About Cores

[kcel 11]

Hi All,

I'm looking at getting a Ultimaker 3. I've been eyeing Ultimakers for awhile and I'm close to pulling a trigger on one. I have interest in the dual extrusion hence why the 3 instead of the 2+.

One thing is kinda bugging me: UM3 has been out for a little over a year, but there are only 4 types of print cores available. Considering two of those cores are dedicated to PVA, then really there are only two types of cores available.

When I first heard about the swap-able core idea, it sounded pretty awesome. I expected there to be a number of cores available with varying nozzle sizes, configurations for exotic materials, and so on.

I know of the Solex core and I suppose that has potential but I'm a little dismayed at what Ultimaker has provided. Are there plans for more cores coming in 2018? I'm sure I can print wonderful things with the .4 and .8 cores that are currently available, but I can't help but wonder why there isn't more. Maybe there just isn't an appetite for them on the UM3 market, fewer tinkerers than the UM2+ community?

Curious of what people think, particularly current owners of an Ultimaker 3.

[gr5 2,172]

Lots of people buy the 3dsolex cores. Note that when the UM2 came out it only had the .4mm which was integrated nozzle/heater block in one part. Ultimaker sold an incredible amount of UM2's before the Olsson block came out which allowed swappable nozzles. Even I, as a UMO and UM2 owner was pretty satisfied with only the .4mm nozzle for a few years (now I use the .8 quite a bit).

[ahoeben 1,948]

The reason it takes quite a while to launch an additional core/nozzle size is that Cura comes with highly tuned quality profiles for all combinations of materials, layer heights and nozzles. Tuning these profiles takes a lot of time, while the number of materials to support keep growing.

[neotko 1,417]

Latest firmware had info about a 0.25 Core, so probably that will be the next one they release.

And yeah making good profiles take time, but also.. Years?

[kcel 11]

This all sounds good. I think your right that for a majority of cases .4 or .8 will probably do you just fine. I may look into picking up a Solex in the new year sometime.

And news of a 0.25 nozzle in the pipeline sounds good.

[JohnInOttawa 104]

If someone in the print core creation department is listening....

Any hope of creating a print core that can process continuous strand CF? Would be a game changer to have an alternative to markforged with the ultimaker flexibility.

FWIW

John

[kmanstudios 1,120]

If someone in the print core creation department is listening....

Any hope of creating a print core that can process continuous strand CF?  Would be a game changer to have an alternative to markforged with the ultimaker flexibility.

FWIW

John

Not sure if that would be a strictly core issue, but it would be a very nice thing to have. For what it takes, I am on board with the idea. That and super high temps to print those really high TG materials.