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jonathan-wight

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Posts posted by jonathan-wight

    Ultimaker 2 Hot End Cleaning

    in UltiMaker 3D printers

    Posted

    I need to disassemble my Ultimaker 2's hot end so I can really clean out the nozzle (soak in acetone etc). The "Atomic" method isn't cutting it - I still get a lot of under extrusion and jamming due to gunk in the hot end.

    Anyways... I've successfully disassembled the nozzle - removed the side fans via their four screws, unscrewed the collar to free the nozzle block, then removed the probe and heat heads via the long screw on the heater block.

    So far so good.

    Unfortunately I'm unable to safely reassemble the nozzle block to it's rotating collar. every time i try it goes in at an angle.

    So is there some trick to getting the nozzle block back into its collar safely? I feel the screw that goes into the block (that seems to keep the heater and probe in place) might be causing any misalignment. Alternatively is there some gunk blocking things perhaos?

    (I also want to order a new nozzle in case I can't clean it well but the damn Ultimaker store is NOT processing orders.)

    Jon

     

    UM2 Replacement Glass Printbed

    in Third party products & modifications

    Posted

    This is hardly a "modification and hack" but I'm trying to get my hands on a second glass printbed plate for the Ultimaker 2 (I want to be able to swap plates for PLA and ABS easily)

    I can't find one on the ultimaker spare parts list (jn fact no UM2 spare parts…). Does anyone know where I can get one to the exact dimensions? Failing that what would be the best material ("um, glass?") to use to source my own replacement?

    Thanks in advance.

     

    Got my UM2 Monday, Tuesday it's stop extruding

    in UltiMaker 3D printers

    Posted

    Yeah I found the "save preset" function - thanks.

    Not sure exactly what was happening when the test cylinder started. I don't think there were loud clicks. I'll print it out again later and pay special attention to the faster speeds.

    I'd say 7mm^2/sec is probably the upper limit. I'm testing with higher temperatures and lower speeds now.

    Smallish prints all seem to be ok (and far better quality than my solidoodle could ever achieve). I'm just worried about these long multi hour prints dying on me.

    Thanks for all the advice

     

    Got my UM2 Monday, Tuesday it's stop extruding

    in UltiMaker 3D printers

    Posted

    But be warned - if you take the feeder apart the stepper will fall.

    Hmmm what? I already took the feeder apart to get to the tightening screw. The stepper motor did fall out of the hole a little and I had to open its cover inside the printer to re-align the stepper.

    I presume that's what you meant?

     

    f you end up doing a compression test on a scale…

    OK. I'll try and do that this evening. Thanks. Will be adjusting the pressure on that part to see if a difference is made.

     

    You might want to try printing the extruder test gcode, to get a sense of what speeds your extruder can handle:

    Working on it now! Thanks.

     

    Got my UM2 Monday, Tuesday it's stop extruding

    in UltiMaker 3D printers

    Posted

    Finally, regarding the actual 'stopped extruding' bit. What happens? Is the extruder motor still turning? Do you see (and hear) it jumping back one-eigth of a turn, constantly - or does it keep turning smoothly, but it has simply worn away the plastic? If the plastic is worn away, then the extruder can't grip it, and you need to remove the plastic and cut the damaged part off. Do a 'change filament' operation to get the filament out - you might need to pull on the filament at first as you do that, to get it past the worn away part - and then cut the filament with a nice clean cut, and reinsert it.

     

    Oh at one point I noticed the axle was moving independently of the toothed gear. The little screw that tightens the gear was too loose. I've tightened that.

    Next time it fails I will make sure to find out if the motor is turning.

    There are some smallish chunks of filament inside the feeder casing so I'm assuming when it fails it starts stripping the filament and slips.

    Now what about this ticking? Ticking good or ticking bad???

     

    Got my UM2 Monday, Tuesday it's stop extruding

    in UltiMaker 3D printers

    Posted

     

     

    Jonathan. I'm afraid you perhaps need to moderate your expectations a little bit. 3D printing is still a cutting-edge technology, and it's inevitable that occasionally there will be hiccups. This doesn't mean the printer has 'failed' in any significant way, just that it needs a minor tweak to get it back to working great again.

    While I fully understand that 3D printing is a new(ish) technology the UM2 is a _very_ expensive machine to have fail (effectively) straight out of the box. I was getting more reliable prints with my generation 1 solidoodle which was less than a quarter of the price. Anywho...

    I'm currently printing using Cura's three defaults. I just tried a longish (4m) print that on "Fast" that died after the first hour. I'm now trying a different print on slow to see if that helps.

    Is there anywhere that documents the exact expert settings these defaults use? I'd like to be start from a known "good" set of configuration.

     

    Another question.. when you print.. is the back feeder clicking ?

     

     

    Right now - printing a part on medium - there's a constant (4 beats per second?) clicking coming from I _think_ the rear feeder. The print seems to be going just fine

    Is this good or bad?

     

    Regarding the spring tension position - UM might be shipping printers with weaker springs so the center position might be better than all the way up - we (Illuminarti and Ian and I) just don't know at this time as we all have the strong springs.

    UM support (Marrit Hoffmans) told me it should be at the topmost position...

    So I've cleaned the hot end by manually feeding filament in and doing the 200° to 90° and pull out technique. I did have some trouble getting the bowden tube back in. It seem to catch and cause the filament to not feed properly - but I think I've fixed that (it's feeding now just fine).

    I really don't think there's a clog. I'm relatively sure this is a feeder issue.

    I'm really hoping a slower speed and maybe hotter temperature will help. At least until I print off one of the better feed mechanisms.

     

    Got my UM2 Monday, Tuesday it's stop extruding

    in UltiMaker 3D printers

    Posted

    Got my UM2 on Monday, and made a few small test prints using the provided (blue) PLA. All test prints were fine.

    Today I start my first larger print (~2 hours) and it got 90% the model just fine and then decided to stop extruding. I was printing with Cura's "low quality" settings, the bed was levelled OK and I was using the right material settings on the UM2.

    I've looked around the forum and seen similar-ish problems that recommend adjusting the white "dial" on the feeder. The feeder was set to the midway point but I've adjusted it both to min and max and had no longer. Some filament does extrude but it's incredibly unreliable.

    Any advice?

    I'm rather dismayed obviously that such an expensive printer with a good reputation failed on day #2...

     

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