Replace or Repair?

[CalvinCR 0]

I have an Ultimaker 2+ Extended that was damaged over a year ago. The print failed early on and the entire print head is encased in plastic. After researching I believe it was due to using 3+ year old filament that got jammed. 

 

Due to the long time without maintenance, is it better for me to replace the 2+ with a newer model or is it worth repairing?

How is ultimaker at supplying replacement components for their printers?

 

I imagine I would need all new rails and print head, basically everything above the bed.

[Smithy 1,144]

It is hard to say without seeing the printer, but I would say it is always an option to repair it. The print head is easy to disassemble and I think you don't need to replace much parts. 

 

Why do you think you also need to replace the rails?

 

Spare parts are still available, so don't worry.

 

[Torgeir 242]

Hi @CalvinCR

 

If there is any 3D printer there is worthy to repair, -it's for sure an UM2E+!

 

So let's see the pictures of the damages and also a picture of the mother board.

 

There's just four 8mm shafts and two 6mm shafts to change. But those shafts can take many thousands of work hour before any need to change.

 

Shafts pulleys and belts is standard parts in the robot industries -so it is easy to find.

 

How many hours have this printer been printing? 

 

Thanks

Torgeir

[SandervG 1,521]

Agreed! If any printer is a workhorse, it is the Ultimaker 2+ (Extended). Spare parts are available and it is quite user friendly to do maintenance or replace certain parts. Some pictures would help to asses the situation. 

 

It is probably also cheaper to replace some parts than to replace the entire printer. But if you need to hit the ground running for some projects and you have the budget you could also consider the Ultimaker 2+ Connect or Ultimaker S3 if you need dual extrusion. 

[CalvinCR 0]

Thanks for the feedback, I'll take some pictures when I'm in the office again. I was considering replacing the rails because they've been sitting in an empty office for a year without maintenance (Covid) and are starting to show signs of corrosion.

 

Is Ultimaker the best source for replacement parts? I'm guessing at least for a new print head they would be the go to?

[gr5 2,167]

The rods should be fine.  Maybe post a picture?  What you describe sounds like a head flood.  Probably because the glass bed got dusty over many months.  You need to clean that with soap and water and then clean again with glass cleaner.

 

And then you might want to consider applying something like glue stick or woodglue/water mixture or something.

 

Headfloods happen when the part starts out printing okay and at some point when it is wider than tall it comes loose on the bed and starts sliding around like a hockey puck.  The filament keeps coming out but has nowhere to go and ends up inside the print head and makes a horrible mess.

 

Usually you can salvage all the parts but the most delicate ones are the wires to the heater and temp sensor - sometimes you have to replace those two parts but everything else can be salvaged with a heat gun and some metal tools like needle nose pliers.

 

google image search "ultimaker head flood" to get an idea if we are talking about the same thing.

[SandervG 1,521]

17 minutes ago, gr5 said:

And then you might want to consider applying something like glue stick or woodglue/water mixture or something.

 

 

I would say this really depends on what you are printing with most of the times. To get a decent overview for most materials we have written this guide.

 

47 minutes ago, CalvinCR said:

Is Ultimaker the best source for replacement parts?

Where are you based? We should have sales partners in most regions that should be able to help you out. 

[CalvinCR 0]

The photo of the print head is after several hours of melting away PLA with a soldering iron, it's still got a ways to go clearly. The second image is the corrosion on the rails/sliders that I'm concerned about, the photo has the worst rust the rails are pretty clear but I can see tiny dots starting to appear which is why I'm considering them for replacement.

 

Located in Toronto (Canada)

[Smithy 1,144]

Tiny dots on the rods itself are "normal", I see them also in my rods of the UM2, but that don't make any difference. So I would first clean everything and put some oil on it. When you move the sliders by hand and don't feel any strange resistance then I see no need to replace it.

 

If you cannot get the head clean, you just need an Olsson block and I would also order the temperature sensor and heater cartridge to be on the safe side. And don't forget a new nozzle if you don't have ones.

[gr5 2,167]

Did you try simply turning on the nozzle heater?  Around 120C for PLA should soften it nicely such that it kind of "peels off".  Or is the heater or sensor already destroyed?  If you are in Europe, 3dsolex.com has cheap, reliable replacements.  If you explain the error message/messages I can tell you which is broken (heater versus sensor).