UM2 upgrade kit, first impression and some tips

[ultiarjan 1,221]

I installed the upgrade kit on my 2 years old Ultimaker2 and thought I'd share some first impressions and tips.

Installation;

After long and successful service it became time to say goodbye to the 'railssytem' always loved my feeder but I trust the new +feeder will be better..

I thought installation was pretty easy, though I can imagine for less technical people some parts may a bit scary, specially handling the electronics, but in general I think the Ultimaker2 is very difficult to break so it should not be an issue... just do it. There was a lot of discoloration on my mainboard, think  the plastics parts loose flexibility over the years as some connectors were pretty hard to get loose.

Some stuff that could be a bit more clear in the manual;

The metal feeder plate sits on the feeder when you receive it, it's loose you can just pull it off.

To easy push the new cable bundle through the housing, fold it at the end of the black 'mesh', push it through, hold the loose cables then pull back the mesh to make some space and finally pull the individual cables and connectors through the hole.

When your aligning the axis, before tightening the pulleys make sure to push them to the outside, against the wall, when done check if there's no side-play in the axis. Also, just before tightening a pulley wiggle the belt (top and bottom) a little with your finger to evenly distribute the tension.

My pre-assembled head was pretty tight, I could not get any rotational movement in the hot-end-isolator so I decided to take it apart and put it together with less tension on the PTFE, no idea if it was really needed but better-save-than-sorry. I afterwards learned UM is using sort of a spacer tool during assembly so it was probably alright. I usually assemble by putting it all together with still some play in the hot-end-isolator and then put the pressure on by turning the hot-end-isolator. Here's a picture of the metal spacer, if you have an older UM2 you can use a printed version.

https://www.youmagine.com/designs/ultimaker-2-spring-replacement

https://www.youmagine.com/designs/um2-spring-replacement

The metal fan holder has a lot of clearance around the olsson block, but be careful to align the nozzle in the middle, so it will not touch the side, if you ever take it off.

To attach the stickers, I first cleaned the housing with some paper towel + alcohol. cut the sticker in half and cut of the not needed black parts, place it using a piece of transparant tape, remove the back of the sticker and attach it. I used the back of a screwdriver to rub it on and waited a few minutes before removing the top layer of the sticker.

After you're done with the alignement of the axis/pulleys, push the head diagonally, more important than the total friction; it should move straight without zigzagging.

I installed the @tinkergnome 16.3+ firmware, and only got terrible prints with huge pillowing, I suspect a firmware issue causing the cooling fans to turn slower (still unconfirmed) so I installed the latest Ultimaker firmware from cura and all was fine again (except that I hate the UM firmware and really miss all information in my display).

first impression;

The first thing that made me very happy is the silence, I never replaced the old hot end fan, and the new sunon is just sooooooo much more quiet.

I also like the feeder, it may not be a fair comparison as I used to have my feeder and motor on the outside, but I find the new feeder pretty quiet, I had expected a lot more noise from the gears.

I tried some old PLA, last on the spool so pretty springy, and it prints with no issue. It also seems my top layers are nice and closed again, which was not the case before, would not surprise me if the old banana xy axis also had something to do with this ... I don't really like not having an open view on the knurled wheel, but at least the type Ultimaker is using should be pretty self cleaning so it should be oké. I'll open the feeder after some more printing hours just to see if all is still clean.

I have not tried any flex material yet, but I expect to be able to get to higher speeds than on the old feeder. For me the main missing function is the manual opening of the feeder, but thanks to an idea of @nicolinux this is also sort-off solved. I can understand the Ultimaker designers did not want the feeder handle to stick out, but I would have preferd the handle to be a bit longer, to make it more comfortable to open it.

https://www.youmagine.com/designs/wedgebot-for-ultimaker2

Just FYI, the old and new feeder motor;

New metal fanholder.

To be honest, just based on looking at the still asymmetric design I was expecting the 2+ version to perform a lot worse than the @labern fanshrout. To test I made a similar test print, both after installing the full upgrade kit, same colorfabb PLA, same gcode.

I think the labern version still performs best, but the difference is a lot less than I expected. If you print at higher temperatures a lot and just want a 'no hassle' solution you probably want to stick to the metal 2+ version. I really like it that UM replaced the the 'self tap screws' which could be the cause of horrible noise, for m2.5 bolts.  If you only print PLA at relatively low temperatures or have a specific need for the extra cooling, you probably should try laberns version. I printed my old one in ABS (the type with a melting temp >100c) and never had to replace it.

Here are the results of the test, laberns version on the left, the metal 2+ on the right. The test starts printing on 210c moving to 190c in steps of 5c.

https://www.youmagine.com/designs/quick-temperature-fillament-test

* some of the tips came from Dennis (UM), the sticker tip came from Joris (the guy from the printed elephant and the TNT trumpet commercial)

Edited April 6, 2016 by Guest

[zerspaner_gerd 361]

Hello @ultiarjan,

Thank you for your contribution and your tests.

Have the default e-Steps values checked once.

Original Firmware value= 369,0mm Measured 100mm filament = 103,7mm.

Is that still in the tolerance?

In the old feeder that fit the bill perfectly.

Sorry for the bad English

[ultiarjan 1,221]

I have no idea what would be a normal tolerance, but with 3,7% off it seems it should be possible to get it better. On the other hand Ultimaker worked a long time on this feeder so I somehow think the steps value should be ok....

[IRobertI 516]

For inexperienced users, you should avoid taking the head apart unless you absolutely have to. The tolerances for the spacer/TFM/block are pretty important to make sure it performs the way it should. Ultimaker uses a little spacer when they tighten down the package to make sure every unit has the "exact" (that's a dangerous word ) same tension.

Before you ask, I don't have the spacer, I've asked for it several times as it's kinda important when your job is working on Ultimakers... but haven't gotten one yet. I've used a set of callipers to measure the distance between the two plates when re-tightening (I don't remember the distance off hand).

[Labern 773]

I hope there will be a good guide or something to demonstrate how people at home can achieve the same precision for users where something goes wrong and it has to be dismantled.

[frederiekpascal 193]

Nice write up, I do miss @tinkergnome 's firmware too

[ultiarjan 1,221]

Nice write up, I do miss @tinkergnome 's firmware too

 

I installed 16.3.1 yesterday and everything seems to be ok

[ultiarjan 1,221]

I hope there will be a good guide or something to demonstrate how people at home can achieve the same precision for users where something goes wrong and it has to be dismantled.

 

yeah... @SandervG can you share an assembly instruction for the + head and (the dimensions of) the spacer tool used? People will have to take there head appart someday... even if the new teflon is better...

[SandervG 1,518]

 

I hope there will be a good guide or something to demonstrate how people at home can achieve the same precision for users where something goes wrong and it has to be dismantled.

 

yeah... @SandervG can you share an assembly instruction for the + head and (the dimensions of) the spacer tool used? People will have to take there head appart someday... even if the new teflon is better...

 

I'll see what I can do!

Edited April 11, 2016 by Guest

[ultiarjan 1,221]

First flex print with the upgraded feeder, makerpoint MP45, it's a semi flexible, not like ninja flex.. prints fine; speed 25 mm/s, 245c bed 65c.