3D printer review

Review Ultimaker 3 & Ultimaker 3 Extended; a great leap forward

By - - Price update: 29 March 2024 -

The Ultimaker 3 and Ulitmaker 3 Extended, are already the third generation of 3D printers from the Dutch 3D printer company Ultimaker. The new Ultimakers make a significant leap forward in terms of features and technology. And thereby, the addition of a second extruder is the most important change. Not only can you now print different colors at the same time, but you can also print two different materials simultaneously. Printing water-soluble support material was never so easy.

Print quality
Also in the field of the print quality, the new Ultimaker is positioning itself at the absolute top of the market, with print resolution of 20 microns. The same applies with the expected noise, which is only 50 dB and therefore makes the printer very suitable for in the work  environment.

Unfortunately, the maximum build volume has decreased slightly (with 7.8 x 8.5 x 7.9 inches (19.7 x 21.5 x 20 cm)) compared to its predecessor, the Ultimaker 2+.

What is the expert's opinion?

Quotes from other experts:

Coolblue:
Review Ultimaker 3
Zoek je een 3D printer zonder problemen? Dit is hem! Gewoon de beste 3D printer die ik ooit gehad of gezien heb. Is Plug & Play en biedt een zeer goede printkwaliteit. En na meer dan 8 dagen intensief gebruik (print 24u/dag voor technische prototypes) nog geen enkele mislukte print gehad. Minpuntje: het bouwvolume is soms wat krap.
Score: 9.2
Make Printable:
Review Ultimaker 3
The Ultimaker team has really made a significant incremental improvement to its 3D printer line up. The new machine doesn't have a whizz bang list of out of this world features or industry leading build volumes. (...) It is a better, easier to use 3D printer however. Rather than go for sales heavy features or amazing marketing gimmicks, Ultimaker seems to focus on improving the device itself. The printer is easy to use, easy to tweak and easy to set up.
Score: 8.0
3D Printer Chat:
Review Ultimaker 3
There’s no doubt it’s good. It still behaves like a Ultimaker 2+ that is a great machine in itself, and that is very popular, but the Ultimaker 3 has taken things further, improving where possible, but not doing unnecessarily much. They had a good product with the UM2, the refined at UM2+ and with the UM3 we saw a step up from pro-sumer to professional desktop use.
Score: 8.0
Tom's Guide:
Review Ultimaker 3
The Ultimaker 3 is a class act ? a very solid 3D printer that can produce excellent-quality 3D prints. It's also easy to set up and print with, supports a lot of materials and has flexible, easy-to-use software. Design professionals and serious 3D-printer users will find the Ultimaker 3 well worth the high cost, thanks to its excellent print quality and support for a wide range of materials.
Score: 9.0


Conclusion

The new generation Ultimaker 3D printers may not be full of dramatic improvements and innovations, but the Ultimaker 3 and 3 Extended are  certainly a major step forward. In particular, the addition of a second extruder is a big plus and the resolution of up to 20 microns, still remains one of the best on the market. Add to this the excellent build quality and it should be clear that this 3D printer, despite a somewhat small construction volume, should not be missing on the shortlist of the (semi) professional.

8.6
  • Dual Extruder • Open filament system • Connectivity • Camera • High reliability
  • Build volume could be bigger
  • Specifications

    Print specifications

    Printing technology Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM)
    Layer Resolution (micron / mm)20-200 / 0.02-0.2

    Printing

    Filament systeem (Open/closed)Open
    Print speed (mm3/s)30-300

    Physical characteristics printer

    Number of extruders 2 (Dual Extruder)

    Software/System Requirements

    Software included Cura
    Ultimaker 3

    icon: Ultimaker 3

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