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iRobertl, as a newbie, I wanted to pop in and say a big thank you for your sig file at the bottom of your post directly above! That Troubleshooting Guide, a/w/a the REST of the guides available from that source are so very valuable to guys such as myself, just getting into UM2 world. THANKS!

This is a most timely post! I just bought acrylic tubing late last night to mate with my 3D print, as a hack, in order to achieve requisite transparency in my prototyping project. Wish I'd have seen this topic sooner. Appreciate seeing it now, Randy in LA I happened to check Amazon and found this quote in their product description for this liquid application. Several distributors of this product appear in various search engines, so it is widely available it would appear, at least to US based modelers. There were two, particularly informative, 5-star customer reviews posted on Amazon, as well should one be more curious as the result of your posted alert.

reibuehl stuck sensor is discussed in detail in the Anders Olsson thread on the new custom heater block he's designed. How to remove the stuck sensor is part of the reason why he re-engineered and had machine shop fab up a batch of 50 currently being distributed. He's solved that stuck sensor problem going forward. In order to install Anders' custom heater block, one HAS to get that sensor out. Second advantage, is now easy to swap nozzles in about 15sec. using a printed "torque wrench" tool he released into the wild the last couple days. Slip your socket over the 2 pc printed tool and twist away. Might want to check there. Key words: custom heater block.

For those unfamiliar with the US Postal system, everything is routed through gynormous Postal Hubs. For example, in my NW corner of the USA--Left Coast, all, and i do mean ALL our mail goes to Salt Lake CIty first, and then gets re-distributed throughout the Pacitic Northwest. We used to have a more effecient (at least as a customer, I thought it was more effecient) series of sub-hubs, the closest being in Spokane, Washington (state). Not anymore. All sub hubs closed and everything shipped to SLC for re-distribution. The other thing curious about US package delivery services is this historical tidbit: The Basis of the founding of FedX in 1971 is a quirky, fun FAQ. Back in 1971, an enterprising university MBA student undertook a project, to analyze Airplane Flight Schedule Patterns, with the aid of the university computers. What the student discovered was that everything converged in Memphis Tennessee on the East Coast. From there every item mailed could reach every other part of the USA in 24hrs or less. The student took that information, and made a tidy fortune selling it off to an interested shipping company, and FEDx was born. Fortunately for Ultimaker, the go-to, USA Utlimaker guru is based in........ . . . . wait for it.... . . . . . . . MEMPHIS! :mrgreen:

UPDATED: February 6, 2015 , 3:12 am Departed USPS Facility LAS VEGAS, NV 89120

I'm in. Private message has been sent asking details for transmitting digital image to you. Thank you for this amazing opportunity.

True that, however, the offgassing of PLA burnout is something that needs to be taken into consideration, especially if working indoors. Wax burnout offgassing is bad enough--think birthday candle smudge pot. :shock:

Having some experience in lost wax casting, it would be my suggestion to all who would like to try this, to use actual "investment" in order to make a mold around the 3D print instead of much more harsh, concrete which is a mixture of limestone and binder. Using actual investment powder--a form of plaster of paris, saves time and money. After you heat to "lose the wax" step, your negative is intact, and will have no "flashing issues" when pouring metal, because there are no seams to allow for molten metal to seep into and require manual removal later. Next, place investment containing cast piece + mold BOTH into a 5 gallon bucket of water, which will dissolve the investment totally, while cooling your molten piece at the same time. Said bucket has a name in casting circles: Quench Bucket Water is much cheaper than buying and discarding citric acid saturated with cement. If you are concerned small metal fragments somehow got into your dissolved away from your cast investment material, there is a wet method for quick harvesting of said metal, and a dry method for separating and harvesting said metal fragments. Wet Method: run contents of 5-gallon bucket containing dissolved investment through a small gold miner's sluice, and catch the run off for drying and reuse. The metal fragments will lie in the bottom of the sluice due to specific gravity of said metal fragments (if there are any). However, if one is working in gold or silver, one should be concerned with any minute losses, as they do add up to big bucks. US$42 per gram for 24K Au is a significant monetary loss. Dry method: pour through a homemade or commercial brass mesh sieve. Allow dissolved investment to settle to the bottom of capture bucket as an undisturbed sediment, usually 24hrs. Using a piece of flexible tubing as a siphon, remove the clear liquid down to the sediment layer. Allow the investment sediment to dry in ambient air. Remove, crush dried investment with a pestle of some type in the bucket, then pour out as powder. Measure out the now dried and pestled, powdered investment to reuse, and mark as Used Investment. Store in airtight container as investment is obviously hygroscopic. On next molding project, measure out old, pestled-back-into-powder-consistency investment PLUS add a small amount (no more than 25% by weight) of new, unused investment mixed in wtih the old. Mix thoroughly with hands or mechanical means. Voila-- you have new lost wax investment powder mixture ready for your next lost wax casting project. -------------------- Make your own investment from scratch using equal parts of Plaster of Paris ( aka gypsum plaster...yes the stuff found in sheets of drywall found at the lumber yard) and -200 mesh silica sand. Plaster of Paris alone will not hold up dealing with the temperatures needed to cast PMs (gold and silver at 2000 F/ 1100 C.)

If this has been discussed to death, feel free to direct my attention to that/those threads. Are PLA filaments UV stablized by mfgr? I see photos of spools haphazardly stacked in windows which get direct sunlight at least part of the day, and wonder if that hastens degredation causing print issues further down the line? Any suggestions welcome.

Is this a real purchase option still available via an online order option? Now, with the 2015 Feb release, new UM2 wee one version, Daid, you can now pack a lunch and your UM-Jr, plus a few health bars, eh and still have room for a good magazine, right??

Appreciate this favorable currency exchange discussion since I'm USA based, as well. It DOES escape my logic to plop an extra $250 into Dynamism's corporate cofers when I can have the currency conversion go my way simply by being patient for my anticipated UM2 purchase to arrive in my hot little hands, however. Seems like Dynamism would grab more US based customers--assuming of course that is why they are inventorying UM2s and parts in Chicago in the first place-- if they'd just display a currency converter on their website here stateside, and cater to US buyers who are savvy and know the advantageous currency conversion score already. The $250 savings could become filament credits for example thus helping attract/secure the USA potential buyer instead of smug smiling, patting their hipwallet and not even saying "thank you for the extra couple C-notes and a few fins." :eek: Face it. DIdn't we all learn, thank you Hewlett-Packard, IBM's LexMark etc., that the money is in the annuity stream ink cartridges, or in the case of UM, the future filament sales?? Dynamism is only going to sell ONE maker, or maybe two if US consumers are going to upgrade firmware. BUT FILLAMENTS? THAT'S where the revenue stream is going forward is for Dynamism---> in the consumables. Dynamism should be focused on securing a loyal, filament purchasing customer base, in my opinion, b/c that mark up on filaments is where they are going to make their cha-ching going forward. I never will forget the day I went to WallyWorld and bought every single Lexmark Printer in sight, yes every one. I came home, cup open the taped boxes, extracted ALL the black and color ink cartridges, worth $4 more total--per box-- than I paid for each entire boxed printer and contents. Then I donated the brand spanky new physical printers to the local charity, took the receipted write-off on the taxes, and smiled all the way to the stockroom with my boxes and boxes and boxes of Lexmark ink cartridges. Look, the US $ is on a tear higher right now, and it's a historic tear at that. Deflation has hit European shores, no 2 ways about it! And, with this Greece thing getting ready to blow, the US BUCK may spike even higher very. VERY shortly with the Greece elections now in the rear view mirror, and Russia wooing Greece to join the BRICS, putting a significant nail into the EURO coffin. Soon, then, the savings of ordering from overseas will turn into $300-350 extra. Or more. And we're just suppose to hand that windfall profit to Dynamism due to immature impatience for delivery from Europe??? A packaged-to-ship, assembled UM2 unit is still manufactured elsewhere and shipped whereever, whether to Stockholm or Chicago. Parts needing replacing are genuine UM parts, whether in US or European inventory. Dynamism is in Chicago. UM Support is internet, and not tied to bricks and mortar. Heck, one can go to the Dynamism website and not EVEN FIND a bricks and mortar "local pickup" google earth view address--another missed marketing opportunity which ALSO makes no sense to me. It's not like no one has a clue where Chicago is...the mystery is where DYNAMISM is physically in Chi-town. :???: Let Dynamism get with the program and start openly currying the filament aftersale gig, instead of the smuggly accepting the windfall profit pocketing game currently being played. Again, UM/Cura support is internet, so that "buy local and pay more money for the firmware" argument simply doesn't hold water. And if one is anticipating needing parts, they ultimately have to be shipped from Europe to somebody elsewhere anyhow, regardless of whether in gay Pareee', or Hoboken NJ. And now, thanks to the foresight and listening to their user base, UM is shipping extra parts with the new units as solid evidence of their faith in their customer base going forward in 2015. Again, thanks for the headszup discussion on this currency conversion thing, Drewyboy. Good to be reminded.