redmesh

Thanks for the quick responses and suggestions - what a great forum this is, as I recently built the ultimaker I've taken the advice as one step at a time one problem at a time and I'll try the cura thicker bed start and also align the bed more accurately.

That looks similar to mine. Does this vary with speed settings? If you want to go to a printing speed 100mm per sec should we have deeper marks, or should it work as it is?

I'm becoming more ambitious but the feedrate seems to be an issue for large prints. Or it may be the leveling of the platform. The extrusion starts well, I can print small objects 2cm to 5cm tall, I'm going for a about 15cm high next. It is the large print that's the problem, the outline of the shape base is good, 215c no problem, as the fill in for the base progresses the flow drops off and the extrusion stops gradually. The teeth marks are visible on the filament and thumb screw for feed mechanism seem good and tight. Any thoughts?

Thanks for the replies. I increased the temperature, I was using silver filament at 200c, now 215-220c seems much better.

I had the fan disconnected that cools the electronics on the base of the Ultimaker. It was not a good idea, it started to print fine but after a while it caused problems with my machine. Turning the fan on solved the problem, and the motors don't hesitate half way through the print.

I think it is the filament cog/feeder is slipping. I cleaned the hobbed bolt. I checked the assembly documents again. The delrin clip I'm not sure about, that's supposed to be on the hobbed bolt, what it looks like though I'm not sure I can't see a picture of it. I have only had my ultimaker a few weeks so it's pretty new.

Cura RC3 and Marlin, yes it could be the filament slipping. Mind you I can see the teeth marks on the filament as it passes the cog, maybe it's too tight?

Just one thing to fix, the layers vary through the print in quality, it may be blobbing, I can't tell if the extuder is slowing or the temperature is the problem. I generally use 200c. It started very well, hopefully the picture is clear enough.

But the fan is noisy, I'm surprised there isn't a better quality fan out there.

I can confirm the motors XY stick if the fan isn't used, and my prints are ruined. Now I have the fan on, it's working great.

Some improvement. I can move the extruder by hand yes. I slackend off the belts and made sure the rods XY were square. Once the motors are warmed up, it seems I get some sticking, if I use software to control the movement and jump +10 in X or Y I get a momentary pause/stick near the edges of the build area.

Motors are now moved down with pressure, short belts tightened and re-tightened screws. Yey success the cube printed fine, what a sense of a achievement. Also printes the outline cube today.

I have printed a cube well, and the outline cube. So things are getting better and better. I have tried a larger more ambitious print, it all seems fine, but occasionally the blocks on X and Y hesitate/pause and get stuck for a split second. This throws everything off, and the print fails. I've greased and oiled the rods, the belts are tight on the motors. I can't tell if the motors are jamming or the belts are causing it. Running version RC3 of Cura (which is excellent) did I say it is excellent, yes indeed.

Extra grease and really pulled the motors down to tighten the small belts. It worked! My first full cube that looks like a cube. Thanks for the help again, and Daid spot on with that. To anyone else struggling with the first prints - keep going, reading and visiting the forum - well worth it.

There has been some improvement with the cube, and Cura and Marlin. It al looks pretty good but then the layers shift in X in large steps/jumps. Is this still belt tension, or something else I wonder? Ultimaker_shapes_StudioSpass.pdf