facere

Out of my last 10 prints, 9 have suffered some sort of shift in whichever axis is left to right. 8 of those 9 have been shifts to the right, mostly by between 25 and 50mm, while a few have been maybe 5-10mm. I've tightened all available screws as much as I can, generally fiddled in helpful ways, made sure nothing I can see is off, updated Cura and firmware, in that order. All I can find on previous posts that I could do is lubricate the axis, which I'm about to do, but if that doesn't work, is there anything else I can do? Pulleys seem alright, cogs tight, yet it keeps shifting.

Threw together a vague mace-like thing, I like making them to tune my UM2; however, Cura has decided that the handle isn't worthy of support. Photos should show the mace upright and lying flat, in both normal and layers; I can get layers to look okay for upright, but it doubles the material. However, when I lay it sideways, which I prefer to do, (in experience, it makes the little thing less likely to snap when thrown), Cura adds support for all but the midsection, and I can't get it to change that unless I rotate the item a bit, but that ruins the four sticky-out-rectangle head bits. Oh and excuse the name that shows on the first image, I like giving them ostentatious names at the early stages because.. I don't have a reason. Model has been put on thingiverse in case it helps. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:358547

I think the printer has go it's heat sensor somehow off, as it is insisting that room temperate is 26 C, which it isn't, and while I don't have a thermometer than can check if it goes to 260, I can see that at "260" it can't extruder properly plastic that it used to do fine at 230. Is there a way to check more precisely, or calibrate the machine?

Okay, and is the 3mm stuff entirely unusable if I want to have prints that don't need loads of maintenance?

Is the faberdashery 3mm actually 2.85?

Hmm.. I can't find any 1/8 inside diameter, 1/4 out, nearby at a first glance, no Mcmasters in Bristol, so might have to contact ultimaker support, is the 3mm filament really not worth using? I have about 2.4 reels worth, in 3 slightly used colours, and would be loath to part with all the money that cost. Can anyone assist on the matter of freezing vs boiling? How reliable is colorfab?

I've removed it at both ends, but neither hand nor printer can move it at all. Is there any disadvantage to larger bowden? The filament is slightly large but when it worked it made very nice stuff, a good deal of it too. Also, come to think of it, I tried using Ultimaker brand Bronze PLA during the "why won't it work" phase, but that may have failed due to a mildly clogged nozzle, I didn't keep note of what happened when.

I would take a photo, but the filament is "natural" (brand "Printme 3d" I think, but its consistent to +-0.03mm), and is too close to see-through for a photo.

A week or two ago I was bought some filament for my UM2, 3mm filament from ", and I explained that the size should be 2.85 but I checked the diameter to be a very consistent 3mm and decided to give it a go. It managed a lot of decent prints, until I tried a different colour filament bought in the same circumstances, which managed an initial printing and then went bad, extruding terribly. I have tried all the usual tricks, the nozzle is definitely clear, buildplate and temperatures fine, but the cog at the back for a few trial prints kept grinding into the filament and meaning I had to drag it back and cut it, and insert a fresh bit. The Bowden was very nearly too small, such that dragging it out had to be done manually; then I left the printer to sit off for a while, two or three days. When I came back to do a trial print, it managed a few dregs, and next I looked, the filament had snapped at the extruder, at the reel and at various points inside the Bowden. I presume it was due to the reel being badly placed (doesn't fit on standard reel thing, made a Lego one), but the tube is now full of bits of filament that won't budge. Is there a way to remove, could I print without, or will I have to but another? If the latter, are there bigger sizes?

Re-assembled and tried printing; nothing Tried extruding material; worked Releveled builtplate and moved the little white tension indicator down a tiny bit; working fine! (fingers crossed while touching wood and sacrificing a small plastic turtle to the Ultimaker Gods!)

Ooh okay, I'll stick to PLA most likely, I think the green ultimaker PLA is a very nice colour so I'll get though a few reels of that before I consider anything else. Thanks for all your help!

Success! Tiny 0.35mm syringe made it through the nozzle at 260 C after lots and lots and lots of poking at both ends with filament and needles and so on! then tried a bit of filament, went through easily, will slowly and carefully test machine in morning (have been made to stop tinkering) to make sure it all goes back together and works fine, but currently looks good! Any advice on maintaining a healthy printer in light of the currently solved issues? If not, hopefully I won't be back here for a while.

Nah, I use the default firmware so the printer cancelled itself before 280 that when I was using ABS, at most some PLA might have been at 260 during a material change/while using heat to solve a problem. I managed a few good prints using the PLA in there now before it all went wrong.

That is mostly from prints where the plastic got caught at the nozzle and spread, but it does seem very stuck. I used ABS for a short while but didn't like the colour/smell from printing so swapped back, pretty much only used ultimaker PLA. I have left the printer hot for times quite a lot, and I've had lots of temp warnings due to the abs bug where it was set to 280 as default. the needle will go in a tiny bit, but barely noticeable, the needle just slides a bit into the nozzle, enough to not slide but not in. the needle is really bendy, I can try though. I'll look into the drill bit, would I be able to find a new nozzle just by googling "UM2 nozzle"?

2 more photos with nozzle again and filament that has been pushed in and cooled and out, all clean, no bits to latch onto? Nozzle has been at 260 when trying.