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Ultimaker 3
The Ultimaker 3 is the Dutch company's latest desktop machine.
Ultimaker, a leading company in the desktop 3D printing space, has revealed a series of product developments to enhance its Ultimaker 2+ and 3 platforms.
The Dutch company, which in the last couple of years has made a move into the North American market, believes the new tools and accessories will enhance the performance of its printers, and thus the user experience too. These new developments include new engineering-friendly materials which will expand possibilities for print outputs, and an upgraded version of the Cura slicing software, which will improve the preparing and design of files.
Cura is a software solution integrated into the Ultimaker platforms. The Ultimaker 3, released in the Autumn of 2016, is the company’s most recent harbourer of Cura. This machine also boasts a cutting-edge dual-core print head, encompassing build and support materials.
It is a follow up on the Ultimaker 2 and 2+, the latter of which will also benefit from these updates. In April, TCT spoke to Ultimaker North America President, John Kawola who emphasised the importance of materials and open source platforms, and also talked about desktop 3D printing's growing role in professional environments. It comes as no surprise then, that many of these developments concern engineering-friendly materials.
Developing new printing profiles, Ultimaker is supplying more support for a wider range of engineering materials. The profiles, NFC spools of TPU, CPE+, and PC, have been launched to bring greater professionalism and reliability to prototypes and tools. Meanwhile, polypropylene filament is also now being offered by Ultimaker, who note it is a favourable product for designers and engineers because of its ‘exceptional durability’. In the extrusion of these materials, Ultimaker is also releasing two new-sized nozzles. A 0.8mm nozzle and a 0.4mm nozzle is now available for printing both build materials and dissolvable support materials.
Other developments include Cura 2.6.1, the updated software program, and the Ultimaker 3 Advanced 3D Printing Kit, both said to help in the yielding of higher quality builds.
“Our Ultimaker 3 has changed the way companies and organisations produce prototype parts, small-scale production, tools, jigs and fixtures,” said Paul Heiden, Senior Vice-President, Ultimaker Product Management. “With the additions of multiple materials, kits and accessories, as well as software upgrades, users can better optimise and maintain printers at scale and achieve consistent and high-quality output.”
