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Uncover the electronics board underneath. The larger panel. Only 2 screws to remove. The wire may have fallen out. The connection is in this photo where it says "z-stop" mostly hidden behind a connector in the foreground but next to x-stop and y-stop.

This is called "pillowing". There are many tests and discussion of this and the solution is more fan. The problem is not heated air although it looks like it. The problem is "breaking threads". So you can also improve by increasing infill or layer thickness (thicker threads) or just thicker "top" surface. But the simplest solution is "more fan": post #10 is a summary by illuminarti with photos but there is a whole thread somewhere: http://umforum.ultimaker.com/index.php?/topic/1872-some-calibration-photographs/?p=17300

Are you printing through USB? This is a known problem through the USB. This is not recommended and not officially supported. UM found that there were many many checksum errors and even though things seem fine it is resending the same command possibly hundreds of times until it gets through the noisy USB connection. Some people can print through USB just fine. They have more powerful USB drivers or something. Simply moving cables a little bit can make a difference in the bottom of the UM. Sometimes buying a new USB cable helps or connecting it more solidly, or buying a USB hub to buffer the signal, or trying a laptop instead of a desktop, or the other way around. But really you should be using the SD card to print.

It's a little frustrating because when I asked what model you printed you gave us 3 links. 3. And the first link had 2 different models. Am I supposed to check 6 models? I checked the first model and it wasn't the model you printed but it sliced fine for me. Next time please post a photo of the model you printed, post the SAME SETTINGS of that model and post a link to the stl and if there are multiple STLs then say which one. I also specifically told you that spiralize was likely a problem. I even showed you a photo of the spiralize setting and circled it in blue yet you still checked it seemingly ignoring my advice. Then you post photos of cura slicing a model just fine. It's all quite confusing and inconsistent.

This is not recommended for the STL model I downloaded. However it *is* recommended for others. I guess you have to understand how that works. This only works for very simple shapes. Lets start with a cylinder. The cylinder should be modeled solid with a top a bottom and sides. It should not have inner surfaces in the STL. Sprialize then automatically prints the part hollow. It's kind of like setting "no infill, no top", but it's more than that. It prints only one pass on the outer edge. If you set the shell thickness to .8mm and your nozzle diameter is .4mm it will overextrude by 2X to get it on a single pass. It also adds extra material where the wall and the bottom of the part meet to keep it watertight. It also increases the Z gradually instead of in steps so that you don't get a Z seam. If you print 2 cylinders at once it will not work correctly. If you have "holes" in your cylinder it will mess up really badly. It will not work with the "bud vase" that I downloaded. This is because that is not a simple solid shape - it has internal walls and no top. It defines the thickness of the walls of the vase in the STL. It defines the thickness of the bottom also. So "spiralize" is very very specific. It is meant for cups and vases only and it only works for certain models that are designed to work with the Spiralize feature.

Okay so there are 2 issues here. 1) You sliced a model and printed it and it didn't have a bottom. I don't know which model or which settings. 2) You sliced a different model or at least one with different settings and the slicer *does* show a bottom but you for some reason don't believe it. The latest Cura displays slices much faster and there are trade offs that can be confusing. One of the trade offs is that it shows the model before it even finishes slicing (you can see the slice progress bar up near the floppy disc icon). Another one is that it shows the outer shell first so that for a few dozen seconds the part may appear hollow but then there is a *second* progress bar at the bottom of the screen saying % of the layers loaded into the slice view. Because the outside of the part loads first it looks hollow. A 3rd issue is that when you are viewing upper layers it doesn't show all the detail of lower layers. My point is that part you sliced in your cura screen shots will print fine. The part you sliced before didn't print fine but I don't know why because that STL model and slice settings may be lost.

When printing the same object from older cura consider doing: file "load profile from gcode..." and then choose the older object you had sliced. This will load the newer cura with the older settings. Can you post a link to the STL file that you are slicing please?

There are SO MANY SETTINGS that can affect the time. For example just checking "enable combing" might speed things up because it might do less retractions. You really need to run both Curas side by side and look at every setting. And consider looking at them in layer view as you might see something there also.

Some possibilities: 1) the power of the heater is much higher now and the PID controller is adjusted wrong. This is very difficult to fix if the heater has twice the power it used to - basically you need to edit configuration.h and lower the max power. Also cut P by the increase in power (if heater is 2X wattage then cut P in half). 2) Bad wiring for the thermocouple. Does the temp vary by 20 degrees over the course of 30 seconds? Or just 1 second. If 1 second then the sensor is having a problem. Could be many things. I would measure the voltage at the output of the board on top of the print head. It should be 0V for 0C and 5V for 500C and linear in between. e.g. 20C is 200mv. Also push the head around to the 4 corners and see if the temp bounces around. Check for loose wires. 3) The wires from the thermocouple to the small circuit board in the print head are VERY sensitive to noise from the fan wires. Separate the fan wires far from the thermocouple wires - 20mm should be plenty. 1mm is too close. Twisting the fan wires can also help but just moving them far away is enough. Obviously this is only a problem when voltage is applied to the fan so starting layer 2 (even if the fan not moving yet).

I watched the video again. It's not hitting the Z home switch. You can hear it trying for maybe 5 seconds to keep going down but the Z axis is stuck. Maybe there is something under your bed getting jammed? Put the UM on it's side - you can see the limit switch on the bottom. Tell UM to "lower bed". Make sure the Z switch gets hit - you should hear it click. Even better, you can turn off power and push down on the bed (well sideways will your UM is on it's side) and see the screw stick through the bottom of the machine and touch the Z switch. Hear it click. Make sure it clicks. If it does click then probably the other end of the wire isn't plugged into the PCB board - you can remove the cover of the PCB board with removing only 2 screws.

This is common but only a problem on the first layer. I just watched video88 above. What is going on? It is printing much too high off the build plate. Something is wrong. Maybe where the motor connects to the Z screw is loose? Something seems very wrong with your Z movement. Also maybe the Z limit switch moves? Does the glass ever crash into the nozzle? For people who don't want to watch the whole video, he goes through calibration and it looks pretty good and then he starts a print and it goes to the wrong position - several mm off the bed when it starts printing. Also he sets the nozzle to 0C so it prints "cold" but that's besides the point. This is a test of the Z and the test FAILS. Something is loose LTC - either the z limit switch or the Z screw to the motor or something inside the bed where the Z screw passes through.

M907 X1300 Y1300 Z1300 E1250 should set them all to default currents. Values are in milliamps and 2000 is the max although I'm suspicious of some kind of bug as someone reported that the extruder gets more powerful up to around 1500 and then starts to get weaker again as you go above 1500 - I think this might be a hardware bug with the stepper drivers. I'm really not sure. Also B is for the second extruder M907 B1250 I played with this and reported results here (see posts #1 for the photo and #19 for the current testing): http://umforum.ultimaker.com/index.php?/topic/4222-pulling-force-of-um-extruder/?p=35887

But usually you need the skirt around each object in one-at-a-time mode to reprime the nozzle. After the first object completes there is a retraction but then I think there is a bug and it doesn't un-retract before printing the next model. Or maybe vice versa and it unretracts twice (some bug with extrusion going negative maybe?)

This is the most beautiful key ring I have ever seen! ever! :-P

Yes, post #48 (tommy if you click on the link to the right of the post number (like a sideways V) it gives you a direct link to the post you want to link to): http://umforum.ultimaker.com/index.php?/topic/2771-complete-heated-bed-kit-for-ultimaker/?p=40421

Works for me. I did "bud vase" on the first link you gave. You can clearly see the infill for the base (yellow arrow). Particularly note the 2 blue circled settings - when I tried spiralize for this piece it was a disaster. Spiralize is designed for cups and vases but only if the model is completely solid and the walls are not determined. Anyway - getting off topic. Please post your settings. You can do it the way robert said or you can do "file" "save profile" and post that text file that results. Here's mine: [profile] layer_height = 0.2 wall_thickness = 0.4 retraction_enable = True solid_layer_thickness = 0.6 fill_density = 25 nozzle_size = 0.4 print_speed = 50 print_temperature = 210 print_temperature2 = 0 print_temperature3 = 0 print_temperature4 = 0 print_bed_temperature = 70 support = None platform_adhesion = Brim support_dual_extrusion = False wipe_tower = False wipe_tower_volume = 10 ooze_shield = False filament_diameter = 2.90 filament_diameter2 = 0 filament_diameter3 = 0 filament_diameter4 = 0 filament_flow = 100 retraction_speed = 30.0 retraction_amount = 4.5 retraction_dual_amount = 13 retraction_min_travel = 1 retraction_combing = False retraction_minimal_extrusion = 0 bottom_thickness = 0.3 object_sink = 0 overlap_dual = 0 travel_speed = 150 bottom_layer_speed = 20 infill_speed = 0.0 cool_min_layer_time = 5 fan_enabled = True skirt_line_count = 1 skirt_gap = 5 skirt_minimal_length = 20 fan_full_height = 1 fan_speed = 100 fan_speed_max = 100 cool_min_feedrate = 10 cool_head_lift = True solid_top = True solid_bottom = True fill_overlap = 10 support_fill_rate = 20 support_xy_distance = 0.7 support_z_distance = 0.15 spiralize = False brim_line_count = 15 raft_margin = 5 raft_line_spacing = 1.0 raft_base_thickness = 0.3 raft_base_linewidth = 0.7 raft_interface_thickness = 0.2 raft_interface_linewidth = 0.2 fix_horrible_union_all_type_a = False fix_horrible_union_all_type_b = False fix_horrible_use_open_bits = False fix_horrible_extensive_stitching = False plugin_config = (lp1 . object_center_x = -1 object_center_y = -1 [alterations] start.gcode = ;Basic settings: Layer height: {layer_height} Walls: {wall_thickness} Fill: {fill_density} ;Print time: {print_time} ;Filament used: {filament_amount}m {filament_weight}g ;Filament cost: {filament_cost} G21 ;metric values M221 S100 ;set flow to 90% M220 S100 ;set speed to 100% ;M92 X79.0814 Y79.0814 E865.888 ;set x., y- and E-Step ;M500 ;saves M92-values to EPROM (really?) G90 ;absolute positioning M107 ;start with the fan off G92 E0 ;zero the extruded length G1 F300 E3 ;extract a bit to increase pressure G28 X0 Y0 ;move X/Y to min endstops G28 Z0 ;move Z to min endstops ;TweakAtZ-state0 ;------------------------------- ;Tweak initial layer thickness (depending on bed leveling) G1 Z0.08 ;move Z up by 0.1mm G92 Z0 ;define new zero for Z ;------------------------------- G1 Z15.0 F{travel_speed} ;move the platform down 15mm G92 E0 ;zero the extruded length ;G1 F200 E3 ;extrude 3mm of feed stock G1 F200 E9 ;extrude 9mm of feed stock in order to make sure enough comes out G92 E0 ;zero the extruded length again ;G1 F300 X50 ;draws a line of 5cm ;G1 F300 Y2 ;sidestep ;G1 F300 X0 ;draws a line of 5cm G1 F{travel_speed} ;TweakAtZ-state1 M117 Printing... M201 X1000 Y1000 ;sets acceleration end.gcode = M104 S0 ;extruder heater off M140 S0 ;heated bed heater off (if you have it) M201 X9000 Y9000 ;resets acceleration to default G91 ;relative positioning G1 E-1 F300 ;retract the filament a bit before lifting the nozzle, to release some of the pressure G1 Z+0.5 E-5 X-20 Y-20 F{travel_speed} ;move Z up a bit and retract filament even more G28 X0 Y0 ;move X/Y to min endstops, so the head is out of the way G92 Z0 ;zeros the z-axis ;G1 Z10 ;goes up 10mm M84 ;steppers off G90 ;absolute positioning start2.gcode = ;Sliced at: {day} {date} {time} ;Basic settings: Layer height: {layer_height} Walls: {wall_thickness} Fill: {fill_density} ;Print time: {print_time} ;Filament used: {filament_amount}m {filament_weight}g ;Filament cost: {filament_cost} G21 ;metric values M221 S100 ;set flow to 100% M220 S100 ;set speed to 100% M92 X79.0814 Y79.0814 E865.888 ;set x., y- and E-Step M500 ;saves M92-values to EPROM (really?) G90 ;absolute positioning M107 ;start with the fan off G92 E0 ;zero the extruded length G1 F300 E3 ;extract a bit to increase pressure G28 X0 Y0 ;move X/Y to min endstops G28 Z0 ;move Z to min endstops ;TweakAtZ-state0 ;---------------- G1 Z0.1 ;move Z up by 0.04mm G92 Z0 ;define new zero for Z ;------------------------------- G1 Z15.0 F{travel_speed} ;move the platform down 15mm T1 G92 E0 ;zero the extruded length G1 F200 E9 ;extrude 10mm of feed stock G92 E0 ;zero the extruded length again G1 F200 E-{retraction_dual_amount} T0 G92 E0 ;zero the extruded length G1 F200 E9 ;extrude 10mm of feed stock G92 E0 ;zero the extruded length again G1 F{travel_speed} ;TweakAtZ-state1 M117 Printing... M201 X1000 Y1000 ;sets acceleration end2.gcode = ;End GCode M104 T0 S0 ;extruder heater off M104 T1 S0 ;extruder heater off M140 S0 ;heated bed heater off (if you have it) G91 ;relative positioning G1 E-1 F300 ;retract the filament a bit before lifting the nozzle, to release some of the pressure G1 Z+0.5 E-5 X-20 Y-20 F{travel_speed} ;move Z up a bit and retract filament even more G28 X0 Y0 ;move X/Y to min endstops, so the head is out of the way M84 ;steppers off G90 ;absolute positioning support_start.gcode = support_end.gcode = cool_start.gcode = cool_end.gcode = replace.csv = switchextruder.gcode = ;Switch between the current extruder and the next extruder, when printing with multiple extruders. G92 E0 G1 E-36 F5000 G92 E0 T{extruder} G1 X{new_x} Y{new_y} Z{new_z} F{travel_speed} G1 E36 F5000 G92 E0

Please link to the vase on thingiverse you want to print first so we can look at it. Consider checking "spiralize". It depends on the vase shape but for the most part that tends to help. Could it be that the vase bottoms you saw had no thickness? Maybe they are bad models.

I think printing hex is probably MUCH slower than straight lines because the head has to slow down at each corner in that pattern.

If this is a fatal error you can just delete that last line in the file which is just a huge comment that encodes all the settings you used when you created the gcode file. Also if you set bed temperature to 0 it might (*might*) not include the m140 commands - not sure.

This is a known bug. In machine settings, the Ultimaker does *not* have "center at (0,0)" checked but other printers do. So Daid doesn't always remember to test the code with that checked. The quick workaround is to uncheck that when testing with the layer view, then check it again before saving the gcode.

Excellent! I love this! Also I would love to see either or both of these features: 1) At least one of the 4 screws should not go through the entire housing so that you can take the cover off without the motor falling down. 2) Manual release - somehow have something that extends outside the feeder that I can push on so that I can then insert or remove the filament manually. This will solve many issues including: - sometimes hot plastic gets stuck in bowden during "change filament" procedure. - It's nice to pull out the PLA when head is at 90C to "get all of it". - It's good to be able to push on the PLA while the head is hot to see how much force is required with fingers - to get an idea of the correct printing temperature for a new PLA. - It's good to be able to push on the PLA with fingers when inserting new filament into the bowden to know how much resistance is occurring in the bowden itself. Sometimes the filament is so twisted/bent that the force needed is excessive.

support.ultimaker.com However I recommend you get a multimeter - one of your connections is probably an open. Or borrow one from a neighbor. Ideally you would expect 24V across both fans when you do my test I described above. And 12V across each fan individually. If you have an open then you will see 24V across some gap somewhere.

#define PID_MAX 255 // limits current to nozzle; 255=full current This one thing alone is probably enough - it's like setting the max voltage to a lower voltage. Were your increases more than 10 degrees above the current temperature? Because, again, PID feature is only used when it gets within 10 degrees. pid-c is a constant used to give the head an extra boost of power when the extruder is moving fast - presumably because when you suddenly decide to melt twice is much plastic as normal you need a bit more power to keep the head at a constant temperature. #define DEFAULT_Kc (1) //heating power=Kc*(e_speed)

photos please. A photo of what printed out, and a photo of Cura "layer view". Did maybe the nozzle get clogged?

This is true. But people would bitch about it and word would get around. And right now Faberdashery is the favorite for british Ultimaker owners. According to my informal poll that has been running on these forums for a year now.