Introducing new products | PP, 0.8 print cores and more!

[SandervG 1,521]

We’re always investigating and looking for ways to improve your user experience with Ultimaker products. It is my pleasure to share our latest innovations with you.

 

PP filament.

One of the things I am very excited about is a new material called Polypropylene (PP).

It is one of the most widely used plastics and favorite of engineers and manufacturers around the globe. PP has some characteristics which make it very interesting for a variety of applications. Due to its toughness and fatigue resistance, it is popular for creating functional prototypes and durable end-use parts. Besides having great temperature (105ºC), electrical and chemical resistance it is also semi-flexible and has a very low friction making it ideal for (living) hinges and electrical components.

Our materials team spent quite some time optimizing the print profiles for the Ultimaker 2+ and Ultimaker 3 series.

 

New profiles.

And while they were at it, they also created and improved some of the existing profiles.

The profiles for CPE+, PC and TPU have been optimized to give you a seamless 3D print experience with your Ultimaker 3. The PVA profile has also been updated to give you an even better result using PVA. Specifically the profiles for PLA/PVA and CPE/PVA.

 

Advanced 3D printing kit.

Some of these special materials require a different approach when 3D printing. To ensure consistent quality results with ABS, PP, CPE+ or PC we recommend to use the Ultimaker 3 Advanced 3D printing kit. Check our material pages for the ‘Advanced 3D Printing kit’ symbol to find out when it is recommended.

In one kit you will find 25 adhesion sheets, a front closure, a glass plate and 1 adhesive applicator.

 

New firmware and Cura 2.6.1.

Where will you find these new print profiles? In Cura 2.6.1 of course!

The new firmware allows you to reprint your latest file you have sent over via your network without having to launch Cura and an improved material change procedure which flushes out all residue material ensuring your print core is fully clean when a new material is inserted. Check out our software page to download it immediately.

Check out our blog for more information regarding these new products!

[The3DPrintStudio 5]

Is there a release notes page for the new firmware?

[Melka 57]

So... Would you say that this PP has properties similar to Nylon (but with some temperature resistance) ?

[Ronan 58]

@SandervG Hey mate! Questions (we print a LOT of prototypes).

We currently use Ultimaker Nylon (Black) to print our prototypes. It plays nicely with PVA supports but the finish does leave a bit to desire. How does PP compare? (Finish + PVA supports).

Thanks

[DidierKlein 729]

So... Would you say that this PP has properties similar to Nylon (but with some temperature resistance) ?

I would say that PP is more flexible than nylon, i have not printed a lot with it yet, but the layer bonding is strong, it's really flexible.

Prints with no issues (with adhesion sheets and a door).

I have not tried with PVA, it's not a recommended combination from what i know but i saw a print with PVA and PP and it seems to work (probably not without any issues or tweaks).

The material is really interesting

[nallath 1,123]

PP is pretty much the only plastic by which you can make "living hinges". See https://www.creativemechanisms.com/blog/everything-you-need-to-know-about-living-hinges

[SandervG 1,521]

Hi Ronan, im out of the office for a few days. Im sure our moderators and / or Nallath will be able to answer your questions. Ill be happy to answer everything when i get back beginning of next week

[nallath 1,123]

I haven't actually printed with PP yet. So I cant say much how well it behaves.

[SQuicke 0]

I've just received my 0.8mm print core.

One issue I'm having is I have the 0.4mm core in slot 1 and 0.8mm in slot 2. When I've started cura I only have 0.2mm layer height profiles for both cores. Is this normal?

I've followed https://ultimaker.com/en/resources/20499-reset-cura-2-1 to reset the profiles but they disappear in a few seconds after startup.

I have them set up like this so we can print either 0.8mm or 0.4mm without having to change the cores. Is this unadvised?

[nallath 1,123]

One issue I'm having is I have the 0.4mm core in slot 1 and 0.8mm in slot 2.  When I've started cura I only have 0.2mm layer height profiles for both cores.  Is this normal?

 

The thing is that we can print at 1 layer height. For the 0.4 nozzle we have 4 qualities, but for certain materials with the 0.8 nozzle we only have 1 profile (as of yet, this might become a larger number). We can only select a quality type if both extruders support it. So in this case you can only have the one profile.

You can always change the core in Cura and not sync it with the printer. If the second extruder is not used, cura shouldn't complain about a mismatch when trying to send the g-code.

[SQuicke 0]

 

One issue I'm having is I have the 0.4mm core in slot 1 and 0.8mm in slot 2.  When I've started cura I only have 0.2mm layer height profiles for both cores.  Is this normal?

 

The thing is that we can print at 1 layer height. For the 0.4 nozzle we have 4 qualities, but for certain materials with the 0.8 nozzle we only have 1 profile (as of yet, this might become a larger number).  We can only select a quality type if both extruders support it. So in this case you can only have the one profile.

You can always change the core in Cura and not sync it with the printer. If the second extruder is not used, cura shouldn't complain about a mismatch when trying to send the g-code.

 

Thanks nallath, I'll just remove the core and replace when needed I think.

[Tomhe 21]

 

One issue I'm having is I have the 0.4mm core in slot 1 and 0.8mm in slot 2.  When I've started cura I only have 0.2mm layer height profiles for both cores.  Is this normal?

 

The thing is that we can print at 1 layer height. For the 0.4 nozzle we have 4 qualities, but for certain materials with the 0.8 nozzle we only have 1 profile (as of yet, this might become a larger number).  We can only select a quality type if both extruders support it. So in this case you can only have the one profile.

You can always change the core in Cura and not sync it with the printer. If the second extruder is not used, cura shouldn't complain about a mismatch when trying to send the g-code.

 

We have 3 qualities for the 0.8mm Printcore, but two of them don't show up because they don't overlap with 0.4mm Printcore. With the 0.8mm Printcore you can print 0.2mm, 0.3mm and 0.4mm layer height. It would lead to issues if you tried printing an 0.4mm layer height with dual extrusion mode AA04&AA08... If you want to print 0.3mm or 0.4mm layer height, change both Printcores in Cura to AA08.