Hoffa
October 19, 2016, 8:06am
14
I agree with you 100% on the fact that it’s not an UM2(+) replacement. It’s quite a different animal indeed.
The price point is up there, for sure, but again, it’s not a tinkertoy but a prosumer/professional machine. A lot of printers I’ve been looking at are priced either very similarly or at closer to the 6K or 9K mark, without necessarily having the reliability, build quality or HUGE community and support that the Ultimaker name provides.
2 Likes
Hoffa
October 19, 2016, 8:08am
15
Agreed. I’m keeping my UM2+ come hell of high water, but I am considering putting a UM3 next to it in my workshop, or possibly at the office I just rented for my association, with remote monitoring.
IzzySID
October 19, 2016, 8:08am
16
Its a nice machine, very good quality as usual from Ultimaker which will handle long and continuous print runs, dual printing at long last although I’m not sure if just the nozzles can be replaced or it’s a whole nozzle assembly, I would hope the nozzles can be changed and for different sizes aka the Olsson and match less. There are a few improvements overall which I would hope will be upgrades for the UM2, the stiffer build platform for one.
The price is a bit high for the home hobbyist so likely aimed at small business/small workshops, but I’m sure it’s worth the price.
It seems to have good connectivity, with LAN, WiFi and USB, and I like the integrated camera. And I would hope the camera could be another upgrade to the UM2.
I’m not sure that the UM3 is as user modifiable as the UM2 with the added complication in the print head.
Would I want one? Based on my experience with my pimped UM2, HELL YES, but with the pound at the moment I’ll have to wait a while.
1 Like
Hoffa
October 19, 2016, 8:09am
17
It’s been mentioned a couple of times, but this really isn’t meant as a replacement for the UM2(+).
Ultimaker will keep selling the UM2+ as well as the UM original, alongside the new Ultimaker 3. - They are all aimed at different audiences.
1 Like
Looks like it’s everything everyone wanted the UM2+ to be? Compare this to, for example the Felix Pro 1 (or newer Pro 2??) which has a very familiar feature set but a bigger build volume and a much better price, my choice would be simple. Also because I’ve seen some very impressive prints of the Felix Pro 1 printer, and with dual materials.
Running two UM2+'s at the moment of which I’m very satisfied with, I don’t think the UM3 will take place in my office very soon…
2 Likes
My understanding is that an 800 micron nozzle is planned first. This will be a whole core (95 quid) though not just the nozzle. I have asked about a 250 micron nozzle.
1 Like
I am going to wait for some real youtube reviews, but I suspect I will buy one. I am not against tinkering with my UM2+ but the idea of a more reliable machine is appealing.
The Felix Pro 1 & 2 have a slightly larger print bed and with (from what I’ve seen) have a very good dual extrusion reliability and quality.
Ultimaker is a great brand of 3D printers and this is a valuable addition to the range.
A dual extruder adds significant advantages to a 3d printer both for personal and professional use and the webcam is a nice feature for remotely checking your prints. NFC tagging would not have been necessary since Cura already offers printing profiles and these also differ per print. A bigger build volume would have been nice but all in all I like the specs of this machine.
1 Like
3lian
October 19, 2016, 8:31am
23
I think, that using: Ulticreatr 2X | Ulticreatr U might get same result using PVA or SM-310. So UM2(+) owners can use it.
Also autoleveling is done right with: http://3dprintingcenter.net/2016/05/14/odo-motion-a-sensor-for-auto-levelling-of-working-beds-of-3d-printers-available-in-the-offer-of-get3d/
IMHO Ultimaker haven’t done anything new, but they combine new ideas (like with Olson block before) to new printer.
Does UM3 worth it’s price? I think it does.
1 Like
We had a look at Ultimaker 3 and therefore have to say, it is really a good machine! But as mentioned before, this is not a printer for everybody. This printer has been developed for business user and starts the combat with Stratasys & Co. And yeah, this is not a UM2++. Although the housing and gears are as before, the nozzle is completely new and no more usable with Olsson Block. You have to change the whole hotend unit, which comes from start only with 0.4mm Nozzle.
1 Like
key23d
October 19, 2016, 9:08am
25
My expectations are high since I am already using 4 Ultimakers and used to their quality so I ordered one from @Makerpoint .
The price I believe should be worth it but I will let you know how I feel after I have tested it
Happy printing!
2 Likes
cobnut
October 19, 2016, 11:24am
26
I have to say I’m not that impressed with what I’ve seen. The decision to go with two nozzles seems odd given that other manufacturers are looking more at single nozzles with multiple delivery systems and I’m concerned about the complexity of the lifting system (just one more thing to go wrong) and how effective it actually is. I’m also a little surprised they’re not full metal hot ends, and the emphasis on the 2.8mm size seems odd to me, like they know there’s an issue there and are forestalling complaints; it’s just an odd thing to put in a first release text.
On the price point, I have to compare it to the Prusa i3 Mk2. OK, that’s much more of a home user machine, but what does that really mean? The whole purpose of these things is to produce high quality prints reliably and if the Prusa can do that (and it sounds like it can), then why is the Ultimaker almost four times as expensive?
1 Like
There is more to it than the two nozzles. Full metal can be added since the cores are easily swappable. Also the lifting mechanism has been tested for more than 10000 times (without any wear) according to Daid on the Ultimaker forums.
And can you ship 1000 prusa i3’s Mk2 to a company and be sure they deliver thesame high quality? Ultimaker promises that, and that is why they are more expensive.
cobnut
October 19, 2016, 12:07pm
28
To be honest, @Rob_Leufkens , all that video says to me is that Ultimaker made a very poor job of planning and testing the machine. How did they get to production without properly testing the RFID reader? If they made that mistake, what others did they make?
As far as quality goes, I don’t know of any company that ships any product with the understanding that some of them might be poorly built and there’s absolutely no guarantee every single last one of the Ultimaker 3s will be perfect any more than any other printer.
As for order numbers , why should a product be more expensive simply because they can ship more of them? Surely prices should reduce with higher volume production, not increase, as it does with any other product. Not that I’m convinced they’re any more able to deliver a 1000 machine order than Prusa are; the video itself shows parts being printed, cleaned and assembled by hand, not an automated production line.
I get that there are going to be elements that mean this is a more expensive printer than the Prusa and that it’s probably more suitable for a farm/larger business, I do. But it’s four times more expensive, and that’s an awfully big hike.
1 Like
We shall see…I am #1 in the order queue here in GB…
I agree that it’s (too) expensive. I was doubting about buying the printer and selling my own. But the price is indeed too high.
As stated ,on the um forums, they started experimenting with the dual extrusion after the UM2 released and they wanted to get it right (which i believe they have done that now) all this time and investment in research needs to be covered. and that offcourse comes down to the consumer which buys the printer.
I think you can compare it to the mobile market. Apple produces quality products for a high price, but you can get a cheap phone that does promises to do thesame thing. People still buy the quality product because they are ensured that it will keep working properly. Samsung tries to deliver both, release high end phones (S7 series, except the note hahaha) and cheap (A5) phones.
The prusa looks indeed like a very good printer, and the price is good indeed but it’s not targeted to the same audience hence the price difference also
The base kit of the MK2 is cheap but you have to build it with all the problems that can lead to
You have to add an extra amount for the 4 feeder thing (which looks great i agree)
The MK2 is very opened so i guess (maybe i’m wrong) that ABS and such can be tricky
Not possible to print PVA!
No wifi connection/camera
And i really don’t agree with the one nozzle multiple extruder approach it’s very nice if you print the same material, but it’s impossible to print reliably different materials (and let’s not even talk about PVA).
So it’s not really comparable if you want my opinion
Side note if someone is really eager to have one UM3 soon i’ll have one in stock tomorrow
It is just about 3 month that I bought an ultimaker 2+ 3D printer, but now I realize that I had to wait.
The thing I liked most was the dual extrusion and that they use PLA to support the pieces which melt with water.
I already asked to ultimaker whether they have an update to my printer and the answer was this:
“Sorry! we won’t be able to offer an upgrade kit for the Ultimaker 2 series, as too many parts have been changed between the two models.”.
How reliable would to add a dual extrusion with ulticretr? Can I invest $500us for this?
Hoffa
October 19, 2016, 1:26pm
33
I know people who’ve made custom dual extruder set-ups for the UM original series, and I am sure it has been done for the UM2 as well. Go check out thw Ultimaker forums, I’m pretty sure there’ll be good documentation on the procedure.
