UP Box... Biggest waste of money (and Time) ever spent

Can I say that the original UP box has been the biggest waste of money ever - We have been using this for just under a year (purchased from CPC in Feb 16, even though we find out from the UK distributor that the printer (from the serial number) is now out of warranty from the manufacturer! - 1st bad point).

So in this time we have had several failures,

1) It has had a replacement CPU board,
2) 6 x print head FPC cables (In fact this is a serious design flaw of the UP Box, and requires regular maintenance),
3) The brackets that hold the print head board on need regular replacement...

4) We are on our second print head (£250 for a new print head and extruder), when all that was needed was a new extruder wheel on the stepper motor

5) Where we used to be able to print a whole platform, now restricted to just the middle area of the platform, otherwise the printer stops printing mid way through - from not extruding, to prints lifting.

6) Latest error after replacing the FPC boards (as we suspected the connector on the board had now worn out), the up box levelling system has broke (this happened, as the levelling system came switched on on its own at the start of the print and them proceeded to crash into the print bed, destroying the microswitch in the process) - Levelling system seems to stay off until the print head is about to start printing, and then randomly starts to move down and up!!!

7) Front door doesn't close properly (appears to be warped, and the hinges need to be twisted inorder to close correctly)

So conveniently now we have a printer that appears to be out of warranty from the manufacturer - and they don't recognize that it was brought new a few months after it was manufactured! and is now developing major issues just outside the warranty!

Would I buy an Up again? - given the issues here, No... And actually I have recently purchased for myself a Cel-Robox, plus a Raise3d printer for the office as a second machine. Note the Raise3D N1 has the same build area as the Up Box, is dual extruder, build quality is twice (if not three times as good) as the UP box, and is only £500 more that the UP..What this says to me is that the Up Box is overpriced for what it is.

Oh did I say I now need to get the thing working again!! = more money

Issues with Filament suppliers

This post talks about the issue with buying poor quality filament!

So with the UP box I have been buying Filament from CPC that is supposed to be approved for the UP printer (has UP on the box). Now this is not to be confused with the filament labelled from Tiertime.

Now I think that if you are supplying plastic filament for 3D printers, you really need to know and understand the issues of supplying quality filament, and also supplying filament that has been stored correctly! I have had maybe 6x reels of yellow filament from CPC, then I went to order some more filament and could only get green - no probs I can handle using Green.

However upon receipt of 6 reels, I had to return two as they had been pierced (letting in oxygen). Now who know how long those reels had been pierced, but it was obvious when opening the box that this had happened as the vacuum seal on the reels had been compromised.

This is what was presented to me when I first opened up two of the reels.

I returned them, and then asked for replacements. 5 days later I had my replacements turn up - only to find that in fact CPC had put the reels I had returned back into stock and then picked that stock back out in order to send back to me. So I received the same reels of filament that I had sent back.

This is what un-opened reels of filament should look like:-

A good vacuum seal - See CPC when it comes to goods return inspection - look this is sealed filament not a loose bag!.

I have been using the replacement filament, and have to say that the quality isn't as good as the filament I have personally used, which is from Rigid Ink. The filament supposedly designed for the UP is not as accurate, and has issues in the UP printer, in as much doesn't sometimes extrude and clogs the extruder up. However the Rigid Ink lives up to its promise to which praises itself on the quality, prints all the time without problems.

The moral of this is that if you want to buy filament for your printer but from a descent supplier that knows what they are doing with filament and knows how it should be treated - CPC is NOT one of them!