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 |
| Heated glass build plate | 50 °C to 100 °C |
| Build speed |
0.25 nozzle: up to 8 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
- Ultimaker Community
- Ultimaker Troubleshooting Guide
- 3DVerkstan's Visual Ultimaker Troubleshooting Guide
- 3DVerkstan's Guides for Ultimaker
- Spare Parts
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