Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Up! Printer at 245C, Results

A follow up to yesterday's post on Up! temperature adjustment.

After using the machine and printing a bunch of parts at a reduced temperature with MakerGear filament, here are my observations.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Up! Temperature Adjustment

It can be useful to change liquefier and platform temperatures to adapt to different materials. It should be noted that changing the liquefier temperature is not the only parameter change necessary to make a material suitable for use.



Will this allow you to use MakerGear filament perfectly? No. You'll still have problems trying to separate support and thick layer settings over support may "implode"  as the MG filament has a different die swell and other properties that make it sub OEM standard. Temperature changes can't save you...

Want to know how I changed temperatures and how you can too?

Keep on reading to find out how.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Retro Clock

I posted renderings of "3 Ugly Clocks" in the Up! Forum. This one got the most feedback, so I refined the CAD by breaking it up into parts, adding mechanical features and finalizing dimensions.
Read the full entry to see some printed parts.

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Her Maiden Voyage

With my printer assembled, calibrated and prepared should a disaster happen. It's time for her maiden print.

After some debate, I decided the first print would be a max scale Pink Panther Woman. Lots of curves,  some fine detail (nipples, belly button, collar bone) and uses support structures that originate on the platform (for the shoulders, back, butt) and the model itself (from the hips to the breasts).


Read more about settings and results after the jump!

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Unboxing my Up! Printer

If you've purchased an Up!, you've probably spoken with Shirley - PP3DP sales contact. Last week, I received this email from Shirley.

Sorry to tell you that a part of the black printer you ordered is out of stock now, I wonder if you would like to change a red one. If it’s ok for you, the red printer can be shipped tomorrow. If not, we will arrange black printers to be shipped this Friday. Please let me know your decision. Sorry for the trouble.
 I quickly responded with a very short message:

A Red printer is okay. I confirm this change.

When you start producing a new product, this sort of problem happens. I appreciate the offer for a different colored printer rather than just getting a "we're delayed" message. A+ for service so far. Without further delay, my naked Up!


Read more  about the goodies I received after the jump

Monday, November 8, 2010

Up! Printer, Auto Feeder

The Up! printer uses a clever method to manage their filament. The filament passes through the feeder, through a rigid tube and then down into the print head.



As the print head consumes material, the length of filament between the feeder and the print head decreases. Eventually, this causes the rigid tube to press down on the feeder and the feeder happily advances the filament.

More on how it works after the jump!

Friday, November 5, 2010

Up! Printer, Extruder Head

I received my Up!

I'll be photographing the tasty bits, unboxing, assembly and prints for everyone to see. First, I'll start with the print heat - arguably the most complex piece of hardware on the machine. It needs high temperatures in some places and cool temperatures in others. It needs to be reliable and fast if it wants to win my satisfaction.



Here's details about the print head.