;absolute positioning M107 ;start with the fan off G28 X0 Y0 ;move X/Y to min endstops G28 Z0 ;move Z to min endstops G1 Z15.0 F{travel_speed} ;move the platform down 15mm G92 E0 ;zero the extruded length G1 F200 E3 ;extrude 3mm of feed stock G92 E0 ;zero the extruded length again G1 F{travel_speed} M117 Printing...

Something I have seen the Solidoodle guys do is print plastic casings that go around the bearings I don't have a picture on hand but wonder if a plastic (injection molded, printed of other material) that firmly encases the bearings and Z nut would be a good idea? I had to strugle to get my build platform just right, but had no trouble with the z-nut....so far.

Try, you must (I'm sorry, I couldn't resist)

So that doesn't look too thick or overextruded (too hot?) ? I seem to do well at 220 and am willing to try lower if its worth trying!

Seriously? Its 40 seconds in.

Mastory, we had a rough start but I wanted to thank you for this advice.

That's an excellent idea, I haven't even looked at the gcode for the printer I tweak the gcode in Mach 3 for the CNC mill I use when making aluminum parts for my R2-D2s. For some reason, the motor off doesn't translate over from vCarve Pro, so we have to add that in manually to each part we mill. Easy fix, just annoying if you forget ... So on the second to last part (threaded screw), that doesn't look too heavy/over extruded at the begining? Nice to hear I am honing in on getting this thing working well The blue PLA is quite something, it shines so much, its hard to tell if its "wet" or not

I didn't make any temperature changes during the print That's an interesting concern. I may wait on making any changes, I did print and install the improved zip-tie/clip for the bowden tube on the extuder. Maybe I should see how that affects print before I change anything else. I slowed the video in the middle to show how it was applying the first layer. To my [untrained] eye, it looked a little heavy on the extrustion....thoughts?

Barnacules Nerdgasm posted a great video this week, a replacement to the Bowden tube feed connection. Here's the link on Thingiverse http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:11864 http://www.thingiverse.com/make:48823 I printed with the following settings... Layer Height .2mm Shell Thickness .8 Bottom/Top thickness .6 Fill Density 20 Speed 50 Temp 220 Filament diameter 2.80 Flow 100% I think I have the bed height almost perfect, however on the right front, it may need to go down a very small amount (blue PLA on blue tape is hard to see, but note the ring around the part) Here's the parts...I bet you guys will advise a bit lower temp...what do you think? Things to note...the first layer is that desired SMOOSHED/FLATTENED of material so many of you have said to strive for! The bottom layers seem darker...over extrusion (too hot?) I have been wiping the surface of the painter's tape with rubbing alcohol and I am ripping up a lot of tape trying to remove the parts when completed. While not a huge problem, I am having to lightly sand away the tape I can't peel away. Thanks for your suggestions in advance

Watching some of that now...camera shakes with the printer

Broken link, my friend

Good questions, especially if it worked with the original Ultimaker Did you already submit a support ticket? They are quite responsive to those too.

PLA or ABS

Be sure to wipe down the blue painters tape with rubbing alcohol. The tape has a waxy residue so nothing will stick to it otherwise

This keeps happening to me, I've guided it back into, made sure it was back in as tight as it could go, removed the collar and put it back on (blue piece) but this keeps happening every print or two. I was making the last two IKEA light holders I need to be done. Then I can work on printing the parts I need to make to keep the Bowden tube coupler from making noise in the extruder drive. Tips? Ideas? Thank you!