gr5

I don't get that banding - certainly not at 35mm/sec. I suspect I don't get it at any speed but I just looked around at a bunch of parts and ones I printed at 50mm/sec or faster are all small (only 10mm tall) or don't have smooth faces so it's hard to be sure. I don't get banding on UM Original and I don't get it on UM2. Well - I get a tiny amount but the vertical banding is more prominent. I would expect this kind of banding if the temperature is varying by 10C or more. Also if the Z stage isn't moving properly. Did you try sliding the Z stage up and down by hand? Grip it towards the back. See if there is extra resistance somewhere.

You have to keep it very cool when sanding so the only way to do it is with wet sanding. Some people wet ordinary sandpaper. I'm not an expert on wet sanding (never tried it). PLA melts at a ridiculously low temperature and then you get that "turn white" effect. Alternatively you can add a few drops of baby oil (or any oil but baby oil smells better) and then wipe the oil off and it will return to it's normal beautiful look.

Excellent! Well it's 93% lead so it isn't RoHS compliant and in the USA must be considered toxic lead-containing waste. I assume this is true in the European Union also. But this is a small price to pay for 301C melt point.

PA6 I got my PA6 nylon from here: http://fbrc8.com/ PA6 is a great material. It is similar to PLA (but foggy/clear white or black only) - not as beautiful but very practical for parts. It is more flexible than PLA but close enough in stiffness for 90% of parts. For example it's a good material for gears, cases, handles, knobs and such. It does not stick well to glass. I have been printing it on my UM2 on blue tape. It must be printed hot or you get bad layer adhesion. It also absorbs water like crazy but I don't care - I let it sputter and sizzle and the parts come out fine but many people heat it in an oven just before printing. PA6 Settings 260C NOZZLE (at 240C the parts look great but when done they just pull apart easily) blue tape (no isopropyl cleaning needed but if you have lifting issues I would try that) 50C bed temp (probably not necessary) 50mm/sec .2mm layers NO FAN (like abs). Ever. I'm sure fan helps certain things like overhangs/bridging but fan tends to be bad for high-glass-temp materials as you can get bad layer adhesion. If you use fan you may need to increase temp but you won't know until part is done and you have layers that split apart.

@yellowshark - next time send me a personal message if you have a question and link to the question topic and I will answer MUCH sooner. Taulman bridge is a fantastic material and easy to print. It is much too flexible for most of my needs but it is strong. Very strong. I mean if you printed a UM robot and used a two vice grips and attached to ropes it would probably take 10 people to pull that robot apart (5 on each rope). If it isn't strong for you then raise the temp as you need high enough temps to get good layer adhesion. Printing at higher temps is noisier (bubbles, sizzling) and less pretty (less clarity - less transparent) but you need that layer adhesion or the part is worthless. It also has a very high glass temp - higher than ABS I think. Above 100C I think. I've been printing it like this: TAULMAN BRIDGE Ultimaker 2 glass coated with PVA (elmers wood glue mixed with water and painted on glass - dries transparent) nozzle 240C bed 70C 50mm/sec .2 layers

Gosh - I haven't read this topic in a while. I've had good luck with taulman bridge and good luck with ninjaflex. I printed my first ninjaflex parts yesterday and struggled for a while but was victorious in the end. I think my main problem was that i was printing too cold (220C) and had to raise it to 240C but I changed SO MANY THINGS that I don't know which thing fixed it and which things are a waste of my time. NINJAFLEX I printed at 240C at 10mm/sec on UM Original with heated bed with PVA (elmers wood glue diluted 5-10x with water and dried until invisible on glass) on it at 40C and keeping the spool loose as mentioned above and putting a drop of oil on the filament (and watching it drip down to the base of the loop of filament under the spool) every 15 minutes or so. Other's said one drop per hour is plenty. ALSO I used a larger diameter nozzle (.65mm) and printed .2mm layer height (these 2 things were recommended by someone). This came out very good. I have only printed 2 things (a gasket and a pumpkin head) and neither had any need for retraction. I suspect stringing and/or bridging and steep overhangs will be my next problem. Failure: 220C at 7mm/sec with .4mm nozzle, .2mm layer and adding oil but not keeping the filament spool loose. the failure was occasional severe underextrusion (like nothing would come out for 10 seconds now and then leaving bad, ugly, disfunctional gaps). edit: Since then I've printed with .4mm nozzle just fine (10mm/sec 240C with oil).

Okay then try that darker blue filament! Or is it 1.75mm filament?

Oh - and regarding that horizontal line - that's not good. That looks like the Z stage got stuck for one layer. Is there plenty of grease on your z screw? Your printer should have come with a little green pouch of grease - meant only for the Z screw.

Is the left one also ABS? I wouldn't be surprised if ABS is easier on overhangs. 1) For good quality overhangs you need TONS of fan. Was the fan set to 100%? Was it blowing (not sucking)? Were both fans working? 2) You can improve quality a bit by lowering temperature and speed. The acceleration on the UM2 is probably much higher than your reprap. So printing at 100mm/sec on reprap is probably like 30mm/sec on UM2. At least for small parts. Anyway try 30mm/sec - that's a nice slow speed for when you want good visual quality. 210C is a good temp but you could always try lower. Consider printing some test overhang parts. 3) This is not the best filament for overhangs (ultimaker light blue). Consider a different color or brand but I don't recommend switching to ABS before using the printer for at least 10 different parts. Switching to ABS (and especially back again) can cause clogged nozzle or partial clogs that hinder extrusion. 4) Was the juicer on left at .1mm or .2mm layer height?

If you get the nozzle unclogged and the feeder spinning the right way and are having other problems - please please post a picture (or a video). You will likely get bad advice until you post a picture -- that's what I've found with most people - they explain the problem and we make assumptions and give the totally wrong advice, then a picture is posted and everyone is like "oh my! that's not what I thought you meant at all - that problem is much simpler and easier to fix...".

Don't switch filaments around. Switching from ABS to PLA is especially prone to causing clogs. Especially since you are still new with this printer. Stick with PLA if you can. Or at least stick to 1 and don't switch until you have a successful print. Try 245 for ABS or 220 for PLA. Don't go any hotter until you get things working somewhat. Also start out slow - print 30mm/sec and .2mm layers at first until things are working well. Only after that try thinner layers, higher speeds, higher temps (or lower temps) and so on. For cleaning the nozzle you could try the atomic method: http://umforum.ultimaker.com/index.php?/topic/4118-blocked-nozzle/?p=33691

The new Cura will be able to do this. Hopefully it will be available as a beta soon. It's codename is "pink unicorn". I think some people have tried it already. I guess you could download all the source files from github and build all the pieces yourself.

If the cold pull methods above don't work then yes you need to remove the nozzle/heater block and burn out that woodfill followed by some cold pulls and maybe needle insertions.

Try the atomic method of cleaning the tip first as that is easier: http://umforum.ultimaker.com/index.php?/topic/4118-blocked-nozzle/?p=33691 There is an easier version where you don't remove the bowden and just pull from the back of the machine. Same temperatures. But let the filament tip cool in the bowden for 10 seconds before pulling through the feeder or it might come apart. I actually do this on every filament change now (don't use the menu filament change). It's easier to pull the filament through the feeder than I would have expected - when the servo isn't powered it offers almost zero resistance.

Wait - what? Are you coming to NYC?

What Zoev said. What did you choose for this drop down in the marlin builder? "Heated bed temperature sensor:" And what kind of temperature sensor did you buy? And how did you hook it up?

I watched both videos. The backwards moving is normal. It's called "retraction". Is the 3rd fan working on your test head? It should turn on as soon as power comes on - even before the lights come on. It's between and behind the side fans. I still can't tell if the filament is ground up at the feeder. Can you film just above the feeder? Is the filament flat? Round? If you push on the filament does some come out the nozzle? What temperature are you printing at? Maybe the temperature probe is off by 30C. This happened to a few UM2 printers on recent shipments.

It's all about the leveling. The portions that print so thin you can barely see it - those have the nozzle too close to the glass. The part that is all "stringy" (5th and 6th photo - top left part) - those have the nozzle too far from the glass. It may be impossible to level all 4 corners. If this is the case, remove all the screws in the bed (under the glass) and make sure they don't stick up. Some people got the wrong size screws. Or your entire UM2 might be warped. Does the feet sit squarely on the table? Or does it rock?

If you are going to print a printer, I think you should consider one of the rep rap variants. Maybe a Prusa Mendel. They are designed to be printed: http://reprap.org This very moment their website is messed up. This is rare - it's a great resource.

I usually print at 220C. How many layers do you have for your top layer - is it only the top or are the sides also looking a bit thin? If your layer height is .2 and your top thickness is .4mm then that is only 2 layers. the first layer will droop a bit and the second will recover partly but it takes more like 6 layers to get a perfect top (if you do .1mm layers - with .2mm layers maybe 4 layers is enough?). Anyway add one more layer for your top/bottom thickness. And always make sure the top/bottom thickness is a multiple of your layer height.

The software expects .1mm (.004 inch). If you use thicker or thinner shim then it won't be as good as a .1mm shim. I recommend you do the leveling procedure only once ever on your machine. It's great for getting within .1 or even .05mm accuracy. If you ever need more accuracy just print a layer and adjust the screws based on what you see in the skirt or brim. The machine is good at keeping it's leveling. I only have to go back to the leveling procedure if I add blue tape (which I haven't done in months) onto the glass.

1) Firmware: Where did you get this firmware? I hope not from Cura. The HB firmware that comes with Cura is for a surprise version of HB that isn't for sale yet. Instead get it from here: http://marlinbuilder.robotfuzz.com/ 2) Does the temp sensor work? Is it reading room temperature (roughly 20C)? If not then fix that first!

I've seen the same thing. I think maybe there are tiny particles in the feeder or maybe in the bowden? Or maybe it really is in the nozzle.

I have way more practical things than show-off pieces. They are all mostly boring to losers people who don't have a printer. Lots of knobs! broken knobs for fans and electronics. Knobs for things I've built. Food clips! For sealing potato chips and craisins and cereal bags (within the box). Here I saved $44 ($22 each number) on new house numbers for my house and the fonts I found on the web (if I were to purchase the numbers ready to go) - well I didn't like them. I printed these on the UM2 with green PLA painted black:

Are you saying Cura is different than other slicers? Or that Cura changed recently? It shoiuldn't have changed recently. yes, Cura does that. It extrudes faster than most extruders can possibly extrude so often it's not a problem but sometimes with hotter nozzle temp (due to temperature overshoot) or due to softer filaments I get the big blob. I *always* sit patiently at the begining of the print and grab that blob with my fingers as it starts the print. Some slicers are smarter and wipe the blob off along the front edge of the bed.