Ultimaker 2 E3D Upgrade Kit Review and How to

I recently had the chance to upgrade my Ultimaker 2 to an E3D version that replaced the stock hotend and extruder with the E3D v6 all metal hotend and the Titan geared extruder. The installation was very straight forward, but it did take a couple of hours and some patience. I found Thomas Sanladerer’s guide and the E3D wiki to be very helpful while installing the upgrades. In addition, I also made a tutorial video on how to install the upgrade kit. (Links Below)

Link to Tom’s tutorial:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLLci32tHA4   
Link to E3D wiki:
http://wiki.e3d-online.com/wiki/E3D-v6_on_Ultimaker_2
I also made a how to video tutorial for the installation Link:

    Before I purchased my Ultimaker 2 (UM2), I had been using a reprap with an E3D v6, and for me having the v6 was a big deal since nozzles were easy to swap, the v6  was able to push any material I threw at it, and it was able to reach high temps that allowed you to print materials like polycarbonate. Also, I also worked with many experimental filaments that I made with my Filastruder, and the v6 was always able to handle it. After purchasing the Ultimaker, things became more limited. While the print quality was impeccable, I missed the quick swap nozzles and ability to use many different materials with solid performance. With the UM2 before the upgrade I never had issues with ABS or PLA materials, but using more exotic filaments was an issue. The upgrade kit solved that problem for me. I got mine from Filastruder. The direct link is below.
    If you are an Ultimaker 2 owner, you know that under-extrusion has always been an issue, and the Titan extruder solves that problem. The Titan extruder has a fully constrained filament path, so that means that performance while using flexible materials is vastly improved. For example, before I installed the upgrade, I was having issues with printing Taulman’s PCTPE filament (a flexible material), and now that I have the Titan, PCTPE flows through with no issues. Likewise, for the original materials like ABS and PLA, I am no longer dealing with skipped steps from a poorly designed extruder. Overall, the performance of the Titan versus the original extruder is significantly better. The Titan crushes the original in every way.
    The new v6 hotend is also a huge improvement over Ultimakers hotend for several reasons. The first of which is the all metal construction of the v6. This allows the hotend to be heated up to 400°C. The original UM2 hotend had a max temp of 260°C, so this is a massive improvement that will allow you to print any high temp materials, like polycarbonate, Taulman’s Tritan, or even Ultem if you have a heated chamber. Another benefit is you can also change nozzle sizes. In addition, E3D also offers hardened nozzles for abrasive materials and the volcano nozzle for efficient printing of larger objects.
E3D also provides a sample of their edge filament with the kit.
Here is a quick video on E3D’s edge filament:

And a test print done on my upgraded UM2 with edge material (50mm/s, .3mm layer height, 10% infill:

    Overall, I highly recommend the E3D upgrade kit for experienced users looking to increase the performance of their UM2. The installation itself takes some time, but should be a walk in the park for intermediate to advanced users. Performance wise, after the upgrade has been installed, I no longer have to deal with under extrusion or as much difficulty with printing flexible materials. Another great thing about E3D, is that there is a large online community that you can take advantage of. The cost of the upgrade kit is less than Ultimakers upgrade kit, and E3D’s upgrade kit has objectively better performance. You can purchase the upgrade kit from Filastruder here: https://www.filastruder.com/products/e3 … pgrade-kit