cloakfiend

Personally i just think hes got a blocked nozzle. Dude, just do some atomic pulls before each print and you should be fine. And print slower if you want the surface to be better quality. I tried the filament on the floor thing btw........never again. In a million years. Unless you are sitting with it throughout. Unless you want to spend hours cleaning out your burn nozzle that is. Iroberts feeder and a pipecleaner to clear the dust of the filament going in sounds much better. If your gonna print off the roll do it like this.

here are what my 'flat' sides look like. no infill but with support, and quite thick walls. doesnt bother me too much but it would be nice to be able to remove them. printed at 70mm/s um blue PLA 220dg. I have my trusty acetone if i want them gone, lol.

you can easily just scale things down in Maya, 3 clicks, maybe 4 including save as... each click one click import stl, second click on file, third select object, fourth type in youre desired scale reduction in the scale value, (enter) then select export obj done. 5 clicks, lol. and i thought i was lazy, lol.

Interesting, as i print with 0 infill and I still get those lines. On flat faces. It all depends on the angle of the face. I don't always get it, I think it may be bad modelling or poly normal related issues. As in faces faceing the wrong way (which really should be fine) or bad smoothing introducing subtle curves on flat faces that shouldn't have them. I'll post some pics when i get back. ...then again i'm using an old cura where the infill 'would be' straight not diagonal like in the pics above don't know what the new one is like.

Not to mention the PFTE coupler business, but again i've heard there's progress on this as well, but again i'm sure the folks aren't allowed to share any details yet. I guess you are asking when will we see these new designs that somehow clean the nozzle after the end of a print or a feeder that just feeds and just stops grinding once no material is clearly going into the head (as it clearly knows when the pressure is too high, otherwise it wouldn't grind in the first place!) or just turns the machine off at any guaranteed failure, saving burning the remaining material IN the head. I read a lot about new style nozzles that would be far less prone to blocking way back last year even before i had my UM2 but nothing since....shame. I was hoping they would be around by now, but no. Im afraid you have to just suffer a bit longer. Im more curious about the carbon 3D style printers, and the running costs of them. What materials will be available for use with them and if they can be sanded/treated, as shapeways stuff can't be sanded down, so you are stuck with that weird powdery finish unless you pay EVEN more for some cast metal hand polished business or something even more expensive.

Thanks for the advice, ill get ordering now....

I'd love to hear from the people who have been printing for at least a year, as the first year for me went pretty smooth until the PFTE died. Now my problems are beginning. Not sure if my bowden tube will die also as i donteven need to take the blue clip out when i remove it? I have a feeling that will die, but have no idea what ill need if it does? It will mean i wont be able to do retractions anymore if it does go i pray it doesnt as it if does....i guess ill need a complete new head unit.

Ill clean everything up again and see what happens, but im thinking the PFTE coupler i got was faulty, seeing as ALL the problems started when i got it. and it was fine before. I hope this just does not make things even worse. EDIT, I've decided that instead the nozzle was just very slightly blocked causing constant slow jams, so I've left the coupler in and have had no problems since.....i just make sure the nozzle is 100% clean before a print now, and would suggest everyone to do the same to prevent under-extrusion as this in my opinion is the main cause.

Seeing as i've just started a massive job, I've already ran into many issues for the first time with this printer, maybe due to new faulty parts, i don't really know as i treat the printer very well, I was just wandering what spare parts it would be wise to have just incase they fail or are likely to fail, or may be damaged due to slighly rough handling or wear or any other unknown issues? I'd rather have something and not need it right away than need it and not have it. I thknk the olsen block thing makes sense as well due to me not wanting to do a stupid amount of atomic pulls when the print feeder or head goes wrong on 60 hrs+ prints.

Those vertical lines are stepper motor related if i think its the lines you mean, if you print in 35mm/s they should be less, the quicker you print you'll notice weird patterns also. i print at 35 50 and 70 and the moire pattern as i call it is worst on 70 and cleanest at 35, so try a bit slower? If not then i don't know. at least you don't have a jam anymore, i'm jealous, lol.

Well a couple of cups of tea a pack of custard creams and 34 pulls later i think my nozzle is clean now, lol. I was getting depressed around 24 pulls because it appeared to be getting worse again, but alas around 31 it seemed to clear up completely, but the motor still clicked like crazy when i loaded it in, so not sure what the problem is there. Im gonna order a ton of new nozzles, PFTE couplers and probably a few metal coupler parts too just to be sure. I did have a few jams earlier when the printer was essentially burning the filament for like 6 hours straight, a couple of times, but i thought i cleared it, i guess not. I did not look closely enough, but who knows, if it really was the nozzle or the coupler or the feeder? Will standard PLA be OK for this new 'spring', it doesn't seem that hot there? and I don't really want to buy a whole roll of harder material that will probably jam my printer anyway.

Yeah I was thinking about something like that, but Im not sure why its doing that now only when I have replaced the coupler. The first time I admit I may not have cleaned everything perfectly, but the second time I cleaned everything to a perfect finish before I installed everything correctly and made sure everything was touching what it needed to touch and all that. I really didn't want to waste time ordering new components but it appears I have no choice, Ill think about ordering two new head units, so that I can clean one and have it ready for when the other one fails. I really hate taking things apart though, its one of my pet hates. Especially when I don't understand why I didn't have the same problem before. Thanks for the feedback though.

Here is my coupler going up when i push in filament for an atomic pull, and then back down when i take it out? i cant print anything anymore without a jam, so i have no idea what to do. change mozzle, change head unit,......no idea. and i just started a massive project, i'm totally screwed. cleaning doesnt seem to help. maybe 50 atomic pulls?

Im doing 215 um blue with 50 0.06 at the mo. Trying out the new pla to see if its as good as the old one. Had a horror of a time with my coupler though and am only getting good results now. Mind you i did 213 at 70 0.06 and it turned out fine. So im sure 213 is fine. With colorfabb i find a little bit hotter is better than a little bit cooler.

Youll be fine. You may get splitting issues if you print too low. But 210 should be fine. Have a play. Great quality prints with good details.

I print at 208 0.06 35. But thats me.

Ill film it in action, very weird. At least my method of damaged coupler printing is working for the time being. Otherwise my job is not gonna happen... If i push filament in it goes up, and if i take the filament out it goes down...weird. makes atomic pulls almost impossible.

Youll be fine mate, slap a bit of glue on the glass and off you go. Have been using nothing but colorfabb for the last year. Not sure about the heated bed as i got a um 2

After extensive nozzle cleaning and atomic pulls. i've come to the conclusion that the coupler is at fault after like 1 months replacement, great. Not too happy there, now i need to buy some more. And the gap between the coupler increases if i push the filament in too hard, and the plastic melts outwards and forces the coupler up. trouble is during long prints the pressure can occasionally slowly build up and push out against the coupler and hardening causing a slow jam and there is nothing i can do about it. Seriously worrying. Even after like 20 atomic pulls the dreaded clicking is happened again, which to me is a sign of a dying coupler or blocked nozzle. So back to my emergency style of printing with a damaged coupler for me again. This coupler business is such a drag, and my worst experience regarding the UM2, it causes all my problems. Especially when printing large objects which i needed to do recently, ill just have to sand them harder by hand. If you print a lot then its just a matter of time till this issue affects you too, or it already is...........:( Good times are over for me....

Yeah getting false notifications again, yay!

Ill post a video of me doing it all, and if you could tell me what im doing wrong, i think thats the easiest way as i cant see how putting on the coupler before or after the stainless steel coupler will make any difference as it moves later regardless. Could i replace the spring with a solid cylinder of steel, to prevent the thing moving up, is the spring really essential? im not too good with taking things apart, and putting them back together, but have managed in the past with a bit of common sense but this puzzles me seeing as i essentially just replaced one part that didnt move for one that now does, causing me endless problems.

Thanks for the reply, I wasnt aware it could be done any other way. there was no gap when i installed it, but as soon as i attempt an atomic pull, it moves up? like the melted plastic inside is forcing the ptfe coupler to raise. I would love to solve this so i can actually clean the nozzle, as now i am having no choice other than to print with a blocked nozzle, and the results are not that great to be honest, but seeing as i have a tight deadline, my only other option would be to buy a new nozzle or entire head assembly, and then to examine this one in the meantime. Please correct me if im wrong, what you are saying is to unscrew the stainless steel coupler put the pfte coupler on it and then screw it onto the heater block. I think i did that most recently, but I noticed that the more i twisted the stainless steel coupler the pfte coupler would rise? which left me at the problem im at now? My main question is, why does the PFTE thing move up, or at all? and is there a way to install it to prevent this? I will have yet another look after my current print is ready, but am slowly loosing faith due to most likely doing the same things wrong, not really knowing how to do it right even after looking at the instructions on the web. If only there was a clear video showing how to do it right? It doesn't take long to do and is essential so i dont know why anyone from UM hasnt done one to help those with this issue. But it looks like i'm the only one :( (even though i doubt it, i reckon other people just carry on printing in a poor quality and just not knowing why.)

OK, my coupler moves so much now after changing it? i am now completely screwed. If i cant fix it, then my time with this printer is over unfortunately all because of a 10 buck part, great. im seriously annoyed, and am getting tired of taking apart the print head. I have no idead why the coupler moves so high effectively blocking me from doing atomic pulls, but it ok-ish during printing. If anyone has any suggestions i would greatly welcome them as otherwise my time on this forum and printer are over for good... ill have to start looking for alternative printers without the stupid PFTE thing. my dumb coupler. Im getting tired of tweaking and was hoping i did enough, i had just started a massive project so im extremely annoyed hence this ranting post, but now fully understand why so many people have poor quality prints. As the title puts it so correctly its all in the damn coupler. :( this is during printing? why is the coupler lower now? I can only do atomic pushes now not pulls, lol. so fricking annoying. I get that damn clicking noise again now that i cant do atomic pulls anymore, im gonna smash the printer before long if this continues..... Do i need a new spring.....? I cant see any reson why the coupler would need to move at all. Why isnt the design of it don to prevent to moving. This has single handedly destroyed my entire perfect image of this printer.

I cant seem to find a place to buy that darn copperface machine, the robotfactory website has no shopping tab or purchase section as far as i can see, shame, i sent an email enquiry, but really wanted to just buy the damn thing today. Now i have to wait, great, i do enough of that with 3D printing as it is.

Ok just got some NEW ultimaker blue filament, and seeing from the temps on the pack, they are very different from the old ones i had, so i hope it smooths just as well as before, but im thinking it my not, so it might be back to colorfabb.....maybe i shouldn't have gotten 3 rolls then? lol. OLD temps 190-260, NEW temps 210-230? Also got paid today so im gonna order my electro plating machine as well! yay jewellery and gold faces here i come! will keep you posted....