insight01

I order all my spare parts from the gr5 store: http://gr5.org/store/index.php/ as well. George provides excellent support and ships fast! He also seems to have the lower prices for most items and shipping.

Foehnsturm, how does this system compare to the Flex3drive for printing nijaflex or other flexible filaments? What are the speed differences? Have you found that the limiting factor is the cooling of the extruded filament for flexible materials? I am trying to decide if I want to adapt the Flex3drive to the UM2 or go to the direct feeder to extruder route that you seem to have chosen for printing flexible filaments as fast as possible.

Artiz, do you use canned Air Freshner on the build plate glass for adhesion? Which brand? seriously?

Many of the answers for the questions for using the E3D head on the UM2 can be found here: https://ultimaker.com/en/community/view/11116-e3d-v6-on-the-ultimaker-2-system?page=1#reply-110320 Feel free to ask any questions. The weak point is still the extruder on the UM2 and all metal heads (E3D) can be a pain if you are not careful with calibrations and temperature control of materials. By the way the field has moved to 4 extruders and beyond for less then the price of a new UM2. Also, check out the cutting edge for project Ara between Google and 3DSystems. Multiple UM2 heads on an assembly line type system would be awesome.

Sweet! Looks like my weekend will be busy.

So I would like to setup a second new designed extruder on my Ultimaker 2 and have the parts and Nema motor ready. Obviously Ultimaker was thinking about the option of having a second extruder motor since the case has the holes drilled out for a second extruder. Since Ultimaker will not be providing a dual extruder solution in the near future (so wrong!!) why not use the setup option to support a second extruder for flexibility? I've read in the forum that the firmware for the UM2 supports a second extruder. Can someone confirm that the firmware does support two extruders? My first objective is to setup a 1.75mm extruder on the UM2. Why? Because there are some seriously cool new materials that are only available in the 1.75mm format. Why should we be left out of printing these just because we chose to support a UM2? Lets turn the UM2 into a flexible monster of a machine for the experimenters! I refuse to buy an UMO just to print 1.75mm filaments. I will hack first and if that fails buy another companies printer (oh the shame). I have talked to UM2 support regarding the electronics for the second extruder motor and they pointed me to this link: https://github.com/ultimaker/ultimaker2 which has the specs to the UM2. However, they refused to provide a concise range of values for the power range supported by the port for the extruder motor on the main board. They also told me not to try to change the printer to print 1.75mm filament as it might not work !! Seriously? When did the UM2 become a pretty machine not to be tampered with and admired for its inflexible design ?? Lets prove the ludites wrong at UM2 and hack this pretty machine to be the flexible printer we were promised. So I would like to document and test the changes needed to the firmware to support a second new extruder on the UM2. Any helpful comments would be appreciated. Past experiences and time hole traps to avoid advice are always a plus. Also, any information on the power specs the main board can handle as regards to the extruder motors would also be appreciated. I will also be sharing a new extruder design that is superior to the current model. No more slipping or grinding of the filaments just beautiful consistent extrusion.

Are you using the 40W version of the heater? Have you carried out a PID calibration of the new heater and thermistor? Take the values from the PID calibration and enter them in as the new values before printing.

The purpose of this thread is to gather in one place all the important information on replacement fans and how to source/order these fans. I have to spent too much time researching this because my small back fan blew out after a hack gone bad and replacement fans are not listed in the UM2 parts store. The Ultimaker 2 has three fans. The smallest one in the back is a DC 5V 0.58W fan which can be replaced by a quieter Sunon MC25060V2-000U-A99 found here: http://www.digikey.com/product-detail/en/MC25060V2-000U-A99/259-1573-ND/2757803 Last time I ordered these Sunon's they cost $7.40 US dollars. The other two fans found on the sides of the Printhead are DC12V 0.08A fans. My crude measurement of these fans gave dimensions of 30mm x 30mm x 10mm. Someone please correct me if I'm way off here. The IMPORTANT consideration here is that these fans are obviously PWM control fans. I have been able to source 3 solid candidates for replacement fans. However, I have contacted Ultimaker support to supply some information regarding the airflow rate or rpms of the stock fans. Since the higher the flow rate the more noise we have to endure. Any input from UM2 owners who have replaced fans would be appreciated.

Today I was able to get the E3D V6 Hot End to print PLA on the UM2. It still needs tuning and a some more mods but now I know it is possible to use this Hot End on the UM2 platform. I will be putting together a list of instructions on what is required to get this to work and posting it here soon. Next up the Volcano version !

Would love to have that for my front yard ! Really impressive achievement.

Found some more info that might help anyone wanting to use the back cooling fan outlet on the UM2. This is from Daid replying to another post about the power load the back cooling fan outlet is capable of on UM2. Daid "No need to worry about the 5V fan connector, you can safely draw more then 2A out of it."

Jenny, can you clarify if the thermistor wires have been pulled out of the plug connector that connects to the UM2 board or are the wires pulled out of the cap end that is attached to the heater block? The solution depends on which end is detached.

With the new ATC Semitec 104-GT2 thermistor installed I was able to successfully carry out a PID Autotune using Pronterface (Printrun 2014.08.01) with command M303S185C10. The results are shown below.

Restinpieces, nice mod ! So the thermistor that comes with the E3D V6 will work with the UM2 board. I connected the ATC Semitec 104-GT2 thermistor to the UM2 board and then in firmware I changed the settings to match the new thermistor. In order to get this to work on UM2 you need to use an older version of Marlin to compile and upload the changes. Daid compiles the official builds with Marlin V 1.0.3 for Windows and V 1.0.5 on the other platforms. More info and discussion regarding the Marlin changes can be found on the forum here: http://umforum.ultimaker.com/index.php?/topic/7807-main-links-for-marlin-firmware/

Pic of my UM2 E3D V6 mod:

GR 5, I'm also in the Boston area. Included is a pic of my E3D V6 mod with mount. As anyone can see in the pic the thermistor is not connected. I am in the process of replacing the original thermistor after a printing session where the head overheated. Restinpieces, yes I was able to run a PID autotune and this worked until the heating block overheated and damaged the thermistor. Your point about the 40W heater vs the 25W heater is very important. Ultimaker engineering has confirmed via email that a 40W 24V heater will work just fine on the UM2. Good to hear that your E3D V6 system is working! How did you take the cap off of the original PT100 sensor or did you machine a new bore in the heating block to accept the PT100 sensor? Also, have you modified the inside shaft of the Heatbreak with a PTFE tube (4mm OD-3mm ID) to help prevent jamming when printing with PLA? My interest in the E3D V6 stems from the ability to change nozzles sizes and the flexibility of the system to change into a Volcano Hotend. So when my system is functioning and printing quality prints I will be summarizing the details needed to get the E3D V6 Hotend to function on the UM2. I am also working on adapting several other Hotend systems to the UM2 and will be posting those results and detailed descriptions on the forums when they are ready. The important point here is that the UM2 platform is flexible enough for experimentation and yet precise enough when needed for detailed printing. Happy Printing!

I found some info from the forum that I will be looking into as a possible cause for the E3D V6 Hot End not functioning with the print function on the UM2. Daid comments: Yes. Firmware 14.12 adds this "heater error". It's added to prevent anything bad happening to your hotend. Firmware 14.12.1 updates on this, by changing the parameters for this error to happen. So that it does not happen on machines with weak heaters. How does the heater error work? When the heating is on full power (100% output) a timer starts. This timer is stopped as soon as the heating is no longer 100%. The timer runs out after 20 seconds. After these 20 seconds of full power heating, the temperature is compared to the temperature at the start of the timer. If the temperature did not increase by 10C then the heater error is generated. Now, the worst case I've found in the office. Was a 21W heater (normal is 25W). Which warmed up 20C in 20 seconds, starting from 260C dropping to 200C and then at 200C turning the heater full on. Pretty much the worse case that can happen, as you first get a continued drop from the cooling down. Now, if you are getting this error. Check the following: * The heater and temperature sensor should be fully in the hotend so that no full round metal is sticking out. As that's bad stuff, and that's exactly what this new error is trying to detect. * Make sure you have firmware 14.12.1 or newer. As 14.12 was calibrated on machines with strong heaters by mistake. * The fan air-flow should not hit the hotend blok. Some custom fan shrouds have the bottom open. Which isn't that great for airflow when the bed is near. (Cura's "fan full at height" setting can help here to battle this)

I am currently testing the E3D V6 Hot End on the Ultimaker 2. I have created a mount and modified the firmware to allow for the use of the thermocouple and heater block that comes standard with the E3D V6 Hot End kit. I was able to carry out the Autotune PID for PLA and ABS in Pronterface for the ED3 V6. Using the change material function on the Ultimaker 2 allowed for the extrusion of the PLA as expected. However, a problem appeared when I went to print a simple test object. The system heated up and then before it reached the final temperature for printing the system shut down and the screen to contact Ultimaker support showed up. Are there certain heating feedback parameters that need to be modified in Marlin in order for other Hot Ends to function on the Ultimaker 2 platform? This thread is meant to be an open discussion to help myself and others who want to use the E3D V6 Hot End on the Ultimaker 2. I will be posting my future findings and solutions, however, productive input from other UM2 users is always welcomed.

The answer from Ultimaker support is that the Ulti2 board supports a DC5V fan. However, the DC 12V fan runs just fine and should not damage the board. Good enough for me. Hope this helps anyone interested in mods to the current system. No need to change firmware settings just plug in it and play.

Does anyone know what the power tolerance for the back fan port on the Ultimaker 2 board is? The standard smaller fan that comes stock with the Ulti2 is a DC5V 0.58W fan. This small fan is what normally runs off the board. However, I am currently running a DC12V 0.08A fan off this back fan port for cooling off prototype hot end systems. The fan is running fine for now. However I would like to know if the back fan port on the Ulti2 board can handle this power pull in the long run? Also, can the back cooling fan speed or power be changed in Cura or must it be done in Marlin?

Thanks TinkerGnome and Amedee for the sound advice. In the shower after posting the question it dawned on me that the only thing I did not consider was the Arduino version being used. So it was refreshing to see that I was thinking in the right direction. I installed the Adruino 1.0.3 and compiled my new mods with success. Now with my sanity partially restored I will attempt to unbrick the Ultimaker 2!

So the solution to the above problem is to use Arduino V 1.0.3. Then you can find and delete the twi.c file or lines as suggested by Daid. The Marlin source for Ultimaker 2 then compiles just fine in Arduino V 1.0.3.

Daid or anyone, can you provide more information on how to find the line that starts with "SIGNAL(TWI_vect)" in file twi.c ? I have searched that file and not been able to find the function "SIGNAL(TWI_vect)". I am using the latest firmware Daid references in his post above for the Ultimaker 2. Currently using Arduino 1.6.0. Im currently stuck as my Ultimaker 2 is not functioning and needs a firmware reload. Thanks for your help in advance.

So I followed Daid's instructions to delete twi.c file before making changes to thermistor settings in configuration.h. Saved changes and compiled in Arduino and got the following error messages: C:\Users\ROBERT~1\AppData\Local\Temp\build5205476809827767054.tmp\Wire\Wire.cpp.o: In function `TwoWire::write(unsigned char const*, unsigned int)': C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\arduino\avr\libraries\Wire/Wire.cpp:200: undefined reference to `twi_transmit' C:\Users\ROBERT~1\AppData\Local\Temp\build5205476809827767054.tmp\Wire\Wire.cpp.o: In function `TwoWire::write(unsigned char)': C:\Program Files (x86)\Arduino\hardware\arduino\avr\libraries\Wire/Wire.cpp:182: undefined reference to `twi_transmit' collect2: error: ld returned 1 exit status Error compiling. Any help on how to correct these errors would be appreciated.