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The circuit diagram, and board layout are here: http://reprap.org/wiki/Ultimaker%27s_v1.5.7_PCB There is a zip file at the top. It contains the "brd" file which is the layout. Also the "sch" file which is the schematic. Both files can be opened by eagle software which is free: http://www.cadsoftusa.com/dow

Yes! Sometimes I try to print before the color changes - I like those mixed colors. But they usually get lost in the skirt or bottom layer.

I think you should get a magnifying glass and look at the blue head carefully. Those lines in the blue head could be either: 1) Z stage moved down too much and so that layer got underextruded because the gap is taller. or 2) underextrusion - potentially filament get stuck but layer is same height as other layers. You can tell the difference because if it's #1 then the layer that looks like underextrusion will actually be a taller layer. And if it is #2 then the underextruded layer will be the same height.

Is it possible that the print with the chimney and side axlels (some kind of car?) was done at .1mm? Could it be that your prints come out better at .2mm?

Interesting!!! This makes me think there is nothing wrong with your z stage. If that green part can look so perfect. What was different about the green part? Did you print it much slower so that the machine shook less? Or slower could have caused more even extruding? Maybe the filament diameter for blue and white is too large and gets "stuck" in the tube? Maybe something wrong with the slicer? Maybe something to do with infill?

I think nico is referring to the fact that if you print too cold *or* too fast, you get underextrusion because pressures are too high in the nozzle. It is true that lower speed tends to result in better quality mostly because of extrusion control. Every time the movement accelerates, the extruder accelerates at the same rate but because of delays you get slight under extrusion when accelerating and slight overextrusion when decelerating. This is minor but makes a slight difference in quality. Anyway you will learn all this after you play with your printer and have watched it print for hours on end.

I'm still using 13.06.4 so maybe this is fixed but I just noticed the gcode file times are off by 106 minutes. If I delete the gcode file. And right click on the floppy icon and save a fresh gcode file, it's file time always seems to be 106 minutes earlier (cura goes back in time?!). For example once it was actually 9:57am and the file time was 8:11am. In case it matters, I am at GMT-5 but we have DST so actually GMT-4.

Many times I have clobbered my gcode file because when I go to make the next one I overwrite the previous one that had the same name. Very annoying. Not sure my work flow when this happens but I assume it's probably like this: load model A, slice and save. Load model B, oops - too late, model A gcode now has model B in it. Delete model A. oops, now gcode has model B in it. Start over! Clear platform.

It's normal. I move my head around all the time but I also don't move it fast and now I will know to not do it too much - give the stepper driver a few seconds to cool down.

Please post a picture of your model in cura shown in normal view, xray view (which shows problems in red) and then show in slice view- a slice that demonstrates the problem. You can post pictures by first going to "gallery" link at the top left corner of this page. After uploading pictures to the gallery, start your post and click "my media" to add a picture from your gallery.

You'll likely have to unscrew those 4 screws there holding the motor in and it's shown being tightened in this photo: But it's a pain as you have to remove that cover - looks like you already removed the cover. Much easier to get to is the other end of the short belt: That's a UM1 picture but the UM2 has identical pulleys. I would tighten that one first as it is easier. Heck I'd just do both of them.

fyi - I don't work for ultimaker. I just own one. Shouldn't be an issue. The printer is complicated and you will have many problems with it at first. There are so many issues. For example you can clog the nozzle if you leave the nozzle hot without printing for an hour. Or the fact that levelling is amazingly important and takes a long time to really get it in your head how perfect it needs to be and how printing too high or low by .1mm can mess up the bottom layer of your print. So it is frustrating for some people. For me it was just a puzzle to solve. And everytime I think I am a master at this machine I try some new part that has all new challenges. But if you keep printing similar parts you will have all the issues worked out within a month. Of course if you change to ABS you will have to learn all over again. The UM2 will likely prove to be much more reliable both in electronics and in the feeder mechanism and ease of levelling and consistency (wood platform droops lower from day to day whereas the steel one I'm sure won't).

UM1 has a single fan that cools the part. Most importantly the top layer. It is controllable in software. UM2 has 2 fans for the same purpose plus a third fan inside the print head to keep the heat from travelling up into the more sensitive parts of the print head.

ABS is difficult to work with because it shrinks more than PLA. This sounds simple but causes many problems. PLA also shrinks but not as much. PLA45 doesn't shrink. One way to deal with shrinking is with a heated chamber so that the shrinking isn't occurring as much *while* you are printing but after you are done. A heated chamber helps both PLA and ABS but isn't really needed for ABS. An open chamber is helpful for being able to see what is going on and so that you can reach your hands in from more directions. But an open chamber is not necessary. Also there is a patent regarding a heated chamber so even the UM2 comes without a front and top (you have to build your own). The side panels on the UM2 appear that they might be easy to remove but I'm not sure. So a heated chamber is not bad for PLA other than being able to stick your hands in more easily if it is open.

For UM1 and UM2, the feeder only takes 3mm filament. In fact 2.9mm is ideal as 3.1mm is too wide for most bowden tubes (the tube at the top of UM1 and UM2). The nozzle hole diameter is .4mm which is maybe a more important specification. People have gotten 1.75mm to work in UM1 but it requires changing many parts. Some people have done it with stock UM (no changes) but it doesn't work very well. 3mm filament is easy to purchase and available at many places around the world and in many types of plastic (PLA, PLA45 PLA90 ABS, flexible PLA, much more).

A week? lol. Well they aren't supposed to ship the first one for another 2 weeks.

>Might I suggest the reason being shipping is also disproportionately high in the Americas to obtain your products too. Well rumors (more than rumors really) indicate that UM will have a US distributor very soon. So I think they already got the hint. Makershed seems to be selling the UM1 already: makershed.com Not sure it this is the new secret distributor or if it will be someone else. But my impression is that UM ships a pallet worth of UMs to makershed and then makershed ships within the US. This should hopefully save you money and time on the shipping.

You can get the filament out in seconds if you remove the bowden from the print head. Unlock the feeder (if the filament is in there). Remove the blue clip on print head that holds the ring up. Push down on the ring with one hand and then firmly pull up on the bowden with the other hand. Don't lose the tiny blue clip.

Someone recently had a similar problem: http://umforum.ultimaker.com/index.php?/topic/2934-x-axis-step-direction-does-not-change/?hl=driver&do=findComment&comment=21349 I suggest you read through that thoroughly. You may have a simpler problem - your direction pin may simply be loose. Or there may be a bad solder joint at one of those 2 pin shown in the circuit board. If the pins aren't bent and seem to be making good contact both at the arduino and the stepper, then I would swap the X and Y steppers to see if the problem moves to the other axis or not. I would also probe this signal at the driver.

That pattern of "bubbling" is common over 20% infill if the fan is off. But your print looks like every layer is solid. Which is it? Solid or not solid lower layers?

@lepaul - I strongly suggest you look up each gcode that is listed in your post. It's pretty simple. They are described nicely at these two sites: http://reprap.org/wiki/G-code In this page scroll way down: https://github.com/ErikZalm/Marlin And the speed is in mm/minute so divide by 60 to get mm/sec.

Are you sure retraction is on? If you look at it in cura in layers view it shows blue lines as non-extruding as you said. But if there is retraction it also shows a vertical blue line. The head doesn't move up - that's just a symbol to indicate retraction. You are printing on the fast side if you want low stringing. To improve the stringing issue, you could cut the speed in half to 50mm/sec (to reduce pressure in the nozzle which causes some stringing) - still retraction should take care of most of that. Also lower temps tend to string less but I found that white PLA, at least from printbl.com will string a little bit no matter how cold you go: http://umforum.ultimaker.com/index.php?/topic/1872-some-calibration-photographs/

I agree. They are intentional. But my z screw is straight and I didn't understand about that at the time so I just "locked it in" and it worked out well for me.

So now, if your z nut is loose, I recommend locking it in somehow. Maybe with a mild glue. Maybe just wrap it in a few sheets of paper. I'd take it all apart and possibly just put hot glue in there (which shouldn't be too hard to get out again I would hope). Anyway put something in there with the big Z nut to keep it from moving.

First let me say that I didn't really understand what I was doing when I built my UM. Anyway, you can see in the photo below that I added shims on the sides (blue arrows). That was to get it perfectly lined up on the 2 smooth vertical rods and also centered on the z screw. I took the z screw out of the z coupler to make sure it would just fall perfectly into the coupler without any pushing side to side. I had to adjust the bed a few times (with shims) to get it just right. Those shims are not rectangular. They are wedge shaped. So they are thicker towards the back and thinner towards the front of the bed. The top right one is a thin piece of iron from an old PC power supply case. The rest are cedar shingles. In addition, something must have been wrong with my laser cut plywood because I spent over 3 hours sanding and filing everything in order to get it to fit. For example the front panel and side panels WOULD NOT FIT. I had to enlarge all the square holes with a small metal file. So when I got to this Z bolt it fit very tight. It does not move in there. I now suspect it is meant to move but I built everything to very tight tolerances and mine doesn't need to move. If I disconnect the z screw from the coupler, everything rides up and down very smoothly. No binding on the two rods. So I think I was just lucky that I had a very tight set of wood from UM. It may have taken me longer to put it together than most people (extra sanding/filing) but I may have gotten lucky on the Z stage. By the way you can see (green arrows) my wing nuts I use to support my aluminum heated bed from below (which I rarely actually heat up).