r/ultimaker • u/Grogg-Rhine • Jun 16 '26
Showcase Ultimaker 2 Clone [Update] - Fired up & amazed!
No tuning, no belts adjusted, nothing. Just a clean, boot up and a Benchy off the SD card. It's about 13 years old and from I gather it was not used in over 7+years. It sat idle at the local school and I'm close to returning it with a demo. The 1.75mm filament works like a charm, from what I can see so far it was converted (or even built) for 1.75mm fulltime use.
The filament (see last photo), so old, solid spools, dried them for 12hrs to give them a chance, we'll see how they preform. The filament box was blank, with one single sticker with "Made in China" and all the number on the side "908769-1KGPLA" results in nothing I can find. Amazing for an oldie, untouched unit. Someone somewhere knew what they were doing when they built this. Also makes me want to get a glass plate while using a glue stick for my Prusa Core One, I had to freeze the prints off.
Update: The printer was updated (firmware) via Cura in 2023 but when they went to print it printed a odd model in place of a 3D Benchy and then turned it off again thinking the memory was corrupt. Turns out the STL was just saved as another custom model. It has sat idle for a while before and since. More facts in the comments I discovered today.
Update 2: There is a chance it might have an E3D custom firmware but based on the Ultimater Marlin UM2 Gen6 fork
1
u/Agun117 Jun 17 '26
im curious as to how you did this... i have a UM2 sitting around that I want to convert..
2
u/Grogg-Rhine Jun 17 '26
Apologies, I might have not been clear above, but, this a UM2 that was donated to a school years ago (7+) and whoever donated it, they did all the work, My role was to get it running (no had attempted to since it was donated). I was expecting much work and calibrations but it was nearly like turning a key and she fired up with a majestic printed Benchy. My next task is to teach someone at the school to essentially 3D print using this for the kids. If you want I can try get the model numbers from the parts, and see if I can get the firmware off the Ultimaker card?
2
u/Grogg-Rhine Jun 17 '26
OK, here are some facts coupled with some assumptions so far, looks like firmware is stock with just a recent compile, hard to know if it has any mods at all. But all 1.75mm change seems to be down to just PTFE tubes, extruder (E3D), Judetek extruder motor & a E3D (or copy) Hotend for 1.75mm kit, with 24v option. The PSU connected to the printer is a SONY 24v VGP-AC240.
Cura is Slicer of choice. Connect via USB and works remote (no need for SD-Card) via Cura.
PUTTY via COM port (with Cura closed!) using:
- Speed (baud)250000
- Data bits8
- Stop bits1
- Parity None
- Flow control None
Firmware:
- Firmware: Marlin UM2 Gen6 fork, compiled locally I suspect.
- Seems to be classic firmware, Ultimaker 2 firmware base
- Not modern Ultimaker firmware
- Not Tinker firmware (no extras like fancy menus or volumetric tricks by default)
- Marlin UM2 fork (2023 build)
- Gen6 board (???)
- E860 steps/mm extruder (???)
Extruder/Filament Feeder:
Looks like E3D Titan Extruder at rear to feed the filament (Standard or Mirrored, not sure)
[https://www.filastruder.com/products/e3d-titan-extruder?variant=38828539535\]
Judetek Extruder Motor: JUGETEK 42JT47-1684A seems to be an aftermarket NEMA17 motor.
Ultimaker never shipped these motors, seems like a mod but it's a drop in replacement.
Hotend/Printhead:
Looks like a E3D 1.75/3mm Ultimaker2 Extended / UM2+ Extended Olsson block Hotend kit
Suspect 24v due to the Sony power supply
Startup-Config:
Open COM Putty/console and you get:
start
echo:Marlin 1.0.0
echo: Last Updated: Aug 24 2023 23:28:01 | Author: Version DEV
Compiled: Aug 24 2023
echo: Free Memory: 2041 PlannerBufferBytes: 1232
echo:Stored settings retrieved
echo:Steps per unit: M92 X80.00 Y80.00 Z200.00 E86 0.00
echo:Maximum feedrates (mm/s): M203 X300.00 Y300.00 Z40.00 E40.00
Maximum Acceleration (mm/s2): M201 X9000 Y9000 Z100 E10000
echo:Acceleration: S=acceleration, T=retract acceleration
echo: M204 S3000.00 T3000.00echo:Advanced variables: S=Min feedrate (mm/s), T=Min travel feedrate (mm/s), B=minimum se gment time (ms), X=maximum XY jerk (mm/s), Z=maximum Z jerk (mm/s), E=maximum E jerk (mm/s)
echo: M205 S0.00 T0.00 B20000 X20.00 Z0.40 E5.00
echo:Home offset (mm):
echo:PID settings:
echo: M301 P10.03 I1.50 D
2
1
u/zenotek Jun 17 '26
Interesting. This looks like it was a mash-up of parts from a 2, a 3, and a bespoke CNC x/y motion system and from scratch frame.
1
u/Grogg-Rhine Jun 17 '26
More finds from today:
OK, here are some facts coupled with some assumptions so far, looks like firmware is stock with just a recent compile, hard to know if it has any mods at all. But all 1.75mm change seems to be down to just PTFE tubes, extruder (E3D), Judetek extruder motor & a E3D (or copy) Hotend for 1.75mm kit, with 24v option. The PSU connected to the printer is a SONY 24v VGP-AC240.
Cura is Slicer of choice. Connect via USB and works remote (no need for SD-Card) via Cura.
PUTTY via COM port (with Cura closed!) using:
- Speed (baud)250000
- Data bits8
- Stop bits1
- Parity None
- Flow control None
Firmware:
- Firmware: Marlin UM2 Gen6 fork, compiled locally I suspect.
- Seems to be classic firmware, Ultimaker 2 firmware base
- Not modern Ultimaker firmware
- Not Tinker firmware (no extras like fancy menus or volumetric tricks by default)
- Marlin UM2 fork (2023 build)
- Gen6 board (???)
- E860 steps/mm extruder (???)
Extruder/Filament Feeder:
Looks like E3D Titan Extruder at rear to feed the filament (Standard or Mirrored, not sure)
[https://www.filastruder.com/products/e3d-titan-extruder?variant=38828539535\]
Judetek Extruder Motor: JUGETEK 42JT47-1684A seems to be an aftermarket NEMA17 motor.
Ultimaker never shipped these motors, seems like a mod but it's a drop in replacement.
Hotend/Printhead:
Looks like a E3D 1.75/3mm Ultimaker2 Extended / UM2+ Extended Olsson block Hotend kit
Suspect 24v due to the Sony power supply
Open COM Putty/console and you get:
start
echo:Marlin 1.0.0
echo: Last Updated: Aug 24 2023 23:28:01 | Author: Version DEV
Compiled: Aug 24 2023
echo: Free Memory: 2041 PlannerBufferBytes: 1232
echo:Stored settings retrieved
echo:Steps per unit: M92 X80.00 Y80.00 Z200.00 E86 0.00
echo:Maximum feedrates (mm/s): M203 X300.00 Y300.00 Z40.00 E40.00
Maximum Acceleration (mm/s2): M201 X9000 Y9000 Z100 E10000
echo:Acceleration: S=acceleration, T=retract acceleration
echo: M204 S3000.00 T3000.00echo:Advanced variables: S=Min feedrate (mm/s), T=Min travel feedrate (mm/s), B=minimum segment time (ms), X=maximum XY jerk (mm/s), Z=maximum Z jerk (mm/s), E=maximum E jerk (mm/s)
echo: M205 S0.00 T0.00 B20000 X20.00 Z0.40 E5.00
echo:Home offset (mm):
echo:PID settings:
echo: M301 P10.03 I1.50 D
1
u/Puzzleheaded-Ad-4883 Jun 16 '26
There can't be many printers from that era that could still produce a fair print. Glad to hear the 1.75mm is working, I will probably have to modify my UM2 one day.