Ultimaker 2 vs Zortrax M200

[trhuster 0]

Hello all...

I have a Duplicator 4 but i want to upgrade to another printer. So it is between Ultimaker 2 and Zortrax M200.

The thing is it is alot of money for me and i can't decide. My heart says Ultimaker 2 because of a great community but my brain says Zortrax M200 becuse of in my eyes a more stable and "better" constructed printer.

The most important thing for me is quality of prints and troublefree prints.

Anyone have any thougt about how to choose wisley between the two printers? My head is about to explode soon.

/Rikard

 

[roger-fujii 0]

The one thing glaring about the Zortrax is that it doesn't mention how fast it can print. There's no way that print head can be as fast as a light head. Since the unit is pretty much just out to market, it's impossible to make a good comparison as far as quality goes - the torture test model was printed with supports, which I don't think reviews on Makershed allowed. On paper, the Zortrax looks fine if speed isn't an issue. Whether they execute fine is another issue. The u2 does have some things going for it other than speed: it has a bigger build volume and since the software is more open, it can be tweaked. On the downside, there's the cost, and (at the rate they are going now) the 8+ weeks delivery time. The 2014 3d printer review of Make: has some interesting entries if you really want your head to explode..

 

[jdaiglejr 0]

The one thing glaring about the Zortrax is that it doesn't mention how fast it can print.

 

On the kickstarter page, it did list the print speed as 100mm/sec, and potentially 400mm/s.

 

[nick-foley 5]

On the kickstarter page, it did list the print speed as 100mm/sec, and potentially 400mm/s.

 

Flatout print speed is a mostly meaningless metric - it's all about how fast you can print while maintaining quality. It's also a very deceptive measurement because for many prints the max speed is never even reached due to acceleration limits.

Also... printing the torture test with support mostly defeats the purpose of the test. I think the quality in the photos actually isn't that good - it's just ABS instead of PLA. ABS models always appear higher quality because ABS has lower gloss and thus shows the build lines much less clearly.

 

[trhuster 0]

Good point about Ultimaker have lighter head to move around. But Zortrax have 2 rods in printer head in both X/Y movment so it should be stable. Hard to know wich solution is the best.

I dont know much about their ABS but it is very cheap if you own a Zortrax, only 19 dollar/kg

Also Z-suit vs Cura is not easy to know wich is best. This is hard for me to decide.

 

[illuminarti 18]

I don't know anything about the zortrax. But if this is a big deal for you that you can't afford to shrug off and try something else, then the UM2 is probably a less risky option. It's an evolutionary design from an established company with a lot of experience - and a very active and experienced user community to offer additional support. There's far more to designing and building a printer than just picking some nice specs. The technology isn't hard, but it's hard to get all the bits working well together.

Another example of a 'great on paper' printer is the QU-BD Revolution range. All metal frame, 400-500mm/s print speed claims - which it can meet in the right circumstances. But if you look in their forums, you'll see a lot of pissed off customers who are struggling to get it to print at all, and getting precious little support from the company. In the 3 months that I've had mine (after it arrived about 6 months late), I've so far gotten one good print - and that was only after I redesigned and replaced a bunch of stuff on it..

[trhuster 0]

Thx illuminarti.

You have very good points, i guess the best is to wait abit and see how things goes for both printers before deciding. Alot of things is in Ultimakers favor but Zortrax also appels alot to me.

Thx all for opinions!

 

[roger-fujii 0]

+1 on what illuminarti said. People often confuse "resolution" with "precision", and you don't get high precision by just slapping together high resolution parts. Having parallel rods should distribute the load stresses (assuming it's designed right), but if the rods aren't perfectly parallel, it will induce problems of it's own. Just looking at pictures of the QU-BD, I would guess it has issues with the bed jamming/skipping for the same reason.

As with all technology based stuff, you rarely get something worse by waiting longer, so if waiting is an option, by all means.....

 

[trhuster 0]

As with all technology based stuff, you rarely get something worse by waiting longer, so if waiting is an option, by all means.....

 

I know what you mean, waiting can be forever because it is always something better behind the corner. But i both printers are just released and wait 1-2 month too see some more user reports would be nice. Zortrax M200 have only one youtube video from a user so far.

 

[huberbobas 0]

Zortrax has doubled the price for EU customers for filament at 27Eur instead of 19$. Need I remind you that before the EU store was lunched, Zortrax sold filament for EU customers for 19$ tax, vat included. Now they decided to increase the prices, kickstarter is over so is good pricing.

However the printer prints in very good quality, and the quality is repeatable judging from posts of users on zortrax forum.

Question for fellow experts over here: Is there another printer marketed as ABS printer for prototyping with same or better print quality as Zortrax and with similar price.

 

[joergen 2]

However the printer prints in very good quality, and the quality is repeatable judging from posts of users on zortrax forum.

Question for fellow experts over here: Is there another printer marketed as ABS printer for prototyping with same or better print quality as Zortrax and with similar price.

 

UM has thousands of users worldwide, as you can see with this huge online community and is on the market for quite some time now... Z has how many users? and how many slicers support Z? (UM is supported by cura, slic3r, kisslicer, netfabb (kinda) and soon photoshop, just to name a few)... plus in the (fortunately) closed thread you said yourself that only the good reviews are posted, and any bad reviews get deleted, so what kind of value can a user derive from the Z, if all we see is propaganda (incl you)?

In regards to ABS printing, many printers, including the UM1 and UM2 print ABS just as they print PLA, or any of the other available types... to ask if there are any other printers marketed for ABS shows very little insight into the 3D printing world...

 

[trhuster 0]

I still can't say wich one is better. But i went for Zortrax and have printed alot now and one thing is for sure and it is very reailble and so far not a single extruder or hotend failure. I am very happy with my choice.

I still like Ultimaker 2 and would love to have one some day.

 

[aggi 0]

hi, i am an owner of a zortrax m 200. for a beginner it's a easy to use printer, but... at the moment you can only use abs. you have only few possibilities to change basic parameters (like temperature). zortrax needs its own file format - no conversion ist possible. that means - if you get problems - for example with warping (in the way i have) you have only few chances to solve this problems yourself! you need the support of zortrax. the zortrax forum ist good, and often the forum has a solution, but for me this is not the best way. i am now thinking about another printer maybe a um2, maybe the uprinter of stratasys. solving warp problems is wasting my time....

[jonnybischof 60]

...

The most important thing for me is quality of prints and troublefree prints.

...

 

Troublefree prints? There is no such thing...

You will have to learn the craftsmanship of 3D printing, which means going through the trouble of failed prints, clogged nozzles and so on. If you learn from these troubles, you'll be able to avoid them more and more.

The Ultimaker 2 is certainly a very good printer which is based on an already good predecessor. It has a good electronics platform and is quite sturdy.

Imho, the metal hardware isn't that good (shafts, bushings, bearings, leadscrew), but I have very high expectations in that matter, and I seriously doubt that any competitor offers better hardware in the same price range.

Many people here in the forums have proven that the UM2 can produce excellent printing quality, even at relatively high speeds.

The UM also accepts any kind of filament (standard spools. no proprietary, overpriced filament).

What speaks against UM is their slow customer support and shipping lead times.

But - once they do actually work your case - they are very nice and fair people.