fbrc8-erin

Those are great instructions for replacing the board, Artiz. We also have instructions available on fbrc8.com: https://fbrc8.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/206495413-How-to-Replace-the-Main-Electronics-Board-UM2- You definitely always want to update the firmware on any new electronics board you receive; the standard firmware on the board is an older version of the Ultimaker 2 firmware, so if you have a 2+, or Extended, or Original+, it will be firmware for the wrong machine altogether at worst, and an outdated version of your machine's firmware at best. In addition to the difference in the green terminal blocks on the board (as you showed with your two boards) the other thing people might see as different between an older board and a newer one is the presence of a black relay switch near the connector that controls the rear fan. The original version of the boards had the rear fan running 100% of the time. There was a switch at one point to make the rear fan only power on when the printhead is at 40 C or hotter.

Having worked on UMO+ and UM2 machines flowalistik, I definitely agree with your assessment. Putting the machine together yourself does make it that much easier if you have to service it. Having the open sides does also make it easier to get at things like the pulleys and endstops if you need to change out parts. I had a lot of experience with the UM2 machine before I ever set my hands on a UMO+. As far as assembling/disassembling/repairs go, I think you can access the pulleys easier to swap out the belts on the UMO+, but at the same time, I prefer assembling the UM2 XY axes to the UMO+ axes by a big margin. The UM2 pulleys all go straight to the ends of the rods, and the set screws hold them in place. Having the pulleys sit some way in on the axes was a little disorienting for me the first time I put together a UMO+. The bed and electronics are the same. There are the differences in the printhead, but with the Olsson block on the UM2+ and the aluminum block with separate nozzle, those feel like they are starting to look more similar again. And now both have the geared feeder. It's not more difficult compared to an Ultimaker Original+, although most users would find more trouble doing some maintenance due to a very simple thing: assembling an Ultimaker kit makes you see how everything works, it's a learning process. Ultimaker 2 users may not fully understand what causes a problem and that may lead to unnecessary tweaking before realizing that it's Y and not X what it's not working.

The UMO+ just recently came down in price I think. When it was released a year and a bit ago, it was around $1500 USD I think. I think one of the biggest advantages of the UM2 family over the UMO+ (they do both run the same electronics board and same heated bed, and now with the 2+ both have swappable nozzle tips), is the assembly. A lot of people assemble the UMO+ kits without an issue, but I know a lot of people also prefer not to be quite so hands on, and would rather have a unit assembled by someone with experience assembling the machines rather than assemble it themselves.

If you've got Ultimaker 2+ machines, the fans should be fairly quiet. Would going without the hood or without the door (rather than without both), be an option? It really does sound like there's too much heat in there.

This isn't my absolute most recent print, as I've been printing fairly heavily this week. But I just opened a batch of Faberdashery pearl white and I'm a little mesmerized by it. I kind of want to print everything right now. This is Loubie's Aria dragon on Thingiverse/YouMagine. I love this print. A one-piece dragon with no supports needed. And this vampire skull is for my mom's boyfriend. I printed one a couple years ago when I was new to 3D printing...that one wasn't bad, but this one looks so much better.

I agree with what Yellowshark said. I think with smaller parts like that, you're going to want to print slow and cool. 205 or 200 may do the trick, but you might try cooler depending on your filament. You also mentioned that you were printing with a hood and door. Have you tried printing without the hood or opening the door? With smaller parts, I generally don't enclose my machines at all. I put a cover over the front if I'm printing ABS, or if I have a PLA print that covers most of the bed. You're probably ending up with a lot of ambient heat inside the machine.

On your heated bed cable, the 2 thicker wires are your heater wires (they may be blue and brown or gray, depending on your printer), the thinner wires (black and white, or just black) are your temp sensor wires. If wires are all connected tightly, then it sounds like you could have a short in the cable, or that some of the soldering may have come apart inside the black terminal block on the bed itself. If your printer is only 6 months old, you should be well inside the warranty period, and your local reseller can probably get you the part you need.

The Olsson block might be worth doing--if you did eventually go for the the full upgrade kit, then you still have those nozzles and that block as a spare. Or maybe at some point, Ultimaker will release just the new feeder by itself. I imagine if Ultimaker does the feeder by itself, there will be firmware to go with it. One thing to watch out for with the Olsson block if you put it on your printer with the standard fan shroud--it's a really tight fit between the nozzle and fan shroud, so make sure it isn't touching (or you could widen the hole in your fan shroud a little to compensate). The UM2+ fan shroud doesn't have the back metal flap that appeared part way through the UM2's over the last couple years, and has a wider hole to accommodate the Olsson block nozzle instead of the standard integrated nozzle.

Hi, AryaVenu, fbrc8 is Ultimaker's assembly and support partner in the US. We have official Ultimaker spare parts at fbrc8.com, including the glass plates, and orders ordered before 4pm central time ship out the same day.

Hi, Clark, Since you've just built your printer, fbrc8 should be able to provide a Z-switch for you under warranty. Our office is closed for the weekend, but if you open a ticket at Support@fbrc8.com, we should be able to ship the part to you on Monday. We'll need your serial number, name and shipping address, and the name of the part you need (UMO+ Z-switch). Email in to Support@fbrc8.com. It may also be helpful for you to include the link to this thread. All of our parts in our webstore and for our warranty support are official parts direct from Ultimaker.

Also, have you cleaned the bed recently? Build up of glue, or grease/oil from your hands or the printhead shafts could contribute to adhesion issues.

Hi, Steve, Have you checked your heated bed plate and electronics board to make sure the heater wires are fully inserted, and that the temperature sensor is plugged all the way into TEMP3? Do any error messages appear? Has anything been disassembled recently?

Sounds like you've done a great job on the mods! We've got the UM2 shafts in stock at fbrc8, though we haven't added them to our sales website yet. You could place an order through Sales@fbrc8.com to get a price quote since they're not on the website yet, but since you're in the UK, shipping from the US would probably be more than if you can find them from one of the European distributors.

Have you tried loosening the 4 screws that hold your feeder on? A quarter turn looser can make a huge difference to the smoothness of the feeding with the standard UM2 feeder. The 2+ feeder isn't available on it's own at this point. You might also have to do something with the firmware I think, if you had the 2+ feeder on it's own. Temperature is managed differently with the new heater and temp sensor in the 2+ firmware, but the 2+ firmware also spins the feeder in the opposite direction than the UM2 firmware, due to the geared feeder.

If you home the printhead in the menu using Maintenance --> Advanced --> Home Head, the printhead should move to the back left corner and lock in place. If it goes to the back corner okay, but you can still move it in the X or Y direction after checking that all of your pulleys on the rods are tight, then it would mean that one of the pulleys on your motor is loose. Looking at the photo, I'd suspect the rear most pulley on the right hand side, connected to the short belt, or the motor pulley on that side.

Have you inspected your bowden tube for wear and tear? Especially if you're printing on it heavily, you can end up with damage either at the feeder end of your bowden tube, or on the interior of the tube, which would cause significant extrusion issues. The feeder end should be widened out to about 45 degrees, but look clean. If it's chewed up looking you may need to cut a couple millimeters from the end and widen out the end again. You can check for damage on the interior of the tube by removing both ends from the printer and running a clean piece of filament through by hand. If there's damage inside the tube, you'll feel resistance at certain points pushing it through. If that's the case, you'll want to replace your tube. Also, are there any ground up pieces of filament in the tube? That would impede the filament's progress. If I end up with filament debris in my tube I usually push a little bit of paper towel in one end, and push a piece of filament through. It should gather up and debris and push it out the end so you've got a clean tube again.