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[Zierbeek 0]

hi

Edited February 18, 2021 by Zierbeek

[gr5 2,210]

If you are going to turn around and sell it then definitely the UM3.

 

If you are cheap like me then get the UM2 plain.  I really am not a fan of the extended - it's just taller - I prefer wider which is not an option.  So UM2.  The UM3 can print dual colors but I rarely use that option (not in the past 2 years and I have 5 printers I use every week).  More importantly the UM3 can more easily print higher temp materials like Nylon (which UM2 can do but UM3 better at it) and it can print PVA which is a water soluble support - just put the print in water bucket overnight and the support structures dissolve away.

But the UM2 will print nicer quality due to the lighter weight head.  And PVA is expensive.  And the UM3 is a bit more likely to have a failure that's costly to repair.  But really both the UM2 and UM3 are work horses and even when very old are still valuable.

 

If you are not as cheap as I am then get the UM3 as it has more capabilities and those capabilities are occasionally very very useful.

 

[Zierbeek 0]

Well, the starting price is exactly the same at the moment 🙂 both have an air manager included. 

 

The question I was asking myself is if the repairs will be needed if It is only used for hobby printing, not very large volumes nor quantities. But the repairs you are talking of are concerning the printer cores? 

 

Is the quality difference that big? 

Now I'm thinking if buying them all 3 and reselling them in the community. 

 

Could you say something about the machines when you have a serial code? For ex the build year/revision? 

 

Edited February 16, 2021 by Zierbeek

[geert_2 558]

Just out of curiosity, what price are they asking, order of magnitude?

 

(I have no interest in buying, I have enough machines myself.)

 

[Zierbeek 0]

In the price range of 400-600

Edited February 16, 2021 by Zierbeek

[gr5 2,210]

Buy all 3 if you have the time to box them up and ship them.  If all at the same price I'd get the UM3 despite possibly needing $400 in repairs a year from now.  The cores aren't expensive to replace - cheaper than money spent on filament by far.  It's the Olimex board - I'm not sure but they seem to die after several years.

 

No the quality difference isn't a big deal.  If you print 1000 parts with UM3 and then one day switch to UM2 you will notice right away.  But it's not significant.

 

You can see the hours that the printer has printed on the display.  On all 3 I think you go to "maintenance" menu and somewhere in there it has meters printed and hours printing.  Typically meters of filament is similar to hours printed (1 meter per hour - some people print much faster or slower).  So 1km of filament is 1000 hours printing - this is still a printer in decent shape.  Printers with 2 to 5 km of filament printed tend to be in pretty rough shape but still print great.  You may have to replace some belts or "sliding blocks" but nothing expensive.

 

The only thing expensive to replace are potentially the white and red circuit boards under the printer.

 

The machine is very servicable.  It comes apart easily with tools.

 

 

[Zierbeek 0]

So the work that needs to be done is allright, it are the parts that are so expensive

their Is a big deal too for filament 😉 

Edited February 16, 2021 by Zierbeek

[gr5 2,210]

Old filament isn't as good as new filament.  Most brands of PLA can get brittle after a year or two (but only if you leave it on the back of the machine for 10 hours without printing but still it's more work).