Questions before taking the plunge...

[razarizvi 0]

Hi,

I have a question before I place the order for my ultimaker2. I have the first model of Makerbot and it prints out a rather annoying 1-2 mm layer first and the object gets printed on top of that. Since I do a lot of detailed designs I have to account for that extra thickness. Does the Ultimaker2 print a base layer first or does it print directly on the printing surface?

Thanks!

 

[gr5 2,025]

Most ultimaker users use a slicer program called "Cura" which is open source and is actively developed by Ultimaker staff. The feature you refer to is called a "raft" in Cura.

I have never used that feature. I print directly on the blue tape (on UM original) or glass (on UM2).

In my opinion the raft is just an excuse for people too lazy to properly level the print bed. And on the UM2 it is very easy to level and I only had to level a month ago and it hasn't needed any levelling adjustment since then.

On my UM Original I have to re-level every day. It kind of sucks.

 

[IRobertI 516]

That's entirely up to the slicer you use. What you're referring to is called a raft. By default the software that Utlimaker provides (cura) does not create a raft. Other slicers like KISSlicer and slic3r also allows you to enable/disable the raft as you see fit.

 

[jonnybischof 60]

...

On my UM Original I have to re-level every day. It kind of sucks.

 

Actually, I have almost never re-levelled my bed and never had any problems with it

I guess it depends on how thick you need your initial layer to be (that's not the raft, I'm talking about the first layer of the model!). I usually left it on 0.2 to 0.3mm, always worked fine...

 

[gr5 2,025]

Actually, I have almost never re-levelled my bed and never had any problems with it

 

I added my own design heated bed and it is very heavy (1 kg). So that's probably why I have to level every day.

 

[razarizvi 0]

Thanks for the responses & wish y'all a happy new year!