jameswood

Ha ha! Don't make me laugh when I'm trying to be outraged. Huff!

So far so good... the Chinese teflon appears to be outperforming the official one. At a fraction of the cost. Time for another gamble!

Hey @SandervG, thanks for your reply - and for staying so upbeat and positive. That looks very straightforward. The point I was trying (and failing) to make was that this whole process isn't super-simple for some people, and that swapping the individual print head parts isn't THAT much more complex than the approach of replacing the whole head. I get that feeding wires is fiddly, etc, but with any 3d printer today there is fiddly work involved. For many of us, installing a new PT-100 (for example) is no big deal. There is money to be saved in replacing only those parts that need it. Anyway, this is perhaps nitpicky on my part. Ultimaker's philosophy seems to be that the head design has had so many changes that it's best to replace the whole thing. The feeder problems are very well documented on this forum and elsewhere, so it surprises me to read that you feel there are no flaws. Winning a shootout isn't the same as working reliably over an extended period. Now, granted, the print quality is outstanding when the feeder feeds. When I bought this machine it was advertised as wifi-ready, dual-material capable (coming soon!), and able to print at 200mm/s. Even if you forgive the dual-material engineering difficulties and accept the weird Doodle3d box as "wifi enabled," we're still left with a printer that was advertised as 200mm/s, which has a 30mm/s feeder. The difficulties I'm experiencing stem from the feeder design and the teflon spacer, both of which I can solve by purchasing this upgrade... for the cost of a used car This is fantastic news. I will more than likely be looking into upgrading the feeder. I will keep a high price in mind so that I don't get my little heart set on it again This upgrade looks remarkable: splendidly designed; beautifully packaged; extortionately priced.

I had missed that, you're right. Thank you for the more detailed explanation. I understand that some emphasis has been put on ease of use and simplicity. But you're selling this to Ultimaker 2 and Extended owners. If we weren't comfortable disassembling the print head, we'd have had a lot of trouble replacing the wonderfully consumable teflon spacer that's kept us limping along until now. Replacing the stepper motor isn't going to be a simple task, which makes me question how much extra trouble the additional parts (rods, bearings, housing, etc) are saving. Personally I don't think I need the stronger plastic printhead housing or the new rods (for example), but I'd love to see those parts available as spares for people who do. What I'm really frustrated by is the price. This kit is $700 in Australia. It feels like there is a lot of profit in that price, which is tough to stomach for an upgrade pack that arguably fixes some flaws that the printer shipped with in the first place - especially when you consider that the market for this kit consists entirely of people who have already paid for the Ultimaker 2 or Extended. I suppose I was expecting a reasonably-priced kit to address the fundamental printing issues. Of course I can understand the motivations of Ultimaker B.V. Perhaps it's just disappointing that those motivations align so poorly with mine, and, looking at some of these other comments, with those of others within the community. I realise that this is somewhat of an entitled rant. As an owner of a high end printer I suppose I do feel somewhat entitled to a feeder that can feed, etc. Perhaps it is time for me to go off-piste and buy an Olsson block directly, then use it to print one of the other feeder upgrades. Of course I'll miss out on some of the very-nice-to-have additional upgrades, but then again, $700 can buy many nice things. Like an entire laser engraver.

This seems very expensive. It also seems like there are parts that wouldn't have needed replacement, like the stepper and rods..?

I had problems with this too. Nowhere near the advertised size. Turns out... it was the skirt. Cura was limiting the object area so that the skirt would fit. To disable it, set Line Count to 0 in Expert Settings. That will buy you more space. Thought it might help others who get here via Google - as I did!

@Dim3nsioneer - I thought about that, but with shipping to Australia they're even more expensive. But possibly worth it for the increased robustness. @ultiarjan - I thought it could be interesting to see how good/bad they were while my old spacer was still hanging on, but I think it finally gave up last night. Might need to bite the bullet and order one locally to get it here faster! What kills me is that Ultimaker EU now give these spacers away for free with the high-temp filaments... but without the filament, the cost is so high (and the Australian reseller doesn't yet stock the high-temp filaments, so no deals there).

Ask them? No, I got angry and ranted on the internet! Good... good point. Hrm. Time for this grumpy old man to go to bed. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll take it up with them tomorrow. I'm reasonably confident that there's no (accidental) error, though. Also, I may have just taken a gamble...

So in Australia, the new distributors for Ultimaker want $40.90 (€36.82) for a PTFE spacer. Considering that this is now considered a consumable, I'm pretty annoyed to have to pay the cost of a kilo of filament each time it fails. Are there any alternatives I should explore? Thanks for any ideas... and for letting me vent. Robbery!

Awesome, Dieselpower, thanks so much - Kiwi looks good. I was impressed (and embarrassed...) by how many Dutch people I met in Amsterdam spoke English. Impressed because the standard was excellent, and embarrassed because I only speak English... pretty normal in Australia, but embarrassing by European standards!

Hey guys! I'm hoping someone can help. I live in Sydney, Australia. My stepbrother moved to Amsterdam a couple of years ago, and his birthday is coming up. I want to get him a Raspberry Pi (starter kit, with a case, SD card, PSU). I could buy one here and send it, but ideally I'd like to buy it online from a place in or near Amsterdam to save on shipping. And to support local business by proxy! I don't speak Dutch, so I need to find an online store with an English option. I've tried Googling but failed miserably. So, I thought I'd ask the closest thing I have to a Dutch friend, the Ultimaker forum. Can anyone suggest a good online store, based in Amsterdam with an English-friendly site, that sells the Raspberry Pi? Thanks!