Ultimaker Original 1.75-mm-Custom

Last Update: May 10, 2020

Specification

Print Technology	FFF(Fused Filament Fabrication)
Max. Build Area (W x D x H)	17x17x17cm (6.7 x 6.7 x 6.7 inch)
Number of Nozzles	Single
Nozzle Diameter	0.3 mm
Filament Diameter	PLA
Filament Diameter	1.75 mm
Max. Printing Speed	Max. 70mm/s
Layer Resolution	Fine 0.06 mm (60 microns) Standard 0.1 mm (100 microns) Speed 0.2 mm (200 microns) Z-step per 1 mm = 200 steps/mm (theoretic resolution = 0.005mm)

Ultimaker 1.75 Filament Custom - Machine Settings — Machine Settings of Our Ultimaker Custom in Cura 1.X.X (Last updated on 8 Nov 2017)

About Ultimaker Original

It cost €1,194.00 + €138.50 shipping fee to HK

The Ultimaker Original is not a cheap one, comparing to today’s China-made 3D printers. Especially, the euro had a high exchange rate in 2011. The package was heavy that resulted in a high shipping cost. The total was almost equal to my 1.5-month salary. But I believed that I had chosen the best 3D printer at that time.
Many manufacturers that sold low-cost 3D printers in the early 2010s have disappeared from the market or been acquired by large firms. Ultimaker not only keeps running, but also grew as a leading brand in the market of 3D printers. This makes me feel proud of having an Ultimaker Original.

The CAD rendering of Ultimaker Protobox (April 2011)
These files were made by Geo Hagen of Hagen Technisch Bureau

– After waiting for a time it arrived –

Ultimaker claimed the lead time was 4-6 weeks. Eventually, it took over 7 weeks from order to delivery. Perhaps Hong Kong is a little far away from Europe. It was killing me as a 3D printer was a dream machine for me. I believed it would be game-changing for turning ideas into real objects. How did you feel when you got your first 3D printer?
I thought it was more than just a new toy for me. Unboxing a self-assembly kit is totally different from having a new nicely pre-assembled 3D printer. It is more intriguing that let you know about the structure and mechanisms. Meanwhile, you might worry about the machine quality from each piece of components to its overall performance. I think it will be a rare learning experience for future 3D printer users.

Ultimaker Original 1.75-mm-Custom 3 — A new baby of Ultimaker Original born after a night fully assembled

The Ultimaker Original was launched in 2011 and was distributed as a DIY kit at a price of €1,194.00. It was the first product sold by Ultimaker when the company had been found for just a few months. In 2012, it was awarded Fastest and Most Accurate 3D printer available by MAKE Magazine.

In spite of the medal, it was born in the primitive period of low-cost 3D printers. Its frame mainly made of laser-cut plywood parts and assembled with bolts and nuts. In addition, the kit had no control interface, no LCD display, and no SD card reader attached to its electronics. The 3D printer must be tethered to a computer via a USB cable during printing. These issues became the major drawback of the Ultimaker Original.

The Ultimaker team revised the design of Ultimaker Original after releasing their second model, Ultimaker2. They started to sell official upgrade kits for Ultimaker Original. The extension kits included a control interface called UltiController, parts for an improved feeder, a new Z stage, and a glass heat bed. It’s later on merged to be Ultimaker Original+ (Plus), which is still available to buy in 2020.

Meanwhile, many third-party kits were available on the market. Mostly made use of the parts from other brands of open source 3D printers, such as RepRap, Prusa, and E3D. For instance, our Ultimaker Original has customized with an E3D’s V6 hotend for the extruder and a Prusa’s LCD unit in the control box (You can find the components in the links listed below). The bloom of 3D printers offered a high variety of options to flexibly modify and hack the Ultimaker Original with open-source units and kits.

E3D V6 Hotend