Check out what makes every Ultimaker 3D printer tick and which one is greatest suited to your tasks.
Up to date on August 4, 2023
by
Alec Richter
Ultimaker has been, and continues to be, a distinguished participant within the desktop 3D printing business for a very long time. They provide a complete vary of options for each a part of the 3D printing course of, from filament and their free slicing software program, Cura, to polished, high-quality 3D printers and invaluable equipment that add comfort to your workflow. Ultimaker’s line of machines is a power to be reckoned with, providing highly effective choices that vary from their skilled S-series line like the only extrusion Ultimaker 2+ Join and the twin extrusion assortment of the Ultimaker S3, Ultimaker S5, and Ultimaker S7 3D printers. In addition they supply their specialised engineering Technique collection, which incorporates the Ultimaker Technique XL. It may be difficult to check totally different fashions and decide one of the best one to your wants with out figuring out what to search for. Fortunately, the Execs at MatterHackers are right here to information you in your journey.
Let’s bounce into it!
Ultimaker options quite a lot of 3D printers designed to fulfill your particular utility wants.
Ultimaker 3D Printers at a Look
- Construct Quantity: The Ultimaker S5 is the biggest of all of them, with the Ultimaker S3 and Ultimaker 2+ Join having just about equivalent sizes.
- Extrusion: Whilst you gained’t see enhancements within the already wonderful print high quality, the S3 and S5 are twin extrusion 3D printers.
- Hotend {Hardware}: Merely unlatching and changing the Print Core is all it takes to alter the hotend in an S3 or S5, however a nozzle wrench and a correctly sized nozzle is what you want for an Ultimaker 2+ Join.
- Temperatures: The “S” Sequence printers can attain 140°C on the mattress and 280°C on the nozzle, however the 2+ Join maxes out at 110°C on the mattress and 260°C on he nozzle.
- Filtration: Further equipment just like the Air Supervisor is obtainable to filter the air high quality or management airflow of the Ultimaker 2+ Join or the Ultimaker S5, however no such add-on is made by Ultimaker for the S3
- Worth: Because the options differ so vastly between every mannequin it’s exhausting to really evaluate, however objectively, the Ultimaker 2+ Join is probably the most cheap of the Ultimaker line of 3D printers.
- Materials Station: To completely unlock the potential of a print farm utilizing Ultimaker machines, the good materials swapping and humidity managed Materials Station is a strong add-on solely out there for the Ultimaker S5.
Construct Quantity
Between the three Ultimaker fashions, there are actually solely two dimension courses. The Ultimaker 2+ Join and Ultimaker S3, without having precisely the identical construct quantity dimensions will in follow be just about equivalent: the two+ Join has a construct quantity of 223mm extensive x 220mm deep x 205mm tall, and the S3 has a construct quantity of 230mm extensive x 190mm deep x 200mm tall. In distinction, the Ultimaker S5 is significantly bigger than each with a construct quantity 330mm extensive x 240mm deep x 300mm tall. The tradeoff between the Ultimaker S3 and a pair of+ Join is kind of the marginally shallower construct quantity in alternate for twin extrusion. If each are an necessary issue to your success, then the Ultimaker S5 pulls no punches and is the construct quantity champion.
The Ultimaker S5 has the biggest construct quantity of the lineup by a substantial margin.
Variety of Extruders
Apart from dimension, the obvious distinction between these Ultimaker 3D printers is that the Ultimaker 2+ Join is single extrusion and the Ultimaker S3 and S5 are twin extrusion. Within the case of the two+ Join, you might be restricted to 3D printing in just one materials (or coloration) at a time. Assist buildings should be extruded in the identical materials as your construct materials, which is completely serviceable, you’ll simply have to take the time to chip and clip away on the helps to disclose your 3D print beneath. With the S3 and S5, you may have two nozzles, with the second lifting and decreasing when wanted to stop smearing of fabric. You’ll be able to use two colours or supplies in the identical 3D print, which lets you use dissolvable assist supplies so you may toss your completed 3D print in a bathtub of water and easily anticipate the helps to dissolve away, or you may print distinctive fashions in two colours to point out off particular options.
Whereas easy, the one nozzle of the Ultimaker 2+ Join offers you plenty of freedom in selecting your nozzle.
Hotend {Hardware}
What actually units the Ultimaker S3 and Ultimaker S5 other than different 3D printers is how they incorporate their hotend parts. The place the Ultimaker 2+ Join has the heatsink, heatbreak, heater block, and nozzle all rigidly mounted to the printhead, the S3 and S5 use “Print Cores.” These are parts that function every thing wanted to make a hotend in a single simply detachable package deal, so you may swap out your complete Print Core in order for you a brand new nozzle dimension, new nozzle materials, or if you wish to take away it for normal upkeep. Merely comply with the wizard to take away materials, decrease the fan bracket, pinch and take away a core, insert the brand new one, and prepare for printing. And since every Print Core has a built-in PCB, the Ultimaker will bear in mind the offsets for the nozzle’s place so that you don’t have to utterly recalibrate the printer after swapping Print Cores. With the Ultimaker 2+ Join, it’s a extra conventional setup with a nozzle that wants a hex wrench to take away. This has its advantages in that you simply aren’t restricted to the Print Cores that Ulitmaker gives and may as an alternative use principally any M6 threaded nozzle, just like the Olsson Ruby or NozzleX on the Ultimaker 2+ Join, providing you with the liberty to experiment as you want.
Print Cores make-up your complete hotend within the S Sequence, from warmth sink to nozzle it is all rapidly removeable and interchangeable.
Most Temperatures
The temperatures that your 3D printer can attain dictate what supplies you may and may’t work with. Within the case of the Ultimaker 2+ Join, its most mattress temperature is 110° and the Ultimaker S3 and Ultimaker S5 have a most mattress temperature of 140°C, so you may relaxation straightforward figuring out the mattress won’t be your limiting issue as it may attain the best temperature for even probably the most excessive supplies like ABS or Polycarbonate. Moreover, they differ within the temperatures that the nozzle can attain; as a result of the Ultimaker S3 and S5 each make the most of Print Cores, the utmost printing temperature is 280°C which ought to enable for using most supplies you can 3D print with. However, due to its development, the Ultimaker 2+ Join is proscribed to 260°C, which is sufficient for any Ultimaker supplies, however could show tough for different manufacturers of filament that want increased temperatures.
The beds of the Ultimaker S3 and S5 are in a position to attain an astounding 140C, greater than sufficient warmth for even probably the most tough 3D printing supplies.
Mattress Leveling
For any 3D printer, having a construct floor as flat as doable is important for persistently easy first layers. By utilizing “float glass” – a particular kind of glass designed to be very flat – in each Ultimaker 3D printer, you will be assured that the primary layer can be flat. Among the many 3 Ultimaker fashions out there, every use a three-point leveling system to regulate the airplane the mattress sits in: tighten or loosen every thumbwheel underneath the mattress and your complete construct plate tilts to extra intently match the airplane the nozzle strikes in. Nevertheless, the Ultimaker S3 and Ultimaker S5 take a step additional and make the most of a sensor constructed into the mattress and printhead to gauge the true form of the glass, making a mesh to mechanically nice tune the nozzle’s distance from the glass so it may at all times be the identical distance, thereby guaranteeing you don’t have areas of the construct plate that introduce adhesion issues.
By utilizing the nozzle itself because the mattress probe, the Ultimaker S3 and S5 have a uniform first layer thickness guaranteeing constant adhesion.
Air Filtration and Management
If you understand you’re going to be printing with a few of the stinkier 3D printing supplies like ABS or Polycarbonate, having in-built filtration to wash the air of the printer is a worthwhile funding. The Ultimaker 2+ Join and Ultimaker S5 have the Air Supervisor add-on you can buy that merely plug into the again of the Ultimaker, snap onto the highest, and supply full management of the air surrounding the 3D print. Within the case of the Ultimaker S3, there isn’t a filtration possibility out there from Ultimaker.
Ultimaker Air Managers or third social gathering add-ons are in a position to each filter outgoing air and cycle to maintain the interior temperature inside a constant vary.
Worth
It may be exhausting to check pricing for machines which might be so comparable and but have some fairly important variations. Whereas the Ultimaker 2+ Join and Ultimaker S3 have comparable construct volumes, the two+ Join is kind of a bit cheaper than the S3 at the price of being solely single extrusion. Between the Ultimaker S3 and S5, the general distinction is their construct quantity and the add-ons which might be out there; the Ultimaker S5 is the biggest Ultimaker out there so when you plan on producing bigger 3D prints then that is your possibility, and it’s the one “S” collection printer to have any add-ons.
To be a 3D printing behemoth, it is clear that the Ultimaker S5 goes to be the costliest of the Ultimaker lineup.
Materials Station
To essentially step up the Ultimaker S5’s talents, the Ultimaker Materials Station is designed to handle all your supplies directly with none consumer intervention. With six totally different materials bays, you may maintain a number of supplies or colours loaded and on the prepared (though you may solely use 2 supplies per print job). The principle goal of that is to completely make the most of the Ultimaker Cloud to ship, for instance, a Yellow PLA with PVA print to your cloud-synced print farm and have the Ultimaker S5 mechanically unload filament and cargo within the desired supplies to get began. Paired with a sensor in each bay to find out in the event that they’ve run out of fabric earlier than the job is finished, and you’ll have an almost utterly hands-free print job from begin to end, save for the print elimination.
A totally loaded Materials Station able to cycle by way of totally different supplies to maintain an Ultimaker S5 stocked and loaded.
Ultimaker has established itself as an all-encompassing 3D printer producer with a solution for each step of the printing course of. Hopefully issues are a bit clearer now and you’ve got the suitable thought of which Ultimaker 3D printer would be the printer for you. To be taught extra and order your Ultimaker right now, try the.
Need extra comparability content material? Try the video beneath! Please observe, the beneath video was created in mid-2021.
Fashions launched post-2021 such because the Ultimaker S7 and Ultimaker Technique XL will not be talked about.
