All About Ultimaker

Jon Kalish digs deep into the history and motivation behind the development of the amazing Ultimaker 3D printer in a new Make magazine article. Ultimaker, created by Erik De Bruijn and Martijn Elserman, was an attempt to create a better 3D printer based on the RepRap model - but they soon discovered they could start a real business with their invention. 

 

We think Ultimaker is but one of several innovative ventures poking at the edge of possibilities in the 3D printing space. With all this activity, we're certain to see some truly amazing devices emerge over the next few years. 

 

Via MAKE

Ultimaker Operators Needed!

Fabbaloo was contacted by Manhattan-based radio reporter and podcast producer Jon Kalish, who enquired about our experience with the Ultimaker 3D printer. Unfortunately, we don't have any direct contact with that particular 3D printer yet. We asked why is he so interested? Turns out that Jon is writing a piece on Ultimaker for a major zine and needs to interview someone who's been using the Ultimaker.

  

We're tossing the question directly to Fabbaloo readers: if you are experienced with the Ultimaker, please contact Jon directly at jonkalish@earthlink.net and you just might be in his story. 

 

Via Jon Kalish

Ultimaker Breaks the Speed Limit

One of the annoying things about 3D printing is the length of time it takes to produce objects. Unlike a printed 2D page, which is created in a single sweep of the inkjet, 3D objects have many layers that sometimes take hours to print. Clearly, a way of speeding things up would be desirable. 

 

The folks at Ultimaker, an up and coming hobby 3D printer, have done something about this by experimenting with increasing the speed of their device. They cranked up the feedrate (the speed of extrusion) to an astonishing 300 mm/second (this is contrasted with a conventional rate of around, say, a mere 30 mm/second) and also raised the travel rate (the speed of movement while not extruding) to near-warp-speed of 350 mm/second! 

 

How did they achieve this record-breaking speed? First they used PLA plastic instead of ABS, as they found "flowrate issues occasionally and at high speeds it bonds less to the previous printed layer". Also they believe this approach might not be successful for all shapes. 

 

This is what we love about 3D printing: every week someone makes it a whole lot better. 

 

Via Ultimaker