Ultimaker Mark2 - The Smart Dual-Extrusion Upgrade

[RudydG 62]

 

1, how can i reduce the speed of first move of head 1, before picking up head 2, because my belts jump over....

 

The tool change travel moves are done by the firmware, but not faster than 200mm/s. If your printer can not handle this, then there is definitely something wrong with it... Are you sure, that the print head (or the rods) does not collide with .... whatever...?

And yes: if you reduce the max. x/y speed of the printer settings, the Marlin firmware limits all moves to this speed (at least it's worth a try).

 

I checked, and did not find any collision source, or bad things in my printer.

But movement above 100mm/sec i never did. I just do not see any real advantage of these high speeds, besides more wear on the machine, the time gain will be relatively low.

I tried changing the speeds in the fw, but i had the feeling, that the head changing speed was not altered.

Normaly this machine is free again sunday at 9pm, will test it further then.

Edited May 7, 2017 by Guest

[foehnsturm 969]

Ok, I set up a paypal donate button. However there's one small issue. If I use my private accout, my email shows up during the process. This is something Paypal warns against because it could attract spam. To prevent this you can use a business account, which I did. But now Paypal displays my company's name "Föhnsturm ..." which people might find strange.

Anyway, I'll collect donatations and will talk to the developers about how to use/share them.

[ultiarjan 1,223]

Charity would be my first choice. Didn't you have connections to something good in Vietnam?

[foehnsturm 969]

Charity would be my first choice.  Didn't you have connections to something good in Vietnam?

 

Francis van Hoi ... actually he's 67 not 76.

[chiz 20]

Ok, I set up a paypal donate button. However there's one small issue. If I use my private accout, my email shows up during the process. This is something Paypal warns against because it could attract spam. To prevent this you can use a business account, which I did. But now Paypal displays my company's name "Föhnsturm ..." which people might find strange.

Anyway, I'll collect donatations and will talk to the developers about how to use/share them.

 

Donated! Thanks, @foehnsturm!

[RudydG 62]

It you problem persits a short video would be helpful.

 

Printer free, time to test again.

Still trouble while starting the print, the moment the head starts to move to pick up T1 (second head), i have a negative Z , it bottoms out and start skipping. As i also have this problem with wrong bed height, i think it is related!

We are sure about the calibration, first the usual like a standard UM2+, the pickup T1, and do the Z with this extruder?

What are you peoples settings? difference between my 2 heads are no 5mm (T1 second head is lower (closer to the printbed)

my extruder offest are 18.09, -23,99 and Z 4.84

Very strange that the Z axe goes down at the beginning...

[RudydG 62]

I think i found the solution:

When reducing the difference between the 2 nozzles to 2mm, (i did a "dry run"), the behaviour is normal, the Z does not go down at the start, and the printheight seems ok.

Now printing a new spacer

[ultiarjan 1,223]

Are you sure during bed leveling (setting height of nozzle1) nozzle 1 was selected? I think I once had a leveling issue and found out, even though I did not have the 2th head on physically according to the printer it was still there....

[RudydG 62]

Are you sure during bed leveling (setting height of nozzle1) nozzle 1 was selected?  I think I once had a leveling issue and found out, even though I did not have the 2th head on physically according to the printer it was still there....

 

Found the solution!!

Works with 2 nozzle 2mm apart from each other, 5mm was to much. (height)

Now the bed levelling works fine (although for the second head i also used the card;-)

Busy with calibrating now.

See that the old feeder of the UM2 really ... is bad. lots of skipping. Will replace that + new ollson block.

I am happy!!

Many thanks already for the beatiful project!

[foehnsturm 969]

Glad to hear this!

[chiz 20]

Congrats, @RudydG!

I think you're officially the first end user who has successfully implemented the Mark2.

As for me, I got the docking and print head parts printed ready for my UM2+ to arrive so I can start tinkering with it.

Edited May 8, 2017 by Guest

[SyntaxTerror 344]

I think it would be cool if we could make some sort of registry... it would be really nice to see how many people implemented this. A world map of Mark 2's or something. I'd definitely get a kick out of it.

[foehnsturm 969]

I think it would be cool if we could make some sort of registry... it would be really nice to see how many people implemented this. A world map of Mark 2's or something. I'd definitely get a kick out of it.

Brilliant idea. I prepare something to show a Mark2 map with markers for devs and users. For the time being just post your latitude,longitude coordinates here. For the devs I'll ask in the beta forum.

[chenci 3]

Hi, quick question. Is it possible to make your second printhead your main extruder when you print one color?

Thanks

[SyntaxTerror 344]

You can just slice your model for extruder #2 instead of #1. That should work.

[ultiarjan 1,223]

As for me, I got the docking and print head parts printed ready for my UM2+ to arrive so I can start tinkering with it.

Just checking.... "or my UM2+ to arrive" I hope you don't mean you're waiting on a NEW um2+ to arrive? Did you read the latest Ultimaker 2's are MISSING THE 5th DRIVER so you can not control the 2th extruder?

It's mentioned on the site and in the BOM, but just thought I notice it again to be clear. ultimaker can not give an exact moment they changed the electronics, but roughly on machines from end 2016 - 2017 you should check if you still have the 5th driver on the main board.

[ultiarjan 1,223]

You can just slice your model for extruder #2 instead of #1. That should work.

Indeed, it works, in Cura pay attention you also need to change the extruder# for priming/brim/support

And quality wise, you'll always get the highest quality on the main head, simply because you're printing with a head with less weight.

[SyntaxTerror 344]

I'll just mention here that I'm putting together a BOM for the unlucky ones, in case someone wants to do a retrofit of the missing A4988.

[chenci 3]

You can just slice your model for extruder #2 instead of #1. That should work.

Indeed, it works, in Cura pay attention you also need to change the extruder# for priming/brim/support

And quality wise, you'll always get  the highest quality on the main head, simply because you're printing with a head with less weight.

This is because i want to use the second extruder with 1.75mm filament and i don't want to change the settings. This is just for experiment.

[SyntaxTerror 344]

This is because i want to use the second extruder with 1.75mm filament and i don't want to change the settings. This is just for experiment.

Ahh, the possibilities

[bob-hepple 59]

Only Got the Magnets to get and Fan shroud I was thinking of getting the head parts SLS Printed is there any reason why not to go down this route, ie the STL Files.. Got little time to print myself it is just easier for me to get them SLS. Hope to start in a few days..

got to get a fan shroud so I thought of this

cheeezy I know

[foehnsturm 969]

Wall thicknesses etc. should work for SLS. Ofc the coupling could be one part instead of 3 then. I'm not sure how well the gluing (especially for the magnets) will work with nylon.

But printing the parts really isn't difficult.

Edited May 8, 2017 by Guest

[chiz 20]

 

As for me, I got the docking and print head parts printed ready for my UM2+ to arrive so I can start tinkering with it.

 

Just checking....  "or my UM2+ to arrive"  I hope you don't mean you're waiting on a NEW um2+ to arrive?    Did you read the latest Ultimaker 2's are MISSING THE 5th DRIVER so you can not control the 2th extruder?

It's mentioned on the site and in the BOM, but just thought I notice it again to be clear. ultimaker can not give an exact moment they changed the electronics, but roughly on machines from end 2016 - 2017 you should check if you still have the 5th driver on the main board.

 

Thanks for letting me know.

I'm not aware about this recent change and just read the thread. Definitely not good especially that I've already invested time and money on the project. Oh well, it is what it is. I still have my hopes high though as the UM2+ I've purchased is a slightly used one that's recently purchased. The original owner cannot confirm whether the EX2 driver is present or not since he's not a tinkerer and has left the electronics untouched.

I'm thinking that should the board lacked the driver, and since I have no experience in using low-temp solder and soldering surface-mounted components in general, perhaps I'll just buy a "replacement" UM2+ board that has the chip soldered already and not risk shorting/damaging the original board.

Edited May 9, 2017 by Guest

[RudydG 62]

At this moment everything works!! Calibration succesfull.

Just some minor issues remain.

The 2nd head, old extruder of the UM2 often skips, will have to replace that, together with the old bowden tube and the ollson block. I hoped it would work with the old stuff... Not! Bwaa, the joy of using dual extrusion is so high, that maybe i will buy a second UM2+ upgrade head!

I use Cura to slice (since the mark2 package now fully supports this software)

What is still strange, my acceleration and jerk settings, 3000mm/s and 20mm in the firmware, are the same settings in Cura (advanced mode), but when i print, as soon as the print starts, it goes to 250mm/s and 6 or 7mm. Is there some preset or setting i miss?

Many thanks!!

Edited May 9, 2017 by Guest

[MarcoUbtz 15]

...but when i print, as soon as the print starts, it goes to 250mm/s and 6 or 7mm. Is there some preset or setting i miss?

Many thanks!!

 

The gcode sliced from cura contains a lot of acceleration/jerk command to get better quality.

If you read the gcode you will find a lot of M204/M205 commands.

Edited May 9, 2017 by Guest