Ultimaker 3 can 3D print with two materials at the same time

The 3D printer company Ultimaker announces its third 3d printer. The Ultimaker 3 can print complex geometric shapes thanks to a dual extrusion system and support for water-soluble material.

With the double print head it is possible to combine different materials, or to use materials of two different colours. The Ultimaker 3 can handle nylon, pla, abs, cpe and pva. The latter is a water-soluble material, which is used when printing complex models with PLA or Nylon. The material keeps the parts of the model in place during printing and once the 3d print is ready, the superfluous material can be easily removed by dipping the object in water. According to the Ultimaker website, the new 3d printer will soon also be able to handle the materials cpe+, pc and tpu 95a.

Demonstration of the use of water-soluble material, which serves as a support during printing.

Users can change the Print Cores of the 3d printer themselves and by means of NFC the Ultimaker 3 can automatically recognize which material is used as soon as the coil is attached to the printer. After that detection, the printer’s settings are automatically adjusted to the chosen material.

According to the makers, the Ultimaker 3 offers improved print quality with an accuracy of up to 20 microns. The device can handle temperatures up to 280 degrees Celsius. A camera is built into the casing, with which the printing process can be monitored live from a distance. The camera images can be sent via WiFi, but there is also an Ethernet port. Furthermore, the Ultimaker 3 has a USB connection and LEDs that indicate whether a certain action from the user is required.

Ultimaker makes two variants of the Ultimaker 3. The regular model has a construction volume of 215x215x200mm, the higher Extended version is 215x215x300mm, so that larger objects can be printed. The Ultimaker 3 has a starting price of 3624 euros and 4471 euros must be paid for the larger model.