I’ve had one for 18 months and love it. The only negative is customer service which is amateurish at best (at worst, they simply ignore you until you kick a fuss). Having said that, there are lots of great people on the Ultimaker forum which somewhat compensates the poor service you receive from the manufacturer.
Robin
June 24, 2015, 1:56pm
29
DISCLAIMER: I might be biased as I just got a job at Ultimaker (as of this month, I’ve had an Ultimaker 1 for almost 4 years )
pro:
- very good printer working out of the box.
- ease of use (if you can overlook printing via SD card, I’ve recently switched to SD card based printing(on my um original) and must say I don’t care much either way, until we have a printer that you can just send a file via the network it’s slightly inconvenient anyway)
- support open source development of the next better versions of cura, marlin and more.
- fast
- accurate (when not printing super fast) (has better x,y,z resolution than some other printers)
- reliable
- support, they can help people with problems etc.
- large and helpful user base
- upgrades, at least potentially (the ultimaker original got a whole bunch of upgrades)
con:
- the bowden tube makes it more difficult to print stuff like ninjaflex/fillaflex, as mentioned below it’s still possible though
- the feeder of the 2 is not as good as the current original (it is still light years ahead of the first version)
- price, it’s not the cheapest printer out there
there are printers that can beat it in say price (for example printrbot), or quality as some resin printers do, but resin is quite messy and far more toxic than PLA and often they don’t beat Ultimaker on multiple aspects imho.
2 Likes
I only can tell you about the Ultimaker Original. The Ultimaker does print the most filaments well. BUT the ULTIMAKER printer and the heated bed has the worst quality i’ve ever seen before. Much wrong parts, damaged parts, wrong connected cables, bad solderings and malfunktions. I have my Ultimaker since 9 month and its the third time that the printer is out of order. I’m very angry about the Ultimaker Company for that poor quality. Better by another Printer! Best Regards Pampetante
bonjour, ce là ne fais que deux mois que je la possède ,mais j’en suis très satisfais
je la trouve fiable ,je regrette juste qu’elle ne sois pas fermée pour certaine pièces
assez complexes que j’ai réalisé en ABS.
What is Ultimaker prepaid card?
gr5org
June 24, 2015, 2:55pm
33
Whatever you get, make sure it’s open source! I didn’t think that was important until after I got my printer. Can you imagine the manufacturer telling you that you can’t use other people’s filaments?
I have 3 UM2’s and a UMO. They are all great. Since you are a ME you should be fine with it. Get on the forums after you order it – tons of good stuff there.
It’s not like a 2D printer. It’s more like a CNC lathe or something on that complexity. But once you learn the issues with your particular typical parts that you print, by the 20th print you should be a pro and getting consistent successful results.
The biggest failing of the UM2 I believe is that at temps above 240C the teflon coupler wears out too fast (something like every 500 hours maybe?). I know people who print regularly at 290C but they have modded their printer with parts from 3dsolex.com So although it will print almost any material it is best at PLA by far. If you get the printer - bookmark these links:
And no matter what you get, read the “designing for 3d printing” guide cover to cover (should only take an hour or so).
3 Likes
KCT
June 24, 2015, 3:16pm
35
I would advice the ultimaker 1 + @first i was happy with my 2 u2,s But they are having more problems So i.m a bit sorry igot them U1 + works exelent
Hello Annika,
My recommendation would be to buy this printer. It is a very stable printer that gives good results. I have printed mainly with PLA, so can’t tell you much about the other mtaterials.
Hi buy it ! It’s a funny experience.
I have an Ultimaker 2 and a Makerbot clone Wanhao Duplicator 4S. They are in two different classes from a price point which is a major con from the UM side. The beast is expensive! On the other hand you are getting quality for that money. The printer looks really nice, almost Apple’ish in terms of design.
The UM2 comes out of the box ready to print and do so at high quality. I was not particularly happy with some of the tuning options that Cura provides, in particular around bridging, but that is me being particular. I have moved to using Simplify3D and finally have a profile that I really like so I am happy with bridging!
Speaking of Simplify3D, and I am not marketing it just making a point, you normally should print from the SD card for reliability and even quality reasons, however, with Simplify3D you can print across the USB connection.
Whatever printer you get stay away from proprietary solutions. As someone else said…you need to be able to choose where you get your filament. I have cheap stuff that prints as well as expensive stuff. in that case you have to love the cheap stuff.
My one concern around the UM2 is whether you want to print ABS. IMHO the UM2 is really geared to printing PLA. No open printer is going to be as good at printing ABS as a closed printer. You can get stuff to close up the UM2 (even a bin liner can work) or you can keep it in a hot no draft closet, but if you should think about how much ABS you want to print before you buy the UM2.
Bottom line is that I would buy the UM2 again.
This is the truest of statements that I have ever read on a message board: “If you have never used a 3D printer before, then you are in for a shock, because 3D printing is really very, very hard beyond the simplest of things. …if you want really great results the greatest skill you need is infinite patience and print things really slowly.”
So very very true. It is lucky that I am retired because I have spent countless hours calibrating my two printers (UM2 and a Makertbot Clone) to be able to print a stupid calibration object (#3DBenchy ). To the point of obsession. My wife would say beyond. But it is a beautiful thing when you see something go from your modeling software into reality and it is worth the pain.
1 Like
hi Annika
good choice, i have one Ultimaker 2 and 2 Ultimaker 1 and while i like the UM2, I still sometimes prefer the UM1 because everything is easier to fix and more hands on. The print quality is also pretty much the same, the single andvantage if the UM2 is that it has two fans, but you can easily add a second one to the UM1.
So if you are inclined to tinker a little bit i would recomend the Ultimaker 1+ (comes with a heated bed and the bed is a little bit “steadier” ) and you could also save some money
greetings
b
True, I have Ultimaker 2 and the heated bed always has probs.
gr5org
June 24, 2015, 6:38pm
42
The heated bed stopped working for me after about 2 months but the forums told me exactly what to and it was easy to reflow the solder on that connector and it has worked fine for 2 years since then. I think their quality control is a bit better. Also someone complained about their customer service. That department has grown quite a bit and the people there are pretty smart now. They all speak english incredibly well. I think you’ll find it’s not *too* horrible. And if you are in USA and you ordered through their website then your support will most likely be from Memphis. Fast ship on parts and such from Memphis.
I have had my UM2 for six weeks and have run it more or less non stop for that entire time. I have two SD cards that I keep loaded with print files, so as one print finishes, I scrape it off, spray a light coat of hairspray down and immediately start the next print. The only down time is if a print finishes in the middle of the night or while I am at work. But the UM2 wasn’t exactly plug and play. When it arrived and I tried to go through the initial setup, it kept giving me errors because several of the belt gears were loose. I had to remove the sheetmetal covers and tighten up all the gears. After that, I had some issues leveling the bed properly. I followed the instructions to the letter 5 or 6 times and it failed to start a print every time. Finally, some magic happened and I got the bed leveling right and it was off to the races after that. I have been blown away by the print quality which rivals the quality of prints I do at work on our $50,000 Fortus 250MC. Prior to this purchase, I had a Rostock Max kit I built and after 2 years of ownership, I have still not gotten anything off it that is even close to the UM2 in terms of quality. Talk about finicky and having to tinker with something constantly! With the UM2, I had a few bumps starting out, but since getting it running initially, I haven’t touched it or given it a second thought. It’s so nice to be able to start a big print and not have to worry about whether or not it will finish properly. Most of the stuff I print is proprietary, so I can’t post photos of that, but I have printed a few things just for fun and I’ll attach a few photos of those things. I have printed in PLA, (several colors as well as glow in the dark), ABS, and Colorfabb XT and they all did great. I highly recommend the UM2. You won’t regret spending the money on it. I am now considering purchasing a second one myself.
1 Like
Robin
June 24, 2015, 7:17pm
44
I think they come with a new Teflon decoupler now that doesn’t wear out as fast.
Yes they are now delivered with a spare Teflon, a complete spare head and PT100 (temp sensor).
Robin
June 24, 2015, 7:38pm
46
did not know that, but they should also be made of different material (glass filled).
gr5org
June 24, 2015, 8:02pm
47
Starting at least a year ago UM switched to glass filled teflon. I’m not convinced they are any better. Some people at UM did some testing and concluded they were better. Anders Olsson I believe concluded they are worse (I could be confused about this). I have had no problem with either type (tried both) as I tend to keep things cool (typically 210C) and rarely stray from PLA. They are inexpensive. If you plan to print often at 250C or hotter I recommend you get the i2k from 3dsolex which will keep the teflon at 100C! But only if you do no retraction, lol. As soon as you do retraction it can bring molten plastic up into the teflon and warm it right up. 3dsolex also sells something they call the IPM which is horrible for PLA (molten pla sticks to it) but works great for ABS and other materials that need higher temperatures.
Anyway the teflon parts are relatively cheap (about $12 or €12 each from 3dsolex).
1 Like
