3D printing speeds for the UltiMaker S series of 3D printers have been ‘doubled’ while maintaining print success rates ‘of 95% or more’ in the company’s latest updates to its Cura 5.5 software.
With the latest Cura 5.5 release, the S series now includes a range of optimised speed profiles, standardised across various line types and further fine-tuned when printing with various print profiles and UltiMaker-branded materials, including PLA, Tough PLA, PETG, and ABS.
As an example, UltiMaker presents a part that in Cura version 5.4 printed in PETG on an S5 using an AA 0.4 mm print core in 2 days and 35 minutes. With Cura 5.5 it will reportedly take just 1 day 7 hours and 19 minutes using the same material, extruder, and printer.
Other improvements include optimised handling of material flow rates and nozzle pressures when switching between line types, ensuring no loss of print quality during transitions; smooth internal wall pathing, reducing print time and irregular movement; and reduced erratic infill motions, which smoothen the movement of the print head.
Internal wall printing alone – traditionally done using a diagonal pattern that resulted in the print head performing a jittery zig-zag motion during printing – now uses long smooth lines, enabling faster printhead speeds.
UltiMaker also says that using a 0.8 mm print core while still getting great print quality is a possibility that more users are beginning to find for draft prints or simple form models.
Our new 0.8 mm print profiles will make this easier than ever, allowing you to select the profile that matches your requirements (Visual, Engineering, or Draft) and then print with the confidence that you are using reliable print profiles that have been professionally tuned for your needs. Better yet, with the combined effect of moving from a 0.4 mm to a 0.8 mm print core and the other speed improvements in this release, you will find that it’s possible to print huge parts in less than half the time!
“We know that speed is only one part of the 3D printing success formula. UltiMaker printers have been trusted for years based on their reliability,” said UltiMaker CEO Michiel Alting von Geusau. “We aim to create better experiences for our customers, and we believe that by optimising the S series to speed up printing, our customers can accelerate returns on investment, enable faster time to market, and leverage the limitless possibilities of 3D printing.”
The S series is UltiMaker’s best selling line of professional 3D printers, compatible with over 280 materials and an expanding selection of print profiles from the UltiMaker Marketplace.
The S7 3D printer, the newest addition to the family launched in January 2023, it added features like an integrated Air Manager to filter out up to 95% of UFPs, an enclosed build chamber to the already popular Ultimaker S5.
Cora 5.5 also sees new plugin capabilities in this release, allowing users to fundamentally modify how the software works by interfacing with the slicing engine at the heart of Cura.
This allows plugins to add new settings, modify existing settings, and change how Cura behaves when slicing a model. The result is more powerful plugins with a much wider range of capabilities including ‘paint on’ supports; version number in print for numbering parts or adding custom text; or adding custom textures to part surfaces.
