Upgrading Ultimaker 2+ (SKR 1.4 Turbo, TMC2208)

MeterMaker · May 28, 2020

Hey there community!

So in early 2017, I bought myself an Ultimaker 2 extended+. I had lots of cool projects accomplished thanks to this great printer. But the industry keeps evolving and recently I discovered for myself that on lower-end printers you can swap out stepper motor drivers on the motherboard. Then I found out that Trinamic stepper motor drivers can make printers virtually silent.

That got me thinking about making my Ultimaker more ear-friendly because I currently live in a tiny 1 room flat and have the ability to add more stuff to it.

Had a look around and BTT SKR 1.4 Turbo caught my eye

https://www.biqu.equipment/collections/skr-series/products/btt-skr-v1-4-skr-v1-4-pro

The description of this mainboard says that it supports Ultimaker printers but not much else. That got me wondering if somebody out there already done something like this.

I was not able to find anything about replacing the UM2+ main board on the internet. No videos, no articles, nothing. The only things I was able to find are a few people that showcase dual nozzle mods on UM2 machines with very little info on how they pulled it off.

So my questions are:

Is it even possible or worth it to replace the UM2+ mainboard for an SKR 1.4? Why has nobody done it yet? Is it because people don't want to tinker with expensive printers like this?

Is there some sort of guide on how to do it?

Curven · May 28, 2020

Hi it is possible, I am slowly working on passing my old Ultimaker original to a SKR 1.3 with TMC 2130 for X and Y and TMC 2208 for Z and E axis. Plus a custom heated bed, but my knowledge and time aren't as big as it would need to make it in reasonable time...

It isn't finished yet but as far as I know it should work... But you will have ton configure a custom firmware, which I find cool because the firmware of the UMO is very old and a lot of new features and optimizations have been done to Marlin since then.

One thing I am not sure with the ultimaker 2 is if the LCD screen will work on a SKR 1.X. On My old ultimaker I am as well upgrading the LCD to a full graphic controller.

I think the main reason why there are less people doing these kind of stuff is because it takes time and knowledge that not every one has (and learning it, takes more time!). And many people are happy with their Ultimaker the way it works now.

EDIT:

Actually I have read somewhere on this forum that this mod reduces quite a bit the noise of the printer:

https://www.youmagine.com/designs/dampening-feets-for-ultimaker-2-3

It can help you and is less complicated to do.

Edited May 28, 2020 by Curven