[hackerspaces] reliable 3d printer recommendations?

[Ryan Rix]

HeatSync Labs has had the exact opposite experiences with our Ultimaker(s).

They have been fantastic pieces of machinery, frankly. I'm halfway through my 
second 7h print at 200% today with what is essentially a stock printer on 
stock firmware. When we got it there were some issues with the stepper drivers 
on the board (two of them bluesmoked before we could calibrate them properly) 
but the Ultimaker support team were entirely helpful and even let us bundle an 
Ulticontroller with the steppers to save us shipping when that was released. 

For everyone complaining, I hate to say that I feel lucky with how well our 
Ultimaker works; it's definitely better than the ToM we had in our space 
previously. I'm planning on upgrading it to a dualstrusion using some things I 
found on thingiverse from protospace before the end of the year and am really 
excited by it. 

We purchased the machine because one of our members bought it and assembled it 
in the space, and it was some of the highest quality prints we'd seen. This 
was around when the Replicator was released, and the stock Ultimaker was 
trumping stock Replicator pretty handily. The replicator has a lot of design 
baggage that I think is limiting its development and progress long term, and 
the Ultimaker solves a LOT of those engineering headaches.

r

On Fri 28 September 2012 20:38:15 Dave Casey wrote:
> Hopefully you have already placed an order w/ MakerGear.
> 
> FWIW, I deeply regret the time and money I've invested in Ultimaker.  A
> quick glance through their google group (
> https://groups.google.com/forum/?fromgroups#!forum/ultimaker) will show
> plenty of users who are deeply frustrated with the extruder design, the
> complete lack of customer support, and multiple reports of egregious
> overcharges for shipping.
> 
> Qualitiy-wise: The TC controller that Ultimaker sent me had the IC soldered
> in backwards, and the filament they sold me varies widely in diameter over
> the course of a few inches.
> 
> Open-ness integrity-wise: The TC controller board proudly displays the open
> hardware logo along with a link that goes to a stub page with no
> information whatsoever about schematics, parts, or even a vague sense of
> what the board is supposed to do, and definitely not enough information to
> build a replacement for the broken one that they sold me as part of a kit
> that cost OVER A THOUSAND DOLLARS. Inexcusable.
> 
> The only way I was finally able to get the Ultimaker to print was by
> replacing a large portion of the extrusion path with parts from MakerGear.
> 
> Summary:
> MakerGear: Great people, great support, great products.
> 
> Ultimaker: Huge time and money suck. Avoid.
> 
> On Wed, Sep 26, 2012 at 2:39 PM, Russ Ryba <russryba at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Makergear does publish their files online. HTTP://github.com/makergear -
> > it might be out of date but Rick has sent me files when requested before.
> > He's usually just too distracted to get to it. The m2 only has plastic bit
> > online but it's a good start.
> > On Sep 26, 2012 1:37 PM, "Al Jigong Billings" <albill at openbuddha.com>
> > 
> > wrote:
> >>  Well, they cost about $1,600 including shipping but sure.
> >> 
> >> At the Make event recently where they tested a bunch of printers, I was
> >> told by at least one participant that while all 3D printing software
> >> sucks,
> >> the proprietary Up! and Cubify software actually sucked the least.
> >> 
> >> People are recommending the M2 from Makergear, which has good support,
> >> but I'll point out that none of Makergear's printers are open source
> >> either
> >> though they do use the (rather shitty) reprap printing software.
> >> 
> >> Al
> >> 
> >> --
> >> Al Jigong Billings
> >> http://www.openbuddha.com
> >> http://makehacklearn.org
> >> 
> >> On Wednesday, September 26, 2012 at 10:34 AM, Sparr wrote:
> >>  While the Up! is reliable, I would recommend against it. The printing
> >> 
> >> area/volume is much smaller than other printers in the $2k+ range, and
> >> the software is abysmally proprietary and insufficient.
> >> 
> >> 
> >> 
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Discuss mailing list
> >> Discuss at lists.hackerspaces.org
> >> http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
> > 
> > _______________________________________________
> > Discuss mailing list
> > Discuss at lists.hackerspaces.org
> > http://lists.hackerspaces.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
> 
> --
> 
> Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people
> always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can
> become great.
>  - Mark Twain
-- 
Ryan Rix
http://rix.si