Wondering people views about UP! 3D Printer !

I've kinda been wondering for a while now, of what the 3d printing community think's about the fairy new " UP! 3D Printer made in china, and its price tag of 2890 USD = ( £1821 GBP ) .

Do you guy's think this is a value for money piece of kit ? or a printer with a over priced price tag ? And what do you think of its quality's, compaired to Reprap , Makerbot, BFB ,etc..

And which is the Must have 3d printer of 2011 for the home user ?

I'd like to hear people's views of which you the 3d printing community think's, so please post you views below :

Gary

Quote

Do you guy's think this is a value for money piece of kit ? or a printer with a over priced price tag ? And what do you think of its quality's, compaired to Reprap , Makerbot, BFB ,etc..

It depends... You get better print quality than reprap or makerbot but it's a little pricier. It all depends on if you want to spend the money or not. I don't have the money to buy one, but I heard it gets the job done and gets it done well. Also, I think it uses 1.75 mm filament so the filament you have to buy for it will be more expensive.

Quote

And which is the Must have 3d printer of 2011 for the home user ?

Prusa Mendel, although I'm still waiting to hear about the degradation of the PLA bushings (seems like they would wear out quick!)

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/28/2011 06:14PM by An Original Name.

Hi Gary and welcome!
-------------------------------------------------------
> I've kinda been wondering for a while now, of what
> the 3d printing community think's about the fairy
> new " UP! 3D Printer made in china, and its price
> tag of 2890 USD = ( £1821 GBP ) .

I like that little printer from what I've read and seen. It's price reflects that you're not buying a prototype device. You expect it to work out-of-the box, and your focus is more on the printing end of this concept. It has it's position in the market space I think.

> Do you guy's think this is a value for money piece
> of kit ? or a printer with a over priced price tag

It's value for money if you want to start printing out-of-the-box.

> ? And what do you think of its quality's,
> compaired to Reprap , Makerbot, BFB ,etc..

Can't comment.

>
> And which is the Must have 3d printer of 2011 for
> the home user ?
>

My vote goes to Prusa Mendel, but I would say "for the home 3D Printer enthusiast"!

> I'd like to hear people's views of which you the
> 3d printing community think's, so please post you
> views below :

Regards,
No.6

---

[numbersixreprap.blogspot.com]

NumberSix Wrote:
> > Do you guy's think this is a value for money
> piece
> > of kit ? or a printer with a over priced price
> tag
>
> It's value for money if you want to start printing
> out-of-the-box.
>
> Regards,
> No.6

Assuming it works!

You might want to compare it to say a BFB 3000 which is also an off the shelf solution.

With these things it's always horses for courses:

I personally want a reprap because I want to make it better and love the challenge.

Some will want a machine which will make their parts, in which case a commercial solution would be beneficial (probably costing a lot more than these).

To me these are trying to fit in the middle, the hobbyist who wants to make their own bits, I'd bet that the quality is still very machine dependent.

We have a up printer and a bfb3000, people use the up printer by choice, because it just does the job,
the bfb is still not working as well after some time messing with settings, but the price is a bit high for the up printer in my opinion.

---

Random Precision

Oh it works. A friend has one and it's like a toyota. It works with very little tuning.

Deff higher quality than my reprap and all the makerbots I've seen. To give you an idea the quality is about the same as a dimension 100k machine.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/29/2011 10:58AM by Tramagust.

how much is shipping of the UP! printer? Must be kinda pricey to internationally ship a fully assembled 3dprinter

Shouldn't be too bad... It's not that a big machine. Who knows... maybe they'll ship it for free considering the price of the thing.

- mlagana wrote :
- how much is shipping of the UP! printer? Must be kinda pricey to internationally ship a fully assembled 3dprinter

Hey mlagana,
I've did a little research into the amount charged by the company for shippment of there 3d printer.... Here is what ive found :

Shipping information :

Europe & South America 192.00 dollars
North America 165.00 dollars
Africa 204.00 dollars

Plus i would also expect your country to charge a import tax fee, if the value of the goods is printed on the front of the customs declaire forms on the time of shippment.

Gary

I have one code left to get an UP! printer for $1500. Try it for yourself. I know people who make Prusa Mendels all day with it. Any problems I've had have been addressed and new parts shipped right away. Love it. Let me know.

Luis Rodriguez

I've had close contact with Mendelparts.com's two UP!'s 3 different times.. I set the first one up.

It's printed 3 or 4 mendels... tons of stuff.. (Camiel's gone through 17 rolls of plastic I think.. more now)

I've assembled one of the mendels.. and am assembling one of the other ones.. It is a joy assembling an UP! printed Sells Mendel.

They have had teething problems, like all new products... but Pp3d people have been responsive each time. (though one of the times they send a microswitch system to replace the optos.. not a job for the faint hearted)

I was considering buying one for a while. They print fast and well, but in the interval that I was looking for a seed... I've managed to get my quality up to near UP! standards... so am not so eager anymore... I don't print at that quality as fast as the up.. but I print without rafts...
UP! gear VS Mendel


Al...

---

[araspitfire.blogspot.com]

araspitfire Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> was looking for a seed... I've managed to get my
> quality up to near UP! standards... so am not so
> eager anymore... I don't print at that quality as
> fast as the up.. but I print without rafts...
> UP! gear VS Mendel
>
>
> Al...

Not bad! Can't tell which one is from what printer except for the surface. Is the one with the shiny side from the Mendel?

The Up! blows away the quality of any printer out there right out of the box (coming form an owner of a makerbot, mendel and an Up!). If you want to print things, get an Up!. If you want to spend your time tweaking to print things, get one of the other ones. Being a closed printer, it does get annoying not being able to do certain things you could have on the other printers (change platform/extruder temps), but then again, it actually prints w/e you want to print whenever you want.

I've printed thru well over 20 spools and the machine has only failed a print twice (printing in my icebox of a garage and a part warped and was knocked off the platform). Only machine failure was the auto-feeder going haywire, PP3DP replaced within 2 days for free. Always been fast and responsive when I've had an issue, and I don't expect that to change anytime soon.

Also, even with the current price at $2890, PP3DP always seems to have a promotion going. As Luis has said, you can still get the Up! for $1550/1650 (depending on model). So it is still very much so a bargain. I think I spent more money on my makerbot to get it print halfway decent parts before I sold it.

Also, there are alot of firmware changes in the works, some of the gripes us early adopters have are going to be addressed. The "Advanced" tab for example. Also hear mention of a dual extruder in the works, regardless, it's going to be interesting to see the Up! develop as other machines come to market (Ultimaker).

@ araspitfire: What about a comparison using the PP3DP filament? Bet you we would notice a difference in quality then. There plastic is really something, can't seem to find any plastic that comes close with its characteristics (easy raft/support removal for example). I tried MakerGear plastic and it was near impossible to work with (cut myself a bunch with certain tools) in terms of raft/support, I damaged all my prints when I tried to remove the support and raft. Printed great still, just wasn't the same ease of clean-up.

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 02/07/2011 03:18PM by ata0921.

---

- Andy
digifabindustries.blogspot.com

ata0921 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> @ araspitfire: What about a comparison using the
> PP3DP filament? Bet you we would notice a
> difference in quality then. There plastic is
> really something, can't seem to find any plastic
> that comes close with its characteristics (easy
> raft/support removal for example). I tried
> MakerGear plastic and it was near impossible to
> work with, damaged all my prints.

The ease with which the raft and support material is removed is one definite advantage that the UP! has. You seem to be saying here that you tried MakerGear plastic in you UP! and it worked (sorta) but among other things the support and rafts where impossible to remove without damage? If true, that has interesting implications.

---

--
I'm building it with Baling Wire

@ Luis Rodriguez, how do u go about getting a UP! Printer for 1500 USD ? Im really wanna get one after ive had some many problems trying to get my mendel to print correctly. Feel free to email me ridingg@hotmail.com or pm me

Gary

Up printer NOW IT´S DOWN.

I received a mini Up printer from pp3dp on 07 November 2012 and I have had a lot of problem with it. The mini came with an unlevelled platform up to 1,7mm and lacks of any levelling mechanism.

I sent them a lot of mails but Pp3dp people are joking with me and I feel cheated. I contacted with his manager Joseph Guo that at first seems to be willing to help, but finally hi does the same, never respond directly to my questions but tergiversate them. They repeated all the time to put some paper here and there to adjust the platform and advised me over and over to use the beta software to level the platform, but it does not work in my computer and make things even worse. My previous comments on their blog have disappeared and probably my last one will even not be published at all. They offered to me to send the printer back but I will lose the shipping and the taxes I paid. That is no fair and It’s not just money. I want to get some justice. They sell printer as OUT OF THE BOX that it’s very far to be true.
After I spent my entire holiday time modifying the platform, today, Sunday 25 November 2012, I finally manage to modify the printer adding a levelling platform mechanism, but the printer vibrates a lot and still I have not been able to print something decent. Also any time I initialize the mini it lost his Z zero point and I have to set it again.
The mini has been so cheaply made that due to the weak clips it would not last too long.
My Mini came with one clip broken and anther broken up when I take off the platform.

Delta system knows that the mini has a lot of problems but still today they are commercializing it anyway.
I cannot understand how there are there people making positive review of the up mini printer.
Anyway, I KNOW that there are a lot of people that have had the same issue than me. I will start a campaign on the Web to inform people about the way delta Micro System is cheating people. I really hope no one will fall anymore into being cheated by Delta Microsystem.

I will update this post.
mixart

> my icebox of a garage and a part warped and was
> knocked off the platform). Only machine failure
> was the auto-feeder going haywire, PP3DP replaced
> within 2 days for free. Always been fast and
> responsive when I've had an issue, and I don't
> expect that to change anytime soon.
>
> Also, even with the current price at $2890, PP3DP
> always seems to have a promotion going. As Luis
> has said, you can still get the Up! for $1550/1650
> (depending on model). So it is still very much so
> a bargain. I think I spent more money on my
> makerbot to get it print halfway decent parts
> before I sold it.
>
> Also, there are alot of firmware changes in the
> works, some of the gripes us early adopters have
> are going to be addressed. The "Advanced" tab for
> example. Also hear mention of a dual extruder in
> the works, regardless, it's going to be
> interesting to see the Up! develop as other
> machines come to market (Ultimaker).
>
> @ araspitfire: What about a comparison using the
> PP3DP filament? Bet you we would notice a
> difference in quality then. There plastic is
> really something, can't seem to find any plastic
> that comes close with its characteristics (easy
> raft/support removal for example). I tried
> MakerGear plastic and it was near impossible to
> work with (cut myself a bunch with certain tools)
> in terms of raft/support, I damaged all my prints
> when I tried to remove the support and raft.
> Printed great still, just wasn't the same ease of
> clean-up.

It appears to be $1500 here....
[www.3dprintergear.com.au]

From what the owner of the company tells me, the Up! printer is similar to many other repraps, but print quality is extremely surprisingly good because of mostly software optimizations.

You have got to be kidding, do you work for them?

the quality of the prints that come off the up!, are yes while very good, we now have prusas putting much better quality and run quicker, and the support material that slic3r produces now shits on the up! support material

a bargin... i think not i have had nothing but trouble with it, starting from the outright lie they tell you before you buy it in regards to warranty and useage of third party filament!!!

the whole thing is a con, the extrusion temperature is fixed at 260 for abs so that when you try and use filament other than what pp3dp sell you will always run into problems because most of the third party filament isn't formulated for those temperatures, and you either get bubbling or it carbonises on the inside of the nozzle and increases back pressure causeing constant failures,

they tell you that the nozzle size is 0.4mm when in reality when you measure it , it closer to 0.3mm,

the up! filament itself is also nothing to write home about either, it costs too much $80 for 700 grams!!! seriously for material that is only $6/kg at worst in virgin granule form ffs come on the tolerances on it aren't much better than what repraper.com puts out on a good day

the big part that they don't tell you is about the use of filament, you can void your warranty by running third party filament,
if you try to claim a warranty on your extruder (like i did) they will tell you that you have voided your warranty through "intentional misuse" by intentionally using third party filament ,the same applies to things like the wind barrier if you fit somthing like a wind barrier that isn't recommended by them, boom warranty voided,

in short BotMill has more creditability than pp3dp based on my experiences



ata0921 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------
> The Up! blows away the quality of any printer out
> there right out of the box (coming form an owner
> of a makerbot, mendel and an Up!). If you want to
> print things, get an Up!. If you want to spend
> your time tweaking to print things, get one of the
> other ones. Being a closed printer, it does get
> annoying not being able to do certain things you
> could have on the other printers (change
> platform/extruder temps), but then again, it
> actually prints w/e you want to print whenever you
> want.
>
> I've printed thru well over 20 spools and the
> machine has only failed a print twice (printing in
> my icebox of a garage and a part warped and was
> knocked off the platform). Only machine failure
> was the auto-feeder going haywire, PP3DP replaced
> within 2 days for free. Always been fast and
> responsive when I've had an issue, and I don't
> expect that to change anytime soon.
>
> Also, even with the current price at $2890, PP3DP
> always seems to have a promotion going. As Luis
> has said, you can still get the Up! for $1550/1650
> (depending on model). So it is still very much so
> a bargain. I think I spent more money on my
> makerbot to get it print halfway decent parts
> before I sold it.
>
> Also, there are alot of firmware changes in the
> works, some of the gripes us early adopters have
> are going to be addressed. The "Advanced" tab for
> example. Also hear mention of a dual extruder in
> the works, regardless, it's going to be
> interesting to see the Up! develop as other
> machines come to market (Ultimaker).
>
> @ araspitfire: What about a comparison using the
> PP3DP filament? Bet you we would notice a
> difference in quality then. There plastic is
> really something, can't seem to find any plastic
> that comes close with its characteristics (easy
> raft/support removal for example). I tried
> MakerGear plastic and it was near impossible to
> work with (cut myself a bunch with certain tools)
> in terms of raft/support, I damaged all my prints
> when I tried to remove the support and raft.
> Printed great still, just wasn't the same ease of
> clean-up.

It says it right there, on their warranty page:

This warranty is not valid in case of the following events:
If the product has been installed/serviced/repaired/opened or tampered by any unauthorised personnel.
Incorrectly treated, or damaged devices or accessories, or those that have not been installed according to the instructions.
Foreign materials have been used with the printer.
Please note: if your product is out of warranty you will still be able to receive repair and parts on your item at a nominal charge.

despite being a very recent addition to the page, it doesn't really help the lie they told us when we asked them very specifically "can we use filament from other suppliers?" and "will it cause any problems with warranty if we do?" before we bought the up!plus

That's false advertising, then. Which is suable.

the company 3dprintingsystems here in Australia at the moment is facing some problems with government fair trading body, and there is a group of very unhappy people preparing to do just that, i just wish i knew who they were because i would join them

I am a teacher in Australia and I have just purchased a UP! I would not recommmend this printer to anyone interested in using this technology.

Firstly the printer came with the incorrect power cable (European instead of Australian). Secondly it was faulty. The motor in the printer was creating a loud clicking noise and malfunctioning.

I called 3D Printing systems here in Australia and they informed me that I hade to send it to a technician via courier at my own expense. They refused to replace it even though it was brand new. I spoke to the owner of the company (Bruce) he was unhelpful and did not resolve the issue in the slightest.

So now they have offered to refurbish the product, who knows how long it will take and what second hand crap parts they are using.

Bad service, poor product and useless warranty. I would strongly recommend everyone to stay away from 3D Printing Systems and the UP! Printer.

Sounds like your dealer is the problem since they refused to replace it.

---

[www.matter-replicator.com]

rsilvers Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Sounds like your dealer is the problem since they
> refused to replace it.

I'm sure you had a really bad experience and this sucks. I just wanted to throw in mine, it has been really good, dealing with Affinia tech support directly, and we bought 4 of these printers already without any problems. The bears do seem to loosen over time, reducing resolution a little, but that's probably because we didn't take off the printbeds while scraping stuff off.

Yes, you are right. The problem is not with the UP Printer but with the supplier. I will have a look at Affinia in the future. Just disappointed with the overall experience at the moment.

aeolusricky Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yes, you are right. The problem is not with the
> UP Printer but with the supplier. I will have a
> look at Affinia in the future. Just disappointed
> with the overall experience at the moment.

there are quite a few problems with the software and electronics ranging from firmware bugs to stupidly simple logic errors,
i personally got sick of the wasted filament and constant problems just trying to get it to print with the same kind of reliability as my prusa, on one i have rewired it and fitted a Smoothieboard , and now after a lot of tuning to get around some of the other inherent design flaws i can now print better on it than it did before

my second one has also just started producing some of the errors that require a new board, which i'm not going to pay $600 to replace (that in it'self is a joke and a half) instead convert that one to Smoothieboard as well,

if you want a real laugh ring up the people at pp3p or 3dprintingsystems and ask them why the filament they sell is advertised at 1.75mm -+0.1mm yet the bore in the hotend is only 1.8mm ...... and if you're still up for an argument ask about why the host program displays temperatures as decimals or percentages ..... after a while it becomes entertainment