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kris

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Posts posted by kris

  1. Hi

    I tried the new pause/ change material option on the UM2 in an attempt to print a two colored model.

    Pausing with the current plug in and changing material went fine.

    But trouble is that after changing material the UM2 will retract the new material about 5mm and continue printing with nothing, until the material reaches the nozzle again.

    Does anyone have any experience with this?

    Cheers

    Kris

  2. Did the feeder grind into the filament? This would prevent it from moving the material to the extruder. I have no idea what your model looks like, but I am guessing there is a lot of retraction involved. Have you tried printing slower? I print PLA only on a dedicated UM2, anything above 50mm/s and 0.1mm layer thickness is critical. If tolerances are not critical I raise the temperature to 240C which will make the PLA flow much easier. ABS is a different story ;)

  3. Hi Shnick,

    I use two UM2's, one purely for PLA and one for ABS. Both PLA and ABS from Innofil.

    For PLA: Going any higher then 50mm/s and 0.1mm layer thickness will always cause underextrusion for me as well. I usually stick below these values. If the dimensions are not critical I even raise the temperature to 240°C.

    ABS is a totally different story: 75mm/s and 0.25mm layer thickness are no problem at all, I even lower the temperature from 260°C to 240°C usually without any signs of underextrusion for >20h prints.

    Seems to me that at least the Innofil PLA is a lot harder to extrude. I'll change to colorfabb hoping it will get better.

    Cheers,

    Kris

     

  4. Yeah, I basically have the same problem. I need my printer operational so I can only incorporate small changes. Baby steps...

    After reading on the forum about what parts usually break down first, I have even ordered spar parts in advance. I.e. a spare nozzle, a new temp. sensor and PTFE bushings. Since then nothing has happened, it just prints & prints. I guess it is scared now ;-)

    I guess the extruder is a good basic design, but there is room for improvement.

     

  5. There's quite little space for anything extra behind the print head - unless you adjust the home location by tweaking the micro switches. I would advise you to remove the white metal sheet which is covering the feeder stepper motor and one of gantry stepper motors. It's good riddance anyway - without it the stepper motors get better ventilated :)

     

    I hope that is not a problem, at least I designed everything so that the rear fan does not extend over the rear of the extruder.

    Here is the mold (ABS). No idea if this will ever work...but I guess it is worth a try.

    2014 09 17 10.39.59

    2014 09 17 10.40.44

    2014 09 17 10.40.56

     

  6. I would like to hear your opinion on the following idea:

    My UM2 is not very noisy at all, but maybe I can make it even quieter? All I can hear is basically the rear fan. It does vibrate quite significantly, causing structure borne noise.

    The fan is rigidly connected to the aluminium structure. And I noticed if I unscrew it and hold it in my hands there is no noise at all.

    Silicon acoustic decouples can be purchased for larger fans, but I couldn't find any for the tiny rear fan. So I figure casting my own in silicon. The mold can be 3D printed.

    Here is the virgin coupler:

    decoupler 2

     

    It is a bit shorter then the thickness of the fan, so it holds the fan in place with some tension.

     

    decoupler 3

    decoupler 1

     

  7. About the simulations - there's one factor which is tricky to simulate but might also have an impact: retraction. When 260C filament is pulled up and pushed back (in some cases almost immediately after), it certainly warms up the inner surface of the isolator. Maybe retraction settings need to be tried, hmm...

     

    Yes, any settings would have to be changed to account for the new temperature gradients.

    About the washer: I have tried that as well.

    1. I used ceramics. I figured it would withstand the temperature and it also has low thermal conductivity. ZrO2 seemed like a feasibly option. The problem is, ZrO2 is a better thermal insulator compared to e.g. steel, but it is 10 times more conductive then PTFE. The analysis seems to indicate that this in fact eases heat transfer to the PTFE bushing.

    P3

     

    In addition it is unknown what the material does when it gets in touch with PLA/ ABS. It might increase friction. If you decrease thickness, you need to cool it. Otherwise it will saturate quickly.

     

    2. I then optimized a steel heat break which later was incorporated into the nozzle.

    P4

     

  8. If I understand the heat dispersion in the nozzle unit correctly - and referring to simulations made by Kris - I think the temperature of the Teflon isolator drops pretty quickly (vertically, from bottom upwards). In other words, only the first couple of millimeters are really vulnerable. Two ideas for brainstorming:

     

    I think you are correct. Trouble is, the nozzle needs the heat, the PTFE bushing doesn't. Thus heat needs to be drawn away from the bushing. I do not believe that the problem can be solved by using a different material, they all have their drawbacks (e.g. added friction, thermal expansion etc).

    Instead it should be possible the improve the current design, hopefully to the point were is functions reliably and parts do not have to be exchanged frequently.

    After countless iterations, here are the things that work the best according to the analysis :

    1. One added heat sink close to 1310-Z2P-A

    2. Heat breake integrated in nozzle

    3. Added ventilation holes to 1310-Z2P-A

    P2

     

    The results are shown down below. There still is a heat accumulation at the bottom of the bushing. But it is smaller and the overall temperature is lower.

     

    P1

     

  9. Another aspect; if the print head was more tolerant for high temperatures, it might help to sort some of the problems now facing dual extrusion. Also, this would allow us to use broader range of materials - see for instance this thread:

     

    I totally agree. The design needs to be updated. Having to change the Teflon bushing on an arbitrary basis is not satisfying.

     

  10. Difficult to do anything against shrinkage since it is a material property that more or less behaves linear with temperature.

    One thing you can do however, is to make sure that whatever you print cools uniformly. Hence heated build platform & heated build volume.

    For that I use a greenhouse to make sure the part I print stays uniformly at a higher temperature until it is completed.

     

  11. Looks like inderextrusion. Maybe you have to clean the nozzle? I mean take the extruder apart and really clean it.

    I believe if the temperature is too high you will burn your PLA and residuals will get stuck in the nozzle and clogg it. I usually have this problem if I switch from PLA to ABS. So now I pnly print ABS.

     

  12. Very nice work! Not nearly as brutalistic as my implementation (http://umforum.ultimaker.com/index.php?/topic/5921-um2-greenhouse-edition/). Your design also makes operating the front door easier than what I have - I might make a switch to your design for that part.

    Do you have photos on how you ended up closing the rear wall of the "dome"? I tried to figure out something for that before I gave up and extended the dome to get closer to the feeder.

     

    Thanks. I was actually inspired by your work. I have closed the rear with a cloth, similar to a curtain. Much in line with the minimalist approach ;-)

     

  13. Leon- I did suffer from similar problems in the beginning. Here is what I did to get things running:

    - I only print ABS. If I switch back and forth between PLA and ABS the nozzle will clog at some point. My guess is that residual PLA is incompatible with the higher ABS temperature. After you have cleaned your nozzle, my suggestion would be to stick to one type of material.

    - Innofil ABS prints allot better than UM ABS. To me it seems as if Innofil ABS filament is softer and the feeder wheel has a much better grip on it. My simple conclusion is that the type of material you use matters. My knowledge here is limited (I have so far only printed UM and Innofil), but maybe someone on the forum can give us additional tips on that.

    - The extruder has a few design flaws making it susceptible even to tiny variations, it is not very forgiving. I have switched to the glass filled insulator, but I cannot say if this is an improvement. So far I hadn't any problems with it.

    - In my opinion a closed chamber is a must for high quality prints.

     

  14. Did a set of eight 170mm wheels for an 88mm Flak. Material innofil black ABS, layer 0.25mm, no fans. Each wheel has a weight of around 200g (hollow). Part of the rim and the shafts are printed separately with 0.1mm.

    Approx. 120h in total, plus 6h for one that failed because stupid me had to try out another glue stick.

    At first I used ultimaker black ABS. Turns out the innofil materials prints allot better.

     

     

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