Tag: ultimachine pla

Ultimachine PLA review [12/15/2010]

[Just an unpublished review for Ultimachine PLA purchased 16 years ago.  I don’t think any review I might have written back then would be fair today, not least of which because I simply didn’t have a good handle on printing with PLA very well back then.]

My Ulimachine PLA arrived while I was at Botacon.  I had ordered black PLA and silver PLA.  The black was a shiny black plastic and the silver was a dark gun-metal color – about the same shininess and darkness as a piece of duct tape.  Admittedly, I was expecting a lighter, shinier, plastic – more like a true polished silver, rather than a metallic color.  Mind, I’m not at all disappointed.  I’m very much looking forward to using it.

Tonight (well, technically last night as it is now very early morning) I tried printing with some Ultimachine black PLA.  I tried out my stock MakerBot settings.  My settings are only those that come with ReplicatorG, except that I extrude PLA at 200C and ABS at 230.  I keep each in its own profile and have edited the “start.txt” files so that they are at the proper temperature.

In any case, I tried printing out with the black PLA at using the exact settings I’ve been printing using to print clear MakerBot PLA.  The parts came out beautifully with no warp and I noticed very little oozing.  When my clear PLA is heated up to 200C or so, it can tend to ooze right out of the extruder.  Perhaps its the formula of PLA or the pigments, but the blank PLA didn’t seem to do that nearly as much.

For the first few objected printed from the black Ultimachine PLA, I would call it a success.  I would also note that they included some green and white plastic as well.  I suspect they’re both PLA, but I don’t know for sure as they’re not labeled and there’s no accompanying note.  I would have to actually try them out in the extruder and see how they behave when melted before I would venture a guess as to which plastic they are with any degree of confidence.

Drafts Zero - The Lost Blog Posts
  1. Misnamer [11/28/2010]
  2. The Lost Blog Posts
  3. Plastruder! [Draft 12/25/2009]
  4. UNTITLED [Draft 12/25/2009]
  5. Preparing to print [Draft 12/27/2009]
  6. More prints [Draft 01/04/2010]
  7. Prototype Pricing [Draft 01/19/2010]
  8. MakerBot tuning [Draft 01/20/2010]
  9. Plastic Screw Anchor [Draft 02/02/2010]
  10. Magic [Draft 02/03/2010]
  11. How are you printing with PLA? [Draft 02/16/2010]
  12. Rebuilding my extruder [Draft 02/16/2010]
  13. MY robot [Draft 02/18/2010]
  14. more things i learned [Draft 02/20/2010]
  15. First commissioned piece! [Draft 02/22/2010]
  16. MakerBot: Toy or Tool? [02/25/2010]
  17. Idea for Skeinforge settings… [Draft 03/27/2010]
  18. RepRap and MakerBot alternatives [Draft 04/05/2010]
  19. RepRap Parts for Sale [Draft 04/07/2010]
  20. Where is the Othercutter? [Draft 06/08/2015]
  21. Mendel Parts – Printed, Cast, CNC’d, Lasercut or Injection Molded? [Draft 04/12/2010]
  22. MakerBot Operator’s Manual [06/04/20210]
  23. MakerBot on CBS! [07/07/2010]
  24. New Print: Soft-Pawed Albino Stoat of South Wales Cookie Cutter [07/07/2010]
  25. House calls [07/11/2010]
  26. Digital assistant? [08/05/2010]
  27. MakerBot + Junk = Stuff! [08/06/2010]
  28. Design choices in RepRap, Goals of RepRap [08/14/2010]
  29. Upgrades and obsolescence [08/25/2010]
  30. Dear Anonymous [08/25/2010]
  31. The ultimate in customer service [08/26/2010]
  32. Open Source Makes You Smarter [08/27/2010]
  33. Getting my Plastruder MK5 running [09/06/2010]
  34. Weird new kind of spam [09/19/2010]
  35. An open letter to Ms. Word [10/18/2010]
  36. Printing with PLA again! [10/18/2010]
  37. Halloween costume too [10/27/2010]
  38. Dream jobs [10/29/2010]
  39. The nuances of time travel [10/31/2010]
  40. Printed Pink Panther Person [11/22/2010]
  41. Skein them all and let ‘Bot sort them all out [11/24/2010]
  42. The Patents for disc shooters [12/10/2010]
  43. Princess Bride with Lightsabers [12/13/2010]
  44. Dilbert comic [12/13/2010]
  45. Ultimachine PLA review [12/15/2010]
  46. Mendel to the power of 101 [12/21/2010]
  47. Potential improvements for Leonardo Voltron [12/27/20210]
  48. You can keep your filthy money [12/28/2010]
  49. I watched Primer the other night [12/30/2010]
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