z-axis-3d

Well no responses but my UM2 is still down and Ultimaker support still haven't responded at all. What has happened to UM support? It used to be really good. I swapped the temperature probes around and also stuck the nozzle probe to the bed then put some paper on the back as insulation and heated it up to 80 deg and let it settle to do a comparison. The temperatures were 2-3 degrees different at ambient, and similar at 80, but I didn't expect them to be exactly in sync at 80. (if you reading this beware! If you do this do NOT heat the nozzle without the probe installed, you will overheat it!) That doesn't really tally with the fact that I am heating the nozzle to 250 now on the dial and it still seems like it is not getting quite hot enough to extrude smoothly. I am just waiting for my heater and pt100 to arrive, but have also come to the conclusion that it could be the heater. It measures 24 Ohms but maybe under temperature and load it is breaking down and not supplying enough heat.

I am having a similar issue. I hope it makes sense to tag on the end of this thread rather than starting a new one. I wonder if anyone has insight while I wait for a response from UM support? Maybe the new pt100 needs calibration (see below) Maybe the connector is bad (I did multiple plug/unplug operations to see if maybe the contact would improve but this didn't help. I have received an olsson block and I have ordered a new heater and probe from 3DSolex which I really hope will be arriving today. Maybe all my problems will go away, when I upgrade the full hot end but I am really worried from what I have seen so far that the new probe won't help and maybe it's the Arduino A/D circuit or something?? Here is the message I sent UM Support: =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- My Hot end is clearly too cold, I am under-extruding even though the readout says 210 / even when I set to 230 it's still not hot enough I ordered a new sensor here in the UK but they are on back order, and ordering direct is too slow for me so in the meantime I purchased a sensor from RS and wired it in with new cable (soldered the connector on) 6117845 Pt100 wirewound 2.8x15mm (100ohm)class A https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/platinum-resistance-temperature-sensors/6117845/ However I am getting exactly the same behaviour as before, Identical in fact. So I suspect that even when I get the Proper part this will not help me. What else can I try? I can tell it's not hot enough because I can't even wipe PLA off the surface of the nozzle, and a wet cloth barely sizzles. There is a mention in the docs about calibration, but it is simply "TODO": http://wiki.ultimaker.com/Temperature_calibration =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- (correction, even when I set it to 240 it is not hot enough.)

Thanks Randy, much appreciated. I have ordered one from Farnell here in the UK, the one he was looking at was 3mm rather than 2mm, so I was glad to find your post before he ordered the wrong one. I had already tried most of this, the un-tinned ends was not something I tried, but I did loosen and re-tighten a couple of times. I will take that advice when I re-assemble. I was really struggling to figure out what was going on until the PT100 failed altogether; so now it's pretty clear from measuring directly on the component. Initially I managed to get a reading on 108 Ohms, I couldn't get it consistently, but now I have a permanent open-circuit. Thanks again, Greg

Hi Hi RandyInLA, thanks for that! May I ask how you know, where you got the info? I am having similar issues to Thorvinus, if I actually measure across the component I have an open circuit. (I was intermittently getting 108 Ohm, but any movement and it jumps all over the place. My colleague offered to order me a new PT100, and said Element 14 do a PT100A and a PT100B, where the A in more accurate. I expect it is the B as you have suggested, but would like to be sure I'm getting the right thing to save time. Cheers, Greg

I had a blockage last night using a sparkly PLA. Using a filament off-cut I used the method described above (Pushing PLA back up the nozzle while being careful not to burn myself). Presto! blockage gone, 5 second fix! Cheers, Greg

Hi All, After trying woodfill I also fell into this trap. The leaflet in the box said something like "just use the same settings as you would with standard PLA as a starting point" -so I didn't even bother going online initially to look at hints - lesson learned. However thanks to this excellent post I was back up and running after 5 or 6 cycles of the atomic method plus one small addition... I got to a point where the pla was coming back up clean, but still couldn't extrude, so guessed that there was a blockage right up at the entrance of the nozzle. I tried a sowing needle initially but was a little worried about breaking it off, or damaging the nozzle and it still didn't seem to budge, so instead I took a different approach. Using a piece of filament I pushed it up against the bottom of the heated nozzle (mind fingers!). So effectively pushing melted filament back up into the nozzle and dislodging the blockage, before feeding from the top again. It took a 2-3 cycles of that but it worked and the blockage came through. I then proceeded to print woodfill at a 0.2 and 0.25 layer height and didn't have a repeat of the problem. Cheers, Greg

I used the profile in this post: https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/3dhubs_fairphone/_ziRssJ3u-o but it does take 5 hours. Usually I leave them overnight. It would be nice to get the job done quicker, but for now I am focused on a case that keeps the customer satisfied- hopefully. Thanks, Greg

Thanks James, So S3D refers to Simplify3D? It looks impressive but they don't appear to do a trial. More reading required I think, but if you recommend it then I will take a closer look. For the record, here are the 2 results for comparison. The only difference being the angle of the model on the bed, and I also printed a few degrees cooler as I realised I was possibly printing at the upper end of the range and thought it might help with the stringing across the gaps.

OK, I have tried lowering the extrusion rate but that didn't resolve the issue. I also did a hardware health-check, belts and bolts all tightened up, still no change. What did help a little is setting the model up at a 15 deg angle in the XY instead of being parallel with either the front or the side as I had before. I am just letting the current print finish as it's better than before, but I want to experiment more with alternative slicers. Thanks for all the advice.

Thanks pm_dude and gr8 I will try tweaking the flow a little later and feed back my findings- that's a nice easy one to test. I also had some advice over on the 3D hubs forums which included playing with alternative slicers, tweaking acceleration settings and generally tightening everything up -including a few things I had not thought to check. I will try all of these suggestions in turn and hopefully fix it and identify how!

Ah, thanks pm_dude that clears it up and a very useful post that is. Basically I started at 210 and reduced the temperature (using the front panel) in 5 degree steps until I got to 175 The speed started at 30mm/s and I set it to 75% when I started to get very cool, but essentially there was no improvement in this particular issue - in fact very little discernible change at all until the last setting. I have been on 3D Hubs and looked at other members fairphone pictures and it didn't take long to find examples that were the same. It only shows up on some models of course. The photos do exaggerate the issue because I was lighting it to show the problem as well as using a macro lens. I still think it is an issue and I'd like to resolve this if it's resolvable. Any help greatly appreciated. Greg

Thanks gr5. I had just started a long print, but I'll abort and try this. I'm really keen to resolve this so your answer is much appreciated. How could you tell that from the 2nd photo though?

Hi All, I have had a search and did find anything that quite matched the issue I am seeing, so hoping for some opinions. This is more noticeable on some colours than others, and I looked back at some older case prints and see it there now that I am looking for it. So there are vertical lines which examined closely seem to be indentations on one side of the curvature and slight protrusions on the opposite side. I searched more generally and there was a similar issue mentioned regarding printrbot and the suggestion was backlash. Could this be the case, and how do you address it on UM 2? Thanks in advance, Greg