schafe

I have not tried a ball bearing type spool holder. One test I did was to measure the length of filament required for a cylinder, .97m. I started measuring at the feeder hole and cut that off of the spool adding a little more for safety. I coiled the filament around the stock spool holder, but it was basically hanging freely. I tried this several times with no improvement. I have also tried giving the spool a spin every so often to free up some filament with no change. Therefore I don't think a new spool holder would improve my situation. I was very pleased with my post about being a cylinder addict. I had my wife read that post and suggested she read this entire topic. Now she has stress about cylinders and lots of questions. Her theory is that room temp and humidity is the cause. Our house does vary in temp some, I'd say +/- 10 degrees F. I have no idea about humidity, but with the furnace on during the winter it is likely very low.

I do not have all of the information, but I thought this copper stuff was a heat transfer compound. I thought is was there to help transfer heat away from the silver cylinder with the perimeter holes into the aluminum frame thus helping keep the teflon piece cool.

Beggers can't be choosers.

Illuminarti, I'll repeat the tests as soon as you arrange for me to recieve 2 new spools of Ultimaker PLA, on the house of course.

I just realized that something has changed. After my last nozzle cleaning I had it screwed all the way into the silver cylinder. Illuminarti corrected me and I unscrewed it "some." I'm not sure how much, I used my "precision eye." I will have to borrow some feeler gauges and measure the distance between the silver cylinder with the perimeter holes and the teflon piece when this C-130 print ends later tonight.

Now for the sciency stuff. I am done printing cylinders - really. All of the blue PLA that came with my UM2 is gone so I don't think further testing will be valid unless I print a whole bunch of new cylinders. Here is what I have discovered: My printer is as predictable as a fart in a whirlwind. I printed 12 cylinders yesterday with both the motherboard and the feeder motor covers removed. I set up the printer so that a personal fan could blow from below on to the motherboard. I used an IR thermometer to monitor the temp of the power supply and the feeder motor. Over the course of 12 back to back prints the power supply went from 16C to 44. The stepper motor went from 16C to 36. Both were at their highest temp during the 8th print. Here are the results of my cylinder prints in order of printing: 1 = 9 ring 2 = 9 3 = 8 4 = 7 5 = 7 This was a first for my machine - getting pretty good results over 5 back to back prints. These first 5 had the fan blowing on the motherboard. The fan was off for the remaining prints. I wanted to see if the quality would get worse without the fan. 6 = 6 7 = 7 8 = 8.5 - there was 1 small skip in the 8 ring then failure at 9 9 = 7.5 This is the first time ever my prints improved over time. However, print #8 is when the UM filament came off of the spool and was hanging freely as it entered the feeder. For print 7 the filament was still wrapped around the spool. Between print 9 and 10 I inserted the silver PLA from Makershed into the feeder, leaving the remaining UM blue PLA inside the bowden tube, and manually ran the silver until it entered the bowden tube. I printed #10 with both colors starting in the tube so UM blue turned into Makershed silver. I will remind you that in previous tests I never had the silver score any better than 3.5 10 = 8 - the UM blue ran out at the start of the 4 ring and then the silver began. 8 is a huge improvement for the Makershed silver on my machine. 11 = 6.5 12 = 7 Today I printed 7 cylinders in the Makershed silver. The first 3 were printed with the motherboard and feeder motor covers removed and no fan. 1 = 6 2 = 6.5 3 = 5.5 I then replaced both covers to see if the quality would get worse. 4 = 6 5 = 5.5 6 = 6 7 = 6 This is an amazing result for my machine - 7 prints of almost equal quality. I have no idea what has changed. It might be that I sent all of my bad vibes to Aaron's machine in Virginia, or maybe the moon is just right. The only other thing that changed was that I flipped over the power supply yesterday to have the solid black side up so I could get a better temp reading.

Hello. My name is Scott and I am addicted to printing cylinders. I printed my first cylinder in February and have not been able to stop since then. I keep telling myself there are other things I need to print, but it is always a cylinder that ends up on my build plate. Printing cylinders used up all of the best filament I had. My wife thinks it is strange that I spend so much time watching cylinders print and that I save every one. She doesn't understand all of the notes I take about cylinders. Sometimes my wife gets angry with me because I spend more time printing cylinders than with her. I have lost sleep thinking about printing cylinders and have gotten out of bed before I should because I wanted to print a cylinder. All of my free time is spent printing cylinders. I have almost been late for work because I don't know when to stop printing cylinders. I know that my cylinders get worse over time and the odds are stacked against me. I know the machine always wins. It is just so exciting when I print a cylinder that comes out a perfect 10. I sit and watch thinking "Go cylinder!! Go!!" On one side of my brain I know that the next cylinder will be worse, and the next, and next. The other side of my brain says "Just try one more. You might get 2 - 10s in a row. How awesome would it feel to get 3 - 10s in a row!! Jackpot!!" I can't get that side of my brain to shut up. It is just too loud. I wish I had never heard about printing cylinders. I wish I never printed that first cylinder. Printing cylinders is ruining my life. Thank You

Good news Europe!! I measured the thickness of my 1/16 inch balsa. 1/16 inch equals about 1.58mm. The balsa I have averages 1.9mm. I bet you guys can get 2mm balsa so there should be little problems since I will be designing for balsa that is 1.9mm thick. Maybe balsa in the US is actually 2mm balsa and they just put a 1/16 inch sticker on it and your 2mm balsa is actually 1.9mm. I'm about to the point where I need to print sections to see if I have them correct. I may get this thing flying yet this summer.

I have not "followed" any threads. I just remember to check in on my favorites every day or so. Nicolinux's and Ian's are 2 that I follow. I also follow mnis's topic where overheating is discussed, but I just don't understand a lot of what is being discussed there. Visually, I like Geeks feeder design better. I like the idea of the threaded spring tension thing. I'm just waiting for someone to name a victor then I will print a new extruder for myself. I do see black specs traveling through the bowden tube and embedded in my prints. Tomorrow I will print some cylinders and monitor the temp of the power supply and the feeder motor. I will also remove the motherboard's cover and set up a small fan below for cooling. I bet the fan will change nothing and I will not observe any significant temp changes. I've just about exhausted all of my options and abilities for diagnosis. If I remember correctly Aaron gets his printer in the next day or so. Hopefully, his is a dud like mine - sorry. I'm sending negative vibes toward Virginia and attempting to realign the lunar gravity right now. I think tomorrow will be the last cylinders I print for a while. My C-130 is progressing to the point where I need to print sections to make sure I have everything correct, and spring is almost here. I may just get that thing flying this year.

I won't even start my band camp stories. I'd be blacklisted for sure.

Oh yes, don't forget the iniation featuring "The voyage across the desert," and farm animals.

Yep, that is where I am at. I really doubt the power supply is guilty. I don't have any way to record temp but when I watch the temp on the UM2's screen there has never been a great variation. I guess I need a device that is simple to use, records temp, amps, and volts. Preferably all at the same time from several different points. Emphasis on simple to use. Oh yes, someone I know needs to own this magic box so I don't have to buy one. Also been thinking about the "Advanced Member" thing. Once I get my printer going and my C-130 flying I will likely disappear from this forum. That will be a happy day for some and a sad day for others. Point is I will never regain my Advanced Member status, which is fine. For those who do become Advanced Members, will there be secret hand shakes and special words or phrases? "The blind frogman swims through the pipe at night by the light of the moon on a warm winter's day." Translation: "Ian, you are bringing the beer to our next secret conference in the Alps."

I will also monitor the temp of the power supply with an IR thermometer over time. Monitoring and recording voltage seems pretty easy to me. How about the current. I think I need a clamp on amp meter that is very accurate and also records. I could then monitor the AC amps going into the power supply. Hopefully I know someone who has one, or some other device that easily records amps.

All fans work properly. The 3rd fan blows on my face as I am watching the printer.

So far the only thing I have not tried is a shot of WD-40 in the tube. I doubt that will change anything. I will try removing the mother board cover and placing a small fan below. I have tried printing without the cover and there was no change. I don't think a fan will improve anything. Right now the spool is below the feeder hung on a short pipe. I have a guide set up to align the filament with the feeder hole. Neither of these changes has made a difference I can observe. The bad news is I am almost out of the PLA that came with my machine. The good news is I ordered some PLA from printbl.com which illuminarti recommends. That should be delivered very soon. I will have to borrow a good meter that saves its readings. I have not read where anyone has recorded the voltage being supplied to the printer. Even if they have, it is likely there was nothing to report. There is something uniquely and terribly wrong with my machine. It might be the power supply or maybe not. At least I will have the data that proves no change in supply voltage and rules out the power supply as a problem. I guess I'll use a stopwatch and start recording voltage when the printer first starts extruding PLA for the cylinder. I'll stop timing when there is a skip and then compare that time to the saved data. Aaron, you would be a much better person to perform the voltage tests than me, and you have all of the equipment. I bet you don't have a picture of youself in front of The Five Seasons Tree. When you come we can seek out the local "talented" young ladies. My wife admits to enjoying their "talents" before we were married. I have not asked too much about this because I'm slightly nervous about the answer, but I am also slightly curious. She could go with us. It might turn into an incredibly strange evening. You would have this great story that begins "This one time I went to Iowa . . . " If you are wondering about the 5th season in Cedar Rapids, it is "The season to enjoy." Lame

I'll have to add a new motor to my parts list. I have removed the cover with no change. I considered a fan but never did. I will take apart the head again - sigh.

I forgot this: If you look in the 4 ring, there is a section where several laps were made that don't have the same amount of material. The feeder never skipped, but it just didn't squirt out enough PLA. This happened right at the start of the 4 ring and never showed up again. This is the 9 print mentioned above and was done on a "cold" printer. It was also the first print after reloading the filament after the cleaning. That might be the issue, just a small clog after the cleaning that went away. Sometimes I have "clogs" that are hard to pass. . .

Still crappy, unpredictable performance. I did the Has Cap trick today and the blue filament came out blue. A few weeks ago after printing PLA for many hours at 250C I did this trick and the blue came out brownish grey several times. I think it does a pretty good job of cleaning the nozzle. I have never gone above 240 since then. Today I completely disassembled the head. The bowden tube felt fine as I slid filament through it, although I will mention that I also have a deeply gouged section where the clip has dug in. It is in the section for the head or I would just trim off that possible bad section. My teflon piece had the same lip at the bottom I think Nicolinux first described. This lip is enough to snag the filament when it passes through. I used an 1/8 inch drill bit to clean up the hole as best as I could. I have not seen the specs on the teflon piece or the nozzle, but an 1/8 inch bit fits much better than a 3mm bit. BTW 1/8 inch equals 3.175mm. I did not eliminate the lip, but I did not want to be too aggressive with the bit on the teflon and make the whole thing much worse. We all have a pretty good idea of what it takes for things to work and I didn't see anything that concerned me when looking at the nozzle or the silver cylinder. Looking in the nozzle it looked like brass which had been really hot but there was no sign of char or anything else. Inside the silver cylinder there was burned plastic of some kind. I soaked both in acetone. In the bowl I was using, brown specks did appear that came from the 2 pieces. Some were from the threads and some were from the inside of the 2 parts. I used a pick to remove all of the char from the silver cylinder. I then used the 1/8 inch bit to clean out the nozzle. I did notice that from the factory the brass nozzle was not screwed all the way into the silver cylinder. (For my next print I had to adjust the bed height with the 3 screws.) I reassembled the head following the bowden tube attachment rules. I was doubtful I had fixed the problem. The next print on a "cold" printer was a 9. I was pretty happy. I cleared out the machine and printed again. Got a 7.5, not bad. The next was a 5.5. I then loosened the 4 screws holding on the feeder assembly. I loosened them to the point that the assembly was almost "sloppy" loose. The next print was a 5. This represents a typical cylinder print session for my printer. The results get worse the more I print. This supports the theory that something is getting too warm. As I mentioned, I really didn't think a complete cleaning was going to solve anything for me. My next step is to exchange the feeder motor with the axis motor directly above it. I have not checked for sure but I think they are the same and no one has said differently when I mentioned it previously. When that doesn't work, which I suspect it won't, all I have left is to start trading out parts. Sometimes in my maintenance job we have to do that. Just throw parts at a machine until it starts working. Something I don't think anyone has considered, at least not on the topics I've read so far, is the power supply. I'm sure this is just a power supply Ultimaker sourced and bought for this printer. One thing strange about mine is that whenever I unplug it from the wall the "power on" light stays on for a very long time indicating there is still power stored in the capacitors. I have not timed it, but I'd say it is easily 5 minutes or more. I'm used to power supplies having a bleed down resistor to eliminate the voltage in the capacitors. I'm not very familiar with power supplies but I know there are capacitors, diodes and other magic dodads that convert AC power to DC. Is it possible that my power supply has a "tired" dodad that quits when it gets too warm. When it quits does it then supply too little voltage or current for a brief second, or too much voltage or current. I never unplug the power supply from the wall except when moving the printer. I mention this because it is about all that is left. If exchanging the stepper motors doesn't work, my parts request will be a new nozzle, silver cylinder, white teflon piece and bowden tube. I doubt those parts will fix anything. I will also ask for a new power supply and mother board. (The mother board has all plug in connections doesn't it? I'm not comfortable soldering on delicate circuit boards.) Might as well get them all at one time and I will throw parts at my printer until something changes.

I also tried your test braddock, but slightly differently. When selecting an object to print the screen says how much filament is required. My thought was to measure and cut off that amount plus a little more for safety. Then cut the filament right where it enters the feeder. Use the manual feed option to run the new filament into the feeder then start the print. Didn't work.

I didn't answer an earlier question. Many of my cylinder prints that were conducted with a "cold" printer failed. It is all just very random. I can never get the same result twice. I've had 2 more thoughts neither of which I think make a difference. My first 20 hours of printing used Ultimaker white ABS at 260C. I printed almost all of the objects that came on the SD card using ABS. I have no idea what those objects have for an extrusion rate, but they all came out perfect. My printer did not come with the glass plate. I used an 1/4 inch aluminum plate modified at the corners to accept the clips. I now have the glass plate from Ultimaker, but I never stopped using the aluminum plate. It seems to be working and I have no adhesion problems when the aluminum is covered with blue masking tape. I don't think either of these is what is making my printer behave so poorly. Would someone verify for me that the brass nozzle unscrews from the silver cylinder with the perimeter holes. I'll get the acetone tomorrow and begin the soak. I just want to make sure about the unscrewing part before I destroy something. I remembered that beer in Iowa is required to have a lower alcohol content than normal. No wonder we have to drink so much. A recent Google search did not give me a solid answer. Its something like 3.2%. I'm sure that if I were in Europe, and drank as fast there as I do at home, I would be flat in no time. It normally takes about 5-6 hours for me to transform from happy, giggly, life of the party Schafe that everyone wants to be with to mellow, quiet Schafe to angry, throwing cans, get out of my house Schafe to creepy, blacked out naked guy. My wife hates creepy naked guy. I once fell down on a pile of bricks, pants around my ankles, in front of her parents. Europe wins - this time. You guys are going to be sad when I finally get my printer going - if that ever happens.

Not offended at all. Just wanted to clarify that I'm no Larry and yes, we really do have a Larry where I work. I suspect that the people who own a 3D printer are all pretty intelligent. I was hoping I wouldn't have to disassemble any more. Blarp! If you are seeking "talented" young women with great flexibility may I suggest Peoria or East St. Louis Illinois. I doubt that my nozzle has any burned PLA inside. I've cleaned it since printing at 250 using the heat and stuff cool and pull technique. Henceforth this technique shall be refered to as the Has Cap technique, at least by me. I'm not sure how much beer is in a European 6 pack, but a 6 pack for a proper Iowan just scratches the surface. More like 12 with a shot or two thrown in. Another favorite beer quote: "In dog beers I've only had one."

Good morning Europe. Iowa is going to bed.

My recent C-130 part finished and scored 0/10 Blarps. A perfect score.

Illuminarti, I just realized that I have a very nice picture of me standing in front of the Memphis Belle. Do you have any pictures of you standing in front of a famous Cedar Rapids tourist attraction? I bet not! We've got . . . . well there's . . . . um . . . . well, we have this thing. It's very nice and shiny. And we have snow. Lots of snow. Actually we have more snow than most of the events at the recent winter olympics, and it's natural. And beer - of course, it is Iowa after all. All we have is stupid statues titled something fancy. "The Five Seasons Tree." We really need beer to compensate for a lack of interesting things to see and do. I can say that our local pizza joint has the best pizza I have ever eaten, and I have sampled a lot of pizza. Man, I just don't know if I can live without seeing the "Five Seasons Tree" in person. Luckily I have.

Here are some pictures for you illuminarti. I hope you see something obviously wrong. I have only had the entire print head apart once. I did not separate the brass nozzle from the silver cylinder. I understand it unscrews but mine felt stiff and I did not want to force it. I want to clarify something. I know that Iowa gets a bad rap when it comes to intelligence in the US. I'm from Missouri originally. I know, not much better. I started out studying mechanical engineering. I flunked out because at that point in my life I couldn't do the math. Now that I am older I can do the math, but I don't wanna. I work in the maintenance department for a major foor producer in a non-union shop. They trust me to keep their million dollar machines running. On any given night I may have to work with PLC code, reprogram a VFD, figure out network IP problems, troubleshoot an industrial servo, machine a new part, weld something that is broken, replace a 3 phase motor, or simply fix a leaky air hose. In my job there are certain operators we have to babysit. "Oh, that's Larry. He really doesn't understand what's going on. Just hold his hand for a few minutes." I'm not as good as a lot of the people here, but I am no Larry. I mention all of this just to clarify that I am convinced I have a problem with my UM2 and you do not need to babysit me.