Ultimaker 2 Plus

Introduction

The Ultimaker 2+ (product page) is a single-extruder 3D printer produced by Ultimaker B.V. in Netherlands. It was introduced at the beginning of 2016 as a slightly improved version of the Ultimaker 2. The Ultimaker 3, featuring two extruders and a completely reworked print head, came out in October 2016. Instead of replacing the Ultimaker 2+, Ultimaker 3 entered Ultimaker's product line as a more professional (and more expensive) printing solution alongside Ultimaker 2+.

Core Specifications

Layer Resolution	0.25 mm nozzle: 150 to 60 micron 0.40 mm nozzle: 200 to 20 micron 0.60 mm nozzle: 400 to 20 micron 0.80 mm nozzle: 600 to 20 micron
Heated glass build plate	50 °C to 100 °C
Build speed	0.25 nozzle: up to 8 mm³/s 0.40 nozzle: up to 16 mm³/s 0.60 nozzle: up to 23 mm³/s 0.80 nozzle: up to 24 mm³/s
Print head travel speed	30 to 300 mm/s
XYZ accuracy	12.5, 12.5, 5 micron
Nozzle temperature	180 °C to 260 °C
Nozzle heat up time	~ 1 minute
Build plate heat up time	< 4 minutes
Operating sound	50 dBA

Levelling The Glass Plate

How well you level the heating bed affects the quality and adhesion of the first layer. In addition to adjusting the distance between the glass and the nozzle tip as evenly as possible for all corners of the glass plate you also need to make sure the glass plate sits snugly on the heating bed so that heat transfer is optimal. I get better results when tightening the screws of the heating bed a fair bit before starting the build plate adjustment procedure.

I use a credit card (or similar plastic card) as a spacer to adjust the 1 mm distance between the nozzle and the glass plate in the first step of the levelling procedure. I then use the blue paper card that came with the Ultimaker 2+ to adjust the 0.1 mm distance in the second step.

You should remove residual material from the nozzle tip before beginning with the levelling procedure. Otherwise you won't be able to calibrate to the correct distances.

The surface of the bottom layer should turn out as smooth as the surface of the glass bed. See this guide from Ultimaker on how the bottom layer should look like.

Printing Tips

You will need to purchase or build an enclosure to seal the top of the printer in order to prevent warping when printing with materials that are sensitive to temperature changes. Actually all materials are, in varying degrees. So, even if you print with PLA, one of the least temperature-sensitive materials, you will notice an improvement in the quality of your prints.
Apparently the glass bed is no special glass. Have a spare one made at a glaziery in case it breaks or gets damaged while removing a print.

Online Help

Nozzles

The following nozzles are available for mounting on the Olsson block hot end used in the Ultimaker 2+:

⌀ (mm)	material	usage
0.25	brass	For fine details at low speed.
0.40	brass	The 'standard' nozzle size.
0.50	steel	?
0.60	brass	?
0.80	brass	?
1.00	brass	?

Check out 3D Solex, a Norwegian producer of replacement nozzles for Ultimaker 2,2+,3.

Material Presets

Strangely, you can select the material type from a list in the printer menu that is managed separately from the materials managed through Cura (versions up to 2.4, at least). From the root menu open Material, then Settings to see the list. The same menu features an export/import utility which writes the list of materials to a file (MATERIAL.TXT) on the SD card, or reads the contents of MATERIAL.TXT from the SD card to update the list. You can thus customize the list of materials and their printing properties. For example, here is the current MATERIAL.TXT file for my printer:

[material]
name=nGen
temperature=232
temperature_0.40=232
retraction_length_0.40=4.50
retraction_speed_0.40=45.00
temperature_0.25=230
retraction_length_0.25=4.50
retraction_speed_0.25=45.00
temperature_0.60=234
retraction_length_0.60=4.50
retraction_speed_0.60=45.00
temperature_0.80=234
retraction_length_0.80=4.50
retraction_speed_0.80=45.00
temperature_1.00=234
retraction_length_1.00=4.50
retraction_speed_1.00=45.00
bed_temperature=80
fan_speed=100
flow=107
diameter=2.85
[material]
name=ABS MakerBot
temperature=255
temperature_0.40=250
retraction_length_0.40=6.50
retraction_speed_0.40=25.00
temperature_0.25=245
retraction_length_0.25=6.50
retraction_speed_0.25=25.00
temperature_0.60=250
retraction_length_0.60=6.50
retraction_speed_0.60=25.00
temperature_0.80=250
retraction_length_0.80=6.50
retraction_speed_0.80=25.00
temperature_1.00=250
retraction_length_1.00=6.50
retraction_speed_1.00=25.00
bed_temperature=90
fan_speed=100
flow=100
diameter=3.00
[material]
name=ABS REC
temperature=245
temperature_0.40=240
retraction_length_0.40=6.50
retraction_speed_0.40=25.00
temperature_0.25=235
retraction_length_0.25=6.50
retraction_speed_0.25=25.00
temperature_0.60=245
retraction_length_0.60=6.50
retraction_speed_0.60=25.00
temperature_0.80=245
retraction_length_0.80=6.50
retraction_speed_0.80=25.00
temperature_1.00=245
retraction_length_1.00=6.50
retraction_speed_1.00=25.00
bed_temperature=90
fan_speed=100
flow=100
diameter=2.85
[material]
name=PLA
temperature=210
temperature_0.40=210
retraction_length_0.40=6.50
retraction_speed_0.40=25.00
temperature_0.25=195
retraction_length_0.25=6.50
retraction_speed_0.25=25.00
temperature_0.60=230
retraction_length_0.60=6.50
retraction_speed_0.60=25.00
temperature_0.80=240
retraction_length_0.80=6.50
retraction_speed_0.80=25.00
temperature_1.00=240
retraction_length_1.00=6.50
retraction_speed_1.00=25.00
bed_temperature=60
fan_speed=100
flow=100
diameter=2.85
[material]
name=CPE
temperature=250
temperature_0.40=250
retraction_length_0.40=6.50
retraction_speed_0.40=25.00
temperature_0.25=245
retraction_length_0.25=6.50
retraction_speed_0.25=25.00
temperature_0.60=260
retraction_length_0.60=6.50
retraction_speed_0.60=25.00
temperature_0.80=260
retraction_length_0.80=6.50
retraction_speed_0.80=25.00
temperature_1.00=260
retraction_length_1.00=6.50
retraction_speed_1.00=25.00
bed_temperature=70
fan_speed=100
flow=100
diameter=2.85
[material]
name=PC
temperature=260
temperature_0.40=260
retraction_length_0.40=6.50
retraction_speed_0.40=25.00
temperature_0.25=260
retraction_length_0.25=6.50
retraction_speed_0.25=25.00
temperature_0.60=260
retraction_length_0.60=6.50
retraction_speed_0.60=25.00
temperature_0.80=260
retraction_length_0.80=6.50
retraction_speed_0.80=25.00
temperature_1.00=260
retraction_length_1.00=6.50
retraction_speed_1.00=25.00
bed_temperature=110
fan_speed=100
flow=100
diameter=2.85
[material]
name=Nylon
temperature=250
temperature_0.40=250
retraction_length_0.40=6.50
retraction_speed_0.40=25.00
temperature_0.25=240
retraction_length_0.25=6.50
retraction_speed_0.25=25.00
temperature_0.60=255
retraction_length_0.60=6.50
retraction_speed_0.60=25.00
temperature_0.80=260
retraction_length_0.80=6.50
retraction_speed_0.80=25.00
temperature_1.00=260
retraction_length_1.00=6.50
retraction_speed_1.00=25.00
bed_temperature=60
fan_speed=100
flow=100
diameter=2.85
[material]
name=CPE+
temperature=260
temperature_0.40=260
retraction_length_0.40=6.50
retraction_speed_0.40=25.00
temperature_0.25=260
retraction_length_0.25=6.50
retraction_speed_0.25=25.00
temperature_0.60=260
retraction_length_0.60=6.50
retraction_speed_0.60=25.00
temperature_0.80=260
retraction_length_0.80=6.50
retraction_speed_0.80=25.00
temperature_1.00=260
retraction_length_1.00=6.50
retraction_speed_1.00=25.00
bed_temperature=110
fan_speed=100
flow=100
diameter=2.85
[material]
name=TPU 95A
temperature=235
temperature_0.40=235
retraction_length_0.40=10.00
retraction_speed_0.40=25.00
temperature_0.25=235
retraction_length_0.25=10.00
retraction_speed_0.25=25.00
temperature_0.60=235
retraction_length_0.60=10.00
retraction_speed_0.60=25.00
temperature_0.80=235
retraction_length_0.80=10.00
retraction_speed_0.80=25.00
temperature_1.00=235
retraction_length_1.00=10.00
retraction_speed_1.00=25.00
bed_temperature=70
fan_speed=100
flow=100
diameter=2.85