Buy from UM directly or from a store? (Update: just ordered yay!)

[lord-devil 1]

Hey there...

since I finally want to order an UM2, I am not sure if I should buy from an online store which has the printer currently in stock, or if I should place an order here?

Surely there is the advantage of getting the printer now, but on the other side maybe its better to get the latest revision of the product which would at least justify the 8-10 weeks lead time by ordering directly.

What do you think - does it matter - is it less likely to enounter problems?

Kind regards,

Oliver

 

[tommyph1208 55]

I hardly think the printer will change revision during that time, however you should check with the reseller that they actually do have stock before ordering. I have heard of others who have ordered through resellers that then places an order at ultimaker and thus are subject to the same delivery times...

On another note: A thing to keep in mind is that if a machine has first been sent to a reseller, and then on from there to you as a customer, it means more shipping and handling... Shipping firms like FedEx, DHL etc. are notorious for handling packages very roughly and there are countless examples of battered up boxes and more or less broken contents out there...

I myself would probably go for ordering from UM directly

 

[lord-devil 1]

Well I am thinking the same... though Imakr has gotten a large batch this week so yes they have it definately in stock now. Guess they will be sold out fast...

Getting it now instead of waiting 8-10 weeks is tempting though...

 

[ian 32]

it is nice to get the product direct from the ultimaker factory. no middle men. Plus if you have any problems they will just pass you onto ultimaker anyway or here for help.

Most resellers dont carry spare parts and sometimes are not too bothered to really help you.. so if something happens.. you are back working with ultimaker anyway..

If It was me... ? id click buy on the ultimaker site tonight and study up and get your 3d models ready for 2 months and then.. when it arrives.. print like a madman.... :-)

Ian :-)

 

[lord-devil 1]

OMG I did it... I just pressed the order now button... and yay I ordered directly from Ultimaker! I can sleep just better by knowing that there are no middlemans involved which could intercept/interact with the factory new and hopefully well sealed and packaged UM2

Order process was straight forward (I payed via paypal)... its already stating shipment: ready... so let's take great care when assembling my machine, you have plenty of time :wink:

Take care,

Oliver

 

[ian 32]

yippee... very cool.

nice decision..

now all you need to do is pay a lot of attention to your wife and children and other family for the next two months..

because after your ultimaker2 arrives.. they wont see you for dust.... ;-) LOLLL

Ian :-)

 

[lord-devil 1]

Haha... oh well I just hope that my 18 month old daughter will sleep as well during the night as today - than I should have plenty of time to print

Hopefully the UM2 isn't too loud at printing... my room is side by side to hers ^^

Luckily I was able to convince my wife to buy it (she needs some stuff too for sewing) - so yeah - in case of attention suffering I can always tell her: "You told me we should buy it - NOW live with the consequences" :twisted:

 

[ian 32]

dont worry.. the ultimaker 2 is a lot quieter than the original ultimaker... plus you simply get used to the little funny sound after some time..

I know one guy that has his ultimaker printing under his coffee table when he receives guests... LOLL

All I can say is.... with the ultimaker2.. printing is not the big challenge now !!.. the challenge is.. you will want to start modelling your own ideas and making them work.. thats the big fun part ! :-)

Have a nice weekend !

Ian :-)

 

[IRobertI 520]

My printer lives in the living room and if I close the door I can just barely hear it in the room next to it. So I think your daughter will sleep just fine. The loudest noise by far is the Z-stage at the start and end of a print.

 

[lord-devil 1]

Eek can't wait to get it... so I think I should use the time now and start trying out all the new 3d editing tools. The last time I did a bit 3d rendering was over 10 years ago with autodesk 3d studio max 4 or so ...

Is there anything I should buy in advance to get ready for printing (remember I never had a 3d printer myself yet - just read a lot of books about it and followed the internet happenings)... ?

I already ordered the syringe hypodermic needles in case of clogged nozzles from ebay, a calliper (always useful I guess).

Maybe I should also try to get a spare nozzle, just in case as I would love to print with woodfill too - I heard the 0.4mm nozzle is clogging easily when printing this material...

Any other useful stuff? Cleaning fluids/material etc.?

Oh and should I get only original filament or better colorfabbs? I guess curas default filament settings will work best with original filament only?

Thanks again,

Oliver

 

[ian 32]

ultimakers filament is actually very good.. also colorfabb is nice... a little more exspensive but maybe the absolute best quality PLA is faberdashery in england...

But you can also try cheaper chinese stuff on ebay if you want.. you wont break your printer and some of it works good and others are just... muck...

About tools.. a small 2 euro bottle of fine maschine oil for the axis every few weeks.. keeps everything very nice and smooth :smile:

also a simple pair of tweazers to nip off loose lines of pla from the nozzle before the print.

Also dont worry about printing feet for your printer.. simply buy a 2 euro pack of IKEA felt feet for furniture. stick 4 of the big ones under each corner and your ultimaker will be that little bit quieter and wont harm your table top !

A good paint scraper is also a nice idea to help take off prints from the print table !

About printing woodfill.. it is very nice to print and you are right... a bigger nozzle helps a lot but be slowwww about changing nozzles... To change nozzles you really need to rebuild your hotend and you have to be careful.. it is something I would not recommend in the first week of using the ultimaker2.. when you have a better feeling.. then of course try but... be careful with your little cables and fans on the hotend !!

Hope that helps.

Ian :smile:

 

[SandervG 1,521]

Great to have you on the team Lord Devil!

I have printed with the Woodfill before a couple of times, and sometimes it indeed clogged the nozzle but nothing

a needle couldn't fix. You can choose from 2 different Woodfills, and 1 requires .8 nozzle.

So unless you choose that one, I don't think it is necessary to order a spare nozzle.

What are you going to use your printer for?

Perhaps you can also buy (if you do not yet have it already), a file if you want to smoothen some overhang?

You probably have to tweak your settings (temperature) in Cura a little bit for different colors.

I think it would be safe to buy from both us and Colorfabb. They have a good reputation here on the forums.

You may also want to try PLA Flex, which I personally find a very interesting material to print with.

Enjoy the anticipation

 

[lord-devil 1]

Happy to be a part of this awesome community too. So as can be seen by myself... in the end you guys don't need any advertisments for UM..., sooner or later you get stuck at this place anyway - which I have to say is an awesome achivement for a company...

Well to be honest... I am not yet sure for what I will use it in the end (I guess I just got hooked by the 3d printing fiber)...

My wife and me are having many ideas though. From printing some simple buttons to small toys etc. - I guess in the end it all depends on what we are able to get out of a printer like this and of course of my 3d skills.

Detail wise and printing wise I have yet to see what is possible and what not.

Also one day I would love to print an anime figure, but well small objects with lots of fine details may be a pain to print....

Regarding the filament, the PLA flex sounds nice too. I also heard of innofil3d... I guess there are so many filaments out there... lets see what works out best.

That brings me to the next question... how could you post process the print? E.g. do some simple coloring on it. I guess you would need a special prime?

Oh and one thing I wanted to ask earlier... as I see the manual of UM2 mentioned to use the glue for the glass plate. However some people tend to say you dont need anything for PLA. Others say the tape is great? Hmm...

Thanks again for you input,

Oliver

 

[SandervG 1,521]

Hi Oliver,

Check http://www.damaged-design.com/92-enter-the-ronin model out!

It is fully printed on an Ultimaker Original, so it is definitely possible

Just takes some patience and skills!

If you want to paint your model, I would get in touch with Braddock for tips.

He is a pro :cool:

For big PLA prints you don't necessarily need glue, for small prints maybe a hint. Just a little bit.

If you use a lot it will actually make your adhesion worse, or can clog up the nozzle.

If you use the heated bed, you don't need the tape.

If you leave it turned off you probably want to use the tape.

 

[Dim3nsioneer 557]

Check this model out!

It is fully printed on an Ultimaker Original, so it is definitely possible

Just takes some patience and skills!

 

:blink: :shock: :!: B) :cool:

 

[SandervG 1,521]

:blink: :shock: :!: B) :cool:

 

I know!!!

Very talented designer named Aaron Thomas.

 

[lord-devil 1]

@SanderG: Wow thats pretty amazing... it just shows that the only limit is your skill

@Ian: Oh if replacing a nozzle is not recommended, I will not touch it... hopefully I never come into the need of doing so, like I said earlier I am not that much of a tinkerer - I always think i could damage something

A set of small files is on the list, machine oil, scraper and tweazer checked^^

Anything needed for cleaning the glass or nozzle from rest of filaments?

Okay so the tape is only for non heated beds, I understand

 

[IRobertI 520]

What makes nozzle changes more difficult on the UM2 compared to the UM1 is that in the new design the heater block and nozzle is a single piece. On the UM1 you can simply unscrew the nozzle and put another one on in a minute or two. On the UM2 you have to disassemble the head and move the heater cartridge and temp sensor over to the new one. It's not hard to do, just time consuming and tedious.

The glue is water soluble so a quick scrub in the sink with hot water and some soap will do the trick. For the nozzle I usually wipe it down with some tissue paper every few prints during the heat up procedure.

 

[lord-devil 1]

I see... however I wonder what was the reason why they changed this design then on the UM2 - isn't changing/replacing the nozzle something that you have to do sooner or later?

 

[illuminarti 18]

Congrats, Oliver!! Good choice! :-)

[3dcase 37]

Hi Oliver,

Check this model out!

It is fully printed on an Ultimaker Original, so it is definitely possible

Just takes some patience and skills!

 

:shock: Wooohw...........

Silence.............

Like to find that on Youmagine...........

 

[gadgetfreak 7]

This is Daniel from 3DVerkstan, we are the official Ultimaker reseller in Sweden.

Currently, we manually inspect every Ultimaker unit when we receive them from Ultimaker to make sure they are in good condition.

If they have been damaged in shipping (less likely from now on as we will receive them on pallets) we would get replacements or just fix them if it's a case or misaligned rods or similar.

Also, we use a shipping service within Sweden that guarantees "upright" shipping of the unit - a bit more expensive but well worth it to know the unit is not damaged in shipping.

We also give 6 months warranty as required by Swedish law.

And did I mention we currently have them in stock

http://3dverkstan.se/product/ultimaker-2

(we can only deliver within Sweden, sorry to all non-Swedes...)