nallath

It will have robotic spider legs

The main problem with assembling them is that there are a lot of blocking processes. Every time a single part is on backorder, the entire production suffers from this. Even with a small legion of people building these, it takes a few manhours to build a machine. Outsourcing this is not a very good idea, as it would take quite long for the builders to be on a somewhat desirable speed and the other party needs to be big enough to cut out overhead (which is the main problem). Sending 10 packages to a single builder just doesn't cut it as the administration of 20 ish of such builders would be a complete nightmare (and therefore freakishly expensive). Quality control would become a major issue all of the sudden.

Well, if the UP plus 2 is your benchmark, most printers are a big step up. I wasn't that impressed with the print quality (although it did seem quite easy to use).

Played it and it's glorious! Even better than the UM lawn mower.

I'm personally quite against adding weird kind (technological) of anti theft measures. Why? Because the theft, as annoying as it may be, is of less value then the privacy of the users. Engraving the machine (and / or) the parts with a serial number is okay, but automated tracking system not so much.

The material of the feeder is ABS.

It works for both. The paper was included as a sanity check, mostly for first time users. Its hard to define "almost hitting the build plate" so the paper step was included.

Selling enclosures is a bit trickey due to patents. There is atleast one patent that I know of that "protects" the usage of a heated chamber. There might be some ways to avoid infringing the patent, but it does complicate matters.

I actually never use paper to level the bed. Just eyeballing it seems to work best for me.

I can't speak for Ultimaker, but I'm pretty sure that details such as how many printers have been ordered/sold won't be given out, as it's sensitive business information.

Moisture tends to result in bubbles in your print. If your filament is not quite round (or not consistent) you can get these results.

Bribing Sending gifts to the UM team might work

The glue-stick is by no means mandatory. However, if you write in the manual "You might want to use it", it will often be interpreted as "You don't have to use it if you don't feel like it". As the manual is aimed at ensuring that you are able to create a successful print, this is a pretty logical choice to make.

Actually, almost all universities have such a clause, especially when you are working on a thesis.

De Ultimaker avond is ook een goede manier om Nederlandse UM gebruikers te ontmoeten

Daid was quite succesfull with this by using the pause function in Cura. Simply pause at the layer height where you want to change, switch the filament (and flush out all the old color in the nozzle) and continue onwards from that point.

It doesn't have to be formatted first. It is important to always safely remove the SD card from your computer, as not doing it might cause sector corruptions.

Steel cables are by no means accurate. They will stretch over time (and a bit with temperature changes, but that shouldn't be enough to be noticable). Something like Dynema fibers would be a much better option.

I'm seriously impressed with the detail of the sculpting and the printing. Awesome job, I'm already looking forward to seeing it painted.