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What's so good about Ultimaker?


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Posted · What's so good about Ultimaker?

Can someone tell me what is so good about the Ultimaker 2/2+? The price seems to be premium, if you compare it to other 3D printers with similar specs: they cost about $1000. Are we paying just for the brand name, or is there more?

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    Posted (edited) · What's so good about Ultimaker?

    Hi fredz,

    Welcome on the forum ;)

    What are you comparing it too?

    As you may understand many of us are convinced users of ultimakers, and the reason for me was in order of preference:

    1. Good and active community (us)

    2. Open Source

    3. Awesome quality of prints

    4. Open on materials (many different filaments can be printed)

    5. Possibility to upgrade

    6. Reliable

    7. Looks good on your desk

    :)

    If you want to see one, i'm not that far from luxembourg (i even work there)

    Edited by Guest
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    Posted · What's so good about Ultimaker?

    You can buy an Ultimaker Original it has same print quality. Then you can decide about ordering Heated bed kit or Dual Extrusion kit. But you must build yourself. I owned some 3d printers also from other manufacturer. In the and I'm the best manufacturer because I can put things better together. And I learnd much when I builded myself. Okay you need three days to put things together.

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    Posted · What's so good about Ultimaker?

    I have used several other brand printers and the UMO+ Has the best quality , reliability and ease of use. Other printers do not perform as well in the same price range.

    I reccomend it to everyone. Right now the main advantage of the 2 is dual fans on the print head and Olsen block, and maybe ulticode.

    IMO not worth the extra $, also it's not as easily modifiable so that's a detractor too.

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    Posted · What's so good about Ultimaker?

    What the others said and:

    - super silent ( UM2 more than UMO), important if you want to sleep in the same appartment while printing

    - up to now, ultimaker has always provided upgrade kits for all older machines to be at the latest technology -> future proof (without guarantee)

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    Posted (edited) · What's so good about Ultimaker?

    The UM2 (and ultimaker printers in general) I believe are of a very good quality, they are amongst the more reliable printers, the UM2 amongst the best print-out-of-the-box printers, and they deliver supreme print quality for FDM printers.

    But don't be mistaken... With a product like the UM2 you ARE paying alot for it to look nice on your desk (compare it to an apple product in this regard)... As people are saying, you can achieve similar results with a UM1 at half the price... But it IS made from burned wood...

    And alot has happened to the consumer 3d printer market since the UM1 was released 5 years ago... I think you can today come close to the UM print quality with a lot of printers, and possibly some cheaper ones as well.

    Edited by Guest
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    Posted · What's so good about Ultimaker?

    Thanks - I was actually talking about the UM2+ (or UM2) in this case, not the the UMO. For example comparing to this one http://shop.prusa3d.com/en/3d-printers/53-original-prusa-i3-plus-3d-printer-with-lcd.html

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    Posted (edited) · What's so good about Ultimaker?

    the um2 goes a bit more higher rez on the layer height which is important to me as i orientate things to the z(its where the quality is at!), not sure about the x,y on the um2. but i bought one purely down to reliability. when i was in a fablab, i looked at some of the other many machines at work and many of them had simply failed and ended prematurely. i used one last year 24hrs a day for a year and it never failed on me other than a few occasions when i was learning. now i bought one (UM2)for myself i dont even do atomic pulls anymore. i have no need to. i know how it works. my problems will only start when i need to take it apart for maintenance in the next few years.

    getting a good printer will start you off on a good foot and learning how they work and how to remedy many issues, as with a bad one you just wont have a clue whats going wrong if it does, as it may just be down to it being a lame printer.

    p.s. ic youre new to this game, there is a lot to learn, both about the printer and modelling and then importing your model to print. For this reason many people dont achieve optimal results, and complain. i would do a lot of reading up on this forum before buying any 3d printer period. i did and it saved me a lot of time later down the line as i already knew what to expect in certain situations.

    Edited by Guest
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    Posted · What's so good about Ultimaker?

    Um2 z it's the same as umo+ (same bed componets, board and bearigs). The x/y on um2 it's slightly better because of the gt2 belts, which it's imo a must upgrade for any umo/umo+ user.

    Um2 head, specially with that m3 that fixes on the heater block, works better as faster speeds. Also the umo/umo+ feeders have more strength that um2, but since they are wood, they are much more noisy (but there are printed upgrades to make it less disturbing).

    Um2 it's a better machine if you don't like to fiddle, but with umo/umo+ you learn more stuff on the long run.

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    Posted (edited) · What's so good about Ultimaker?

    Lol, i was not comparing it to the umo, but the £739 printer in his link! i had a feeling i should have stipulated that! it said 10 micron xy axis. not sure what the um2 is, but i imagine the same or better. could be wrong though!

    edit, so i just checked and the um2+ has 12.5on the xy, so its worse. lol.

    by 2.5 microns! but um2 z is better. apples and oranges.

    Edited by Guest
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    Posted · What's so good about Ultimaker?

     

    @fredz, please choose any 3d printer what you want. But one with Notebook/Laptop power supply or one which has power supply enclosed in printer itself. This printers with open power supplies can't fulfil any safety regulations.

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    Posted · What's so good about Ultimaker?

    Oh sorry :D

    To choose I would just search for prints from users. That's what I did to buy the umo+ long ago. Data don't matters much until you see users prints.

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    Posted (edited) · What's so good about Ultimaker?

    I agree, actions speak louder than words... or in this case, prints speak better than specs!

    i personally dont like those printers where the base moves around, but prefer the static base that only moves up and down, rather than left and right, also. it might make no difference, but it just seems as though more can go wrong with larger parts moving about, than with just the head on an fixed axis.

    Edited by Guest
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    Posted · What's so good about Ultimaker?

    You do pay a premium. If it had dual extruders with the same print quality then i would say they are in the ballpark of where it should be.

    Now it's important to note that Ultimakers are much more reliable than nearly all the other cheaper (and some more expensive) printers. Also, i have yet to find a printer that has the same print quality as the ultimaker without having to spend (much) more money.

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    Posted · What's so good about Ultimaker?

    When I compare my UM2 with my UM2+ ext. I must say the + is a much more reliable device. I might have tortured my UM2 a bit too hard cause of the lack of knowledge I had in the beginning which may have resulted in an unstable UM2... But that I'm not sure... The feeder of the original UM2 was really bad and so was the heater block with the nozzle attached to it. Changing those parts with zero knowledge of the device was not quite entertaining for me. Especially when I broke the temp sensor too. :D

    The plus is a much safer buy imo. Especially when you're not that handy like me, it's better to buy a printer with all upgraded parts already installed from the factory.

    The UMO(+) is more complicated story, it's a 3D printer for the handy people imo who have knowledge of assembling, repairing and upgrading parts. While the UM2+ is a plug and play printer. :)

    The + is worth every euro, highly recommended from my personal experiences.

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    Posted (edited) · What's so good about Ultimaker?

    Well I'm the oposite of a handyman but before buying my umo+ I did walk in this forums for 3months. Also my first umo+ was preassembled (imakr) but because I wanted to change to change to 1.75 I learned a lot. But only after 1-2months of toying with everything and learing simple stuff like 'tight it hot', learning why and what makes what was a blast and I try to learn everyday reading every post of the forum.

    For a begginers I would get a preassembled umo+. For the adventurer a umo+ kit. For the 'I just want to print' any um2+ (but beware that there are no 3D 'just print' machines at any price point). Learning to assemble and specially understanding what makes what, and stuff like that the hotend it's like a water preassure system (but not liquid, but fluid) it's a must to know that if the water don't flow, it won't print. And if there isn't enough pressure (feeder, motor, etc) then you won't have a good print. And many many other stuff, it's so fun!

    Edited by Guest
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    Posted · What's so good about Ultimaker?

    I have been asking myself the same questions....

    What printer? In all honesty I am not as hardcore as some others in this community that actually use the printer professionally or semi pro. I am a true rookie with a very steep learning curve.

    For me...printer had to provide good quality, i wanted to to be open source, and it had to look nice. I looked at a number of them, and in the end waited for CES to see what it would bring.

    As soon as I heard 3D systems was stopping with their consumer printers and U2+ was launched I placed the order and never looked back. So far I love it.

    Is it more expensive that some others...yes it is...but I see the value so far in community and the quality of the prints that I never imagined were possible!

    There is a reason why so many top companies and universities use Ultimaker...

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    Posted · What's so good about Ultimaker?

    New to 3D Printing, but after many weeks of research I purchased the UML 2+ Exteneded. Received it yesterday and been printing since

    I have to say it is works as advertised ... Very nice printer. The quality of printing is awesome!

    The only issue I had was after using some IC 3D ABS it appeared to have clogged the extruder ... After a few minutes of heating and extruding I finally was able to clear up the problem and things are working well.

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    Posted · What's so good about Ultimaker?

    @gholland it's really important even if doesn't look like, to do atomic pulls when changing from one type of filament to another.

    https://ultimaker.com/en/support/149-atomic-method (I would not heat to 260C as the guide says but that's just me)

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    Posted · What's so good about Ultimaker?

    @gholland it's really important even if doesn't look like, to do atomic pulls when changing from one type of filament to another.

    https://ultimaker.com/en/support/149-atomic-method (I would not heat to 260C as the guide says but that's just me)

     

    With all that I've been reading somehow I didn't see this

    thanks,

    -gary

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    Posted (edited) · What's so good about Ultimaker?

    With regards to atomic pulls, if you dont use speciality filaments, like bronze fill or  ninjaflex, and just stick with normal filaments, and dont get any nozzle jams (burnt filament in nozzle), i personally dont think you dont really need to do atomic pulls (as a beginner you should though, until you get a feel for your machine). Just run some of the new filament through till its clear and your good. Im currently experimenting with many different filaments, and i have done no atomic pulls what so ever. I dont get any underextrusion.

    Edited by Guest
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    Posted (edited) · What's so good about Ultimaker?

    With regards to atomic pulls, if you dont use speciality filaments, like bronze fill or  ninjaflex, and just stick with normal filaments, and dont get any nozzle jams (burnt filament in nozzle), i personally dont think you dont really need to do atomic pulls (as a beginner you should though, until you get a feel for your machine). Just run some of the new filament through till its clear and your good. Im currently experimenting with many different filaments, and i have done no atomic pulls what so ever. I dont get any underextrusion.

     

    The one thing I've had, even after the Atomic pull, re-leveling the bed, was some strings on edges.  I had no issues and suddenly some stringing issues.  I increased the temperature by 5 degrees and that seem to help, but I can find nothing wrong.  I'm actually printing out the Wind Turbine ... Kind of a break in the machine type project

    image.thumb.jpeg.ccb6906f51fa63dfab02626fcffa9ba6.jpeg

    image.thumb.jpeg.ccb6906f51fa63dfab02626fcffa9ba6.jpeg

    Edited by Guest
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    Posted (edited) · What's so good about Ultimaker?

    One perfect place to read about faults and defaults about 3d printing, I think you know allready

    http://support.3dverkstan.se/article/23-a-visual-ultimaker-troubleshooting-guide

    and maintenance

    http://support.3dverkstan.se/category/9-maintenance

    Edited by Guest
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    Posted (edited) · What's so good about Ultimaker?

    Can you present us your print Settings (like temperature, Speed,  layer hight or if you use Cura quick print Profile tell us which one quick, normal, high Quality) ? Which PLA do you use?

    It is looking really good. General stringing has to do with higher temperature. For example pla at 50 mm/s print Speed and temperature is 210 degree if it is causing stringing I can reduce temperature. Or it is not stringing but I want print with lower Speed like 30mm/s  then I must also reduce temperature otherwise it will cause stringing.

    Edited by Guest
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