Ultimaker Original Lasercut File?

[rabidsnail 0]

I am looking to purchase an Original Ultimaker, but would prefer not to use wood. I was hoping to be able to find an assembly kit which allowed me to purchase all of the hardware, and laser cut the the wood components myself, but have had no such luck. Im sure I cant be the only one who is interested in this, so does anyone have any advice on this?

Thanks in advance!

 

[IRobertI 520]

You can find all of the design files here:

https://github.com/Ultimaker/UltimakerOriginal

As for purchasing just the parts, not sure.

 

[tommyph1208 55]

Unless you want to source everything yourself (its definitely possible, others have done so...) I´m pretty sure you have to just buy the kit and throw away (or sell them as spares?) the wooden panels in favor of your own laser cut from whatever material you like (what were you thinking of building it from?).

Alternatively, if its only the wooden look you are not too happy about, you can paint the wooden laser cut parts before assembly...

I just recently took mine apart and spray painted it a glossy white, now it looks like this:

 

Others have used water based colors to simply dye the wood in a color...

 

[rabidsnail 0]

I would really like to make it out of a smoked acrylic material or something of that sort. Not 100% sure yet. Thanks for that link to the parts list. It appears that that is a list of all parts needed to build it? wood/ metal/ ect. everything?

 

[callum-burns 0]

Correct. I am doing a self sourced Ultimaker. . Www.callum-burns.co.uk for my blog and how I am getting on. I need to add a new blog poat as I have gotten some more parts. . So far it's been fairly easy to get parts but some parts I have had to get from china. :(.

[Daid 306]

I would really like to make it out of a smoked acrylic material or something of that sort. Not 100% sure yet. Thanks for that link to the parts list. It appears that that is a list of all parts needed to build it? wood/ metal/ ect. everything?

 

Note that people have made acrylic Ultimakers before, and they usually fracture at the slider-blocks and the feeder.

I recommend basing it of a kit. Sure, you'll have the wooden bits that you do not need. But that's only a fraction of the costs of the kit.

You could also source all the parts yourself, this will save you money, but will cost a lot more time and effort. Two of our interns did this before they joined Ultimaker. They spend about 1000 euro for 2 machines, but it took them a few months. And, in the end, they had to replace their cheap china electronics as they broke down. (But that didn't cost them anything as they where already working for us by that time, and we still had a few spare 1.5.4 electronics that we could no longer use)

 

[jonnybischof 60]

As Daid said: Acrylic is actually inferior to plywood. You can't tighten any screws on Acrylic - the joints will just break after some time.

The UM2 is made of Dibond plates, which are a very good upgrade to plywood. But Dibond is also very expensive, and you can't lasercut Dibond (only CNC milling...).

I might be selling some Dibond-Upgrade kits for UM1 soon. But prices will probably be... premium... o.O (Especially if you're not located in Switzerland - international postage is ridiculous out here...)

/edit:

The quality of the UM1 original kit lasercut parts is pretty good. I doubt it gets any better unless you are using a different material. The UM1 also works pretty well with the standard wooden frame. It's not like there is a great need for improvement there.

I will be doing other improvements on my kit like better integration for a direct drive gantry, adding a few centimeters in build space, and redesigning the entire z-stage. But that also means one has to buy longer shafts and a longer z-leadscrew. Probably best for self-sourced Ultimakers anyways...

 

[nallath 1,120]

Trespa is an awesome material to build machines from. Its pretty heavy, but awesomely stiff.

 

[anon4321 16]

Just so you know, the step files for the at least the bottom lasercut part doesn't seem up to date.

Does anyone know where to get the latest step files?

 

[jonnybischof 60]

Trespa is an awesome material to build machines from. Its pretty heavy, but awesomely stiff.

 

Do you know what material this is? Is it a plastic, polycarbonate, or something entirely different?

Didn't find any information on that (probably secret?)

Heavy is generally good - the UM frame should absorb as much vibration as possible.

 

[Dim3nsioneer 557]

Do you know what material this is? Is it a plastic, polycarbonate, or something entirely different?

Didn't find any information on that (probably secret?)

Heavy is generally good - the UM frame should absorb as much vibration as possible.

 

http://www.trespa.com/

But I don't expect it to be cheap as it is also used in Switzerland.. :eek:

http://www.propanel.ch/produkte/trespa-vollkernplatten/

 

[jonnybischof 60]

I found these, too. But there's no information on what it actually is. (Or at least I didn't find any information )

I'd also guess it's probably even more expensive than Dibond. And Dibond is really very well suited.

It's only rated up to 80°C, but that should be ok.

I'm measuring 37°C on the insides of the wooden parts at this moment while the printer is running at 65°C heated bed tempearture (sides enclosed with bubble wrap).

 

[Dim3nsioneer 557]

I found these, too. But there's no information on what it actually is. (Or at least I didn't find any information )

 

Third paragraph:

 

[jonnybischof 60]

Mhhh...

It does sound kinda tempting...

I could contact propanel.ch and ask if they have some samples or scrap material laying around.

If this stuff is used to cover up whole house facades, then the price will hardly be more than 100 CHF / m2. You could coat your house in gold for that price...

 

[nallath 1,120]

Trespa is some sort of plastic, but it's quite resistant to chemicals. They also use it to create safety cabinets used to work with chemicals.

We have some prototypes here at ultimaker and they tend to need less maintainance.

 

[Dim3nsioneer 557]

Trespa is some sort of plastic, but it's quite resistant to chemicals. They also use it to create safety cabinets used to work with chemicals.

We have some prototypes here at ultimaker and they tend to need less maintainance.

 

What kind of maintenance are you referring to? Tightening screws from time to time or something else?

 

[karabas 1]

Why don't anybody cut it from solid 6mm polycarbonate? It's temperature resistant, transparent, etc...

 

[jonnybischof 60]

Can you lasercut PC?

If it generates any kind of harmful fumes, then the FabLabs won't allow to lasercut it...

I'm not sure, but I thought PC wasn't a problem?

I'm going to go with Dibond and Perspex (Acrylic) for my UM Black Edition frame. Pretty much the same as the UM2. Found a distribtor in Switzerland who offers both materials, so I'm going to start from there and see how it turns out

 

[Dim3nsioneer 557]

Addon information about Trespa: I finally had contact with the company cutting Trespa. But they do it by waterjet cutting, not by laser cutting. The reasons are basically the same as Jonny just mentioned for PC. On top of that the company expects Trespa to burn.

 

[nallath 1,120]

I don't think trespa will burn faster then the plywood. On the maintenence part; mostly the re-adusting of screws & endstops is needed less.

 

[jonnybischof 60]

I don't think trespa will burn faster then the plywood. On the maintenence part; mostly the re-adusting of screws & endstops is needed less.

 

Dibond should have the same advantages over plywood as Trespa. Maybe Trespa is even stiffer than Dibond, so it would be interesting to compare Dibond vs Trespa.

I settled with having to cut Dibond on a CNC. Trespa should be CNC-cuttable as well, so it might be a direct replacement for Dibond.

The question will be which material is better if you take both the price and the end result (strength) into account.

I'm about to order a stock of Dibond plates. Also I will take a CNC course this friday, and next week I'm on holiday so I'll have time to cut the first Dibond prototypes.

 

[dieselpower 0]

Trespa or HPL is made from paper or wood fibers and epoxy or phenolic resin, cured at high pressure and temperature. A bit like pertinax/tufnol

Dibond core material is is commonly LDPE, should be good material to work with

 

[antiklesys 3]

JonnyBischof, what do you estimate being the upgrade price for UM1 from plywood to Dibond?

I'm not in Switzerland, but living nearby in Italy I could probably come pick it up on a weekend and avoid postage fees

Also I wouldn't need all the parts as I have already upgraded some plywood items with printed parts.

 

[jonnybischof 60]

Hi Antiklesys,

I don't have a very precise estimate yet. I haven't finished drawing yet and don't know how many sheets I'm going to need in the end.

It will be in the 300 CHF range. Maybe less, hopefully not more. But yeah, it won't be cheap!

However, I will have to check with Ultimaker before selling these parts. I don't want to violate any licenses...

Note that I'm not making an exact copy of the original Ultimaker. The original drawings can't be CNC milled, because they're made for a lasercutter and not a 3mm diameter milling tool.

I will integrate some features like direct-drive only (with printable mounts) and a different z-stage, so you'll also have to get a set of new 12mm linear bearings and some other hardware.

Also, I will leave away most of the small wooden parts of the original UM, as they can easily be printed instead of milled. There won't be parts for the printhead or the x-y blocks, or the spool holder, or the extruder.

Also note that these are only the Dibond parts. My design will integrate a fully enclosed chamber, so there will be additional PMMA (acrylic) parts which may also end up in the 200 CHF total range.

Maybe I'll also use PMMA instead of Dibond for the printer's left and right panels (just like the UM2), that might lower the Dibond material costs. But I'm not yet sure about that. I'll see it when I'm finished with my prototype...

If you wait one or two weeks longer, you'll see the finished design

 

[antiklesys 3]

I'm happy to wait...and if there's a chance I'm happy to meet up too

Here in Milan is extremely hot, so making a trip around the Swiss alps might be a good idea to get some fresh air hehe