Little introduction

[Dragon2781 0]

Hi,

 

I'm new to this forum and I first want to introduce myselfe.

My name is Jens and I'm from Germany. I'm totally new to the 3D printing topic.

I started with a Wanhao D6 at Christmas 2017.

Sadly this piece of shit (sorry) broke after 2 days and I noticed that I'm not that kind of guy who forever wants to play arround with settings to finally get a decent print.

I was sooooo frustrated that I ordered an Ultimaker 3 one week later in the hope that I get good results without fiddeling arround.

Well.... kind of...

 

I'm here to get some help with the fine tuning, maybe the experienced guys are able to see even more problems than myselfe.

I want to get a feeling on what is possible and what is acceptable after spending 3.6K.

 

I watched many Youtube videos about 3D printing since I dived into this topic.

3D Printing Nerd, Thomas Sanladerer, Maker's Muse, RCLifeOn...

There are many content creaters owning a Ultimaker 3 but not using it as a workhorse and I'm wondering why?

I have so many questions on little things but there are only some Reviews...no usefull videos about long term experiences, settings etc...

What is your opinion?

Edited February 16, 2018 by Dragon2781

[SandervG 1,521]

Hi @Dragon2781 , welcome to the forums! Hopefully you'll feel right at home and we'll be able to learn a lot from each other.

I think the Ultimaker 3 is definitely a workhorse (first users that come to mind are @korneel and @kmanstudios) but just like every piece of machinery it comes with a manual and intended use. In order to figure out whether or not we can help you in the way you use the Ultimaker, or in your expectations, could you tell us a little bit more about your print settings and could you share some photo's of your prints? 

What do you expect of your Ultimaker and its prints? Did you do any maintenance or modifications already? 

 

Looking forward hearing from you

[Dragon2781 0]

15 minutes ago, SandervG said:

... could you tell us a little bit more about your print settings and could you share some photo's of your prints? 

What do you expect of your Ultimaker and its prints? Did you do any maintenance or modifications already? 

Hi,

of course I will make some pictures of my prints and my settings and open an other topic for the fine tuning.

My expectations are very high for a 3.6K Printer and I have to say that I'm disappointed at the moment.

Yes the overall print quality is ok with some little spots I have to fine tune but the most important selling functionalities I can not use.

 

- I can not use the Auto-Leveling because of Z wobble:

 

 

- I see no sense in using the expensive NFC UM-Filament when I still have to do adjustments in the settings:

 

 

- I have problems with the wasteful usage of PVA support and the gaps in the PLA it leaves behind.

 

 

With all that problems I could buy a Prusa i3 MK3 with intelligent Failure-Features and really quiet motors for 1/4 of the price.

[korneel 176]

since I was triggered;

I have ran Ultimakers as workhorses since 2015. end of 2016 I replaced my farm (5 pieces of UM2+) with the UM3 and have been running those ever since. about 6 months ago I added another 3.. so a total of 8 UM3s, running 24/7. I would consider that workhorses... 

I have had no downtime since I started printing.. for me they have been super reliable.. 

the rules of thumb that I use are:

-do a printcore cleaning on a regular basis

-maintain the rods in your printer rigourously. use synthetic based oil with PTFE for the axes, don't use the sewing machine oil. the synthetic will last a lot longer and won't leave debris.

-use the included grease for the Z axis (not the rods!) 

-make sure the glass beds are clean. I only use 3Dlac spray every now and then to ensure there is always a film on them. I use PrintaFix for PP material. 

-stay away from ABS. it sucks. there are better materials and it will save you a lot of headaches.

-set bed leveling to always

-once a print is done, take out the glass plate and swap for a new one. let the glass plate cool and the print will pop off. don't force a print off.

-have spare glass plates. they will break and chip

 

[korneel 176]

7 minutes ago, Dragon2781 said:

Hi,

of course I will make some pictures of my prints and my settings and open an other topic for the fine tuning.

My expectations are very high for a 3.6K Printer and I have to say that I'm disappointed at the moment.

Yes the overall print quality is ok with some little spots I have to fine tune but the most important selling functionalities I can not use.

 

- I can not use the Auto-Leveling because of Z wobble:

 

 

- I see no sense in using the expensive NFC UM-Filament when I still have to do adjustments in the settings:

 

 

- I have problems with the wasteful usage of PVA support and the gaps in the PLA it leaves behind.

 

 

With all that problems I could buy a Prusa i3 MK3 with intelligent Failure-Features and really quiet motors for 1/4 of the price.

 

couple of points

1)have you updated to the latest firmware and latest cura? especially the PVA in early versions of Cura and firmware wasn't that great.. with the new versions I have never had that issues anymore.. as a note though I really hate the standard ultimaker PLA filament that is included with the printer.. the silver is just sucky. try ultimaker white or black, you'll get much better results. 

2)z wobble? do you mean differences in height? i can't see your picture so i don't know what the issues is.. 

3)the included profiles are the default profiles that will get you the best overall quality. your mileage may vary per file that you print.. there is no supplier that can give you a profile that will work and give the best results with every object you print.. 

[Dragon2781 0]

2 minutes ago, korneel said:

I would consider that workhorses... 

Yes, I agree. Of course there are companies using the UM3 like that.

I was talking from Youtube content creators. I like to get some experiences from professionals while watching videos.

 

2 minutes ago, korneel said:

-do a printcore cleaning on a regular basis

Do you mean the 'Atomic' thin? Or how do you clean the Cores?

2 minutes ago, korneel said:

-maintain the rods in your printer rigourously. use synthetic based oil with PTFE for the axes, don't use the sewing machine oil. the synthetic will last a lot longer and won't leave debris.

I did that with the included oil...

2 minutes ago, korneel said:

-make sure the glass beds are clean. I only use 3Dlac spray every now and then to ensure there is always a film on them. I use PrintaFix for PP material. 

I use 3DLAC too but I want to buy a bed from Filafarm.

2 minutes ago, korneel said:

-stay away from ABS. it sucks. there are better materials and it will save you a lot of headaches.

Yes, without door and cover on top it makes no sense.

2 minutes ago, korneel said:

-set bed leveling to always

I have bad Z wobble with that.

 

 

Thank you for your tips!

[korneel 176]

3 minutes ago, Dragon2781 said:

Yes, I agree. Of course there are companies using the UM3 like that.

I was talking from Youtube content creators. I like to get some experiences from professionals while watching videos.

 

Do you mean the 'Atomic' thin? Or how do you clean the Cores?

I did that with the included oil...

I use 3DLAC too but I want to buy a bed from Filafarm.

Yes, without door and cover on top it makes no sense.

I have bad Z wobble with that.

 

 

Thank you for your tips!

so i have no clue to to cut the quote into pieces so here is my less structured reply

i kinda consider myself a professional

i see some of the reviews online and some of them are. interesting. for example in his latest review Thomas Sanladerer has some issues with the cracked white blocks and the X axis dropping out. he fails to mention this is a known issue for the first batch of Um3s and people should have been contacted by now (and the resellers are aware) and there is a replacement set that they can get for free.. so that casts some doubt. also remember that most of these reviews only have a printer for a week..  they don't buy a printer, they loan one, review it, then send it back. .

 

you can clean the cores under maintenance, then clean print cores. it is all explained there

 

yeah, the included oil is ok, but the superlube multipurpose synthetic oil with PTFE (comes in a pen shape) is a lot better.

 

you don't need the bed from filafarm. it will cause more issues then it solves. i print with every kind of filament and have never had the need to use anything else then the glass bed, 3dlac or printafix. it's a waste of money and will make your life more difficult.

 

bad z wobble.. you have to explain that..  what is the error message?

[Dragon2781 0]

Please let us discuss that points in the topics, not here.

 

12 minutes ago, korneel said:

 

1)have you updated to the latest firmware and latest cura? especially the PVA in early versions of Cura and firmware wasn't that great.. with the new versions I have never had that issues anymore.. as a note though I really hate the standard ultimaker PLA filament that is included with the printer.. the silver is just sucky. try ultimaker white or black, you'll get much better results. 

Yes, I have Cura 3.2.1 and the latest firmware.

12 minutes ago, korneel said:

2)z wobble? do you mean differences in height? i can't see your picture so i don't know what the issues is.. 

I don't want to activate the auto leveling again because the bed is leveld now and I have good results. That's why I can not make photos of the problem.

 

12 minutes ago, korneel said:

3)the included profiles are the default profiles that will get you the best overall quality. your mileage may vary per file that you print.. there is no supplier that can give you a profile that will work and give the best results with every object you print.. 

I thougt the profiles depend on the Filament. Temperatures, Speeds etc. You say it depends on the object? I don't understand that.

[Dragon2781 0]

 

 

14 minutes ago, korneel said:

...he fails to mention this is a known issue for the first batch of Um3s...

He added a text over the video mentioning that.

 

14 minutes ago, korneel said:

you can clean the cores under maintenance, then clean print cores. it is all explained there

OK I will take a look, thank you.

 

14 minutes ago, korneel said:

you don't need the bed from filafarm. it will cause more issues then it solves. i print with every kind of filament and have never had the need to use anything else then the glass bed, 3dlac or printafix. it's a waste of money and will make your life more difficult.

I like the idea to get the object off the hot bed by bending it. At the moment I use cold water to get the print off the got glas bed and then I need to use the 3DLAC again for every print.

 

14 minutes ago, korneel said:

bad z wobble.. you have to explain that..  what is the error message?

There is no error message. Please go to the linked topic, there I explain everything. Let us discuss that there please.

[Dragon2781 0]

Ah the Auto-Leveling Z wobble Topic is still not activ because it needs an approval by an admin.

[SandervG 1,521]

10 minutes ago, Dragon2781 said:

Ah the Auto-Leveling Z wobble Topic is still not activ because it needs an approval by an admin.

It is now

[Dragon2781 0]

Thank you

[gr5 2,167]

6 hours ago, korneel said:

so i have no clue to to cut the quote into pieces so

Very easy and quick to do @korneel - just click and drag the text you want to quote  and a popup shows up that says "quote this".  Click on that and it adds it to your already in progress reply.  I can't help you if you have a phone - phones have horrible user interfaces (in my opinion).