The Chinese New Year of The Snake is coming soon. It is the time for all Chinese to have a joyous gathering with their families. We wish all of you the life of happiness and prosperity wherever you are in this world.

All departments of Delta Micro Factory Corporation will be closed for 11 days from 7^th to 18^th February .We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. We also thank you for your generous supporting to us and all the accomplishments we’ve achieved together in the past. Will be back soon for the future.

The 3D printing revolution is now upon is. Here is your chance to win a 3D printer of your very own.

Post an Instructable between January 7th and April 1st that shows off your skills as a maker for your chance win one of 10 UP! 3D Printers.

To win an UP! 3D Printer, simply post a Step-By-Step, Photo, or Video Instructable that shows something utterly amazing that you have made. We are particularly looking for projects that demonstrate that the printers will be finding good homes.

Ready to start? Click here!

Multiple entries are accepted, but each entrant can only win one prize. Contest is open to entries from US, Canada [excluding Quebec], UK, China, Belgium, the Netherlands, Australia,  Colombia, Germany, Switzerland, Norway, India, and Denmark. Contest closes for entries at 11:59pm PT, April 1, 2013.

The winner(s) will be solely responsible for complying with any and all applicable statutes, laws (including, without limitation, common law, if applicable), rules and regulations and for bearing any personal income tax, VAT, withholding taxes, customs duties, or other taxes, fees, insurance, surcharges or other costs relating to receiving, claiming or collecting any prize.

UP! new software v1.18 have been released several days. I was expecting to use it when it was released, but I didn’t get a chance until today. Yes, I want to use specially the new biggest feature that I thought came out from v1.18, the shell printing, which I have been expecting for a long time.

So how does it work and what difference between shell printing and normal printing? Let’s see photos.

Please see consumption of material and time for printing the same model with shell printing and normal printing.

.....................Shell printing           normal printing

Time :             59 minutes            1 hour 35 minutes

Material :        10.8g                     19g

What is shell printing looking like? How does it work?

Shell printing is 100% free from inner support structure. So printing a cube which has a flat top is not possible. Or if print a model which has a large low angle top is not possible. The back of the Bunny has a low angle but not too large, so it is printable. During the printing, I can see the inner side of the top section is not as good as the outer side. But it does not affect the look or smoothness of outer surface.

In my second print, I printed two models at the same time, the bull dog and the UP gnome.

The shape of the UP gnome is perfect for shell printing, in comparison the bull dog is not as good. But after the printing completes, the bull dog is also proved printable and very good.

So why shell printing, you may ask?

Reasons that I think are: They are only for visual aids or demonstration models, so no functional usage to be solid and strong. Shell printing can save you a lot of material and time. Those are most that you are concerned. Hope you like this new feature.

Dear UPers,

Thanks to each and every one of you for your support to Delta Micro over this past year. From everyone here at Dela Micro, we hope you have a marvelous holiday and a Happy New Year.

Today we release the UP! software v1.18 final, a special present for your holiday.

V1.18 Release new features:

1.Improved easiness of support removal for layer thickness of 0.2mm and lower.
2.Added platform level calibration.
3.Allow full range model printing on platform even with raft. Raft will be printed within build envolpe.
4.Optimized wall printing. Inner fill is printed closer to wall, which results in more solid wall.
5.Removed the option for raft height, and fixed the height to be 7 layers.
6.Colorful scale added in the model view for easier measurement for X-axis and Y-axis.
7.Fixed the defect showing temperature in percentage when a print is canceled in the middle of a print job.
8. New Logo introduced.
9. Improved printing quality. Vertical wall is smoother.
10. Improved model view.
11.For release in Mac, added option for ROM upgrade.
12.For release in Windows, added feature for shell printing, which increases printing efficiency for hollow model.

Happy holidays to you and your family from the team at Delta Micro.

All our best,

Delta Micro Factory Corporation

Did you miss our marvelous Black Friday deal? We have something else for those of you who didn't get the chance to buy the Black Friday deal. Now $200 price drop on the UP! Plus 3D Printer over the holidays.

If you are considering buying a 3D printer for your Christmas & New Year's gift, please send your order earlier.

Offer valid on purchases dated November 23, 2012 through January 1, 2013.

Hi All,

Here is UP software pre-release for the UP Plus and UP Mini Platform Leveling Calibration.

Download the Beta v1.18 here https://dl.dropbox.com/u/78622263/UP.exe

1. 1. Copy the program into the UP software installation file and overwrite your existing UP.exe. Normally located in “C:\Program Files\UP” or on 64bit computers “C:\Program Files (x86)\UP”
2. 2. Place a smooth on both sides Perfboard (or a new Perfboard if you have one) onto the platform without any clips. (Ensuring there is no plastic debris on the Perfboard that could affect the platform height)
3. 3. Initialize the printer.
4. 4. On the menu bar click“3D Print”, then click the new option “Platform calibrate”
5. 5. The Platform calibration dialogue will open up.

TIP: A single click on the arrow moves the platform up in increments of 0.1mm. Holding down the arrow for two seconds moves the platform up by 1mm. Continuously holding down the arrow with continuously move the platform up.

1. 1. Using the above tip, move the platform so the nozzle is about 1mm away from the Perfboard.
2. 2. Move the nozzle and platform to each of the 9 locations on the platform by clicking the corresponding location number (1, 2...9 in the platform calibrate dialogue).
3. 3. Find out which one of the 9 locations has the smallest gap between the nozzle and platform.
4. 4. Move the platform and nozzle to the location with the smallest gap.
5. 5. Press the green arrow to bring the platform up so it just touches the nozzle. (All the other points should be touching or have a slight gap.)
6. 6. Click the “Set Nozzle Height” button as the current nozzle height. This nozzle height is used as a reference when measure the other locations.
7. 7. Move the nozzle and platform to each of the other 8 locations and measure each of their gaps. Next to the corresponding button position enter the gap distance by selecting from drop down box.

TIP: A typical sheet of laser bond paper measures 0.1mm and can be folded several times to be used as a measuring tool. (e.g. four folds equals 0.4mm) Use the paper to measure the gaps.

NOTE: the allowed largest calibration distance between nozzle and platform is 1mm. Please ensure the gap between nozzle and the highest point on the platform is zero.

1. After all of the 9 location are measured and set, click the button at the bottom to apply the final nozzle height. A dialogue will pop up when the calibration is successful.

Contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for any assistance.

Now with the 3d printer ibecoming more and more popular, and the price is becoming much cheaper for personal use. While many people start to question what can they do with a 3d printer. I saw many people said they want to print a 3d printer with a 3d printer. Do they want to print such a 3d printer by their 3d printer?

Maybe so, or maybe they want to print a real 3d printer which can print real object. That's a great idea for people who have a business mind.

But for most people how have interest in a 3d printer, what can the 3d printer do for you? This is one of many cases that show you what the UP! 3d printer users use the UP! 3d printer make their life better. Hope we can enlighten your mind what a 3d printer can do for you and how it makes the life better.

Do you want to change the appearance of your room? Here we find a fun, fast and inexpensive way to redecorate the room and create a whole new look. To print a new lamp shade and replace the lamp shades to add new style to the room.

Here we go:

Download this STL from thingiverse, which is created by 3d designer Asher N (Dizingof). Upload it into UP! software by connect the UP! 3d printer to your PC with the USB cable. You can scale the model in the software to fit your specific need. You can just select a layer thickness in the software for fine output or fast speed and click print. The software is so easy to use that you can just use the default parameters and get very good printing quality. If you are an advanced user or have specific requirement for the object, you can select the other parameters like support section for more or less support, or part section for stronger object surface.

Now this lamp shape is becoming real before you.

Remove the support. Finally you see the real object that you want. Put it on where it should be, let’s change a new look to the room.

Please stay tuned to our blog, Twitter (@PP3DP) or Facebook for more interesting things about how 3d printer makes your life better.

1. Thanks for 3d designer Asher N (Dizingof) created this beautiful Lamp Shade and share with us. Asher N have created many math art designs. Anybody has interest in his creative designs, please go to browse his free designs at thingiverse.com/Dizingof/things, or his STL files shop at 3Dizingof.com.

2. Thanks to Wacko, who designed the tiny UP! 3d printer and upload to the Thingiverse.

3. Tips: There are many easy to learn and easy to use CAD software can be used to design model and which exports STL format. You can design your own model by some the CAD software, or if you can’t there are many places to find cheaper designs or free designs.

This is a quick note for anyone placing orders from Delta online shop: There will be no shipping arranged during Sep. 29th to Oct. 10th. It is the PRC national holiday during that time. All people in PP3DP will take a brief holiday during that time.

Delta online shop is still accepting orders during the holiday. We will be shipping again starting Friday, October 12th, 2012. We apologize for any inconvenience this causes.