raymie

and after a day of trying to print something it popped out again. Starting to wonder however is this is to do with the print and not just the machine given the force needed to move the pipe. Next time I rebuild the head I will try the same again but go back to the thin wall print samples first to see if that works.

For the moment I have I think solved this and only using the parts that come with the UM. I took a drill with a countersink bit and drilled a countersink groove onto the bottom part of the hole in the top of the print end where the tube comes out and then used the second of the white retaining clips on that hole (so that both clips are on the tube). When drilling the grrove I made it so that the end of the clips only partially came out of the top (i.e. not enough to get the blue clip attached. This way I can just about push the tube through the top (with a fair bit of force) and so for the tube to come free againi it would need enough force to free itself from both the bottom ring and the new top one, chance are that extrusion gear would be more likely to jam first. I did consider compression fitting but if you are going to use these on a plastic pipe you really should be using a inset as well to stop the olive compressing the pipe and that seemed like too much bother over using the white clip already provided. Not sure why UM provide two and then don't make sure of the second one, would just need the countersink holes to be added to the upper part as they already have for the bottom one.

Finally got the platform all set, roughly 0.1mm from the print head, prints start fine but the feed tube pops out from the clip near the print head now. Any ideas on how to stop this and improve on the design of this component (without needing to print a part!)?

ok, progress I tried two things at the same time - removed the cooling fan from the print head (I think it was cooling down the plastic as it left the nozzle) - raise the bed slightly as the print starts (in fact I dig into the blue tape). Managed to now print something, hurrah, ok it;s only the square tube sample but it at least looks like a square tube so it's now printing something ..... hurrah

Not had a chance to try again yesterday, other things came up but will try the suggestions asap

It is PLA. I ordered ABS but was only sent PLA by mistake so that is all I have. Will try raising the bed further tomorrow when I make another attempt (and see if anyone else has any ideas).

Make sure that the metal bolt is not too tight. That was something I saw that caused this

Just built my machine but ever print I try has the same issue - I get a thread of plastic from the head but this does not stick to the plate and just curls up into a tangle. Tried - starting print with head just above plate (about the width of a sheet of paper) - PLA 190 degrees - PLA 250 degrees All ends up the same, nothing sticks to the blue tape on the printing plate.

got in... ignore pictures and instructions and build it to fit. Seems to be ok now.

Thanks for replying falc The thing I note is that when going by the piccites 10A (large bit) is matcing with 10c small rotating bit which I think could be my problem Do you have both 10a's on the same side?

well mine arrived (actualy I had to go and collect it from the courier) but some of the parts are missing, the wrong type of plastic was included (I ordered extra) and worse still at one of the later stages it looks like the parts are the wrong shape slightly and do not seem to work as per the wiki instructions (got the build issue sorted at least, ignore instructons for the rotating part of the feed mechanism and build it to actually fit the area it needs to go into)

After the long wait for the kit, problems seem to be comon place. Ignoring the missing grub screws and a possibly dodgy bearing (which I will report to support) I continued on to see if I could actually install the machine. Material feed mechanism however is defeating me, it looks like the parts simple are no correct. I have the 10a etc part on the motor and constructe the higed part that should fit into it (also 10a and 10c but with plastic bits in between) however if I attach the hinge screw as instructed then the smaller part will not rotate into the area it should (the wooden parts are wrong shape, too large to roate in) and if I slide the unit into place (it just about fit) then the screw holes are in the wrong place. This is a kit sent last week btw.

My shipment email arrived a wee while ago, not sure why the delay but the tracking now shows the item in the uk as at 7am

1219 still not shipped and no reply to why LATER orders seem to have been. My order has had no updates, no reply to email, no online update to the order, no update to the order RSS feed. Delays and poor communications are one thing but why are later orders being shipped seeminly at the expense on those who have already waited more than 6 weeks? BTW my date is actually 7th Jan not 17th, that was a mistype in my original post that I corrected later.

if orders after mine have been shipped and mine has not I am not going to be happy, indeed it may be time to complain to the card company. Will wait and see if an email appears later on today but nothing yet.

saying "it will ship when it ships" is all well and good if they took funds at the point of dispatch but given that they take the cash at the start of the process and then hold onto it for months, it is not really quite good enough (and I believe technically a breach of their credit card authorisation contract). It would be simple enough for them to put an entry on the webpage to say what order date they are currently shipping and keep that updated, that would cut down on the emails AND inform people but for some reason they don't want to do this (I did suggest it).

Mine, which is around 20 behind falc is also meant to be shipping this week but given that 2 weeks but I have my doubts. It seems that the quickest way to get an update is to use the contact/feedback form on the blog, using that I got a reply within an hour or two last week

good news for you not so good for me, my order is around 40 behind so not looking likely to make 6 weeks lead time and starting to wonder on the 8 weeks given that over 2 weeks ago I was told that there were 65 orders before me, however I guess it depends on the size of the batch awaiting shipment. However still have to say that their communication stinks.

I have to disagree, at the time of ordering they state that the lead time is 4-6 weeks, so if it is ANY longer that that they have a responsibility to say and be upfront about it. The difference between 4 and 6 weeks was presumably to allow for issues and delays. They should be keeping customers informed and they should not be still stating 4-6 weeks for new orders.

yes but if they actually bothered to post updates on the website re deliveries and progress then they woudl have less emails and hence more time to actually do other support tasks and also have a happier customer base. Saying on the website 6 weeks and then given no info even now when it looks like it may extend past the 7-8 weeks mark is not helpful for either side.

the info posted above saying that the current lead time is 6 weeks seems to be somewhat false, my order ono 7th Jan (not 17th as I said) is still not dispatched and suport told me that the wait time was now 7-8 weeks at least. So unless my machine is sent this week then the 6 weeks for me will have past. When I did contact them I suggested that they put on the main website info on what order dates they were currently shipping, given that they did not see any benefit to this they can't really complain about getting emails asking for that information.

I assume you meant payment confirmed 5th Feb not Jan given that you just ordered the thing. Support replied to me (as per the other poster) in a day, currently indicating that orders are taking around 7 week or so . your order only being made on 4th and with the website clearly showing 4-6 weeks lead time is nowhere near ready, mine from 17th Jan still is at least a week or so away. It does not matter what you selected re delivery, delivery times are only effective from the point of dispatch not the point of placing the order.

As of 5 days ago Order 100001219 (17th January) has not arrived. I checked and was told that approx 65 units were before mine for shipping and that 20-35 were being sent per week. It seems that there was a delay a while back re one of the parts so currently it looks like roughly 7-8 weeks lead time.