Looking for Reviews on the Ultimaker

[ironmaiden75 0]

Hello everyone at the Ultimaker forums!

I wanted to reach out to those of you with first hand experience printing with the Ultimaker. I understand it is the fastest home printer out there, but I was wondering about the quality of the prints it makes. I'm sure a lot of other people would like to have some personal feedback from you, and in turn help promote the Ultimaker. There is a website that compares the Ultimaker against all the other "Household 3D Printers" in every technical aspect. All it needs now is reviews and feedback from people who have actually used it. If you want to help the Ultimaker grow, as well as give critical feedback for suggestions do so here: http://www.3dprintingpad.com/3dprinter/ultimaker

I'm looking forward to some feedback on the pros and cons of the Ultimaker!

Cheers!

Steve

[Daid 306]

I don't know where you got the 400mm/s value from, but 150-200mm/s seems to be about the limit.

[mr_seeker 0]

Layer thickness is off: You can get 0.04mm with ease, but I could manage to get to 0.0075mm (with a bit of luck). 0.00125mm (or 1.25 microns) seems to be the lower limit.

400mm/s is the max value that you theoretically can get. You can get faster, but it is not recommended.

EDIT:

It accepts gcode, STL & AMF format (not completely, but I do know that netfabb can export it). Also working with SD cards (There are some in the wild already)

[IRobertI 520]

The whole file format thing is a bit silly. It accepts G-code and that's it, it doesn't care where it came from to begin with. As it is listed now it looks like you can send off an unsliced model and have it magically print it.

Also, isn't the lead picture an old machine with the extruder hanging by the bowden on the side?

[Daid 306]

Indeed, the first picture is wrong. And the build time is specified as 2-4 hours, which I don't think you'll be able to pull off, even if you have build a few before. Mine took 8 hours, and I have a pre-assembled printer head.

[c-ernst 1]

I LOL'd at the build time. I think I built mine backwards in 15 hours... then the an additional 3 hours putting it right. .... mechanically dyslexic.

Chuck

[ironmaiden75 0]

Thanks for the feedback so far!

I'm by no means an expert on the Ultimaker, all the data I took was from the wiki reprap spec page

http://wiki.ultimaker.com/Ultimaker_specs_and_features

. I'm thankful that you are bringing these variations to my attention. I guess it's hard to place an exact number on some of the specs since you can adjust it yourself so I'm going to just post the "average" specs. In saying this I've changed the build time to 8 hours, the printing speed to 150mm/s^3 (a more common speed), and added the SD card capibility. I also changed the image to the most recent version of the Ultimaker (I hope).

I would love some more feedback (critical or praise) on what I can do to improve the 3D Printing Pad to better showcase the Ultimaker.

Cheers!

Steve

[Daid 306]

The photos seem good now (one of them contains a bit of a wierd cooling fan, but that's a none-issue), and I always smile when I see the silly "step motor hiding behind cooling blocks" in a photo (background of the yoda photo)

In the description, the final part says "There", looks like you didn't finish there, or deleted something by accident.

[ironmaiden75 0]

Is there anyone that could give some solid feedback on the Ultimaker from a personal experiece?

I'm interested to know the pro's and con's, and if there are any obvious improvements to be aware of.

If you want to join the conversation that's starting, do so here http://www.3dprintingpad.com/3dprinter/ultimaker

Cheers,

Steve

[somerwil 0]

Hi mate,

here's my experience ;-) Before I start with my story I'd like to say I'm related to or paid by Ultimaker in any way. You can say I'm an Ultimaker fanboy.

I decided to go with the Ultimaker in september last year and to be honest it took some time before I decided the Ultimaker is my machine! Other machines I had a look at were the UP! printer, Makerbot's TOM en the BfB3000. The TOM has been replaced with the Replicator and the BfB3000 is now called a "Touch".The pricing of the UP printer is low now. Back in september these things still cost 2600 USD excl. shipping...

So a few things have changed since I decided to go with Ultimaker.

Nevertheless I choose the Ultimaker because of:

Large build volume

Small footprint of the machine (compared to print volume)

Relatively cheap (back then, also since I live in the Netherlands, shippingwise)

Fast printing capabilities

Dutch design (which makes me proud as well :-))

Very good mechanical design (as a mechanical engineer I love this machine)

Good prints available at Thingiverse

On the other hand I felt the other machines I looked at were

already built (UP! printer. I love to simply print, not particularly assemble it)

Multiple print heads (on the BfB machine)

Debugged software (BfB's Axon and particularly the UP software appear to work just fine and easy)

In the end I had to choose between the Up! and Ultimaker. I choose the Ultimaker for it's better price (back in september, gap is closed now), build volume and for it being a Dutch product. That last one is particularly handy if you have a broken part or questions. The Ulti-evenings are awesome and a ot of people join these evenings (yesterday some 40-50 people there!)

After a few months of printing I must say I'm really happy with the machine mechanical wise. It's just a brilliant machine which didn't let me down. Obviously improvements can be made but my machine is just standard really. I added some parts just because of the bling but it doesn't add to print quality ;-)

Software wise things can be improved (still). The print quality is 95% related to good software and firmware. Due to an enormous amount of software and firmware guru's loads of (un)stable, experimental version can be found. Some good progress is made the last weeks but the latest versions are still under development.

A thing that helped me get my personal print quality up is slicing program Netfabb. It added to the fun I have with my machine. I think Netfabb is awesome also despite its flaws (direct connection is not all that great and some bugs are still there). Netfabb is easy to use, also because of the perfect print profiles by Paul Candler and Florian Horsch. It they were girls... ;-) I print nearly all my prints with Netfabb gcode. Have a look at my prints at Thingiverse (Maak Mijn Idee and somerwil is both me). Also have a look at Dave Durant's quality print article on his blog. It's great!

When I should decide which printer to buy today my preferences will still be the Ultimaker and the Up 3D printer. I saw that last one on RapidPro last year and good reviews can be found. Since it's price tag is a lot better now it became a (much) better option.

Nevertheless I'd still go with the Ultimaker without too much doubt. I like the Ultimaker community and I love it's enormous print volume (particularly compared to the Up). Netfabb finishes the battle. Ultimaker wins.

Pricewise some other option are available now. The Sumpod looks OK but I don't see anyone with awesome print quality anywhere. They're not even close (yet?) The Printrbot also looks nice but is really tiny (I love monster prints). A RepRap Mendel or any sort of look-a-like is really not for me. It looks like a never ending prototype to be honest.

I'd recommend Ultimaker to improve the software (make it more accessible for a bigger audience), come up with prebuilt machines and make the machine look better (like the alloy Sumpod). I think this will further improve sales. Just my $0,02.

Gr,

Michael