Tech Breakdown: Ultimaker 3D Printing Filament & Materials Alliance Program
Ultimaker is industry known for producing high-quality, professional 3D printers with their own line of materials to match.
Since the beginning, Ultimaker’s name has been synonymous with quality. This not only refers to their 3D printers and accessories, but also to their line of filaments designed for every purpose. And now Ultimaker has partnered with industry-leading filament manufacturers to expand the material offerings baked into their 3D printing slicer, Cura.
Let's break it down-
A Comprehensive Material Portfolio
Ultimaker has committed to rigorously testing and engineering their materials for optimum 3D printing performance. From simple yet reliable PLA to flexible TPU to engineering-ready Polycarbonate, there is a material available for every need imaginable. Every spool of filament has an NFC chip, specifically for Ultimaker 3D printers to read and enable the necessary settings for that material, along with logging the material left on the spool. This feature will make it a lot easier to keep track of filament usage and increased usability with the Ultimaker Cloud. For users without an Ultimaker machine, these materials still print exceptionally well and would make an excellent choice for any 2.85mm 3D printer.
Material Marketplace
Of course, there are dozens of 3D printing filaments out there, each with their own unique capabilities and performance. Rather than reinvent the wheel, Ultimaker has partnered with these manufacturers to create the Material Marketplace. With it, you can install profiles tested for compatibility and peak performance by Ultimaker for these third-party filaments. Additionally, you can find a short description of the material, technical data sheets, and a link to the manufacturer’s website. Within Cura, you can find the Marketplace in the top right corner, where you can pick and choose carefully curated and tested material profiles for the materials you know and love like NylonX, NylonG, or BASF Ultrafuse 316L.
An Alliance Made for NylonX and NylonG
That’s right, carbon-fiber NylonX and glass-fiber NylonG are natively supported by Ultimaker for Ultimaker 3D printers. These profiles will be usable after they are installed as long as the 3D printer is set with the proper wear resistant components like the CC Print Core and hardened steel feeder wheels. In addition to the Cura team, we have verified these profiles ourselves and have been very happy with the print quality we have been seeing.
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