Ultimaker 3 First Impressions

[Wisar 86]

Just got my new Ultimaker 3! I must be one of the first in GB as I was #1 in the queue at 3DGBIRE. First impressions are good ones. Unboxing was painless (as you would expect) though the box seemed higher than I remembered from my UM2's. I wondered if the form factor of the printer had changed but that does not appear to be the case. The stuff that comes with the printer has been upgraded a little, you get a real hex driver and some lubricant in more quantity than a sample and yet another glue stick that I will never use.

The front panel of the printer is a little different as there is now a slot for a USB stick instead of the SD card. The back of the printer has changed significantly as has the stuff underneath...which means the on/off switch migrated to the right side. Naturally I was reaching around the left side feeling for it!

The whole startup process went very smoothly (after the interminable power on wait). It nicely walked me through loading the print head thingy and the reels of filament. I then told it to auto level the bed and it did so...asking me how often I wanted it to do this process. Not sure so I said weekly. Then I asked it to do the X/Y calibration. It was dead on for the Y and needed 3 on the X.

I downloaded a fresh version of Cura and fired it up to get a model ready to print. I had a printer running already and the next thing I knew that printer stopped. Why does Cura go out looking for printers and killing whatever is running on them when it starts? Irritating.

Anyhows, I found a little model that requires support and sliced it up. This is a tiny little model but I am doing it in the fine mode (60 micron layers) and it is taking forever. Dual extrusion printing is not fast! Remember...at this point all I have done with the printer is to unbox and calibrate it....and then print a 60 micron layer dual extrusion model that is, up to now, working flawlessly!

Oh, and the printer seems much quieter than my UM2s. All in all very favorable ... I will post a picture of the final model and hopefully will still be feeling happy!

[DidierKlein 729]

Thanks for the feedback

And yes indeed dual printing means more patience

[paul9 20]

Thanks for the feedback.

I look forward to seeing some great pictures of interesting prints.

[Ronan 58]

Is printing with PVA support suppose to make a 2 hour long print over 13 hours?

That's what i am getting... for quite the small print, in Normal Quality.

That means my average 10 hour long prints are going to take a few days... This can't be right?...

[luisito 12]

BTW, is there any videos on Youtube showing the UM3 at some detail, for instance: filament change, settings, calibration, part cleaning, etc...?

All videos I have watched on Youtube are very simple and pretty short.

[Ronan 58]

BTW, is there any videos on Youtube showing the UM3 at some detail, for instance: filament change, settings, calibration, part cleaning, etc...?

All videos I have watched on Youtube are very simple and pretty short.

 

There's an online guide, that's what i used to setup the first one, and then setup the 3 other's.

Only thing is filament recognition isn't working... I plugged the antenna properly, i'm using Ultimaker chipped filament... so idk... I had to tell it manually what it was.

[Guest]

I dont really know what I am looking for with the x/y calibration. Im a 3d virgin and was hopeing that someone could guide me in this calibration test so I know I get it right. I would be greatfull to get some help

I did 3 tests with my UM3 so far, and I am very happy with the results. First I printed a 20x20x20 cube that was spot on. Then I printed a latice 3x3 (as seen on makersMuse) to check the 45 degree angle, again the printer preformed well. Lastly I printed yoda on a high setting, and that really impressed me even though it took 9 hours to print.

[Wisar 86]

Only thing is filament recognition isn't working... I plugged the antenna properly, i'm using Ultimaker chipped filament... so idk... I had to tell it manually what it was.

 

My filament recognition works on the spools they sent me. Have asked for the format and encoding for their RFID tags as I could then use it on other material. The only problem that I have had is that the printer will not establish a wireless hot spot so I have connected it hard.

[Wisar 86]

 

This is something that I gave up trying on my UM2 and now UM2+ printers. I had to lower the temperature by 10 degrees from the profile (model on right) but the result is the model on the left with all detail printing as it should.

[SandervG 1,521]

 

BTW, is there any videos on Youtube showing the UM3 at some detail, for instance: filament change, settings, calibration, part cleaning, etc...?

All videos I have watched on Youtube are very simple and pretty short.

 

There's an online guide, that's what i used to setup the first one, and then setup the 3 other's.

Only thing is filament recognition isn't working... I plugged the antenna properly, i'm using Ultimaker chipped filament... so idk... I had to tell it manually what it was.

 

Hi Ronan, thank you for your message. How do you mean it is not working? Are you sure you have plugged the cable in correctly?

Have you contacted a support team for assistance?

Looking forward hearing from you!

[Ronan 58]

 

 

BTW, is there any videos on Youtube showing the UM3 at some detail, for instance: filament change, settings, calibration, part cleaning, etc...?

All videos I have watched on Youtube are very simple and pretty short.

 

There's an online guide, that's what i used to setup the first one, and then setup the 3 other's.

Only thing is filament recognition isn't working... I plugged the antenna properly, i'm using Ultimaker chipped filament... so idk... I had to tell it manually what it was.

 

Hi Ronan, thank you for your message. How do you mean it is not working? Are you sure you have plugged the cable in correctly?

Have you contacted a support team for assistance?

Looking forward hearing from you!

 

Yes I plugged the white cable in. It's not working on any of the 4 UM3's we bought.

Meaning i must be doing something wrong... so will check again today.

[SandervG 1,521]

 

 

 

BTW, is there any videos on Youtube showing the UM3 at some detail, for instance: filament change, settings, calibration, part cleaning, etc...?

All videos I have watched on Youtube are very simple and pretty short.

 

There's an online guide, that's what i used to setup the first one, and then setup the 3 other's.

Only thing is filament recognition isn't working... I plugged the antenna properly, i'm using Ultimaker chipped filament... so idk... I had to tell it manually what it was.

 

Hi Ronan, thank you for your message. How do you mean it is not working? Are you sure you have plugged the cable in correctly?

Have you contacted a support team for assistance?

Looking forward hearing from you!

 

Yes I plugged the white cable in. It's not working on any of the 4 UM3's we bought.

Meaning i must be doing something wrong... so will check again today.

 

hm, that is indeed suspicious. Did you follow the instructions that came with the Ultimaker 3? If you can't figure it out, make sure to reach out to your resellers technical support department.

Alternatively, perhaps we can also help. It could be interesting for future users who might have a similar issue if the solution could be found here too.

Looking forward hearing from you!

[Ronan 58]

I have unplugged and replugged it, changed filament rolls to other ultimaker one's and still doesn't recognize them automaticly.

Once i am done printing (all our UM3's are currently printing jobs for customers), i will take another look.

[ian 32]

Can any one answer this question from the user Ronan please:

Is printing with PVA support suppose to make a 2 hour long print over 13 hours?

I would be very interested in the answer ?

Does printing of an object with Support material increase the printing time SOOOO much ?

Thank you.

Ian Spring.

[SandervG 1,521]

It does add time to the process because all of the sudden you are dealing with print head switches, heating up and cooling down, a prime tower and a lot of more support to be printed. But it should not change 2h into 13h.

If I am not mistaken it was mentioned somewhere that this was an inaccuracy in Cura or smthn. But I bet Ronan has experienced it himself by now?

Did you actually give that print a go @Ronan?

[neotko 1,417]

It does add time to the process because all of the sudden you are dealing with print head switches, heating up and cooling down, a prime tower and a lot of more support to be printed. But it should not change 2h into 13h.

If I am not mistaken it was mentioned somewhere that this was an inaccuracy in Cura or smthn. But I bet Ronan has experienced it himself by now?

Did you actually give that print a go @Ronan?

 

I don't think heat/cold affects. Since Cura has an pseudo intelligent heat/cold control so when the tool change occurs there no wait time. But there's a few misconceptions when using a quality setting or other. For example Normal quality uses 0.1 on um3, and that resolution on the um2 profile is called 'fine' (or something alike). Also the way um3 controls the acceleration and speed affects the print time vs um2 profile, Cura has a pseudo math formula (is far from complex) that makes the outlines print at 500 accel/5 yerk. That also increases the print time. Ofc this acceleration yerk trick is done to get better prints, and while it could be possible to do it on a um2, it might cause stuttering (because more orders per second are sent to the printer).

So yea um3 is slower mainly because tower prime (that at fine quality afaik it can be removed since um3 cores drip almost zero). But also since Cura does this new accel/yerk tricks, um3 will print slower at the same speeds just because this cura script is there to make even better print quality.

I did some fast speed test and it can be done, for pva is more tricky since the material needs to print sturdy supports (much bigger than a normal support) because PVA is a weird material. I bet that in the future thanks to this BB pva cores there will be more investment from filament companies to make easier to print soluble materials.

And that's my 2cents about the speed difference @Ian

Edited November 16, 2016 by Guest

[Ronan 58]

It does add time to the process because all of the sudden you are dealing with print head switches, heating up and cooling down, a prime tower and a lot of more support to be printed. But it should not change 2h into 13h.

If I am not mistaken it was mentioned somewhere that this was an inaccuracy in Cura or smthn. But I bet Ronan has experienced it himself by now?

Did you actually give that print a go @Ronan?

 

Yepp and a lot more. It adds 2x-3x more time. My 10 hour long prints are now 25-30 hours.

Business takes a hit when it's that slow, but parts need zero post processing work.

Artists are coming to me to have their models 3d printed in one go, much cheaper than the competition or traditional methods.

It's very, very, slow though.

Edit: I should add that we print at 0.1 resolution for our customers, most of the time. It gives a really nice finish. 0.15 is tempting because it takes a good chunk less time, but have not tested it. On 2+ 0.15 was to similar to out competitions quality (we strive for higher quality prints, cheaper).

Edited November 16, 2016 by Guest

[ian 32]

Thanks guys for the info !

I guess they will be Tuning the cura Software a lot the next weeks and months to get the best out of the new ultimaker.

But im so excited and delighted that they have now a working with a dual head printer with working support material. That for me was the number one wish...

One last question... have ultimaker finally produced a printer with a really good feeder ? I had the original old feeder on my ultimaker 2 Extended and it wasnt the best Thing in the world if you know what I mean.

Id love to think that they have got a really reliable clean Feeder that does not destroy 35 hour prints...

Thanks.

Ian

[korneel 176]

Thanks guys for the info !

I guess they will be Tuning the cura Software a lot the next weeks and months to get the best out of the new ultimaker.

But im so excited and delighted that they have now a working with a dual head printer with working support material. That for me was the number one wish...

One last question... have ultimaker finally produced a printer with a really good feeder ? I had the original old feeder on my ultimaker 2 Extended and it wasnt the best Thing in the world if you know what I mean.

Id love to think that they have got a really reliable clean Feeder that does not destroy 35 hour prints...

Thanks.

Ian

 

the feeder that comes with the UM3 is the version that comes with the UM2+ with a tweak or 2.. but yes, it's super reliable. sure things can be better but isn't that always the case? I've done a 5 day print with it.. no problems at all

[ian 32]

wow... cool !

So ultimaker 3... tasty tasty... hehe

[korneel 176]

wow... cool !

So ultimaker 3... tasty tasty... hehe

 

i heard Ultimaker is so happy with it, they are even selling them

[macintosh 0]

What I see from my first prints, the quality is really very very good.

Print time with dual is higher.

Anyway....great machine

[Wisar 86]

Some more observations after a couple of weeks. Unfortunately I have not really done anything to test the dual extrusion aspect of the printer as it has been working full time on some other workload. I have done a couple of tests, including a small part for a customer order, and all results have been great. It does take time though. I have only done small parts, at 60-100 micron resolution though, and the time difference between a print with support in the same material, and one using PVA as a second material for support, is about 40-50% depending on the model. So an 8 hour print becomes a 12 hour print. Or a long time becomes a longer time. But the advantages of no cleanup, much, much less impact of support on print quality, and being able to print stuff that would be impossible with single material support ... gotta love it.

Everything that I have printed so far has come out great. I am currently printing a project using Colorfabb NGEN co-polymer and it is coming out nicely. I have also done some small experiments where I have printed ABS and PET. The ABS printed perfectly on a second attempt where I lowered the print temperature to preserve some fine detail. I have never gotten as good a result on my UM2s with ABS. The part that I printed in PET came out nicely as well. First try and I was able to give the part to a customer as they wanted something bright white and my PET is very white!

It is an expensive printer and will continue to get abuse for that fact. It is up to the buyer to decide if the quality is worth the price. It is too early to judge long term reliability but I am assuming that will also be a positive for decision making. Reliability in terms of being able to spit out high quality prints seems pretty darn good!

Finally, I hope they get the next version of the firmware out so I can adjust the LED...they are BRIGHT!

Wisar

[SandervG 1,521]

Thank you for your words, I am very happy to read you are so content with your Ultimaker 3! Keep us updated about your experience, and the various things you have tried!

Perhaps interesting for other viewers, regarding ABS and PET. Did you use custom settings or did you tweak them? How did they relate to the settings you used on your Ultimaker 2+?

Were any changes based on your own experiences or instructions that came with that filament?

[Wisar 86]

Thank you for your words, I am very happy to read you are so content with your Ultimaker 3! Keep us updated about your experience, and the various things you have tried!

Perhaps interesting for other viewers, regarding ABS and PET. Did you use custom settings or did you tweak them? How did they relate to the settings you used on your Ultimaker 2+?

Were any changes based on your own experiences or instructions that came with that filament?

 

I will probably do some more rigorous tuning as time allows ... what impressed me so much was how the prints looked WITHOUT doing a lot of work. On the PET...I used the profile for CPE and lowered the temperature to 232 degrees based on an article in here somewhere :-) . The ABS test was done with the ABS profile but the heat reduced by 10 degrees from the profile. Thats all. The ABS was the one that really impressed me as I really tried to get that same level of result on my UM2+ and could not. It is the tiny details on the last layers of a small model that defeated me.