Ultimaker 2 Predictions

[Nicolinux 288]

I know it is not long before we will know for sure. But just for lols - let's try to predict stuff about the new machine. Here are my guesses (minus the facts that already leaked):

 

• Heat chamber
  
  • I guess that's a must have for high quality ABS prints. Also possible because of the hint about quiet operation.
    

   

  [*]Built-in raspberry pi or the like

   

  • That's for the "print and walk away feature". Would make sense if a stripped down version of cura runs on it.
    

   

  [*]Dual fans

   

  • Just a wild guess. May be better for small and delicate prints.
    

   

  [*]Bed auto-leveling

   

  • Greatly simplified leveling mechanism. Maybe something (semi)-automatic (with lasers and s**t) :cool:
    

   

  [*]Webcam and built-in webserver

   

  • OctoPrint runs fine on the raspberry pi and supports webcams. Add a cam to the Ultimaker and you have your remotly operated machine.
    

   

  [*]Controll app for iOS and Android

   

  • Hipster alarm: Wouldn't it be nice to show off - I mean controll your printer on the go?
    

   

  [*]RGB led stripes

   

  • Because it looks cool when the printer changes colors when it is done printing.
    

   

  [*]Rubber damping feet

   

  • Quiet operation and reduces vibrations.
    

   

   

 

Looks more like wishful thinking than reality, but I'd like to see these features

What do you think?

 

[LePaul 331]

Flux capacitor for time travel

Good list!

 

[thingster 0]

I'm quite disappointed about the new Ultimaker2. Not all of the most important aspects have been fixed.

Bad:

- No dual printing. WHY?? I think that this should be standard now.

- No heat chamber. Forget this printer if you want to do in ABS.

- No PEI print plate. For example the Kuhling&Kuhling printer is using it. The VERY BEST in means of print surface. The latest blog entry is talking about gluesticks. Are you serious, Ultimaking?

- "Low cost material" Where? 31,50 EUR for 750 g material is quite high.

Good:

- It has a heated bed. Wow! Already standard for at least 2 years in the reprap world.

- The bigger print envelope and larger build ratio is indeed very nice.

- The hot-end which seems to be made out entirely of metal is a must in my opinion.

I'm sorry, but I truly don't see why this printer should be worth about 2000 EUR.

 

[olivierc 3]

The new ultimaker is more or less an ultimaker with a built in controller and a more polished look, that you don't get to build yourself but get to pay almost double the price. And it is the only way to get a heated bed. Reminds you of something? Oh yeah, makerbot, the company everyone has been talking so much shit here

 

[makingzone 2]

The new ultimaker is more or less an ultimaker with a built in controller and a more polished look, that you don't get to build yourself but get to pay almost double the price. And it is the only way to get a heated bed. Reminds you of something? Oh yeah, makerbot, the company everyone has been talking so much shit here

 

I partially agree with you, but you miss the time to assemble it. The Ultimaker V2 is coming fully assembled...

I'm really hapy with my "original" Ultimaker. I've just change the pulley and I'm adding the dual extrusion kit. So I'll not buy (not yet) the Ultimaker V2. But if I havn't 3d printer, I should choose this V2 !!! To be honest, when I bought the Ultimaker, I hesitated a long time between Ultimaker and Makerbot. The reason (the price) let me buy the Ultimaker. But I was very enjoying with the "look" of the makerbot. (That's why I spend a lot of time to paint my printer and make it nice)

 

[dan-p 0]

The new ultimaker is more or less an ultimaker with a built in controller and a more polished look, that you don't get to build yourself but get to pay almost double the price. And it is the only way to get a heated bed. Reminds you of something? Oh yeah, makerbot, the company everyone has been talking so much shit here

 

I would like to point out that it has kinda already been confirmed that upgrades like the heated bed will at some point become available for the original UM. As long as they keep releasing upgrades for the original UM, I won't really compare them to Makerbot.

For most of us that assembled the UM ourselves, we paid 1194 euros for the kit and perhaps 80 euros for the controller. That leaves 621 euros for other upgrades before we reach the price of the new version. That's quite a bit of money for upgrades. I could easily make my UM run silent and add a nice heated bed for about 200 euros. That still leaves 421 euros for other upgrades, such as the new UM2 hotend (if it gets released for the original UM).

The point I'm trying to make is that many owners will actually be able to buy a lot of upgrades before reaching the price of the UM2. Also, for those of us who buy a lot of PC hardware, we know that new products are released every 6 months. Unfortunately, that's how the market is but I still think that the UM team does a decent job in supporting previous products, kinda like AMD in the PC world.

Even though I'm quite happy with my UM, I would still suggest that the UM team hints new releases a lot earlier. Hinting a release like 1 week before it becomes available is a bad idea, especially since a lot of new owners will become frustrated. You can still hint a release a lot earlier without releasing the details about it.

 

[foehnsturm 970]

Left me a little underwhelmed after the first look, too.

But they might have improved a number of important things regarding speed and precision:

new hot end, new sliding blocks (with GT2 belts), new extruder ...

But I still don't like those short belts ...

 

[valcrow 145]

I'm kinda glad actually that it doesn't completely overshadow Ultimaker 1. I got mine ~6 months ago, and would be a little annoyed if it had all the bells and whistles that I wished would have come with Ultimaker1. I didn't get the dual extrusion yet, but I imagined it would have been pretty unpopular of them to have included it with the new model, after releasing the kit shortly before it's announcement.

It feels to me like the ultimaker 2 is aimed towards a new buyer rather than ultimaker 1 owners looking for an upgrade. It's only $200 more than an assembled ultimaker 1 with no option of a kit. Had I been shopping for a new printer a more 'professional' looking product would have definitely captured my attention. I was mostly weighing between ultimaker and makerbot when I was deciding on printers, and a lot of that had to do with how professional the product looked. Laser cut wood just doesn't inspire confidence in the eyes of unsure new buyers. Especially for something ~$2000, you would at least expect it to look the part.

So I think it's a good move on Ultimakers part. Attract new people with Ulti-2. Continue to support Ulti-1 with upgrades. Keep doing what you're doing with CURA. I'm a happy camper.

 

[LePaul 331]

Even though I'm quite happy with my UM, I would still suggest that the UM team hints new releases a lot earlier. Hinting a release like 1 week before it becomes available is a bad idea, especially since a lot of new owners will become frustrated. You can still hint a release a lot earlier without releasing the details about it.

Exactly. In my case, I bought mine Aug 26 and specifically asked if something new was in the works. I work in the IT field and know how things go, as you mentioned. I was pretty frustrated this week seeing an obviously well developed product being released today.

 

[SandervG 1,521]

I don't really agree with the comparison with Makerbot.. what are the similarities? The release of a new machine that is more expensive then its previous one? That would make the list of companies a lot longer!

They went close source, we made a step closer towards the open source field.

If you would look a little bit further into the specs you see there are a lot of improvements.

- It is more user-friendly, in usage and in the interface

- It has an OLED controller

- It has an improved hot end design

- The feeding mechanism has been improved, which gives you more control over your filament

- a heated bed

- It is more quiet

- It is faster

- The electronics are new, and all the parts are implemented into 1 board on the bottom. Which makes it more stable and reliable.

- Improved belt tension system.

 

And just like Valcrow says, it is only $200 more expensive then the Assembled Original.

If you add a heated bed and new electronics that is not very much.

The Ultimaker 2 is not a replacement of the Original, it serves a different customer.

But besides the polished look, and the technical skills that are not required to operate it.. it is still open source so you can still open the hood and improve its capacities.

Dual extrusion will be released at a later stage, as an upgrade pack.

I believe a heated chamber is still under patent, correct me if i am wrong?

I don't know the pei print plate, but i believe the print plate we are using works very very good and is

also rather compact.

I understand some people are in favor of the Ultimaker Original, and some are in favor of the Ultimaker 2.

It depends on your needs and goals. If you are happy with your Ultimaker Original, that is great!

If you recently bought an Ultimaker Assembled, and you feel like you may have wanted the Ultimaker 2, please contact me and we can talk about the possibilities. I will be happy to help you.

 

[Daid 306]

Exactly. In my case, I bought mine Aug 26 and specifically asked if something new was in the works. I work in the IT field and know how things go, as you mentioned. I was pretty frustrated this week seeing an obviously well developed product being released today.

In our defense, it has been in development for over a year. (Yes that long, lots has gone wrong) Imagine if we told everyone "something new is brewing" for a year long.

As for Dual extrusion. After a while with the UM2 development, we found out that we where putting a lot of new things in the UM2, and that it was delaying the development of the UM2. So we had a good talk about it and instead of putting even more new things in the UM2 we are going to change tactics.

I hope this will work out. But the plan is that new development will happen on the UM-Original as upgrade kits. So UM-Original users are the tinkerer crowd. And once we have enough experience in this new part and are confident in the operation we will put it out for the UM2.

So:

UM-Original = Tinkerers = Possible slightly unstable upgrades

UM2 = Pro-users = Stable machine

Which brings us to the Dual extrusion. We're not happy enough about dual-extrusion to say that it's at a pro-level. I think Makerbot is the perfect example. They sell dual-extrusion but never demo it.

Now, we have a new hotend in the UM2. And it's difficult to see, but the UM2 hotend allows you to adjust the nozzle height very easy. Which was an important part of the hotend design for dual-extrusion.

We have NOT decided yet on the possible upgrade kits for the UM-Original. But heated bed will be one of them for sure. We would also like to upgrade the electronics (as the new board is better in almost all ways). No idea about the hotend and direct drive yet.

And we'll be releasing all the design files for the UM-Original as OpenSource very soon. We did not have proper files for this before, and while we where doing the UM2 development we also fully documented the UM-Original. So expect those soon, and if you need a certain file right now for something, just ask! (But remember that we are very busy with the UM2 release, so sometimes might take a while to respond)

 

[hp-65 4]

I was disappointed too, I came to order an UM2, but didn't...

Add a detachable hatch with hinges and a magnet lock on each side and

develop a filament driver that still can be operated manually - and I'm in!