Ultimaker + ReplicatorG 26a1 + Marlin Experimental Build 3

[coofercat 3]

Hi All,

I took delivery of my Ultimaker about 3 months ago, and have just upgraded the firmware to Marlin Experimental Build 3 and am using ReplicatorG 0026 Alpha 1 on Windows. By co-incidence, I've got a new laptop, so it's a completely virgin install, with no config changes at all. My Ultimaker itself is pretty much exactly as it was when I first built it (so no changes there either).

I'm really pleased to say that I've now achieved what I would describe as "out of the box printing". It's not perfect, but I've successfully printed a few different test pieces (eg. the thin wall test, the 20mm box, etc). I've also successfully printed a couple of things downloaded from thingiverse.com and also a box I designed myself. Since getting this working, I've had the printer working for hours on end getting as much printed as I can!!

In short, for anyone who has recently ordered or received an Ultimaker, or anyone thinking of getting one - now is a good time to do so. You're still going to be using alpha/beta software, and it's all subject to a lot of change, so don't expect a fully finished/polished product. However, you can basically do what you'd hope to be able to do: That is, download an object and print it (reasonably well). The printed result may not be perfect (it may not be especially high quality, may have stringing, overhangs may not be quite as good as they should be, etc), but you can definitely print things. You can play with the build speed multiplier to see it feverishly working at colossal speed and the printer still works, and you still get a reasonable print. Much of the hype about this product are true - and it's great to be able to really put it to the test.

For me at least, this is a huge relief. For months now, I've been fiddling with my Ultimaker/skeinforge profiles and reading forums and groups and being generally a bit frustrated that I never got very good results, and that I'd had to work so hard to get anything going. Those days are over - I'm really excited and am busily designing boxes for various electronics projects I've been working on, and trying to find fun stuff to make for the Mrs as a reward for putting up with having a large (expensive) ornament kicking around for so long!

Thank you Ultimaker, and the community for getting us to (what looks to me like) a great milestone!

¡Viva la Revolución! ;-)

[ian 32]

Hi coofercat

Can you share with us some of your ultimaker creations ?

Thank you.

Ian

[somerwil 0]

Hi coofercat,

some pictures of your results would indeed be helpful to help you improve your print quality. A thing I'd suggest is having a look at Netfabb. Even though it has its flaws it improved my quality a lot. It takes another €150 but compared to the machine it's not too bad.

Besides a better print quality it also adds to the fun because of the nice user interface and the calculation time (compared to Skeinforge 37). Good progression has been made with Cura and RepG lately so please do not forget about these programs too!

cheers,

Michael