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!

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

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!

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.

Up! 3D Printer from PP3DP

The Up! 3D printer generated a bit of buzz last month. $1500 introductory price for the first 100 customers with some impressive specs.

• 140x140x135mm built envelope
• Heated build platform
• Turn Key Software (my mother can use it!)
• .2mm layer thickness (with options of .3, .35 and .4)
• $50/kg ABS material
• Support Structure (auto generated)