prb4

Still no noise (I've got newish ones to compare with). I imagine the teeth probably are worn, however I can't see any effect on print quality. This morning I ran a test print on all printers (the newest one only has 2000 hours), I can't see obvious differences in print quality that suggest that any of them need new belts. Certainly nothing like the picture earlier in this thread. I will look out for signs that the belts need changing, (I might change them at 40000 hrs whether they need it or not!)

I've just looked up the spare parts available. The belts pack looks like it comes with sliding blocks and copper bushes as well. Do these other parts replacing when the belts are done?

Thanks for the replies. I'll look at the belts and run some test prints to compare the printers. I do get dust on the motors, but that happens when the printers are new as well (although any printer with less than 5000 hours I still consider new!). I certainly haven't noticed loud noises from the belts. Bowden tubes have been replaced, and many other parts as well on a regular basis as required. I think belts are about one of the only things I haven't changed. I tend to agree with the old adage "Don't fix what's not broken", so unless a part actually goes wrong I tend not to change it. Thanks again for the replies everyone.

In what way did the "print quality decrease slightly"? What was it that you noticed had changed? Thanks for your reply

How do you know when the belts need changing? I've got several UM2+, two of which have over 20000 hours. I've never changed the belts on any of them as I have never found a reason to. So I would be very interested to know what I should be looking for that indicates the belts need changing? Thanks

To me it appears as though the bed is too far from the nozzle. The first layer needs to squash flat to stick to the bed.

Thanks for the reply. What I have to loose is about £200 on a copy of windows 10. If it doesn't work on Windows 10 then I would put windows 8 on it which is much cheaper, hence it would be good to know if anyone has tried Cubify Invent on Windows 10.

I currently use Cubify Invent and find it ideal for what I need to model. I'm looking at getting a new PC, does anyone know if it works on Windows 10? Thanks

Odd, we obviously have very different perspectives. I have found Faberdashery to be much cheaper and produces great prints. I also have many more problems with spooled filament than I ever have with the unspooled filament from Faberdashery. They could improve the consistency of supply though, it is annoying when colours are out of stock for weeks.

That was my thought too. It's a shame because I like their filament most.

I've been waiting for Faberdashery to restock on several colours for months but no colours are coming back into stock and those that are in stock just seem to reduce. I've tried e-mailing and phoning them but get no reply. Does anyone know what's happening with them? Thanks

That's under-extrusion. Most likely caused by a blocked nozzle. You need to do some atomic pulls to clean the nozzle.

Innofil3D pro 1 PLA It's been around a while and the marketing blurb claims its brilliant and can be printed a lot faster than normal PLA. It's recently been recommended to me by someone who is probably biased. So has anyone done any comparison tests of Innofil3D pro 1 PLA versus "normal" PLA (whatever that is)? I would be particularly interested to hear of the results of any comparison tests against other leading brands. Peter

Regardless of whether support is provided or not, printing from SD card remains essential. Most of the time my PC is not even on when the printer is printing. Incidentally none of my Ultimaker printers has wifi connectivity, nor is USB printing recommended by Ultimaker for them, including for the recently purchased one.

Printing from an SD card is certainly not a "remnant from the past". My printers are not next to my PC and I print on more than one printer at a time. The SD card is essential.

I am not sure it is wise to be recommending 3DHubs these days given their recent business attitude? UM2+ would be my choice, the complexity of a UM3 is unnecessary expense for creating this part. I would second the 0.25 mm nozzle though if dimensional accuracy is most important.

Hi Mine works fine, but I did find a higher temperature was required. Try adjusting your normal print temperature up or down 5 or 10 degrees. Peter

Excellent, thank you for the comprehensive reply. I'll give these a go and see what makes a difference.

Hi Sander Thank you for the reply. A number points. Firstly, the printers work great most of the time and always have done (with regular maintenance). They are great machines (that's why I keep buying more instead of a different brand) and don't actually need much maintenance. I've looked at your Maintenance schedule, obviously that is for an Ultimaker 3 and I only have 2+. However assuming the schedule is similar then I largely do follow those recommendations already. I do regularly lubricate the rods. Things I haven't done, I have never cleaned the threaded Z screw (but I do lubricate it), nor replaced the Bowden tube. Also I haven't disassembled the feeder to clean it, I just blow air into it although I can't say I ever notice debris falling out. So my questions would be. 1. Why change the Bowden tube every year? What is the reason for this? 2. How should I be cleaning the feeder? Do I need to disassemble it? 3. Yes all the printers have black dust under the belts. So the same question as Shurik, should I be doing something about this? 4. The oldest printer doesn't seem to produce prints quite as good as the newer ones. It's difficult to say exactly what it is. Probably the most obvious difference is a vertical flat wall appears slightly less smooth, i.e. the print lines are slightly more visible. Any idea what might be the cause of that? Perhaps I should try to clean the Z-screw and feeder? (I have recently changed the coupler, nozzle, brass heating block and lowered the acceleration from 3000 to 1500). Thanks Peter

Hi I have four Ultimaker 2+ printers, one of which is an upgrade from a 2. They range in age from 6 months to over 3 years They all print most of the time, all day everyday. Obviously I would expect parts to age and need to be changed after a few years, however I haven't ever seen any advice on this. Can anyone recommend how often parts need to be changed? Or even which parts are likely to need replacement first? I'm not talking about the more frequent, semi-consumable parts like the nozzle and coupler which do need changing more frequently. For instance, when should I be thinking about changing the belts? I only print in PLA, but is the feeders knurled sleeve ever likely to need replacing? There must be other parts that need considering too? Thanks for any insights Peter

I would really like to use the adaptive layer heights on my prints but to do so it would need to work with multiple different models on the bed. I would expect the layer heights on one model to be different to the layer heights on another model. I could accept that it perhaps doesn't work optimally in this situation. For example, if the layer height was allowed to vary between 0.2 and 0.05 mm. But the step change was limited to 0.025 mm. i.e, the only available steps were, 0.05, 0.075, 0.1, 0.125, 0.15, 0.175, 0.2. In this way the layer height are always multiples of each other and I would expect it to be much easier to work out which model to print at which height at any given layer. I appreciate it is much easier to ask for a feature like this than to implement, however I would find it very useful and it would improve the print quality a lot without wasting lots of time unnecessarily. Thanks

I can see that the adaptive layers feature might be useful for me. I nearly always print several different models at the same time. Some would need adaptive layers and some would not. Will Cura only use adaptive layers on the models that need it? Or is the layer height adjusted for the whole layer including models that don't need it? Thanks Peter

Hi Neotko That's a useful insight. All 3 printers are using the 0.4 mm nozzle originally supplied with the printer. Perhaps this suggests that the bottom of the nozzle on the new printer is not perfectly flat. I could take a file to it but unless I was able to file very accurately I suspect I would only make matters worse. What I do find strange is that parts of the top surface look perfect and other parts don't. Thanks Peter

Hi fergazz Thank you for the link but that information is old, it was available before the feature was released in Cura. I would be interested to hear how you get on with Cura ironing particularly if you have an Ultimaker 2+. As I said in my original post, I have had mixed results depending on which printer I am using. I can improve the results on the worst printer by modifing the profile for that printer.

I find it difficult to post pictures. However I am not asking for someone to solve my particular problem. I would like to hear of anyone elses experience of using ironing? It would also be good to hear anyones thoughts on why one printer is just not as good at ironing as the others? Peter