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Hello, I am looking to purchase a 3D printer for school use. No background but I teach electronics so putting together a kit shouldn’t be an issue.

Should I go the Ultimaker original + and build the kit or just go with the Up Box (a little over my budget). My concern with the Ultimaker is around reliability as while I don’t mind tweaking and maintaining but I don’t want to be constantly doing so. However building a kit seems like fun but do you learn a lot? Or should I just go with the Up Box which I assume will need very little input from me to keep running?

I also added the Ultimaker 2+ as an option. It is quite a bit over my budget but there is a very slight chance I could get it.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Many thanks for any suggestions.

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If you are not paying for it, um2+

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Why not look at a Felix?

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Hi Tim. I currently own a ultimaker 2 and just after purchasing an up box. Two issues I found with my ultimaker is both leveling the build plate and using abs. From travelling the world to different resellers for different printers. All said that the up 2 mini was the best machine but the build volume was very small. The up box has a self levelling build plate and great with abs. Hobbyking has the best value for the up box saving about €250. If you are looking for a kit I would suggest the big box. The ultimaker is a great machine. I’ve had mine for over a year I still love it but if you are putting it into a school environment your safest bet is the up box as it has an interlocking door system. Hope this helps Gerry Nellany from 3dp.ie

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Err. I hate to be the bearer of bad news…but…there is no such thing as a 3D Printer that does not require care and feeding! I have two UM2s and think that they are the cat’s meow but they do require attention as would any printer. I suspect that a kit, even the UM original, would be more work than a non-kit based on my experience with my first printer which was a kit. On the other hand you would learn so much from assembling a kit that it could be worth while. But if money can stretch to it then go get the UM2+!!!

And remember, 3D Printing is a game of patience…!

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Good point on the interlocking door. I was just thinking about young hands and my UM2 the other day when I just about got mine! The ABS point is also a good one though with some additional money for a cover, and some additional patience for getting everything right, ABS is doable. That said, I would not recommend the higher temperatures for a school environment anyway.

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Honestly, the Ultimaker 1 has been a brilliant purchase for me. Once it’s assembled it requires very little tweaking, but if you want to adapt it, you can, very easily. The print quality is amazing, and the printer can reach much higher speeds than the UM2 and a LOT faster than most of the alternate options available. The extruder assembly is much more robust than on the UM2 and it can work on higher speeds with a lot more pressure.
There are also several options for upgrades available, such as Chopmeisters Twisterblocks and Nhfoleys engine block and hotend mounts which might be very useful if you plan on swapping out heads (you don’t even have to calibrate it afterwards with them)

As for reliability, the only things that need tweaking are the print bed (which is true for any printer), and tightening the belts after a year or so of heavy use. In that regard it is probably the best option on the market at the moment.

As with most Bowden mechanisms, you’ll probably want to have a spare tube lying around after a year or two of use, but the mechanical reliability is fantastic.

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A great printer for schools is the Zortrax M200. Very easy to use. Very reliable, In most cases no tweaking required.

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From my experience Ultimaker 2+ is amazing printer with no fuss. Its best for school use and easy to get good quality prints. Where are you located, which city/country?

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I can’t help you with your questions on Ultimaker original or Go!. However, I’ve been using an Ultimaker 2 extensively for the last eight months, which worked fine straight out of the box. I’ve taken it into a number of schools and it’s always worked well. Ultimaker 2+ (which I’ve seen in action, but don’t own) looks to have improved performance in a couple of areas. The new ability to change nozzle sizes is particularly interesting. You might look at Ultimaker’s CREATE site. They take the educational sector seriously, so you would have good community support

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I have had the UMO+ for over a year, and only recently had to repair it, due to sloppy use and ham-fisted maintenance by yours truly. In my experience, this printer is consistent, and does not require adjustments unless you change the parameters. It has allowed me to learn 3D printing by showing me the results of every error that I’ve made in a consistent and predictable manner. (Or, it would have been predictable if I had had the experience needed to predict it.)

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Perhaps have a look at this video from tested.com the guys associated with mythbusters.

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For a learning environment the umo+ us a great piece of kit. Great printer (i have 2) and in a school environment i would think pla rather than abs. Very adaptable and reallt shows off what is happening in the process. Other printers take away some of the skill needed, so if you want plug and go then um2+ if you want to play then umo+ …both will produce good prints & have great forums/community & spares/upgrades. If you stick to pla then no heatbed needed (though useful for nylon, xt, ngen, filaflex etc) Good learning platforms (have had mine 3 years and worked them hard, dont be fooled by the timber frames, these are tough workhorses).

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I bought an Ultimaker Original and updated it with the heated bed (=UMO+). I never had maintance problems. You can print up to temperatures of 255°C. I also built a box around the printer to assure a stable room temperature. The printer prints at his best when room temperature is about 20°C.

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Regarding safety… One of my mate who has an up box 2 complains that you have to wear safety gloves to remove objects from the up box 2… Cause you can get cuts. I was wondering if that was true?

Cause the UM2 doesn’t require any effort removing especially PLA cause of the difference the glass plate cools along side the plastic.

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Please have a look at the Felix printers, they are of a totally different mechanical quality level. There are base models which you can assemble yourself up to the top model with auto bed leveling and dual extrusion. Software is good and the printers are open source. I found the direct extruder much more reliable than the UM bowden setup. UM is nice but there are so much more modern printers on the market. Someone mentioned the Zortrax M200, very good but hardly suitable for tinkering.

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We have 2 Ultimakers and a CubePro Trio. The Cube Pro is so robust it is like driving a tank. The Ultimakers are so fragile its like holding a butterfly. We are always doing preventative maintenance on the Ultimakers.

The only disadvantage of the Cube Pro is that it is not competitive because of the higher material cost.

Our Cube Pro is 1 year old and we are selling it at almost half off retail

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Get the UMO+ kit for sure!!! I do not think the UM2 is worth the extra money, especially since your a school and want to have the experience of building you own, the UMO is more hackable too.

I work for a school district in Michigan and have been supporting Elementary and High School 3D printing at my district since 2013 and I would without hesitation recommend the Ultimaker Original Plus Kit for your schools. We initially tried several other printers but quickly saw the major quality issues and high maintenance issues of the other brands, at the end of the 1st year we standardized on the UMO+ and have been supper happy ever since. At this point I have helped schools put together over 20 of these kits. I actually run a weekend long work shop to help schools get started. SO here’s my rational for the advice I’m offering you.

As anyone (who is not a sales person) will tell you there is no 3D printer out there that will be maintenance free and this is why I strongly advise you to consider a Kit printer. I have found crucial component to an active program is empowering building level people to run their own print jobs, do basic maintenance, and troubleshoot any issues. I have found over last few years that the absolute fastest and best way to create this building level expertise is to have a local team of 2-3 people (MS and HS kids could be part of this) assemble the printer from the ground up. This way they have first hand experience and understanding of how the printer works, how to run print jobs, and how to maintain the printer.

I have seen other kits and many require soldering, using many different tools, and many hours of build time. The UMO+ kits are beautifully engineered and the finished printers strike a wonderful balance between high quality and hackability. Team members only need to use basic tools such as a pliers and a screwdriver. There is NO soldering, NO wires to strip, NO saws or power tools. Total build time averages between 18-20 hours.

As I mentioned in my personal experience the UMO+ is by far the best for schools and clubs…as in… most accurate, fastest, easy to maintain, low downtime, large enough build area to keep up with a class of 25-30 kids, great support, very active global community, immaculately engineered, fully open source (no limits to the learning potential due to trade secrets), the box shape helps keep kid’s fingers out of the way, easily put on a cart and wheeled down the hall, winner of many 3d printer awards over the years, including MAKE: Magazine’s Most Accurate and Fastest Award, and Best Open Hardware Award. To sum up, the Ultimaker printers strike a perfect balance between reliability, durability and cost. They meet the most important selection criteria (for schools) IMHO:
1. Low downtime and everything end user serviceable. (When the printer is down no one is happy.)
2.Precision and accuracy (To insure that all kids get a good print of their model, the 1st model should be just as nice as the 500th model)
3.Speed and Build Volume (When printing for a class of over 25 kids, you need to print several objects at a time. The 8x8x8inch build volume allows for that.)
4. PLA printing (non-toxic fumes and bio-degradable) AND OPEN filament - as in you do not have to buy over priced proprietary filament from the manufacturer.

5. Open Source (No limits to student’s involvement and depth or tinkering.)

These above 5 points should help you evaluate any other printers that are out there.

ALSO - do your homework. Check out the forums where users of the printer you are considering are collaborating, and helping each other. DON’T just read the ads and look at the price.

AND AND - make sure you save $ for PLA, you’ll want a bunch of that. And make sure to get off stuff, like ColorFabb, don’t get cheap stuff since the quality of the PLA directly impacts you ability to get good prints. The High School class I helped develop (1 semester ~25 kids , uses about 4KG of plastic each time).

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I love my UMO+ self build, and it has really been a joy to use these last 1.2 years. I have had to do very little maintenance and it has so far managed every material I have thrown at it - flexible, Copper/Bronzefill, all the weird Parthy filaments from Formfutura, conductive, laybrick, PETG…I have really tried a whole lot and it has been so consistent, not even a single blocked nozzle. I also make my own filament now, and even though some early batches were miserable (diameter variations between 1.9 and 2.9) it has performed consistently. As long as you follow the recommended protocol and maintenance (oiling the bearings, pre-heating the buildplate and nozzle, using gluestick) it works like clockwork. ABS is sometimes a challenge because of the warping and fluctuating temperatures, but that’s the same for all open sided printers - plus it smells really horrible, so would not recommend using it around kids anyway, enclosure or not.

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Hi. Ultimaker ORIGINAL + would be the best selection in that case.

It is not difficult to assemble and is a good way to learn more about the technology while doing it.