3D Systems CubePro

Is 3D Systems taboo here? I looked around and didn't see any threads on any of their printers. I had a few go-rounds with the Cubex Trio and it was quite the exercise in frustration. From filament breaking/jamming inside the ridiculous proprietary cartridges to prints shifting, lifting, to head crashes and the list goes on and on. Extremely frustrating. So I noticed they now have a Cubepro listed as the newest line of personal 3D printers. It looks like the same or very similar innards with a new case but I can't tell for sure. So I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with the new Cubepro and if so how did your experience go?

http://www.3dsystems.com/3d-printers/personal/overview

The Cube Pro was on display and printing at this weekend's New York Maker Faire in the Disney Pavilion (As was the new Cube 3). Both seemed to be working well. We had the soon to be released Cube 3 in our display and printed for almost 30 hours with zero problems/failures.

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That's some very good feedback. It certainly does look quite a bit different. Thank you John!

I was considering purchasing their CubePro with the duel extruders but I got turned off by a couple of factors. For one they use proprietary cartridges that are literally double the cost of buying filament on spools. You're limited as to what they have available and although they advertise Nylon, it's still not available. It also doesn't have a heated bed, which to me is ludicrous for a printer that costs over $3500. On top of all that the software isn't very robust.

I think that type of printer is geared for a much different market that the people we see here. I small business, Library or School who want a much more "hands off" approach to 3D Printing? Stratasys and 3D Systems have been doing it their way for decades! They try to limit the print issues by controlling what materials people use. As for Nylon, the Cube Pro is not ready for that yet, they are still be-bugging those units. I did hear at the show that they may be out of Beta Testing soon?

Just another comment, a little off topic but you mentioned dual extruders. We have a Replicator 1XL with dual extruders. It was a cute gimmick in the beginning but we never utilize it anymore! I did a two color job on another one of my son's printers Friday and it doubled the printing time because it had to keep heating up the "other color", print a layer and then go back to the other extruder, heat it up. After 6 hours, the print looked awful, I had printed the same piece in one color last week on the PrintrBot and it came out awesome? Just saying! Two color printing is not for me!

At the time I considered the duel extruder because I figured I could use the extra capability of it, but have since decided against it as I think I just wouldn't use it enough to justify any added cost. Thanks for sharing your experience with them.

The CubePro is absolute Junk! We bought one for our office for our office to do light duty prints. All of the reviews online were good and the examples at MakerFaire look good.


Bottom Line... This printer is simply non-functional


1.) The dual print head looks attractive as you can do support. Unfortunately the software to drive the machine is severely crippled. You have little to no control on how support is created. The problem is that it will always fill a solid volume with a cross hatch. The problem comes in that when it starts to lay down a continuous surface on top of the support, everything gets mangled. The engineer running the machine has had experience in developing models for many other 3d printers that have come out very nice. He felt if there was simply a way to tell the software to not use cross hatch support (just do a solid fill), it would be reasonable (that is what we get when we pay for another local service on a pricier machine). We tried many iterations to get a model right. Nothing, worked. Everything was warped or mangled in some way.


2.) Jams.... we have not gotten any model (other than a trivial test piece that takes 20 minutes) to complete without a Jam in the extruder. Once it stops, there is no way for the machine to restart without ditching the model.




We had about 60 man hours into the test/debug as well as multiple calls into 3d systems. The admitted #1 is done on purpose to reduce quality and #2 is "stuff happens". This printer is simply unusable.


We have been fighting to return the unit as they claim a "no return policy"...


Along the way we ordered 2 extra cartridges. Both were not recognized by the unit. The engineer working on it kept calling and didn't get a good one until #10!!! Along the way they even sent the wrong model cartridge.


The only success we have had is when you tell the unit to use straight lines to be used from support. The other patterns (diamonds, squares) never work. The machine always fails about 20% in. Using straight lines often causes the model to warp an break away from the base as alternating layers are not done at a 90 degree offset.




I plan on doing a video review and try to post everywhere I can. This machine and 3D systems is a waste. I WILL be at Maker Faire this Fall and WILL do as much negative advertising as possible.

I have a Projet 1200 by 3D Systems. Works very well. Not perfect but nothing is.

- I don't think I'd want to spend over $2k for a filament style printer, especially one that charges high $$ for proprietary filament. Don't be timid of the opensource world, I get great results from my simple delta printer. Opensource gear gives the freedom of modding and allows tuning a machine to its core. The world is filled with various filaments because new ones are always in development.

We have had a CubePro since March. It is capable of very good prints. But we had great difficulty with the filament. It breaks frequently. I counted 17 breaks in one cartridge over time. It was broken in 3 places at once as we attempted one print job.
When it breaks like this it is very difficult to get out of the tube. The last cartridge I attempted to use was tangled up and would not come out of the cartridge. This was a new cartridge still in a sealed foil container. The other problem is clogged print jets.
I am dealing with one now. We may have to replace the print jet assembly again. It is very difficult to thread the filament into the print jet to begin with.

We have a couple of cubes in our print farm (both 3 & Pro) and I have noticed the same thing. It prints well but I have had several cartridges break filament. It seems to be more prevalent in the PLA Cartridges and is a real pain to take them apart and re-thread them. I also have a brand new cartridge of Black that just refuses to print!

Was hoping this was a more hands off machine, and was attracted by the boasted high print speed. Definitely has needed a lot of attention. Still haven't figured out why the software can't always properly render supports for overhanging designs. Print speed is fast!

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Originally Posted by ragod222

Was hoping this was a more hands off machine, and was attracted by the boasted high print speed. Definitely has needed a lot of attention. Still haven't figured out why the software can't always properly render supports for overhanging designs. Print speed is fast!

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Are you using the Support-borders setting? The other alternative is to make use of the dual heads (if you have a dual head version and use their Infinity wash away support filament, basically PVA.

We have one at work and while well built it is essentially worthless. The filament breakage and the print quality (while it has gotten better) is still sub standard. The flash forge that I have at home just blows it away. The biggest PITA is the software and support structures. It is almost impossible to remove the supports on an intricate part. To anyone even concidering any 3D Systems product on the lower end to run. There are way better choices out there.

I had heard that 3D Systems is discontinuing all their low end printers including the Cube and Cube Pro?

I have not heard that but it wouldn't surprise me a bit. They tried to shove their proprietary everything into an open systems market. If they had a product worthy of it with the software to back it up I might be able to live with it.

I heard they discontinued the entry-level Cube printer at the beginning of the year, but as far as I know they're still producing and selling the Cube Pro - you can Buy One Now, in fact: http://www.3dsystems.com/3d-printers/personal/cubepro

Hey Todd if you want more of a hands off printer try the QIDI Tech. I had no 3D printing experience, pulled it out of the box, and have been printing trouble free ever since. I probably have over 250 hours by now. The printer just works.

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Originally Posted by Todd-67

I have not heard that but it wouldn't surprise me a bit. They tried to shove their proprietary everything into an open systems market. If they had a product worthy of it with the software to back it up I might be able to live with it.

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Originally Posted by svt04cobra

Hey Todd if you want more of a hands off printer try the QIDI Tech. I had no 3D printing experience, pulled it out of the box, and have been printing trouble free ever since. I probably have over 250 hours by now. The printer just works.

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That is essentially a flash forge creator pro knockoff. I have a FF printer now and I like it a lot. It out performs the cube hands down. I am not looking for a hands off printer quite the opposite. I want a printer where I have control over everything like I do with symplify3d and my FF

I just purchased a used Cube 3 printer. It's my first 3D Printer. It came with a lot of cartridges (some never used), as well as 4 tubes of the "print glue"

It did not come with the starter kit, which would have included the sandpaper, the plastic "manual gap setting" tool, the scraper, and the nozzle wipers.

I figure I can use painter's supplies from Lowes for the scraper (metal) and nozzle wiper (plastic) easily enough.

But what grit is best for the sandpaper?

And what thickness is the plastic for the gapping tool?

And not that I'm going to run out any time soon, but I've been reading that simple "Glue Sticks" are good to prep the platen surface?


Thanks in advance from a newbie.