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If your print bed is at 75C, the bottom 5mm will be very distorted so keep that at 60C instead. PLA is expected to shrink about .3% once it gets below the glass temp and it shouldn't shrink much before then. That is what typical injection mold people use as a rule of thumb I believe - .3%. There are many other factors and they are different depending on PLA additives (coloring), temperature and printing speed. So even though you don't want to scale your model, I think it's worse than that. For example vertical cylindrical holes shrink much more than say cubes. And the Z axis shrinks much less than X or Y axis. And lower levels (close to the hot bed and where fan wasn't on at full) tend to shrink differently also. So you might need to add a taper at the bottom 5mm to compensate for something. Most people who need very tight tolerances just print everything twice but as you learn how much things need adjusting for your given filament and print settings you get very good at predicting the model changes ahead of time.

If this is the problem a quick fix might be to create a second username with no accents, log into windows with that username and see if the problem with Cura is gone.

Open a CMD window and type "set appdata" and see where your appdata actuall is. Is there something strange about it? I'm going to guess there are non english characters or it points to a network drive or something. Here is mine: C:\Windows\system32>set appdata APPDATA=C:\Users\Otis\AppData\Roaming Instead of where mine has "Otis" maybe yours has something like: François? Some non english character? That will mess up python sometimes (cura was written in python).

They are all the same except for nozzle size. Nozzle size is also used to trace out a path inside the desired result. So if you ask for a square 10mm on a side with a .4mm diameter (.2mm radius) nozzle the path will be inside by .2mm so it will move in a square pattern with sides 9.6mm long. Nozzle size determines the minimum wall width and line spacing, and other things.

Yes, rod is bent. It *might* be enough to introduce very small errors. It might be worth fixing. It is unrelated to the problems you are having so far. DHL shipping is very very rough with the boxes. Absolutely perfect ultimakers often arrived after being sat on by elephants or something. I recommend you ask for *only* a new rod. It is very easy to replace - take a few pictures, then remove the set screws, slide out the old rode, slide in the new rod, tighten the screws.

Kapton tape is also called Polyimide tape. Kapton is a brand. There are other manufacturers. It is used a lot in PCB electronics because it can handle temperatures much higher than melting solder and it is a good electrical insulator. It is clear with a yellow/gold tint.

Not yet. So ideally you want to convert it to euros within an hour. But that's not easy to do.

I agree. I think it was Atomic Bob who first suggested it. Not certain but I think it was him.

You can cheat a bit and tell it your nozzle diamter is .3mm. This might be enough to get an okay print. Otherwise consider fixing the model so that walls are .81mm thick if you can.

That is so damn strange - it turns the wrong way. I would say it's the DIR bit form the arduino but then it wouldn't home either. Or the limit switch is stuck but then it would just stay at 15mm off the platform instead of moving *farther*. This is bizarre. I think it's a feedrate of 9000 issue. So try this. Connect pronterface back up and set the feedrate to 9000 for your Z moves. Home Z axis then move to Z15, then Z0 G1 Z15 F9000 G1 Z0 Try that a few times. It's supposed to go up and down. If it's doing it wrong (going up and up) then maybe check the DIR bit coming from the Arduino next. Maybe the signal is open or flakey or weak.

I think it's because you are using the left nozzle. If you ever get a dual nozzle system the other nozzle will only be able to print a bit to the right.

No but unfortunately, the default is 75C for PLA and it should be lower. The nozzle temp should normally be fine at the default but different brands and colors of PLA have different melting temps.

This can be caused by a few things. Cut power and locate the X axis limit switch hidden under the top there. Push the print head to the left and see why it isn't hitting that switch it is most likely either: 1) The linear X bearing on the print head has slipped out and is sticking out of the head on the left side and hits the left block when you push it left. 2) The Y rod that is supposed to touch the limit switch is either popped out of the back block or isn't sticking far enough past it to reach the limit switch. This will be extremely obvious if you watch what is supposed to hit that switch. 3) The X limit switch is loose or has moved to the left - to fix, loosen the 2 screws, slide it as far right as it goes in those slots and re-tighten. Don't tighten too much as the threads strip in the limit switch easily - just tighten enough so it won't slip again. This is the least likely problem.

Oh - it's an option in your settings. I have it turned on so if I post anything in a thread I automatically follow it and get emails of every posting. After reading your responses I don't think your leveling is necessarily related. I was just confused by you having multiple objects from 2 different print attempts. DON'T be afraid to mess with default temps. The bed defaults to 75C which is much too hot and will give you distortions on the bottom 5mm or so of your part. It should default to 70C or colder. Most people seem to like 60C. Anything from 60C to 70C should be fine but I recommend 60C as so many people like that temp and it doesn't take as long to heat up to that temp or cool back down again. Wow! I never heard that before. Some people may think that's a stupid idea but I like it - it's "thinking outside of the box". I might try that some day. For now my spatula has been sharpened as much as a razor blade using files and sand paper and it slips under brim okay. So it sounds like printing suddenly stops for no apparent reason. I know, I know - that was your original claim but I am starting to believe you. The fan comes on around the same layer - around 1 or 2mm up - there is a small chance it comes on too fast or too strong and the PID controller that regulates the nozzle can't handle it. Raising the nozzle temp to 240C will GREATLY reduce this kind of problem. In fact raising temp to 240C can help all kinds of issues so I would raise it to at least 230C. When you start a print, go to TUNE menu before the printer starts moving (while heating the bed). At that point adjust bed temp to 60C and nozzle temp to 230C. Don't go over 240C unless you are really printing incredibly fast.

Looking more carefully it would be nice to see a larger picture. This picture is so small it's like on a camera from 20 years ago that uses a floppy to store the image. I'd like to see more detail on the first layer which means I need to see the brim better as that's the only thing left visible from the first layer. Or better, when you start the print, take a picture a few minutes in before it starts the second layer. It really looks like first-layer issues. I think you need to level more carefully.

This is partly why we suggested one print at a time instead of all at once. After you post to the gallery, start a new post and click "my media" next to the smile face. So what is causing this? I'm not sure. It looks like some parts are printing perfectly and other's aren't? Is that correct? Or do you have prints from 2 different runs placed on the same platform? 1) It sure looks like much more glue than you should need. You can't really see the glue on my machine - it's very subtle. Too much glue can clog the nozzle on the first layer. I doubt this is your issue but still... 2) What's your print temp and bed temp? Bed temp off (0C) might explain some of this - I recommend 60C. 3) It looks like some parts are perfect and other's are printing over thin air - is it possible that some of the parts don't start until maybe the 5th layer or so? Because it looks like it is printing them in air or that they never stuck to the glass on the first layer. Maybe your levelling is off towards the front of the machine so that it is not printing on the glass on the parts near the front but printing above the glass. Or maybe you combined different prints in the same photo and that is confusing me. This does *not* appear to be typical underextrusion despite what geeks says. Although it is possible.

DAS_Engineer - don't worry about harming the stepper or the electronics - they can both take it. Plus the other steppers (x,y,z) run at a higher current - I think 1.5A nominal setting. The reason UM sets the current lower for the extruder is ONLY to avoid grinding filament. I think in the above post, GEEKS is trying to say there are much more serious problems than this "current" issue and you should just try printing his or Ian's latest feeder. Geeks, I like you and appreciate your contributions, but your posts translated to English are the most difficult to read of anyone. It would greatly help if you wrote very simple sentences with perfect grammar before translating. Write sentences meant for a 4 years old. Simple, short sentences. Each sentence should have a subject and a verb unlike my previous incomplete sentence. For example this sentence has no verb so it is confusing: I hope I don't discourage you Geeks! You are appreciated!

Their existing payment system has some problems and they haven't even had time to fix that. They are so overloaded with orders for Ultimaker 2's I think that there is not much time for anything else. They keep hiring more and more people and eventually when they get shipping down to 2 weeks (instead of around 10 weeks now) maybe they can look into this! I think right now they are losing many more orders due to the long lead time than because of bitcoin. Most people would rather buy a crappy computer this week than wait almost 3 months for an excellent printer.

I'm glad you fixed the slipping Y axis. The non-smooth surface is caused by "underextrusion" or simply "not enough plastic". This is usually caused by printing too cold or too fast. If you are printing < 240C then increase the temp to 240C might fix your problem. If you still have underextrusion then slow down your print by 2X or make layer height thinner by 2X. For example go from 50mm/sec to 25mm/sec. Or go from .2mm layers to .1mm layers. Either of these changes will reduce the volume of PLA going through the tiny nozzle. If you watch as well as listen to the feeder you can see it skips backwards. The feeder is designed to do this on purpose if the pressure gets too high. If it didn't skip backwards it would grind the filament to dust instead which is much worse because then your print fails and you have to take things apart. This skipping backwards is what is most likely causing your underextrusion and again the fix is to print hotter and/or slower. There are hundreds of posts and experiments regarding this problem here - you may have a somewhat faulty printer (at least not as good as others) or it may be your filament is more viscous at your printing temps - so really the first thing to try is hotter temperature. umforum.ultimaker.com/index.php?/topic/3976-almost-always-missing-layers-underextruding umforum.ultimaker.com/index.php?/topic/4586-can-your-um2-printer-achieve-10mm3s-test-it-here/

It looks like you Y axis is slipping a little bit from layer to layer. So your part is moving towards the front of the machine and then sometimes towards the back of the machine. When you have a sudden move it is usually caused by a loose pulley. But you have gradual - small move from layer to layer. This is almost always caused by the short belt rubbing near the motor. You need to remove the back left cover to expose the Y stepper motor and belt. I would remove the motor and maybe add some washers or something to get the motor farther from the side of the printer - or maybe move the pulley on the motor closer to the motor - the gap should be much less than a mm, but not touching. Maybe 1/2 or 1/4 of one mm. When you are printing - that belt from the motor up to the top shaft - if it is rubbing the wall you might be able to hear it or you might see it twist each time it changes direction - that would be more evidence that the belt is rubbing.

I see you used meshmixer for supports and that's great but they should be of larger diameter - about twice what you did. Also you used more support than necessary. On a level shelf overhang of less than 2mm you don't need any support usually. Just try it. On an overhang that is tilted more vertical than 45 degrees - well any crappy printer can handle that with no support. You can go much steeper - 60 degrees from vertical? No problem. 70? Surface getting a little rough maybe, 80 degrees? Um2 can still do it with .1mm layers but starting to look pretty crappy. 85-90 degrees? Well now you need some support if shelf is more than 2mm.

This is typical. In order for the pattern to repeat on each layer despite every layer possibly moving a bit each time, I believe Cura's infill pattern is anchored to the 0,0 point on the printer. So if you move a part a little bit, the pattern inside will be different. Anyway, you can always increase your infill - you have it pretty low - looks like 5 or 10%. Try 20% if you want more infill. I don't recommend going over 24% though. If you want strength, increasing shell is usually better than increasing infill.

Follow my directions above to get the fan power going, then jiggle all the connectors and wiring. Try to get the fans to come on and off repeatedly such that you know the exact connector that has problems. Then potentially take that connector apart and possibly solder the wires in or something.

They look great!

Very cool! I hope this gets as good as Cura someday! It would be great to have another slicer. http://webloria.loria.fr/~slefebvr/icesl/