Stratasys UPrint Plus printer...where to get consumables

Good morning everyone:
I need to buy replacement nozzles for my UPrint Plus.
Stratasys who made the printer doesn't show much on their website anymore...like most other commercial websites it's become pretty useless.
I found an aftermarket vendor in Switzerland that claims to support these printers, but their prices and deliveries are breathtaking.
Anyone know of someone closer to North America?

Cheers

Marcus
www.implant-mechanix.com
www.vancouverwireedm.com

Just the nozzle, or the whole hot end? I get min from amazon, pretty standard .4 x M6 x 12mm long, at least form my experience...

Hi Mike:
I need the whole extruder tube.
With some help I found them in an obscure corner of the Stratasys website... 150 bucks

Now the plastic filament...I can only buy 5 packs from Stratasys.
Guess how much for a 5 pack...NINE HUNDRED FRICKIN' DOLLARS...I just about wet my panties.
I need both the soluble support and the model material, so 1950 bucks to get me back in the game.
The whole printer ain't worth that anymore. (2007 vintage).
I use it a couple of times a year so a 5 pack will still be mostly unused when I'm dead.

So I went to the Xometry website and submitted the model I want to have printed...45 bucks.
Guess which way I'm going!

Cheers

Marcus
www.implant-mechanix.com
www.vancouverwireedm.com

implmex said:

Hi Mike:
I need the whole extruder tube.
With some help I found them in an obscure corner of the Stratasys website... 150 bucks

Now the plastic filament...I can only buy 5 packs from Stratasys.
Guess how much for a 5 pack...NINE HUNDRED FRICKIN' DOLLARS...I just about wet my panties.
I need both the soluble support and the model material, so 1950 bucks to get me back in the game.
The whole printer ain't worth that anymore. (2007 vintage).
I use it a couple of times a year so a 5 pack will still be mostly unused when I'm dead.

So I went to the Xometry website and submitted the model I want to have printed...45 bucks.
Guess which way I'm going!

Cheers

Marcus
www.implant-mechanix.com
www.vancouverwireedm.com

Click to expand...

For future reference, since I know we're not big fans of xometry here.... You should check with Additive Manufacturing LLC or Forecast 3D for printed stuff, both US owned/made, and good people/companies to deal with.

Hi TeachMePlease:
I actually started at the ProtoLabs website because I've used them in the past.
I was quite surprised to find myself on Xometry when it came time to pay for the project.
I assumed ProtoLabs had been bought by Xometry, so I just clicked on the checkout icon and bought the service.

Cheers

Marcus
www.implant-mechanix.com
www.vancouverwireedm.com

implmex said:

Hi Mike:
I need the whole extruder tube.
With some help I found them in an obscure corner of the Stratasys website... 150 bucks

Now the plastic filament...I can only buy 5 packs from Stratasys.
Guess how much for a 5 pack...NINE HUNDRED FRICKIN' DOLLARS...I just about wet my panties.
I need both the soluble support and the model material, so 1950 bucks to get me back in the game.
The whole printer ain't worth that anymore. (2007 vintage).
I use it a couple of times a year so a 5 pack will still be mostly unused when I'm dead.

So I went to the Xometry website and submitted the model I want to have printed...45 bucks.
Guess which way I'm going!

Cheers

Marcus
www.implant-mechanix.com
www.vancouverwireedm.com

Click to expand...

There was a Stratasys uprint se plus (with wavewash unit) at auction a few months ago, only sold for about $250ish. A seperate lot of several filament spools sold for a couple of bucks. I was thinking of getting it but then looked at the price of new filament and decided to pass. The resale value of these printers have dropped like a rock even though it appears there are some companies still selling new ones.

Is there something magical about the filament, or can a generic be be obtained elsewhere?

jccaclimber said:

Is there something magical about the filament, or can a generic be be obtained elsewhere?

Click to expand...

filament and extruder tube are different things. filament is pretty much generic, although I know people who swear by some brands, but I find the cheap is good enough for what I do...

Mike1974 said:

filament and extruder tube are different things. filament is pretty much generic, although I know people who swear by some brands, but I find the cheap is good enough for what I do...

Click to expand...

Misread that. Is the extruded tube something complicated on that printer? I’m used to the being a PTFE tube with some special fittings. Something I’d rather just buy vs. build, but not at the prices listed above.

Hi jccaclimber and others:
On the Uprint Plus, the parts I need are 2 mm ID stainless steel thinwall tubes flared at one end and with a rectangular stainless plate laser welded to the other end together with a 4 mm long turned extruder nozzle.
The whole assembly is about 60 mm long and two of them are clamped into the heater block.

The tubes get clogged and then get scarred on the insides when you run a drill down them to clear the blockage.
The flared ends get munched when the extrusion jams and heavy handed people get in there with needle nose pliers like the instructions recommend.

Eventually they don't feed reliably anymore.

So they are a consumable...but not one you can get for cheap money anymore.

Similarly, the filament comes on a special spool and has some kind of disposable encoder on the end to tell the software how much material is still on the spool and if it's feeding properly.

These go into a big cassette which then goes into the base of the machine.
It's a system designed so dummies can run it, but the convenience comes at a high price.

The machine was nutso expensive when new...something like 25 grand.
Now they're worth nothing.

If I could find a buyer for it I'd drop it like a hot potato...sadly I cannot even give it away anymore (yeah I've tried to unload it on a buddy), but he rather bought a new one without all the disadvantages and paid less for the whole machine than he would have had to pay just to re-stock this one with soluble support filament and model material filament.

So yeah, a top of the line machine in it's day...now essentially useless without input of big money and big effort.

Cheers

Marcus
www.implant-mechanix.com
www.vancouverwireedm.com

Marcus, try Javelin Technologies https://www.javelin-tech.com/3d/ As you know we now have an F170 but they have sold us single reels and tips for the uPrint quite recently.