Factor 4 Feature Highlight: Modularity & Serviceability

In today’s fast-paced manufacturing environment, downtime and complex maintenance can hinder productivity and drive up costs. While we’ve covered the success rate and enhanced reporting feature of the Factor 4 in a previous article, this time we’d like to explore the 3D printer’s modularity and serviceability and outline how these key benefits help our clients save up on costs, time and extend the lifespan of the printer.

When compared to more traditional manufacturing methods like CNC, injection molding, milling, which all require extensive knowledge, specialized tools and long downtimes, the UltiMaker Factor 4’s modular design allows users to quickly swap out parts and perform routine maintenance with minimal disruption.

Modularity: More than a buzzword

A truly modular design principle is one that involves creating a sophisticated system by integrating smaller, self-contained units and we want to emphasize how easily the Factor 4’s parts and part assemblies can be swapped or maintained.

In professional applications, where downtime directly translates to lost revenue, what would you consider a short downtime, a week, a day? Perhaps you’re thinking in terms of hours, but how about a downtime of just minutes.

All of the main Factor 4’s assemblies, the print head and feeder module, gantry module, material station and air filter are designed to be easily swapped out with minimal tools and expertise. While we’ll go into more detail when we talk about serviceability, just to outline how serious we are about modularity, consider the fact that the print head and gantry module can be removed and replaced with 4 screws or less using the basic tools provided in the maintenance kit.

In fact, you’ll notice that all of the service modules are designed to be as easily maintainable as possible with guides being continuously added to ensure that the Factor 4’s product lifespan extends well past its ROI point. Coupled with our global support network for replacement parts UltiMaker’s Factor 4 is not just a safe choice in terms of reliability, ease of use and cost-effectiveness, but a smart choice for businesses that want to optimize their production capabilities.

Serviceability: As easy as it gets

Before we delve into a few concrete examples let’s first define the level of expertise and difficulty levels that we’ll reference in the below cases:

Level 0. This refers to consumable parts and drop-in replacements. Examples include the flexible build plate, print cores, or purge buckets. Level 0 processes can be performed by anyone, do not require tools, and take only one or two minutes.

Level 1. This refers to simple and accessible repair processes, such as the larger service modules (gantry system, Material Station). Level 1 processes can require basic tools (such as those included in the Factor 4 Maintenance Kit) and generally do not take more than 10 minutes. It is recommended that level 1 repairs are performed by instructed or skilled users, but can also be done by ordinary users when supervised or assisted by an instructed or skilled user.

Level 2. These are more complex repairs. The components may be hard to reach, special skills or tooling are required, or there is a risk for the machine or operator when the procedure is not performed correctly. Examples include the mainboard and the heated build plate. These repairs should be performed by skilled users, or by an instructed user when supervised by a skilled user.

Level 3. Any repair process classified as level 3 should only be performed by UltiMaker. The main reason is that the quality of the machine cannot be guaranteed unless the printer is calibrated and checked using special equipment. Level 3 repairs are rare as most parts are serviceable, but examples include the structural frame of the machine, and the cast base plate of the Z stage.

Examples of serviceability

The printer head, typically one of the most commonly serviced components in a 3D printer, is easy to remove and replace with just four screws. An ordinary operator can complete this simple process in a few steps using only a regular 2.5mm hex screwdriver with no additional tools required. This is what a level 1 service operation looks like and it should be easy to see how the efficient process saves up on time (not to mention costs) especially when compared to the time it would take to replace a similar part in a different machine, like a CNC spindle which typically takes several hours up to a full work day to replace.

It’s not just the serviceability that’s enabled by the modular design, flexibility is key, especially when working with a wide 200+ material range. So moving down a notch in terms of size and parts, let’s talk about the two print cores in the print head.

With 5 different print cores available to suit the various material needs, switching the print cores out is essentially as simple as opening the head bracket, squeezing the print core lever upward so you can slide the print core out, inserting a new one and sliding it in until you hear it click in place. That’s it, that’s all it takes for this toolless operation, you can check out theinstallation and change guide for reference.

We’ve mentioned the gantry module, is typically one of the more complex assemblies in any 3D printer but when it comes to removing and swapping out the gantry in the Factor 4, the operation can be done in minutes with an ordinary operator, a torx 20 and hex 2.5 screwdriver.

With a service difficulty level 1 the gantry is secured with 4 captive screws(no risk of losing them) which need to be loosened before the module can slide out and be replaced.

You can check for yourself how easy the full process is here

Commitment to support

We’re determined to ensure that all of our clients have the capability to easily maintain and keep their Factor 4 printer operation in the long run so we’re committed to expanding the Factor 4 support guides by adding new articles and creating dedicated content such as instructional video guides centered around maintenance operations.

In addition to this we’d like to reiterate the fact that our clients also benefit from the extensive global support network available for part sourcing and even maintenance, which has also been a staple of our drive to ensure that serviceability is always fast and accessible.

A future-proof investment

Our Factor 4 is the latest example of our future-proof design philosophy, with regular updates, world class serviceability, the Factor 4 will continue to evolve over time and become a pillar of any integrated production workflow far beyond the 12-18 months it will take to achieve return on investment.

If you want to know how you can cut down on costs, reduce material waste and increase production uptimes by integrating UltiMaker’s Factor 4 printer into your production capabilities and lead the charge in your industry please don’t hesitate to contact us and our team of experts will be more than happy to reach out to you and help!