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  1. #1

    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
    Last edited by Placebo; 09-10-2014 at 05:59 PM. Reason: Added Link

  2. #2
    Super Moderator JohnA136's Avatar
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    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.

    100_2649.jpg 100_2564.jpg 100_2584.jpg 100_2631.jpg

  3. #3
    That's some very good feedback. It certainly does look quite a bit different. Thank you John!

  4. #4
    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.

  5. #5
    Super Moderator JohnA136's Avatar
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    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?

  6. #6
    Super Moderator JohnA136's Avatar
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    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!

  7. #7
    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.

  8. #8
    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.

  9. #9
    Technologist bford903's Avatar
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    I have a Projet 1200 by 3D Systems. Works very well. Not perfect but nothing is.

  10. #10
    Technologist GOC's Avatar
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    - 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.

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