Nicolinux

Joergen hinted that my problem could also be related to the rods not being straight and square to each other. I did check the rods and most of them are not perfectly straight. But I think that's ok because most rods in printers are bent a bit and they still provide smooth movement. I also checked the perpendicularity between the rods protruding the print head and the x/y rods. That's ok too. But I didn't check if the oposing x/y rods are square to each other. I remember that I tightened the t-shaped screws for the frame a lot. Maybe the frame is deformed now and this affects the rods. I hope not. I am not keen on sourcing my own frame because I am sure it will break if I disassemble it.

Alright, thanks guys. I will go on and finish the assembly. I am too late for the second batch of great pulleys from a guy from Germany, but I placed an order anyway and if I get them, I will use them. If not I will ignore the problem the best I can

Hi Markus, I know I am too late for the second batch - I just received my Ultimaker a few days ago. But if for any reason you have a full set left (standard) - I am in. I am still building my printer and got stuck while aligning the x/y axis. I refused to accept that the cause for my problem (variable resistance while moving in one direction) could be those pulleys. For the y axis it is so bad that I have to use much force to reach the edge. I guess I installed the worst pulley from my set on the same rod :/ Here is my original thread - thanks to Nick for pointing me here http://umforum.ultimaker.com/index.php?/topic/2589-axis-alignment-problem Stefan

Yes the pulleys are bad. As soon as I tighten them, the axis movement is everything but smooth. When they are loose, the problem is not so pronounced. Thanks for the info with the thread. I will read it. But I won't replace them anytime soon. I want to print already and I am sure that many other people with stock Ultimakers do get great results - even with bad pulleys. I bought an Ultimaker for a reason. Otherwise I could have stayed with the Prusa Mendel and fix stuff every other print...

The problem is that I feel that something blocks a smooth movement and the pulleys wobble like crazy. I still can't figure out why that's the case. I loosened the end caps and this helped quite a lot but the uneven resistance when moving the head is still there. I have also tightened the tensioner screws with the help of anoter screwdriver blade - these should be somewhat tight. In this video from the assembly instructions the head can be moved very very smooth and evenly. Sadly I am very far away from it: Thanks, Stefan

Hi, I am running into a bit of trouble with the x and y alignment. I have mounted the extruder to the x/y frame. The first thing I noticed - the small wooden pads that should help tighten the sliding blocks have no effect: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ultimaker/6244577512/ If I tighten the screw, the nut rotates with it and does not really push the claw down. However, my problem right now is that after aligning all axis and tightening the pulleys on the long belts, I can not move the extruder freely. It is not a fluid movement, but rather "pulsating". Here is a small video to demonstrate (turn up the volume): The y-axis has the worst problems while x is way smoother. While moving I see that the pulleys wobble on the 8mm rods and this corresponds to the movement problems. I loosened all pulleys and tried again, but the problem is still there, albeit not that pronounced. I guess it is related to belt tension and/or the sliding blocks. The instructions are a bit unclear. If I want to have less tension - how would I do that? I can't open the claw on the sliding blocks too much because the belt would slip off. The rods are at a fixed distance and the pulleys are also fixed. I have no idea how to lessen the tension on the belts. How do I fix this - or what else could be wrong? Thanks, Stefan

Hallo Leute, danke für die Hinweise. Ich denke ich bleibe erstmal bei den M3 Schrauben. Joergen hat recht, ich kann immer noch neue Schrauben holen fass es Probleme gibt. Ich wollte nur vor vorneherein Ersatz da haben... aber ich glaube bei so vielen erfolgreichen Ultimaker Kits, werden es die aktuellen Schrauben auch tun. Grüße Stefan

Thanks guys. I will keep this in mind. For the screws I asked in the german subforum where I can get them around here. I have a bad feeling ordering stuff from a shop where I don't understand the language Now it is up to DHL the shippment status hasn't changed since saturday... (I guess they need more ddosing of the shippment tracking site

Hi, ich habe im Hardware-Unterforum nach Tipps für den Zusammenbau bei der aktuellen Revision 4 gefragt. Einer der Antworten war dass man auf die M3 Schrauben für die Endstops verzichten sollte und stattdessen "#4 x 0.5" Pan head, torx drive plastite screws" nehmen sollte. Ich habe allerdings keine Ahnung wo ich diese hier finde. Kennt die jemand? http://umforum.ultimaker.com/index.php?/topic/2557-assembly-advice-for-rev-4/?p=18205 http://www.mcmaster.com/#99512a219/=ntx5c7 Danke & Grüße Stefan

@Nick: Thanks for the suggestion. I'd like to switch to the torx screws. I need to find out how they are named here in Germany. @Valcrow: Cool, I have read your post a that was one of the few things I actually wrote down because it seemed important. Thanks again.

Thanks Simon. I was concerned about the extruder/hotend combo because I have read about many issues with clogging and the bowden tube slipping. But I am sure everything will be fine and the print quality way better than our Prusa Mendel i2... Right now it is just my impatience. The UM crew did a great job. I ordered three days ago and the kit is at 60% shipping progress.

Hi, I am about to receive my kit (currently ddosing the dhl shippment site) and wondered if there are any important things to note for the assembly. I have read the instructions in the wiki and many posts here in the forums. It is hard to figure out if the posts are relevant here - other than looking at the post date and guessing about the used revision. Thanks, Stefan

Thanks for the encouraging answers. It was very helpful.

Hi, I have a hard time deciding on the variant of the Ultimaker I should buy. I have already built a Prusa Mendel together with two friends so I am not lacking the skills to assemble an Ultimaker. I fear that a self assembled variant can not reach the same level of accuracy like the pre-assembled one. I'd like to ask about your experience. I am fed up with the constant tuning of our old printer and I want to finally start to get consistent print results. So is it possible to tune a self assembled Ultimaker to be very accurate? And how complicated/time consuming is it? And do you have to constantly re-tune your printer after a few prints? Many thanks, Stefan