Heating bed for Ultimaker Original

[printerfan 5]

I am interested in getting a heated bed for my ultimaker original; however, found the price for the official heating bed to be rather extreme. I found one on ebay that looks nice and for a great price: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Heated-Bed-Kit-for-Ultimaker-Reprap-3d-Printers-MK2-PCB-Aluminium-plate-/161157442118?ssPageName=ADME:X:AAQ:US:1123

Its sold by http://www.ebay.com/usr/3dprinting_hk?_trksid=p2047675.l2559, who I think has posted on this forum before; however, the item is out of stock and I have not received an email back from them regarding when they will get more heated beds in stock. I have a spare power source that I can use for a heated bed, but not much other spare parts besides that.

Any recommendations for a heated bed for an Ultimaker Original?

 

[stevie.d 0]

Had one of those when released first. There is another listing on E-Bay for same only has plate and cables.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Heated-Bed-Kit-Aluminium-Plate-with-Temperature-Sensor-for-Ultimaker-3D-Printers-/221520297760?ssPageName=ADME:X:RTQ:US:1123

 

Have to be really careful though, I ripped the connector off the side after a week

 

The relay I got with it was crap burned out in no time got this instead

 

http://cgi.ebay.ie/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItemVersion&view=all&item=180887450162&tid=1252082252008&ssPageName=ADME:X:UPICB:IE:1123

 

The Power supply they were also selling never worked so bought this

 

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/DC-5V-12-24V-Universal-Switching-Power-Supply-for-LED-Strip-CCTV-or-other-use-UK-/261382913321?

 

You'll also need

4.7k ohm resistor

 

and when recompiling the firmware make sure to read this

 

http://umforum.ultimaker.com/index.php?/topic/6391-not-sure-if-this-is-a-bug-with-cura-1407-or-another-issue/

 

For the short time I had them all working together it was pretty good set up. So for the plate on it's own it's a good deal, then, source all the other bits locally.

 

[printerfan 5]

Thanks for the reply, this is very helpful. Do you have another link for the relay? The link for the relay posted above appears broken or the item is discontinued.

 

[printerfan 5]

How do glass beds work? Do you simply set the glass on top of the aluminum plate via clips or do you have to buy a glass plate that has heating elements built inside?

 

[rob 0]

How do glass beds work? Do you simply set the glass on top of the aluminum plate via clips or do you have to buy a glass plate that has heating elements built inside?

 

The glass plate is typically clipped onto the top of the heated bed. This allows you to take the glass off to remove prints or clean the bed. The official ultimaker heated bed is some sort of aluminium plate with the heating element etched onto one side but with RepRap type printers you'll typically see just a PCB with a glass plate strapped to the top.

 

[anon4321 16]

The UM kit is expensive but your should consider it.

First, it's more ridged than the plywood bed apparently by a good bit. This means leveling is more consistent. Second, as long as you don't have a dual extruder set up , it only requires one power supply which is included in the kit. Thirdly, it converts the printer to 3 point leveling, Finally, it is supported in the official firmware from UM.

I don't own it. I have one of HK's beds. However, I'm seriously considering converting the the UM kit while possibly using HK's bed (it uses more power and therefore heats faster but that means I need to keep the second PS).

 

[rob 0]

I ripped the connector off the side after a week

 

 

The relay I got with it was crap burned out in no time

 

 

The Power supply they were also selling never worked

 

 

You'll also need

4.7k ohm resistor

 

 

recompiling the firmware

You can see why going down the DIY route might put some people off, yes it's probably going to be cheaper but you do need to be prapared to do your research and able to troubleshoot when things go wrong.

I do think the official Ultimaker kit is good value considering the quality of the components they supply. Remember, it's not juse a heated bed you're getting, it includes a whole new aluminium Z stage (identical to the UM2), new Z stepper with built in leadscrew, hefty 24V power supply, new power supply board, and a nicely finished glass plate.

I was really happy printing on blue tape and the acrylic bed but wanted a heated bed to prevent warping on larger prints. I wouldn't go back now, the bottom layer is so much nicer now and prints litrally pop off the bed once it's cooled down, no more scraping or soaking in alcohol to remove the tape.

 

[printerfan 5]

Ok, I am now leaning towards to Ultimaker heated bed. I have dual extrusion, so what does that change for me in terms of installing the Ultimaker heated bed? Also, I live in the USA, how long will it take me to receive the bed once I order it?

 

[Titus 170]

It means you will have to hook up the HB kit separately. Meaning you have to use 2 power adapters, both the original one and the new one.

 

[printerfan 5]

Anyone have any idea how long it usually takes Ultimaker to ship an UMO heated bed to the USA? Shouldn't it be faster now that they have a manufacturing partner in the States?

 

[jenschr 6]

I did my own heated bed two years ago, so I've been biased towards that approach. I have to say that after getting the official bed upgrade at my local hackerspace (http://bitraf.no), I totally think it's worth the price. You replace the whole platform, it's incredibly rigid, Z-homing is super-fast with the new Z-screw & the process isn't too hard. The guy who did the upgrade did not have much hardware experience at all and he did fine. He forgot a couple screws, but we added them later.

 

[printerfan 5]

I will likely purchase an official Ultimaker Heated Bed. I honestly would prefer to purchase it used seeing that it will likely be an enormous hassle with a long lag time and an expensive shipping price because the USA distributor does not ship the heated bed, rather it will come from the main office...

 

[printerfan 5]

Went ahead and ordered one from makershed, will update you all on the service when the heated bed arrives

[anon4321 16]

Cool didn't know they had them. I'm going to order one too!

 

[printerfan 5]

The girl answering the phone was very nice. There was some confusion with them entering my email incorrectly, but I called and got it corrected. After that I got a confirmation email same day and they shipped on the same day. So far I am very happy with the service, I wanted to have the bed for Thanksgiving break so I would have the time to properly install it and it looks like Makershed will make that happen.