Accesories

[zobie 0]

I am about to take the plunge and order one of these for my hubby for Xmas. Can anyone recommend accessories that I should also pre-purchase? I am thinking in terms of calipers for measurements and items that folks use to clean up their finished products. Also has anyone tried some of the plastics available from 3rd parties ie Ebay? Ultimaker seems to be out of stock on many colors. Thanks

[owen 19]

http://ultimachine.com/catalog/print-materials/pla/pla-3mm are good for filament. Fast service, price and material is good.

Digital Callipers, Feeler gages, tweezers, small side cutters are all good accessories.

Got any sisters

[ddurant 0]

I'll 2nd the vote for Ultimachine. That and add MakerGear.com, though they have less of selection. If you're not in N. America, there may well be good places closer ( = less shipping $$$ ) to you.

 

Ebay

I'd be a little careful there and at least search around the reprap.org forums for reviews before buying filament off ebay.

[zobie 0]

Thanks very much!!!! And no, no sisters here sorry lol.

[zobie 0]

Ok here is another question. I have seen many comments that the UM does not have a heat build platform. Do I care? If I do where do I get one. Also in some of the videos I have seen folks applying "paint" to the platform. What is it that they are applying and where do I get it. Sorry I am not the official geek of the family, but I do try to research. I think my eyes are bleeding after spending this much time on the cpu today.

[ddurant 0]

Ok here is another question. I have seen many comments that the UM does not have a heat build platform. Do I care? If I do where do I get one. Also in some of the videos I have seen folks applying "paint" to the platform. What is it that they are applying and where do I get it. Sorry I am not the official geek of the family, but I do try to research. I think my eyes are bleeding after spending this much time on the cpu today.

The blue stuff? That's not paint - it's painters tape. PLA, the plastic we usually print with, sticks really well to it. And it's really cheap. (edit: and if you really did see actual paint, it was probably an UP! printer.. not sure what the deal with that is but they're the only ones I've seen do it)

Heated build platforms are more useful (almost required) when you print with ABS plastic because of the way ABS shrinks when it cools. See this picture of an ABS print - the orange bit is a non-heated platform and you can see that the print it pulling itself off the platform.

For PLA vs ABS, I think ABS 'feels' a little better but it smells like buring plastic. PLA smells like maple syrup (waffles!) and seems a lot happier printing at high resolution, which he'll probably want to do. Cost is about the same. PLA's also a more 'green' product.

Go with PLA and don't worry about the lack of a heated platform for now.

[owen 19]

Ok here is another question. I have seen many comments that the UM does not have a heat build platform. Do I care? If I do where do I get one. Also in some of the videos I have seen folks applying "paint" to the platform. What is it that they are applying and where do I get it. Sorry I am not the official geek of the family, but I do try to research. I think my eyes are bleeding after spending this much time on the cpu today.

Heatbed isn't so necessary for the UM. Not sure why but it's mentioned somewhere. Also it generally is not necessary for PLA filament. It helps with ABS filament which tends to warp otherwise. There is some talk about making a heatbed for the UM though. I haven't needed one yet. Not sure about paint but generally we put down some sort of masking tape or similar which helps to make the print stick to the bed but able to be removed. A roll of this tape comes with the UM.

[zobie 0]

Thanks much that helps. So I will stick with the PLA to start and not stress it. I like the Ultimachine shop site. Does it matter if I get the 3mm or 1.75 mm? Should I get a mixture of the 2? I think I am ready now just have to wait for the box .

[ddurant 0]

Does it matter if I get the 3mm or 1.75 mm? Should I get a mixture of the 2?

It definitely matters! Just get the 3mm stuff.

The feed mechanism and nozzle - basically the whole path the plastic goes through - is different for 3mm vs 1.75mm. Ultimakers are just 3mm right now.

If you're in the US, you can save a fair amount by going to ultimachine.com for filament. All 3mm PLA should work. Some 1-pound rolls in various colors would be an excellent start. Having it come on spools is quite nice but not absolutely required.

[novastar 0]

What is a good place to buy filament in Europe/Netherlands ? because the Ultimaker is out of stock many times. Anyone have good ideas/tips ?

[Daid 306]

I think the Ultimaker people are still learning about which types of filament they need to stock more then others. If they don't have it in stock then I recommend sending them an email with details about what you are looking for, they respond quick and will give you a lead time on when it will be in stock again. If they know better which types of filament is wanted then they can keep a better stock.

I currently still have black and red. But when I start to run out of black I want to order white and the flexible PLA. I see they have less 2.3kg spools on the webshop now. Which I think is quite good, because I ordered one of the 2.3kg black spools and I think it's a bit much, and heavy, the 0.75 spools are much easier to handle.

For other sources of plastics:

http://reprap.org/wiki/PLA#Europe

 

[somerwil 0]

Hi,

I bought some PLA's from this guy since the Ultimaker shop was practically sold out a while ago.

Martijn Witte

martijn@net99.nl

He lives in The Hague and ships from there. Different 3mm PLA's are available which he uses for his RepRap projects. He covers quiet a few (nice) colors. As per september 2011 he had the following colors:

- Red transparant,

- Black,

- Transparant,

- Blue transparant,

- Green transparant (nearly transparant, see the SpiroMat on Thingiverse)

He also sells 3mm ABS, available in

- Black

- White.

I can't give you current prices since these may vary. I don't know about shipping costs but give it a try.

Some of his colors and a review of the PLA's can be found on

http://richrap.blogspot.com/2011/06/mul ... ament.html

I personally love the transparant blue as can be seen on Thingiverse

http://www.thingiverse.com/somerwil

.

From my (limited) experience his PLA's can be printed at low temperatures. The standard Netfabb temperatures works fine with the blue and transparant materials.

Besides his PLA's I also have some Ultimaker materials which are non-transparant silver and white. From the workshop I got myself a meter of red (see Thingiverse), gold, pink, dark blue (semi-transparant), black (matt-look when compared to Martijn's black version which seems to be a little 'shiny'). The Ultimaker PLA's need some higher temperatures than standard in Netfabb (10-20 degrees higher). It seems like the extrusion of the PLA's from the Ultimaker shop is more constant but not really noticing any difference in print quality so far.

Hope it was helpful to anyone. Please note that I'm not trying to promote Martijn's materials here but just trying to help.

[maker 0]

iGo3D from Germany offers all types of good quality Filaments (also in saver-bundles and europe-free-flat shippments on all orders above 100EUR) plus they also have some neat 3D Printer accessories. :geek:

here is the Link to their Website.

Cheers,

Maker