The Ultimaker 2 was phenomenon, but there are people who were still wishing that some features in it were improved. Thatís why the news on release of an improved version, at CES 2016, was welcomed with so much jubilation. But does the new version, dabbed Ultimaker 2+, keep up to its expectations? Can it fir in the shoes of the famous Ultimaker 2? Well, read on to find outÖ
In this ReviewÖ
- Introduction to Ultimaker 2+
- Letís talk about the Ultimaker 2+
- Design and Features of the Ultimaker 2+
- A Comparison between the Ultimaker 2 and the Ultimaker 2+
- Merits of Ultimaker 2+
- Demerits of Ultimaker 2+
- Final Say on the Ultimaker 2+
- Printing with Ultimaker 2+: the 3D Printer Setup
- Printing with the Ultimaker 2+: The Printer Software
- Printing with the Ultimaker 2+: 3D Printer Calibration
- Printing with the Ultimaker 2+: Print Quality Tests
- Addressing Concerns with the Ultimaker 2+
- Conclusion and Recommendation
Letís Talk about the Ultimaker 2+
This workhorse is a genius product of Ultimaker, a Geldermalsen Netherlands based company. This company is famous for a wide variety of other famous 3D printers and supporting ecosystem. Some of other household name creations from .Ultimaker include; The Ultimaker Original+ in kit form, the Ultimaker 2 Go, and the Ultimaker 2+ Extended (which replaced the Ultimaker 2 Extended). This company wholly committed to the open source movement and has therefore comprehensively documented all the software and hardware it has created and these can be freely copied, converted or modified by all users.
The Ultimaker 2+ is an upgraded version of the widely talked about Ultimaker 2. It therefore features a similar user base as itís its predecessor. This 3D printer model is ideal for production and prototyping and can therefor come handy for libraries, schools, small businesses, industrial designers and even home-users.
According to Ultimaker, the Ultimaker 2+ is the most advanced, reliable and accurate 3D printer in the market as per now. We partly agree with this claim seeing that the Ultimaker was able to print for us very mesmerizing test objects, and we experienced no major drawbacks during our testing process. The part of this claim that we donít subscribe to is that itís the most advanced technologyÖwe have actually tested other more advanced printers so unfortunately Ultimaker doesnít hold the trophy for this one.
What this Review Covers
Design and Features of the Ultimaker 2+
Ultimaker 2+ features a white, plastic acrylic semi-open frame measuring 15.3 X 13.5 X 14 inches (HWD). ìOpen Frameî means itís partly enclosed on all four sides, but it lacks a top cover or door. The build area measures 8.8 X 8.8 X 8.1 inches, which is the exact same on the Ultimaker 2. Its resolution is between 600 microns to 20 macrons, a micron being 0.001mm. It features a heated glass plate print bed that is stationed on a motorized, moveable carriage; it moves on the Z (vertical) axis. The extruder is also on the same position with the print bed, except that it moves on the X and Y (horizontal) axes.
The physical design of the 2+ is almost a mirror image of the Ultimaker 2. To see the difference, you will have to look closely to the very intricate details. One of these is the redesign of the cooling fan thatís attached to the extruder assembly. This has been made flatter, and the fans have been fixed closer to the extruder as opposed to an angle. The effect of this is that the cooling air is now funneled towards the print head instead of the fans directly blowing on it. This ensures a firmer control and greater consistency.
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The second addition is found on the back of the machine. Here youíll find a new and improved material feeder thatís been put in place to service the filament. The biggest complaint that was always seen with the Original Ultimaker 2 was print job failure resulting from the filament being ìstrippedî while moving back and forth in the old material feeder. Due to this, it was extremely hard for the teeth in the feeder to get a grip on the filament, and the extruder assembly upfront could therefore not be fed any filament to print with. This was very annoying and thatís why this upgrade has been received with excitement.
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The last very important and exciting upgrade is the inclusion of the latest feature by Ultimaker, the Olsson Block kit. Iíll tell you more about this new feature in a bit.
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A Comparison between the Ultimaker 2 and the Ultimaker 2+
Like I said earlier, the physical outlay of the Ultimaker 2 and the 2+ is the same. The difference is only in very minute details that are not easily noticeable like the cooling fan thatís been added to the extruder assembly, the new and improved material feeder servicing the filament and finally the Olsson Block it.
Fortunately, you donít have to purchase a new Ultimaker 2* to enjoy the benefits of the added features. You can buy the Extrusion Upgrade Kit that was recently released by Ultimaker for upgrading your Original Ultimaker 2, or your Ultimaker to Extended to the capabilities of the 2+.
Upgrading your machine with this kit has been made extremely easy by the video tutorials and the step-by-step instructions that they come with. Plus this is an excellent idea if you want to prolong the life of your old machine.
I must say the Extrusion Upgrade machine is the most genius idea that Ultimaker has crated in the spirit of exclusivity. They really deserve a pat on the back for this idea that helps long-standing customers to also participate in the greatest and the latest innovations that this company has to avail.
The only people who canít benefit from this upgrade kit are the owners of the Extrusion Upgrade Kit. This is because this Ultimaker machine has very small dimensions that make it logistically challenging to do any physical upgrades. All other owners of Ultimaker machines can safely shout Hooray!
What this Review Covers
Merits of the Ultimaker 2+
- Accommodates a wider variety of filament types
- Accepts third-party filament
- Noise levels are significantly reduced
- Support open-source software and hardware
- It features an ìOlsson Blockî kit that allows for interchangeable extruders
- Design improvement to material extruder fans and feeder
- Works with windows, Linux and OS X
- Capable of high resolution
- Amazingly easy to build and use
Demerits of Ultimaker 2+
- The control panel interface is disappointingly basic
- Foul odor is produced when printing with ABS
- It lacks automatic calibration
- The slicer applications are too fast for the Cura software
- The open frame design makes the prints produced so sensitive to atmospheric changes
- Removing the finished products from the print bed is sometimes very difficult
Final Say on the Ultimaker 2+
The release of the Ultimaker 2+ into the fused deposition modeling (FDM) printer market has raised the competition in that particular space. This machine is definitely an evolution in this category, and the numerous unnoticeable but extremely critical improvements that have been made on it make this machine more luxurious to use in comparison to previous versions.
Everything is perfect about the Ultimaker 2+Öwell, everything except for the price. With some features still missing in this newest upgrade, it isnít really worth the buy. This machine is therefore recommended for purchase by 3D printer junkieÖanyone who wonít hear news of the release of a 3D printer twice without being tempted to buy it.
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Printing with Ultimaker 2+: the 3D Printer Setup
Setting up the Ultimaker 2+ is extremely easy. Here are simple steps that will help you do that.
- After unboxing, remove the bits of cardboard and plastic ties, and the bits of foam that had been inserted between the components to keep them from moving during shipping.
- Next plug in your printer into an electric switch and turn on the switch.
- Follow the steps that have been provided on the tiny LED interface for calibrating the print bed and also loading up the spool of filament. You are now ready to print.
- To help you with your first prints you can use the provided 4GB SD card that comes preloaded with test files; one of which is a little retro robot that represents the company mascot, if you like you can start with this.
About the SD card, although you might feel like purchasing an SD card reader is an added cost, thereís really no way to get around this one. The SD card is extremely important as it creates a means of communication between your computer and the printer. Besides, it also helps in simplifying the day to day operation.
And now letís talk about the Olsson Block Kit that youíll also find in the box. Like I said earlier, this is the newest impressive feature by Ultimaker. This is a set of four print head extruders with a range of nozzle diameters from 0.25 0.4, 0.6, to 0.8mm. This has increased the flexibility in printing since it allows for the extremely detailed objects and the ultra large objects to be printed and at a very fast speed. The first time that the kit became available to buy by Ultimaker owners was late last year, but as standard, it has now been included in all the new machines. Maybe we will actually review the Olsson Block separately seeing that itís not just applicable to the Ultimaker 2+ but applies to the entire range of Ultimaker machines.
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As per the manufacturer recommendation, the first step for printing your own models is to download and install the latest version of the Cura slicing software to your computer. After installation, open the software and tailor it for the Ultimaker 2+ machine. You can also use any other slicing software f your preference, but I must warn you that the Ultimaker 2+ machine hasnít currently trickled out to other applications.
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Printing with the Ultimaker 2+: The Printer Software
Ultimaker 2+ supports the easy-to-use Cura 3D printing software and a variety of other open source 3D printing programs. If itís your first time using this machine, itís best to first try the Cura slicing software.
On opening the application, a representation of the print bed will appear on the screen. With it you will see the position of the Ultimaker logo mirroring it as it appears on the physical printer. This will help you determine the direction your model is facing.
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By default, a Quick Print menu will appear on the left edge of the screen. This is broken down into three choices ìProfileî, ìMaterialî, and ìNozzleî. The default setting for the nozzle is 0.4mm and you will therefore not need to temper with this unless you had changed it. The profile will let you pick the resolution, ìFast Low-Quality Printî (0.15mm layer height), ìNormal-Quality Printî (0.1mm layer height), or ìHigh-Quality Printî (with a 0.06mm layer height). Finally, the material setting is between PLA, ABS and the new generation CPE. You will also see a pull-down menu along the top of the screen. The menu items on this are; ìFileî, ìMachineî, ìToolsî, ìExpertî, and ìHelpî.
On the furthest let of the upper-left corner of the screen is a ìLoadî icon. The fastest way to print is to click on this. Your computers system dialogue will be called up to find any 3D printable STL files that are on your computer. On selecting an opening one, it shows to scale the virtual on-screen print bed. From here you can tweak, resize, and rotate the model to your preference. When you are satisfied with the settings, click on the ìSaveî icon to save the prepared model to an SD card. You can then slot the SD card into your Ultimaker 2+ to begin printing.
Like I said earlier, the best option for slicer software is Cura. However, this also has its own limitations. For instance, it will chug away every small change or tweak thatís been made to a model and take it behind the scenes to recalculate the print time and filament required. The drawbacks in the Cura software architecture that make it somewhat unsatisfactory cannot even be mitigated by a very powerful computer.
To add on this, the tweaking options on Cura are not as deep or as rich as that of other applications in the market. For example, while Cura only has one option for a square grid, other applications will allow you to change the infill pattern, which will greatly impact the structural integrity of your model.
All in all, one is not confined to using Cura. If you are an intermediate or advanced user, you have other alternatives like the paid Simplify3D, or the free Repetier and Slic3r. Besides, Cura is open source software, so complaining too much about it is not even fair.
If you are printing objects that have overhanging parts, you can add print supports on them to help print the hanging parts in a compact form. Alternatively, you can add an extremely thin plastic extension, called a print brim, around the base to help you secure it.
Finally, thereís an ìExpertî tab from where you can access Full Settings for a more intense experience. From here you can set the extrusion speed, resolution (layer height), plus multiple other settings. The best resolution that you can get from the Ultimaker 2+ is 20 microns. Let me remind you that this is actually the benchmark that every other printer is measured by.
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Printing with the Ultimaker 2+: 3D Printer Calibration
For a wide number of 3D printers that use plastic filament, this process, termed calibration, determines how the first (and subsequent) filament layers are applied when printing starts. Unfortunately, the tedious calibration process that we experienced with Ultimaker 2 is what we found on the Ultimaker 2+.
This is very disappointing because the trend for new model FDM machines is an automated setting on the extruder height and bed leveling before the start of each job. This feature is very important as it makes preparation of a model for printing and troubleshooting very easy. Ultimaker will probably need to make a top to bottom redesign if theyíre to make this auto-calibration feature a reality.
Printing with the Ultimaker 2+: 3D Printer Filament
The two most common sizes of 3D filament used are the 1.75mm and the 2.85mm. Ultimaker 2+ uses the thicker 2.85mm filament. As for the filament types that the Ultimaker can work with, thereís a wide variety. So itís not just the common PLA (polylactic acid) or ABS (acrylonitrile butadiene styrene), but Ultimaker 2+ has now added a new filament category known as CPE for the technical prints. This filament type is said to be just as strong as ABS but lacks the characteristic full smell that comes with the latter. But thatís all we know about it for now.
Another excellent filament type that can be used with this machine, as with the rest of the Ultimaker range, is recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET). This is also as strong as ABS, but printing with it is as easy as printing with PLA. Other filament types that the 2+ accepts are; conductive ABS and PLA polycarbonate, bronze and copper filled filaments, wood-filled filaments, UV luminescent filament and nylon. If you want to know more about this exotic range of 3D printer filament, click here.
When it comes to printing, you will appreciate the dedicated spool holder that the 2+ features. This extends outwards behind the printer and is flexible for all standard filament spools. To start you off, Ultimaker has provided a 750g sample spool of its brand Silver PLA.
This machine also features an LED control panel from where you can call up a dialog to guide you through several processes for example switching filaments from the extruder. The process replacing filament is very easy, the extruder is heated up and the material feeder then reverses out the unwanted filament up to a position where you can safely pull it out. You can then insert the new filament and the feeder will guide it forward until it starts being extruded. Itís as simple as 1, 2, 3, no?
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Printing with the Ultimaker 2+: Print Quality Tests
Since we are used to using Simplify3D for testing print quality, we decided to go with it instead of Cura for our test print job on Ultimaker 2+.
We used three different quality settings to print 10 test objects. Our quality settings switched from fast (0.25mm layer height), medium (0.15mm layer height) and high (0.1mm layer height). While it will take you longer to print with the high quality setting than the normal one, there is no noticeable difference between the print qualities of the two settings.
Printing with Ultimaker 2+ was pure bliss, and we never experienced any misprint. None of the prints was unusable, outright broken, or faulty. However, we experienced some slight deformity with one or two test prints that we were impatient with and therefore the plastic didnít properly cool. So itís not really that the printer produced the wobbly result, but our hurry to shut it off the build platform is what got these dented or warped.
Overall, the print quality with the 2+ was impressive. We printed our usual 3DBenchy model in fast, medium and high settings and the machine was able to efficiently cruise over all 3 in one afternoon. The medium and the high prints of these came out in a blissful shape, while the fast version was somehow shoddy as you can see (top). On the medium resolution, we could even make out fine details like the underside and the name-plate.
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For our Print+ Kickstarter headphones, we downloaded some beta files. We printed the speaker housing at high quality. The outcome of the print was a compact, sturdy object with very minimal flaws. To get more variety, we used both the recycled PET material and PLA, and for both we got amazing results. The recycled PET test print object was relatively light weight.
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This next print, the large, two-part self-watering plant pot, we printed at medium quality was originally designed by Parallel Goods. The design is extremely sophisticated, but the real challenge is to achieve water tightness. This print would make for a lovely accessory in any office space or even home, but for that to be possible and mess-free, you need to get the details right.
We were very excited about this print. But sadly our pot suffered a leak after only one day of being filled with water and two pebbles. We must have done something wrong, or we needed to perfect post-processing.
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So back to our overall printing experience with Ultimaker 2+, the noise in this machine is greatly reduced. The stepper motors were obviously upgraded from the sound of it, and even the whirring and buzzing sounds that were with previous versions is missing with this one. You will really appreciate this upgrade if you have used the chaotic Ultimaker 2 Go. However, thereís one characteristic sound made when the printer switches gears. This is a non-irritating beeping sound thatís not in previous versions.
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Addressing Concerns with the Ultimaker 2+
Generally, we feel that the semi-open frame design of the Ultimaker 2+ is a missed opportunity. The advantage of an open frame is that the user is provided with an unobstructed view of the printing process. However, it comes with some mishaps. One of this is the foul smell of burning plastic thatís produced when printing with ABS filament. The smell is exaggerated by the lack of the top cover in the printer, making this printer unusable in an office, home or classroom setting.
The open end setting also presents a burning danger to small unknowing curious children in the event that they touch the hot extruder. For this reason, you are advised to use this machine far away from children.
Lastly, thereís the impact of ambient temperature on an open source printer. Using this printer will mean you are extremely careful of even small actions like opening a door or a window as this could greatly affect the result of your final print object. Even worse, a longer print job is likely to experience more temperature shift, and therefore the possibilities of failure with it are increased.
Although the Ultimaker 2+ open source 3D printer is a great machine, we hope Ultimaker will soon close up all the chambers, because thereís obviously a good reason why most manufacturers are now going the closed-frame design way. And itís a good reason.
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Conclusion and Recommendation
The Ultimaker 2+ is an absolute charmer. And itís not just because of its ease of setup and use, but also the new innovative designs like the new material feeder, its ability to accommodate a wide range of filament types, and the consistency in the resolution of prints.
However, this printer disappointed by its lack of an auto-leveling build platform (auto-calibration). Other features that would have improved its ratings are; improved software design and a closed frame design. And with the rapidly improving technology, fans will soon expect next generation features like the ability to preview models on the control panel through a touchscreen interface, and the ability to manage the printer over a local network.
But letís not get ahead of ourselves here, maybe Ultimaker will just surprise us by availing these luxurious features in a new update, say Ultimaker 3? But before we reach that point, letís enjoy this classic workhorse of a machine, because thereís no doubt it features in the list of the best FDM 3D printers on the market.
I recommend the Ultimaker 2+ 3D printer for every person looking for a reliable printer, which will consistently print high quality prints.
Verdict
Ultimate 2 Extended prints detailed models with very high quality. You can print large and above all highlights thanks to the size of the machine that gives the building volume a good lift, so if you want to print high models, Ultimate 2 Extended is an excellent choice for you.
It fits very well for personal use in the office or at home, and is also very quiet for those who want an undisturbed work environment.
The price tag is quite high so if you are brand new in the 3D industry and buy your first 3D printer then you might want to bet on something cheaper, but you get what you pay for so if you’re looking for high precision and a quieter printer, this is a good buy.
Design
Very stylish design with fluorescent lights that illuminate a stable chassis makes the Ultimaker 2 Extended a very nice machine to wear on the desk.You have an LCD screen on the front of the chassis that guides you through the setup and installation of your 3D printer when making your first print.With this machine you will find a glass-mounted building platform that can be detachable as you clamp with 4 different brackets on the heated building platform.On the back of this 3D printer, the filament holder holds and also the on / off button which may be a disadvantage if you want the stand in space that makes them difficult to access the backside.
Summary
If you want to get started with your prints as quickly as possible and avoid complicated sets and kits, Ultimaker 2 Extended is a very good 3D printer as it has a very simple installation process.You only need to adjust the building platform and tension the glass plate, then start the installation and start your first test printout.You also get the opportunity to print very high-quality prints at a high construction speed.
Technical specification
- Number of 3D printheads: 1
- 3D writing method: FFF (thermoplastic melting)
- Construction speed: 30 mm / s – 300 mm / s
- Material support: PLA, ABS, U-PET and more.
- Material dimension: 2.85 – 3.0 mm
- Bearing thickness: 0.015 – 0.6 mm
- Position accuracy: XY = 0.0125 – Z = 0.005 mm
- Nozzle interchangeable in sizes: ÿ 0.25 mm ÿ 0.4 mm ÿ 0.6 mm ÿ 0.8 mm
- Building platform: Yes, glass plate (removable)
- Flow temperature: 260 ∞ C
- Connections: SD card, USB
- WIFI: Upgrade possible
- Construction volume (WxDxH): 223 x 223 x 305 mm
- Machine Size (WxDxH): 357 x 342 x 488 mm
- Writing program: Cura – Ultimaker
- Operating System: Windows, Mac, Linux
- File format: STL, OBJ, DAE
- Machine weight: 12 kg
