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krys

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Posts posted by krys

  1. Hi folks,

    I have a few thoughts to share on this topic, for whatever they are worth.

    1) As a practical matter, I do not think Ultimaker would use that clause to void your warrantee in normal cases. So far, to me at least, they have been good people. So, I do not think there is any (current) practical risk of them being jerks about support.

    2) But it is a crazy dumb clause to include.

    3) So why not, instead of just complaining, talk to Ultimaker and see of they will change the wording. Assume they are nice people until they show they are not. :) At least see what they say. It helps make Ultimaker a better company and it helps make the 3D printing world a better place. :)

    4) If more pressure is needed then raising community awareness of the issue would be a good strategy, I think. If people start blogging about this and complaining on the forums, they would have to pay more attention to it. But, again, this is not a first step, the first step is to just talk and reason with them.

    5) And lastly, if one is really concerned about the words on paper and want a printer right now, then I hear that the makers of LulzBot, Aleph Objects, has been called the most Open Source and Open Hardware company in 3D Printing. I hear they are quite religious about staying true to that ethos. I have no personal experience with them, so who knows. And one would have to check their specific warrantee wording. ... And it is different hardware, different ecosystem, different community, etc. But they are in the same price range as Ultimaker, make excellent machines by all accounts, and they might be more compatible with for your (and my) philosophy right out of the box.

    6) And finally, I will say that for me Ultimaker has been sufficiently Open, and there is enough of a community, that I personally am not worried about not being able to source parts and get support, even if the company ever goes away or goes insane. The fact that some people have successfully built their own from scratch UMOs and UM2s gives me confidence too. I cannot speak to UM3s though.

    Anyway, I hope that some or all of these perspectives help. Or are at least thought provoking. Thanks for reading. :)

  2. +1 for FreeCAD for this, but converting STLs to STEP can sometimes be tricky. It is not always a clean and easy transition. So, heads up and good luck! :)

    Another option, if you know or our like to learn some programming would be to manipulate the STLs directly in OpenSCAD. No conversion necessary. Decent for tweaking existing designs. Maybe consider this a backup if your particular STLs do not like being STEPs.

    And lastly, the most deal solution would be to go back to the original author of the files and ask if they are willing to share STEPs with you. Many authors are willing but just do not think of it. Then again, many 3D models are made in software that does not do solids and so does not speak STEP. But it is worth a try and the STEPs will generally be better quality than those converted from STL.

    Anyway, just a few option for you to consider. Hope it helps! :)

  3. I find carbon fiber to be more matte, but it is black and harder to print (nozzle wear) and more brittle than standard PLA. It looks super sexy though! :D

    And of course, colder printing can make for matte-er results. But weaker layer bonding.

    Oh, and I have found the FormFutura PLA to be matte-er than other PLAs (e.g. ColorFabb). At least it used to be, I have not bought from them in a long time. And even then, I only bought yellow, so who knows. But still it was more matte and really nice quality.

  4. Shop3d.ca has the bed listed, with "In stock" next to it, but no price is showing and I don't see an "add to cart" option:

    Middle of this Page

    I'll keep his page in my links because there are quite a few replacement parts/upgrades

     

    That is weird. Try sending them an email. They are nice people, very helpful! :) Failing that you might try messaging Valcrow. But I am sure a regular email will work.

  5. Hi there,

    I have not tried soldering the bed, but your reliable sources would be first and foremost Fabrc8, since they made you printer. :) But you might also check out thegr5strore.com. They also sell UM stuff and Gr5 is a super helpful and friendly guy here on the forums. Dynamism is also a UM seller in the US, so maybe check if they have parts.

    Lastly, I if none of that works and you cannot wait, there is a Canadian reseller, shop3d.ca. That is Valcrow's store and Valcrow is another forum god like Gr5. :)

    Of course, those are all for proper OEM parts. You can try other sources, but I have no idea what you will get.

    Anyway, hope this helps. Good luck with the soldering! :)

  6. Hi there,

    For me, PETG has a bit of flex, like ABS, but not huge. Nylon (i.e. Bridge) is damn near indestructible, but it can deform if bent too much. Another option would be Polycarbonate. It is both stiff and strong. But it is also hard to print. That said, I have not tried the newer PC formulations that are easier to print. So it might be an option to explore if you want both stiff and strong.

    Anyway, hope this helps. :)

  7. Okay, so I2K might help with the longevity of the couplers, but I do not think it is such a big deal with the TFM version. I would guess the same of the TF2K version too. The older printers came with a PTFE coupler, that wore out from high temps. The I2K would probably help there. But if you replace the PTFE version with the newer TFM version (or if you have TFM already), then I would suggest the I2K is superfluous, unless you really want to buy one anyway. :)

    That said, remember that even with the newer couplers, they are considered consumables. And you are expected to replace them when they get crappy. It is just that the newer ones last longer.

    ABS and Nylon work just fine without modifications to head or firmware. The printer can go to 260C and that is plenty for those (and for just about everything else too). The challenge with ABS and Nylon is bed warping, not high temperatures. But it is doable with some perseverance.

    The stock printer, as is, is excellent, and in fact does not *need* much/any modifications to get great results with lots of different materials. It is only the extreme cases that would call for modding.

    Except for the stock old feeder. That needs changing. :)

    So, do not feel like you have to run out and spend a bunch of money to get your printer rocking. It is already a top-of-line kick-butt machine. But feel free to hot rod it to your hearts desire if that is what you want of course. :D

    As for the filament jamming int head when loading it, that is definitely not normal. I would a) make sure the bowden is fully inserted in the head, then put the clip on, then push some more, just to make sure it is all the way in. Wiggle it a bit if you need to. b) if it is still sticking, then pull the head apart and check your PTFE/TFM/whatever you have coupler is see if it is deformed or burned. If so, it needs replacing. c) if it still has issues loading filament, then ask on the forums because I am out of ideas. :)

    Hope this helps. Good luck! :)

    • Like 1
  8. I do remember turning down the fans sometimes with the Zetoff, now that you mention it. ... For that matter, I have not ever needed to do that with Labern's. But now that I am looking at it again, I remember why.

    The problem with the Zetoff, is that the heater block gets hit with the air from the fans as it bounces off the bed/print. The newer shrouds, including Labern's, cover the heater to prevent that.

    As I recall, the back flow of air, besides just causing cooling errors, actually makes the heater/PID algorithm work harder and can leads to worse surface finishes and/or weaker layer bonding. ... If memory serves.

    As for the I2K, it is not worth it unless you are going to try to print polycarbonate or maybe PEEK. But I am pretty sure UM2 cannot print PEEK. And even then, you cannot really take advantage of higher temps without custom firmware. Search for TinkerGnome if you want to go that route.

    Also, the newer polycarbonates have been formulated for lower temperatures, so the higher temps are not really needed anymore. Plus, polycarb is (or at least was) an unholy b**ch to print, so save that for later, I suggest. :D

    If you get the TFM coupler from Ultimaker or the TF2K from 3DSolex you will not need to really worry about using the I2K to save your coupler. :)

    That is my opinion anyway, for whatever it is worth. :)

    Anyway, hope all this helps. Seems we are both awake at the same time. :p

    • Like 1
  9. The Olson block comes with RSB nozzles. My understanding, and I could be misremembering here, is that the RSBs (i.e. normal UM2+ nozzles) have a different and superior internal geometry that makes them better. Not sure if it is better heating or better flow or what, maybe both. But better is the claim. :) I.e. not just cosmetically different. I have no experience with E3D stuff though.

    Then there are the Matchless nozzles that are in a whole different league, apparently. I have not gone that route yet. :D

    • Like 1
  10. Just a note on the Zetoff fan shroud: It is indeed a good one, and using a bit of tin can for a heat break is very fun. :) But the Labern fan shroud is considered better and as I have both, I think I agree. Though, I have not put my anemometer to the Zetoff one, so I do not have data to back that up. It is more of a pre-airflow-analysis vs post-airflow-analysis thing, as I seem to recall. I could be wrong there though.

    Heck, Labern's is even slightly better than the 2+ metal shroud in terms both of airflow and flow location. Looks like Labern even includes a spring-replacement space now too. :)

    Anyway, hope it helps. :)

    • Like 1
  11. Hi there.

    Just my $0.02 here but, I agree with everything @SyntaxTerror said. But in the days before the 2+ was out, changing to the IRobertI feeder was a big improvement.

    If you are hesitant about the 2+ upgrade kit, nothing says you have to buy it now. You can play with what you have and see how it goes before making the commitment.

    If you decide to go that way, then I really recommend printing out the IRobertI feeder and changing to that. With that and the tension dialed in correctly, I almost never had any grinding. Well, that combined with IRobertI's low-friction spool holder, which I still use even on the 2+!

    In fact, when I first got my 2+ kit I was wondering what the big deal was because Robert's feeder was so good. That said, now that I have the 2+ upgrade, I would never go back. It is just all better and none worse.

    But you can get there at your own pace. You can play with the older solutions and learn your printer, then you can move up once you discover for yourself why we all keep banging on about the upgrade. :)

    Lastly, I will say that I seem to recall that when the 2+ upgrade kit came out, there was discussion about the price and whether one could get the parts separately at a better price. I think the conclusion was that you could not do better than the kit price if you stick with OEM parts. Getting everything separate would cost more. But, there is nothing stopping you from looking up all the parts, and asking your local reseller how much for the lot. Then compare for yourself. :)

    Anyway, I hope this helps. Good luck. And I hope you have a lot of fun with your new toy. :D

    • Like 1
  12. Oh, so the difference is that with UltiGCode, the printer handles the material choice and temperature settings, for example. With Rep-Rap style, you have to tell Cura all that and the printer just blindly follows what is in the gcode.

    The idea with the UltiGCode is that you could change materials and/or temperature settings on the printer and keep the same gcode to reuse over and over. With Rep-Rap, you have to re-slice your model for every change.

    But now, with Cura getting smarter about controlling temperature, with multiple nozzles, different nozzle sizes and with the growing number of new fancy materials, it is becoming unwieldy to keep using UltiGCode. So the move now is back to the older Rep-Rap style like all other 3D Printers in the world.

    Or at least, that is my understanding. I could be wrong about the motivations.

    Hope it helps. :)

  13. Well, I would expect that your printer accepts both. But it is a question of which Cura generates.

    What it means for gcode is that some commands are different in each flavour. If you go searching for a command and it is not there because the flavour is different, then you might be confused. UltiGcode my use a G command for some task, but Rep-Rap might use an E command for the same task, for example.

    Think British and American English. Mostly the same, but some words are spelled differently and sometimes there are different words for the same concept. :)

    I am not expert on this stuff. I am still learning myself. :)

    Anyway, hope this helps.

  14. I used that reprap link to learn gcode too. That combined with reading gcode files generate from Cura let me learn enough to write a Cura plugin. :)

    It is also worth remembering that there are differences between UltiGCode flavour and RepRap-style flavour of gcode. Cura 2.3.x and below on UM2(+) defaults to UltiGCode. But with Cura 2.4 and on things are changing more and more (back) to RepRap-style. I do not know what the default it. And I do not know what UM3 defaults to. But it can matter when learning/creating gcode.

    Anyway, hope this helps. :)

    • Like 1
  15. Sûre, this could be a solution, I can find one on eBay or allbaba as well, but as a business we need a reliable source we know always stock parts.

     

    Well, all I can say is that Shop3D is a/the official UM reseller for Canada and that they have always been super responsive for me. Shop3D is @Valcrow's store and he monitors the forums here too.

    I cannot speak to the consistency of them keeping stuff in stock, but I can say they sell actual OEM parts and not clones. So at least it would not be hit or miss in that regard.

    Something to consider. Anyway, hope it helps. Good luck! :)

  16. Bonjour,

    Peut-etre c'etait deja mentionne, mail pour mois XT et Nylon (Taulman) ont arrache un peu de verre.

    Mais, Taulman recommende (pour Nylon) de ne pas laisser le plateau refroidire en bas de 45C ou l'impression s'attach trop fortement. Alors, apres qu'un impression is fini, je fait remontir la temperature a 45 avant de l'enlever.

    J'imagine que cette procedure pourait fonctionner pour XT et autre aussi. Au moins, je ne me souvient pas d'avoir arrache plus de verre un fois que j'ai commencer as suivre cette procedure.

    J'espere que ceci aide. Mes excuses pour mon francais et la manque d'accents. :)

    Bonne chance!

    • Like 2
  17. Hi there,

    While I cannot speak to the general topic of part availability (or lack thereof), if you are looking for a quicker result, then have you considered ordering for your friendly neighbours to the north? :)

    I seems that Shop3D has the UM2(+) heated bed in stock right now:

    https://shop3d.ca/product/ultimaker-2-heated-bed-assembled/

    Maybe consider Canadian suppliers as a backup when you cannot source parts locally?

    Anyway, just throwing this out there. Hope it helps. :)

  18. Hi there,

    I once read somewhere that putting two layers of tape, criss-cross (i.e. at 90 degree angles) can help keep the tape down. So, say, one layer is left-right, and the next layer is front-back.

    Never tried it personally, but it would be a simple enough thing to test.

    I have also used the PrintInZ skin and it works decently with a cold bed, depending on material. ... Assuming you do not get the heated bed. A heated bed is nice though. :)

    Anway, hope this helps. Good luck!

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