When the lease is up at the office or you’re in the middle of moving buildings, the last thing you want to worry about is how to prep your Stratasys 3D printer for transport. Stop stressing over questions like “How do you pack this thing up?” or “How do you make sure everything is secure, so material doesn’t clog the print heads or the fluid lines?”, and learn the best ways to transport your machine. 

We’re here to guide you through the process and make transporting your Stratasys Objet Desktop Printer easy. 

Common Mistakes  

But before we show you how to prepare your Stratasys Objet desktop printer for transport, here are the two most common mistakes to look out for. 

• Not securely packaging your printer: If your 3D printer is not secured during transportation, the inside print arm can move around freely and cause damage to the print arm assembly and/or the UV light.  
• Not removing all printing materials: Another common problem people have when transporting printers is leaving material in the heads and lines. There are filters and a manifold in the machine that can easily become clogged if not all printing material is removed. In some cases, we have even seen heads fail to work after material has been left in them for 2+ weeks.  

To avoid clogging, leaking or damaging your machine, follow these five easy steps. 

How to Prepare Your Stratasys Objet Desktop Printer for Transport

Items You’ll Need:

• 2 cleaning fluid cartridges (min 300g in each bottle) 
• Flathead screwdriver 
• Brown foam packing block (shipped with printer) 
• Waste container in machine with no more than 1000g of material in it 

Step 1: Clean 

To clean your desktop printer, run the Material Flush/Fill Wizard, and fill your system with cleaning fluid. This procedure should take roughly 40 minutes. After this is complete, run the Shutdown Wizard and shut down the printer.  

Step 2: Disconnect

Unplug all the cables in the back of the printer. Try to remember where everything is hooked up, so there are no complications with the reinstallation of the machine. We recommend taking pictures for a guide. 

Step 3: Lower Build Tray 

Insert a flat head screwdriver into the drive screw located between the build tray. Manually lower the build tray ~ 6 inches by turning the drive screw counter-clockwise.  

Step 4: Place Packing Block 

Next, place the brown, foam packing block on the lowered build tray. Slowly move the print block over the foam block until they are aligned. 

Step 5: Secure Print Block 

Place a cloth under the print heads, and raise the build tray until it secures the print block in place.  

Your machine is now ready to rock ‘n’ roll! (Not literally, please move with caution) We recommend having four people around when lifting and moving the printer into a truck/van. Please make sure there is nothing that can fall onto the machine and nothing the machine can fall onto.