[Cerrado] I3 MK3 or Ultimaker 2+  

Re: I3 MK3 or Ultimaker 2+

2500 hours of print time does seem a lot for something that is pure mechanical, I figure chances are pretty real it's not going to last for years anymore.

As for nylon, sorry haven't printed with that. Use my prusa printers mostly for PLA but I did ABS and PETG already and that works just fine. It's all a temperatures game and that E3D-v6 hotend is awesome.

2500 hours, a lot of people here might think "that's a lot of hours." If you recall my earlier post saying, you don't know what kind of wear is on the machine.

Most of bearings are rated 1-5 years of CONTINUOUS use. Most of the rods, as long as the bearings are in good shape, SHOULD be fine.

Honstly, 2500 seems like a lot of hours, but coming from heavy machines. (and these printers are built with industrial parts. Maybe not AAA quality, but they are not consumer trash)

Our CNC lathes we had, had actual CUTTING time of around 14 hours a day, and we ran them 6 days a week. I have a 250$ bearing sitting beside my bed, I pulled out of one, that was ORIGINAL. (the MFG date was 2003, and I pulled it out 6 months ago) The bearing was fine. The ball screw had .1mm of slop in it though, and when you beat the bearings out, you replace them. Just in case. Who wants 12+ hours of downtime, and to pay maintenance 5 hours to replace something, and put a possibly bad bearing back in? My point on that is, This guy is off the X axis on a lathe. (this is the heavier shaft that moves the bed "across" the part. 10+ years running at ~4000 hours/year. That's 40,000+ hours! Most of the motors, and rods were all in good shape too at similar ages. The thing that loves to fail on the old heavies, is the electrical. Wires get fatigued. And the drivers fail ALL the time. (And that brings me to the only real fear on the Ultimaker. How much does it cost to replace the electrical? That would be the biggest "cost" if something fails on the main chipset).

With 2500 hours, I would not be very worried about bearings or shafts. (If you are thinking of buying it, stick your hand and slide your fingers across ALL the shafts. If you feel *ANY* roughness/marring. NO NO NO NO NO. It needs rebuilt, and unlike the Prusa style... which is designed to be easy to assembly (and disassembly) I *HIGHLY* doubt the Ultimaker would be easy. (I'm sure it can be done, but likely need a dozen tools, and experience working with CNC)

Honestly though. Other than a fluke lock-nut seizing up at an NON-opportune time, and causing me to break a printed part, and have to re-print the part with one of my cheap printers, I had no issues on assembly. And using "almost" 100% defualt settings with just a few tweaks, My prints are beautiful (I printed a benchy, the gear-bearing and the bat logo, and all 3 came out beautiful, I still haven't touched the Prusa-grey. (I love grey filament, and it's my only High Quality grey I have, so it's being saved for figurines) However I haven't really dialed it Slic3r yet, and printing a few things for it. If I wasn't printing with the cheapest, crappiest filament i own, I would say it's something to be impressed by. (considering I couldn't even get a DECENT print with this filament with other printers)

I will post a picture once the print is done however.

My thoughts.

Pro:
QUIET (mostly)
ACCURATE
"MINIMALIST DESIGN"

Cons:
Power Supply Clicking (NOT quiet... and VERY annoying vastly louder than the printer itself, and can be heard over our room's air filter... still quiet compared to most printers)
New product with beta/iffy drivers/software support.

Re: I3 MK3 or Ultimaker 2+

Well fact of the matter is that we don't know.
Your advice is solid and if there is a chance the printer can be inspected beforehand it should definitely be done.

My underlying point is just that I don't like to buy secondhand things where there is no original warranty anymore as you don't have a clue of the state of things. My UM2+ is still as happy as it was 4 years ago (a bit of squeaking here and there, but still) but I've known UM owners that didn't even make it to half that, with less usage.

As for the MK3, I would still advice to wait a bit.
There are too much weird topics about it going on in the forum and I'm starting to think that I should've followed that advice as well.

Re: I3 MK3 or Ultimaker 2+

I had to work with a UM2+ for several month now because the UM2+ was what the costumer demanded.
The Project finished a month ago and i am so happy i do not have to cope with UM ever again. I really was not impressed by the quality considering the price point. And of course if you run into any machine related issues, everything is locked down and/or ridiculously overpriced.

Re: I3 MK3 or Ultimaker 2+

Guys,

Thank you so much for your opinions. I am going to go with the Mk3, though I wish I could wait until all the bugs are sorted. I hope they will have sorted some at least when I come to have mine despatched.

Many thanks.

Mick

RE: I3 MK3 or Ultimaker 2+

I am sorry to resurrect this old thread, but I did not end up investing in the MK3 due to other things getting in the way. However, I am now at that time to start looking once again.

Whilst this thread was about a choice between a second hand Ultimaker and the Mk 3, the points about the functionality and issues with the Mk 3 are still relevant.

Can I ask, are all the initial issues now sorted on the Mk3S?

Thanks for your help.

Mick 

RE: I3 MK3 or Ultimaker 2+

@michael-f27

Hard to tell. People are posting issues in this forum on daily base. Most likely same thing happening in the UM forum. Do you have already a 3d printer or are you looking for your first?

RE: I3 MK3 or Ultimaker 2+

Hi Nicolai,

I am looking for my first printer. I was initially looking to get on at the beginning of 2018, but circumstances stopped that.

I recently saw an offer on a budget printer and was tempted, but I asked on a group for that printer and someone mentioned the Prusa mini, which ignited my thoughts for the Prusa.

I was going to purchase a mini but noticed that they do not support nylon with it. I potentially want to print working parts so I wanted the nylon (and similar materials) option.

This got my thoughts back to the i3 Mk3S which I almost purchased all that time ago. At that time I was torn between the Mk2s and the MK3, but the issues with the MK3 stopped me ordering straight away, then my circumstances changed and I did not order.

I was wondering if those initial problems had been sorted as my passion is for making rather than tinkering with the printer.

Do you have the Mk3S and if so do you feel it is now a good working printer?

Regards

Mick

RE: I3 MK3 or Ultimaker 2+

Hi Mick,

I started my 3D printing adventure with MK2, went all they up to MK2.5, bought MK3, later MMU2. And now I'm using MK2.5 and MK3s+MMU2s printers. So I have couple years of Prusa printer experience and all the upgrade experiences.

In my opinion MK3s is a no brainer if your budget is under $1000. It was always the case and is still. Most of my prints are just slice&print. No extra adjustments/preparations/calibrations required. Of course you have to gain some experience in FDM printing to get there. But the machine can handle it once you know what you're doing.

Most of the issues you're reading here are just FDM and not MK3 related. In case of hardware issues you have a great support available and damaged parts are getting replaced fast.

If you have any specific questions/concerns, feel free to ask. Right now I would still recommend MK3s over mini for entry level printing just because Mini is brand new with new board, new design, new firmware.

RE: I3 MK3 or Ultimaker 2+

Same comments on the Mini. Give it a year or so to mature. The MK3S is the printer of choice for now.

RE: I3 MK3 or Ultimaker 2+

I think the Mk3S sounds the way to go - but I said that 18 months ago!

I do intend to do it this time though.

I will look to build an enclosure as I want to use the tougher and durable materials so I can make working parts and objects. With the enclosure, is there a way to regulate the temperature. Are there any god instructions on how to do this?

I really appreciate your help folks - many thanks.

M

RE: I3 MK3 or Ultimaker 2+

I built the Ikea Lack enclosure. I regulate temperature by leaving a door open...

RE: I3 MK3 or Ultimaker 2+

Posted by: @michael-f27

[...] I will look to build an enclosure as I want to use the tougher and durable materials so I can make working parts and objects. With the enclosure, is there a way to regulate the temperature. Are there any god instructions on how to do this?

There's a modified Lack enclosure design using pocket doors designed so the front doors can be slid back out of the way for printing at lower temps. Very clean and keeps hazardous clear things from hanging out into the foot traffic areas.