[Tinker firmware - introduction]

I upgraded my UM2+ with an Ultitop (enclosure) but the bowden tube is hitting the top plate when it's in the left upper corner 😞

 

To 'fix' this problem i want to shorten the bowden tube by 50mm, but i still want to be able to use the 'standard' load/unload procedure (change filament).

 

I changed this line in the Configuration.h file

#define FILAMENT_BOWDEN_LENGTH 705 -> #define FILAMENT_BOWDEN_LENGTH 655

And clicked the 'export compiled binary' in the Arduino IDE

 

It generated 2 hex files: 'Marlin.ino.mega.hex' and 'Marlin.ino.with_bootloader.mega.hex'

Which one should i upload to my UM2Plus using Cura?

 

Another question:

In the  Configuration.h i see several '#ifdef UM2PLUS'

Where do i define this? I wish to compile a hex for my UM2+

 

Best regards,

Ray

 

[Tinker firmware - introduction]

Would changing the line '#define HEATER_BED_PIN      4'  to '#define HEATER_BED_PIN      3' in the pins.h be sufficient?

[Tinker firmware - introduction]

The headbed of my UM2+ does not cool down anymore (temp keeps rising).

I think the mosfet for heater3 is broken and i'm not really in the mood of buying a new mainboard 😉

 

The mainboard has 3 heater terminals:

heater1 (occopied), heater2 (free) and heater3 (this is the heater for the headbed).

I also see that there are 3 seperate mosfets for all these 'heaters'.

 

So, i'm thinking, using the Tinker firmware, is it possible to use the 'heater2' terminal (not occopied) on the mainboard for the original headbed?

 

@tinkergnome Is there maybe a setting/option in the Tinker firmware to set heater2 as primary heatbed?

 

BR,

Ray

[Ultistik Powder-Coated PEI Bed Upgrade - Review]

Nice review Jake.

 

Btw: Cura shows that the UM2(+) has a build area of 223x223x205mm, so you only would lose some mm

As long as you stick the mag sheet/plate a bit more to the left (not center it) you are fine (see pic yellow markings).

 

Oh, i see now that you already put it a bit more to the left 😉

 

Could you also please tell us later about durability?

I had a mag base with flex plate and glued pei sheet before (not powder coated) and that setup did not hold very long (pei sheet came lose and the pei sheet was damaged fast).

But maybe the powder coated PEI will last much longer.

 

[Polypropylene Build plate]

True, but i'm lazy. Don't want to constantly clean the glass plate when the glue gets hard

[Polypropylene Build plate]

Hi,

I was using those PEI sheets and my prints were sticking very well, but i had some problems with durability.

After a while the sheet was coming loose and/or i saw some damages on the sheet surface.

 

So, i'm looking for an alternative solution and would like to try a solid 4mm Polypropylene Plate as Build plate.

 

See:

https://www.flexinplex.nl/technische-kunststoffen/constructie-kunststoffen/polyproplyeen/polyproplyeen-platen/polyproplyeen-op-maat/configureerbaar-168?SID=d0a9193e17da08614cdddab561411948

 

Price is very cheep, just around 5 euro for a 254 x 228 x 4 mm plate.

 

But i have some questions (maybe someone here could give me some advice):

Would these plates be usable for 3d printing?

Do you guys think the prints will stick as well as PEI?

What max temp. could i use with such a plate?

Do they conduct the heat the same way as the glass plates?

Are Polypropylene plates as flat as the glass plates?

How about durability? I assume a 4mm thick plate will last longer compared to thin PEI sheets?

 

Oh, just a remark: I'm printing mainly with PLA and PETG

 

Cheers Ray

 

 

[UM2+ replacement Main Board]

I ordered the TMC2209 drivers from AliExpress. I think it will take some while till they will arive.

In the meantime i flashed/programmed the Extruder TMC2208 driver into SpreadCycle.

The filament loading is now working perfect 🙂

 

Here is a great video on how to program the TMC2208 into SpreadCycle using the OTP method:

 

So, in conclusion:

You can user this 2.1.6 UltiMainboard with the TMC2208 silent stepper drivers as a dropin replacement for the UM2, but you need to set the Extruder stepper into SpreadCycle mode.

 

BTW:

These are the Vref's i used

X: 0.9V

Y: 0.9V

Z: 0.9V

E: 1.1V

 

[UM2+ replacement Main Board]

39 minutes ago, tinkergnome said:

 

I would rather use the genuine Ultimaker firmware as a reference in this case. Apart from that - why not? Marlin fully supports the board and the display nowadays and it's an ordinary Mega2560 after all.

Good luck!

 

Thank you

[UM2+ replacement Main Board]

I have 3 options:

1. fork tinkergnome's repository and backport the TMC stuff from the vanilla marlin into it -> i'm afraid i will stumble into a lot of dependency issues

2. use the 1.1.9 vanilla marlin build and adjust the screen menu gui and structure to match the ultimaker menu -> a lot of work

3. use the 1.1.9 vanilla marlin build and only edit the Configuration.h, Configuration_adv.h and Pins.h files (using tinkergnome's Configuration.h, Configuration_adv.h and Pins.h as a reference)

 

I think i will go with option 3.

@tinkergnome : do you think to just edit the Configuration.h, Configuration_adv.h and Pins.h (using yours as a reference) will be enough? Or do you think i will also need to do some code patching to get everything working on my UM2+ (the mainboard is exactly the same as the original one, except it has removable drivers) ? I can see that the UltiController with display are supported vanilla marlin 1.1.9

 

 

 

[UM2+ replacement Main Board]

Hi ThinkerGnome,

 

Thanks for your info.

I'm going for the TMC2209's, because these can be addressed by Slave address.

This way i only need to use the hardware serial UART TX and RX pins (J22) and do not need any other free digital pins.

 

@tinkergnome BTW:

What do you think about this board in combination with TMC2209 drivers (configured as slaves) using the free hardware serial pins (only 2 pins in total needed on the mainboard)?

Would you be interested in creating a seperate branch for this?

 

I can see a lot of benefits using this board as a replacement in an UM2:

1. It has the same design and pinouts as the original ultimaker board

2. Using TMC2209 drivers in UAT mode it should be possible to set driver current, mode (StealthChop, SpreadCycle, hybrid mode with threshold), microsteps, pre-overheat warnings and even switchless endstops should be possible.

[UM2+ replacement Main Board]

Yes. The design and pinouts are identically to the original Ultimotherboard 2.1.4 (so TinkerGnome's firmware would just work fine).

 

BTW: I'm now checking pins.h in the TinkerGnome / Ultimaker2Marlin repository, but i see that pins 10,11,12,13 are already occupied 😞

 

Update:

I going to change the TMC2208 with TMC2209 drivers.

 

Doc about the TMC2209 state:

TMC2209 slave address can be set from 0x00 to 0x03 (up to 4 TMC2209s per UART port) using the MS1 and MS2 pins

 

 

So i only need to use the J22 serial header (TX and RX) and make a special cable:

 

 

The nice part of using the TMC2209 in UART mode (TX and RX) is that, with the correct modifications to TinkerGnome's firmware we could be able to change Current and mode (StealthChop/SpreadCycle/Hybrid with threshold) in the display menu of the UM2 (no more need to adjust current using the tiny pot meter on the drivers).

 

 

 

 

Ultimainboard V2.1.4 PCBA overview.pdf

[UM2+ replacement Main Board]

I did some more research and i think the board has potentials.

It follows the original Ultimainboard 2.1.4 design (see picture), so we could use header J4 for softwareserial (TX) to control/configure the TMC2208's using a custom Marlin build

 

J4
pin 10 (PB4) -> softwareserial 1 - X
pin 11 (PB5) -> softwareserial 2 - Y
pin 12 (PB6) -> softwareserial 3 - Z
pin 13 (PB7) -> softwareserial 4 - E

 

Does anyone know if i can use  internal pullup resistors on these pins?

 

Another route would be using TM3120 drivers using SPI, (see header J1), and using 4 digital pins as Chip Select

 

 

[UM2+ replacement Main Board]

Tomorrow i will try another thing:

 

According to the datasheet, i can program the driver 1 time to set it in SpreadCycle mode:

OTP Setting (Refer to TMC2208)

---

With the TMC2208 Configurator you can change the settings and program the OTP (One-Time-Programmable) memory of a Trinamic TMC2208 via the UART interface.

 

[UM2+ replacement Main Board]

5 minutes ago, Torgeir said:

Will this fan be possible to put outside the shielded box, in order to blow inside with suction from outside?

 

 

5 minutes ago, Torgeir said:

Yes, this would work, but i think the fan is not really necessary. Only having the alu block on the steppers will be enough.

 

 

 

[UM2+ replacement Main Board]

Dont buy this board.

 

I had several headaches over this thing.

1. Had to remove the fan, because otherwise it would not fit
2. The original mainboard has fit-pressed screw nuts, but the new board does not have these. So i needed to use extra long screws to hold the board in place

3. I had to reverse order ALL the stepper motor leads
4. All the drivers had VREF around 0.85v. For X, Y,Z this is ok, but for E1 i needed to adjust this to +-1.2v (via tiny potmeter)

5. After this, i thought everything worked fine, until i tried to change filament and the extruder motor was stalling while loading the filament. It turns out that the TMC2208 drivers standard have StealthChop enabled. This is great for 'low noise', but gives problems when moving the motor very fast. It is not possible to enable SpreadCycle using pinouts MS1/MS2. Enabling SpreadCycle is only possible when using UART 😞

Possible solutions: Use an A4988 driver for the Extruder or change the firmware (change #define FILAMENT_INSERT_FAST_SPEED 100 to 50)

 

Further the board came with absolutely zero documentation and the seller did not reply to my emails.

[Ultimaker With Skr 1.4]

Wow PorkPie.

This looks really great.

 

Thanks for committing your work to GitHub.

 

Cheers,

Ray

[UM2+ replacement Main Board]

<deleted>

[UM2+ replacement Main Board]

I ordered this v2.1.6 with TMC2208 drivers. It should arive soon and i will keep you updated.

According to the seller it should be a drop in replacement (original firmware can be used).

 

In the past i worked with TMC2130 drivers which did not have potmeters to adjust the stepper current (current could be set programmatically using SPI), but i think you are correct about the 2208's

 

I read somewhere that the Vref pot setting sets RMS average current. The factory setting of 1.23v results in a current of 870mA average, which i think would be fine for the stepper motors in the UM2+

 

But we will see. Fingers crossed

[UM2+ replacement Main Board]

Hi,

 

I just fried my original UM2+ mainboard (wanted to use a more stable power supply, but reversed the 24v polarity, stupidddddddd me) 😞

I can get a 'cloned' v2.1.4 mainboard for a reasonable price, but i stumbled on a v2.1.6 pcb which claims to have removable drivers.

 

They bundle this v2.1.6 mainboard also with 5x TMC2208 drivers (they should be super quiet).

I also see a little fan on top of the driver heatsink, which would be a plus.

 

Does somebody has experiences with these v2.1.6 boards (in combination with the TMC2208 drivers)? Are they any good?

 

See:

https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/32835586263.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.676556cdThk2NH&algo_pvid=66b35798-c2a2-4241-bbc7-82ccb8a0ce61&algo_expid=66b35798-c2a2-4241-bbc7-82ccb8a0ce61-0&btsid=0ab6f81e15886122992508817e1324&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0,searchweb201602_,searchweb201603_

 

Regards,

Raymond