About to build a plywood UM2+ extended, looking for advice and maybe a build buddy

[Fruition_Factory 0]

Hello all, thanks for having me on the forum here. I have been toying with the idea of building a plywood version of the 2+ extended for a while now simply because I LOVE the look of plywood printers. This will be my 9th plywood build, but first one that is an Ultimaker and I'm pretty excited about it.

I have found someone who is going to cut the frames for me. (I plan on making 5 or 6 of them to add to my shop), I have DL'ed the files from github, and combed over the BOM. Off the bat the only thing I know I am going to do differently is that i need to have it run 1.75mm filament. All of my other machines use 1.75mm and i just plain don't want to have to spend all that money to stock all the colors i use all the time in 3mm as well.

What i hope to gain from my time on the forum here is advice on what things those of you who own the 2+ extended machines would hack or modify on your machines so i can just do that from the start. As well as maybe a 'build buddy' or someone who owns a 2+ extended who wouldn't mind answering the occasional question or snapping the occasional picture from time to time and sharing it when i get stuck as i am a visual type of guy.

For any who may find this via google search i have a little disclaimer before you get too excited. I am not doing this to save money, in fact these machines will probably cost me much more than just buying a complete 2+extended directly as I never use cheap parts from china and will be buying all the parts i can from the Ultimaker parts store directly to ensure i get quality parts. That being said, if the community is interested and there seems to be enough support for it, i will probably do a step by step build journal on the forum here sharing my successes and failures, and going further in depth into the modifications made during the build that are recommended by the community itself. Hopefully with feedback and suggestions maybe this journey of a ground up build can help sort things for when Ultimaker makes the UM3 if that ever happens.

Looking forward to your suggestions and input.

[Fruition_Factory 0]

Not even building yet and i found my first hiccup. The BOM calls for 40 DIN 562 Square Nut M3 A2, nearly impossible to find in the US. I can find the DIN 557's easy but they are 5mm not 5.5mm across. Anybody know what they go to and if the .5mm is going to make a difference? I am assuming they screw the frame together but want to make sure.

[ultiarjan 1,223]

I guess a good solid structure is the base of a good printer, so I would want to use the correct parts....

If you'r in the US try getting the parts from http://fbrc8.com/  (the US assembly partner of Ultimaker).

I general, to know which part goes where the .step files of the models are the best....

here you find the assembly step for the UM2 and the UMO (yeah the last one should probably not be there...) the DXF files of the panels are also available....

https://github.com/Ultimaker/Ultimaker2

and the GO

https://github.com/Ultimaker/Ultimaker2Go/tree/master/3D%20model

and the extended

https://github.com/Ultimaker/Ultimaker2Extended/tree/master/3D%20model

The step file assemblies contain the part-numbers, that correspond with the BOM and the pdf/DXF/Step files

If you don't have software that loads .step files try Design Spark Mechanical, or Autodesk Fusion 360 (cloud) both are free.

Edited May 15, 2016 by Guest

[Fruition_Factory 0]

Thanks for the reply and the link to fbrc8. Was able to find the last few parts i couldn't source on their site. Much appreciated.