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Ultimaker Mark2 - The Smart Dual-Extrusion Upgrade


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Posted · Ultimaker Mark2 - The Smart Dual-Extrusion Upgrade

Just finished building my Mark 2 and I thought I would share my results. First of all, I'm by no means a 3d printing expert but I think the results are pretty good. I have an original Ultimaker 2 but all replacement parts and materials I used are all China sourced.

first-results.thumb.jpg.82cd5e068694a1c67752b31e51677677.jpg

I used china made ABS filament to print the parts (about $3-4 usd per 1kg roll). 

Printed the cone with a mixture of Ultimaker blue PLA (came with the machine years ago) and cheap China made PLA (about $2usd per 1kg roll). Here's a first pic of my results, the first ever dual extrusion print I made. No prime towers so have head oozing where the print starts. This cleaned up ok but thinking a prime tower would have eliminated this.

 

What I did notice is the Ultimaker PLA liquified (if that's even a word) more when heated to the same temp. So when the blue started to print it would sort of ooze over easily but not the black. I'm thinking adjustment of temperature for this extruder or changing the Z offset might help smoothen it out. Either way I'm happy with the results.

closeup.thumb.jpg.d3fc6c164d3fd7c5b3c4dd53201a8e30.jpg

 

I basically upgraded my machine with China made clone UM2+ type head with the Olsson block and all metal UM2+ type feeder. For about $200usd I got:  2 feeder step motors, 2 complete heads with the bowden tube/all electrical etc..., 2 aluminium feeders, extra olsson blocks, nozzles, bowden tubes, feeder gears, PT100 etc... Just to give you an idea of what this upgrade should cost. I think the only issue I had was with the bowden tube not sitting into the hot end easily but once this is in there wasn't a problem. Maybe also the nozzles aren't exactly the right size opening but I'm no expert so i can't tell the difference in quality. But considering what I paid I think the results are acceptable to me (maybe not to an expert though).

 

Some things I realized when building the machine and testing is originally I had the feeder up high. (Now excuse the short power wires, I didn't want to spend the money on the expansion board so I just wired it up as is to see the results.) With the feeder up hight, I didn't shorten the bowden tube and as it neared the back of the machine, the stiffness of the bowden tube and filament knocked the head off the magnets. So I decided to move the feeder in the original intended location down low so the bowden tube would be the correct length. No problems now with the head falling off. Also I was able to mount the feeder upside down to get the tension screw facing the right way. Luckily I assumed the Tinkergnome firmware would have the ability to reverse the motor direction and sure enough it did!

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I just removed the filament guide and that's the hole I used to insert the wires. I don't even have a second spool yet! I just let it sit in a box on it's side for now. 

back2.thumb.jpg.29274378e15ef2869a331b3ee2dfc211.jpg

 

Once I make sure everything works well, I will probably clean it all up and make it presentable. I'm also going to install dual flow sensors to see how it all works out. But so far great project! Well worth the effort.

back.jpg

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Posted · Ultimaker Mark2 - The Smart Dual-Extrusion Upgrade

The oozing issue of the blue filament could also be a temperature overshoot when heating up the new active nozzle.

Using OctoPrint I have noticed that hotends tend to overshoot 10-20C on heatup and it takes 15-30s to get back down.

A prime tower also helps this issue as the head will print the tower for 10s instead of your model and it has time to get down to the right temperature. The oozing happens at the prime tower instead then.

 

But in fact different filaments have different viscosities (is that written correctly? Looks strange) and not only the optimum printing temp, that could differ 10-20C, but also the curve how fast they become liquid. I have one PLA that I can’t print with higher temp for higher speed because when setting it 10-20C C higher it’s to liquid to print nicely and oozes. 

 

So it might be both for you. Overshoot and 10C too much temperature.

 

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    Posted · Ultimaker Mark2 - The Smart Dual-Extrusion Upgrade

    I printed another test file with the ultimaker PLA vs the black China brand. Now if you look at the image, the lead edge is where the hole is and this corner is almost perfect without oozing. The other two corners have the ultimaker blue PLA oozing off the edge. Now the blue is also in extruder #2. 

     

    My thought is if it was purely the PLA temperature I would probably have ooze on all 4 sides. I'm thinking it might be a combo of over extruding and temp. Either way very happy with the results so far. 

    IMG_20181216_051537.jpg

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    Posted · Ultimaker Mark2 - The Smart Dual-Extrusion Upgrade

    Hi everyone, 

     

    I've just been building the Mark2 upgrade for our Ultimaker 2 Extended at work, and it's all gone together smoothly... however, I am having a rather fatal error.

     

    Other than the bowden tube causing too much tension and popping the second head off the magnets (I'll re-position the feeder and see what works best), I've been having the UM2 crash while printing...

     

    First it would simply crash upon heating, and would never actually get to the printing (wasn't able to print the calibration print) but after trying different versions of the firmware I found one that works.

     

    So I managed to print the calibration print, but when I tried it again (after setting the correct offset) it crashed midway through...

     

    The LED strip on the UM2 flickers a lot while its printing, so I feel like it's a power issue? Maybe the printer is needing to draw more power, but it can't and so crashes? 

     

    I'm printing in ABS if that helps... so the temperatures are a bit higher than PLA

     

    I realise as I type that this may be the case...

    Anyone know of this problem?

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    Posted · Ultimaker Mark2 - The Smart Dual-Extrusion Upgrade

    Hi,

     

    Glad to have you here. Please check the power budget settings and search for that topic here. This is a rather common issue and, due to individual hardware variations, the solution is not perfectly straightforward but a requires some tinkering.

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    Posted · Ultimaker Mark2 - The Smart Dual-Extrusion Upgrade
    1 hour ago, foehnsturm said:

    Hi,

     

    Glad to have you here. Please check the power budget settings and search for that topic here. This is a rather common issue and, due to individual hardware variations, the solution is not perfectly straightforward but a requires some tinkering.

     

    Thank you!

    I did a bit of searching around this topic the other day and found out about the power budget settings,

    Hopefully I can get this thing to work today :)

     

     

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    Posted · Ultimaker Mark2 - The Smart Dual-Extrusion Upgrade

    To me the power budget feature is very simple but it seems to confuse people.  The power budget feature does not know how much power each element uses so you jsut tell it.  Tell it how many watts everything is and what the budget is and it will make sure heaters are turned off or turned down a bit when they would exceed the budget.  The bed gets lowest priority.

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    Posted · Ultimaker Mark2 - The Smart Dual-Extrusion Upgrade
    On 12/20/2018 at 7:36 PM, Sam08861 said:

    Yes that kit will work. I have bought and installed it.

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    Posted · Ultimaker Mark2 - The Smart Dual-Extrusion Upgrade

    The words in that aliexpress store item are identical (stolen) from my web page.  You should ignore the words as you don't need anything else.  Here's the thing in my store (which I am sold out of and I'm having trouble getting more): https://thegr5store.com/store/index.php/mark2-dual-print-upgrade-kit.html

     

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    Posted (edited) · Ultimaker Mark2 - The Smart Dual-Extrusion Upgrade

    @GR5, Have you got this working with Simplify3D?

    It is my goto printing program and am just wondering what I would need to do to get it to work on that.

     

    Lastly, Is ABS suitable instead of high temp PLA? I just didnt want to buy a new roll if I didnt have to. I was intending on using Form Futura Premium ABS

    Edited by Nightram
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    Posted · Ultimaker Mark2 - The Smart Dual-Extrusion Upgrade

     

    Simplify3D does not include this nice "standby temperature automatic" (like Cura). Besides that it works just fine with the Mark2 setup.

     

    I see no reason why you should not use ABS, as long as you get dimensional correct prints with it.

    Insert the magnets with a drop of epoxy and you're good to go.

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    Posted · Ultimaker Mark2 - The Smart Dual-Extrusion Upgrade
    11 minutes ago, tinkergnome said:

     

    Simplify3D does not include this nice "standby temperature automatic" (like Cura). Besides that it works just fine with the Mark2 setup.

     

    I see no reason why you should not use ABS, as long as you get dimensional correct prints with it.

    Insert the magnets with a drop of epoxy and you're good to go.

    Thanks, Ill see how it goes. I mainly want to use Simplify3D as I have already paid the $149 USD for it and cant get a refund 🙂

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    Posted · Ultimaker Mark2 - The Smart Dual-Extrusion Upgrade

    I have sliced a print with S3d with standby temps of 170 so hopefully will work,, I got the profile from the forum some time ago.. I use S3D a lot but understand Cura is better for the Mark 2 but I think your limited to the version of Cura to run (I could be wrong) I lost count how many threads I read.

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    Posted · Ultimaker Mark2 - The Smart Dual-Extrusion Upgrade

    Hello 

     

    I just read all the entries in this blog.
    It's fantastic what people can make when they work together.
    Big thanks to all.
    Now i started with de Mark 2 upgrade.

     

    I have one question:

    Can i leave the PostScript Mark 2 activated when i print with single extruder? 
    By the way, it is not written on https://magnetic-tool-changer.com/ to activate the PostScript Mark 2 or i'm wrong?

    I planed to connect my heat bed to a second (my old UM2 PSU) with a solid state relay. Just to make sure the current do not drop with 2 extruders. Did that somebody with the UM2 already?

    Kycon PlugSolid State

     

    I made it with my Vertex K8400. I installed a 300W/230V  heat bed. 
    The heat bed is faster on printing temperature than the nozzle 😉
     

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    Posted · Ultimaker Mark2 - The Smart Dual-Extrusion Upgrade

    Die ersten Teile sind fertig mit Proto-Pasta HTPLA Carbon Fibre

    Mark2.JPG

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    Posted · Ultimaker Mark2 - The Smart Dual-Extrusion Upgrade

    Hi Flowbey,

     

    That looks pretty neat.👍

    I used a heated bed with a solid state relay on the UMO with no issues, so I would not expect any problems on the UM2.

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    Posted · Ultimaker Mark2 - The Smart Dual-Extrusion Upgrade

    First print 👍

     

    I use a old UM2 not UM2+ head and feeder until the new parts are here. Works pretty well.

    Dual_Cone.JPG

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    Posted · Ultimaker Mark2 - The Smart Dual-Extrusion Upgrade

    Hi,

    one question for this modification...

    Does anybody has a Mark2 with a Duet Wifi running? Is it possible to run the Mark2 with the Duet Wifi board?

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    Posted · Ultimaker Mark2 - The Smart Dual-Extrusion Upgrade
    1 hour ago, Stan-D said:

    Hi,

    one question for this modification...

    Does anybody has a Mark2 with a Duet Wifi running? Is it possible to run the Mark2 with the Duet Wifi board?

     

    Not yet, but I have a Duet board waiting for a test. And then I will find out how Mark2 is to be implemented with that. But I think it will be 1-2 months until I get to try that.

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    Posted · Ultimaker Mark2 - The Smart Dual-Extrusion Upgrade
    19 hours ago, Stan-D said:

    Hi,

    one question for this modification...

    Does anybody has a Mark2 with a Duet Wifi running? Is it possible to run the Mark2 with the Duet Wifi board?

    I can't see why it would'nt work. You only have to program the tool change files yourself, but other than that there should not be any problem.

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    Posted · Ultimaker Mark2 - The Smart Dual-Extrusion Upgrade

    So i made my first DualPrint STL-File by my self.

     

    IMG_0480.thumb.JPG.681905990a937dad0881deebd4110bd0.JPGimage.png.7b322856cab987ec2ca2908034861417.png

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    Posted · Ultimaker Mark2 - The Smart Dual-Extrusion Upgrade
    11 hours ago, Flowbey said:

    So i made my first DualPrint STL-File by my self.

     

    Great, Yippee!!  serious, congratulations! It's always nice to achieve something new

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    Posted · Ultimaker Mark2 - The Smart Dual-Extrusion Upgrade

    Will this firmware allow me to re-do the nozzle docking parameters to actuaste the lift mechanic on the UM3 print head ?

    I'm doing the crazy thing of literally turning my UM2+ into a UM3+

     

    I have the head, print cores,  need to get the Linux board next.

     

    But I think for now I will just use this mark 2 FW to drive the UM3 head with basic functions until I get the linux board installed.

     

    Is anyone else doing this ?

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    Posted · Ultimaker Mark2 - The Smart Dual-Extrusion Upgrade

    Hi Experts,

    for my Mark 2 UM2 I want to use Cura 4.0. Are the current Mark2 resource files suitable?

    When I want to activate the Mark2 UM2 in Cura 4.0 I get the following error message and do not know how to correct my files:

    See enclosed screenshot.

    What can I do?  Or stick with Cura 3.3.1 ?

    Thanks 

    Gunther

    Bildschirmfoto 2019-03-25 um 20.13.48.png

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