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BrayChristopher

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Posts posted by BrayChristopher

  1. You've already changed out the nozzle and PTFE coupler. The PTFE coupler is usually the culprit of all of my problems.

    Did you clean off the hubbed gear that grips the filament. If it gets caked with filament dust, then it can't grip the filament as well.

    I print PLA at 210c.

    I have my filament spool below my machine and I use a spool holder with ball bearings.

    https://www.youmagine.com/designs/magnetic-mount-spool-holder

    I still use the original UM2 feeder and I have it set to the lightest pressure.

    Good luck.

  2. What infill are you guys using?

    I use Simplified 3D. There are six infill patterns.

     

    I basically stick with Rectilinear. Or one of the Honeycomb options. But mostly Rectilinear. With these options, the infill does NOT cross its own path during a single layer (does that make sense).

    Conversely, Grid and Triangular DO cross their own path during a single layer. So the print head hits a speed bump every time it crosses its previous path. It sounds horrible. It visibly shakes. I tried it once just to experiment... never again.

    I am pretty sure the Wiggle pattern does NOT cross its own path during a single layer, BUT it looks like it is going to shake the snot out of the print head.

  3. That is a pretty awesome bubble gum fail.

    Was there a big blob on the out side of the hot end as well?

    I have had similar fails twice with ColorFab XT, on our UM2E. The problem was that I didn't have good bed adhesion. The part came loose from the bed and it got drug around by the print head. Then it got stuck to the print head and it just kept pumping out plastic and forming a horror movie monster blob.

    Luckily I just needed to heat up the nozzle and pull all of the plastic off.

  4. I found that when printing a larger set of these, I would get really fine strings between the parts.

    So I played with the settings some more.

    Retraction Distance: 5mm

    Extra Retraction Start: 0mm

    Retraction Vertical Lift: 0.5mm

    Retraction Speed: 2000 mm/min

    Coasting Distance: 2.0mm

    Wipe Distance: 6.0mm

    Layer Height: 0.15mm

    Top Layers: 3

    Bottom Layers: 3

    Shells: 2

    Out Line Direction: Print Inside-Out

    Print island sequential with out optimization: On

    Use Random Start Points for All Perimeters: On

    No Supports

    Extruder Temp: 237c

    Bed Temp: 70c

    Fans turn on at layer 8

    Fan speed: 50%

    Default Printing Speed: 3000 mm/min

    Outline Underspeed: 65%

    Solid Infill Underspeed 70%

    X/Y Axis Movement Speed: 6000mm/min

    Only Retract when crossing open spaces: On

    Force Retraction between layers: Off

    Minimum travel for retraction: 0.02mm

    Perform Retraction during wipe movement: Off

    Only wipe extruder for outer most perimeters: Off

    Here are the results:

    P1140818.thumb.JPG.602b37b97c108c0292d9b622f377cc7d.JPG

    P1140819.thumb.JPG.685041e0383ab7a2da04d72f05f2e1fa.JPG

    P1140818.thumb.JPG.602b37b97c108c0292d9b622f377cc7d.JPG

    P1140819.thumb.JPG.685041e0383ab7a2da04d72f05f2e1fa.JPG

  5. We have been happy with our UM2 at work. It is the only 3D printer I have any experience with.

    Are you familiar with 3D printing? If not, study up. Read the forums and listen to any 3D printing podcast you can find.

    I think all of my problems early on were caused by ME. And the damn PTFE coupler. And crap filament.

    Stick with Ultimaker brand filament at first. Stick with PLA at first.

    I would switch to some kind of ball bearing spool holder right away.

    Wait for your prints to cool down after they are done. Don't pry them off of the print bed. This helps keep you print bed level. At first I was re-leveling it every other print. Now I only need to level it about once every 6 months.

    If you are planning to do a lot of big prints that will take a long time, I would recommend putting your printer on a wire rack shelf so that the electronics underneath can breathe easier. There is no active cooling on the controller board.

    Good luck. It is an exciting journey.

  6. First of all, that tail does look tricky and fragile. I downloaded the STL. The tail in the picture does NOT match the tail in the STL file.

    5a3325670ae65_pichu1.JPG.5a6784d66a487ae42f7c15577cd2f5ad.JPG

    5a33256725f1d_pichu2.thumb.JPG.5f941f323a2746dd527276ca463425b4.JPG

    The tail really does only touch the bed at a point. So much so that S3D does see enough geometry there to print anything until the third layer! And I have it set on 0.1mm layer height

    5a33256748ec3_pichu3.thumb.JPG.98f8949eb6f060894ef1755d23bd8e2e.JPG First Layer = no tail contact

    So in addition to it having a very small base, it also no bed adhesion.

    Trick 1: Bury the model in the print bed. This will give the tail a much broader base to start with and one that actually has a first layer. The deeper the better (up to a point).

    5a3325694c7f2_pichu13.JPG.e59b9e0c64df82c6b7e4de610b5d112d.JPG

    5a3325695bc53_pichu14.JPG.be1b0b035c4cea6cac20489e45c3b340.JPG

    Trick 2: Add a helper disk. This gives the tail broader base and connects it to the rest of the base of the model. Increasing the thickness of the helper disk will give the tail an even better chance.

    5a33256764087_pichu4.thumb.JPG.b4f1ddf71ae2b3ac7b6a8d642005b427.JPG

    5a33256783682_pichu5.JPG.c2803ab178e58718d10e4a7e24b3344f.JPG

    5a332567b2fa5_pichu6.thumb.JPG.5daf16a7027e2c59d5159fd87d4ddebb.JPG

    5a332567e96d3_pichu8.JPG.993d80067565641e958ad8d23292b2a9.JPG

    5a332567d517b_pichu7.JPG.4c3ecc08481ac68881164dd49eabafed.JPG

    Trick 3: The overhang of the tail directly around its base doesn't need support material, but you can manually add supports in S3D. These could act as a cage to keep the tail from tipping over.

    5a3325681a498_pichu9.thumb.JPG.5670b4e56523f4dbe0a62605974857fd.JPG

    Trick 4: This might be cheating too much. Flip a help disk on its side and position it under the tail. Now the tail is connected to the rest of the model from the ground up.

    5a33256835500_pichu10.JPG.064b69b9967efd88f4f2038e0a4b7df2.JPG

    5a33256921151_pichu11.thumb.JPG.c6c0f311eed55329a50ac843415bf86e.JPG

    5a332569360e2_pichu12.thumb.JPG.dd4c28b6f3b8e6609d51dbdcb7df18c4.JPG

    Good luck.

    5a3325670ae65_pichu1.JPG.5a6784d66a487ae42f7c15577cd2f5ad.JPG

    5a33256725f1d_pichu2.thumb.JPG.5f941f323a2746dd527276ca463425b4.JPG

    5a33256748ec3_pichu3.thumb.JPG.98f8949eb6f060894ef1755d23bd8e2e.JPG

    5a3325694c7f2_pichu13.JPG.e59b9e0c64df82c6b7e4de610b5d112d.JPG

    5a3325695bc53_pichu14.JPG.be1b0b035c4cea6cac20489e45c3b340.JPG

    5a33256764087_pichu4.thumb.JPG.b4f1ddf71ae2b3ac7b6a8d642005b427.JPG

    5a33256783682_pichu5.JPG.c2803ab178e58718d10e4a7e24b3344f.JPG

    5a332567b2fa5_pichu6.thumb.JPG.5daf16a7027e2c59d5159fd87d4ddebb.JPG

    5a332567e96d3_pichu8.JPG.993d80067565641e958ad8d23292b2a9.JPG

    5a332567d517b_pichu7.JPG.4c3ecc08481ac68881164dd49eabafed.JPG

    5a3325681a498_pichu9.thumb.JPG.5670b4e56523f4dbe0a62605974857fd.JPG

    5a33256835500_pichu10.JPG.064b69b9967efd88f4f2038e0a4b7df2.JPG

    5a33256921151_pichu11.thumb.JPG.c6c0f311eed55329a50ac843415bf86e.JPG

    5a332569360e2_pichu12.thumb.JPG.dd4c28b6f3b8e6609d51dbdcb7df18c4.JPG

    • Like 2
  7. Somethings just are not very printable. Every manufacturing process has its limitations.

    Have you tried adding "helper disks"? You can add them to a print right in the slicer software. The slicer then merges the objects and prints them as one part. Then you have to cut them off with a sharp knife or clippers. You can also use these on corners to help keep parts from warping off the bed.

    [print=3440][/print]

    I was pretty surprised that this actually worked! We almost didn't try it because it didn't fit in the printer in a normal way. We had to stand this up on just one edge and add a bunch of helper discs.

    You could also try cutting the model in half and putting the two cut faces on the bed.

    https://ultimaker.com/en/community/9712-cutting-up-and-printing-model-with-meshmixer-to-avoid-overhangs

     

    https://blog.adafruit.com/2014/07/31/split-large-designs-into-printable-parts/

  8. New settings! The part looks very good. At least for what I need it for anyway.

    P1140776.thumb.JPG.6b1b14e295c9f44da1b7e9931d448fda.JPG

    Retraction Distance: 5mm

    Extra Retraction Start: 0mm

    Retraction Vertical Lift: 1mm

    Retraction Speed: 1600 mm/min

    Coasting Distance: 1.0mm

    Wipe Distance: 2.0mm

    Layer Height: 0.15mm

    Top Layers: 3

    Bottom Layers: 3

    Shells: 2

    Out Line Direction: Print Inside-Out

    Print island sequential with out optimization: On

    Use Random Start Points for All Perimeters: On

    No Supports

    Extruder Temp: 240c

    Bed Temp: 70c

    Fans turn on at layer 8

    Fan speed: 50%

    Default Printing Speed: 3000 mm/min

    Outline Underspeed: 65%

    Solid Infill Underspeed 70%

    X/Y Axis Movement Speed: 6000mm/min

    Only Retract when crossing open spaces: Off

    Force Retraction between layers: On

    Minimum travel for retraction: 0.02mm

    Perform Retraction during wipe movement: On

    Only wipe extruder for outer most perimeters: Off

    I have only tried a small batch of these (16 at a time). Soon I will try a larger batch.

    P1140776.thumb.JPG.6b1b14e295c9f44da1b7e9931d448fda.JPG

  9. I am trying to print a bed full of small parts (50ish).

    Normally I avoid the stringing issue with XT by just printing one part at a time. But I need to make about 3,000 of these parts...... so it would be nice to print a whole bed's worth over night.

    Has any body else run into a similar challenge?

    I use Simplified 3D as my slicer.

    Currently my setting are:

    Retraction Distance: 4mm

    Extra Retraction Start: 0mm

    Retraction Vertical Lift: 0mm

    Retraction Speed: 1500 mm/min

    Coasting Distance: 2.5mm

    Wipe Distance: 3.0mm

    Layer Height: 0.15mm

    Top Layers: 3

    Bottom Layers: 3

    Shells: 2

    Out Line Direction: Print Outside-In

    Print island sequential with out optimization: On

    Use Random Start Points for All Perimeters: On

    (I was hoping this would spread the pimples out so that they don't build on one another)

    No Supports

    Extruder Temp: 240c

    Bed Temp: 70c

    Fans turn on at layer 8

    Fan speed: 50%

    Default Printing Speed: 3000 mm/min

    Outline Underspeed: 65%

    Solid Infill Underspeed 70%

    X/Y Axis Movement Speed: 3000mm/min

    Only Retract when crossing open spaces: Off

    Force Retraction between layers: Off

    Minimum travel for retraction: 0.02mm

    Perform Retraction during wipe movement: On

    Only wipe extruder for outer most perimeters: Off

    P1140778.thumb.JPG.98864a4ecd8c808bcd5c042a41190b8b.JPG

    I think those are all of the settings that matter.....

    Please and thanks.

    P1140778.thumb.JPG.98864a4ecd8c808bcd5c042a41190b8b.JPG

    • Like 1
  10. Thanks for your replies!

    No, I did not change the coupler- you think it's gone bad?

     

    If you have ruled out everything else, then yes. It is hard to check and swap out, so it is always the last thing you check for.

    Clean nozzle?

    Quality material?

    Clean knurled thing in the feeder?

    Tangle free spool?

    Easy spinning spool holder?

    Same settings you have had success with before?

  11. I was also wondering about the shelf I am sitting on.  Right now, it is on top of an Ikea cabinet with a rubber mount under it to reduce vibration...mainly coming in, it sits next to two large prusa-style printers that can really shake things.  I plan to put dampers on the feet I am printing, which will lift it a fair amount.  When I do this, I was considering cutting a hole under the printer where the board sets and adding a large 110V cooling fan on a switch.  I want to say the fans are about 6" across.  We use them in some of our products.  I was thinking I could set this up to blow air under the shelf to propagate more airflow under the machine, but at this point am I going too overboard?

     

    If I had to do it all over again, I would have put the printer on a wire rack shelf.

    I hate the idea of taking a drill to the printer. Partly because I don't own it.

    Do the electronics really need that sheet metal cover?

    You could probably get a couple small radial fans and put them at the back bottom of the printer so that they create cross flow air under the printer.

    Maybe someone has designed a more cooling friendly electronics cover that can be printed.

  12. I plan to enclose the printer for some prints I am doing next month.  This may be another post, but how does everyone here do it?  Right now, I have a door made of multiple layers of foam sandwiched between two pieces of cardboard that serves as a door, then a box with a slot cut in the back to slip over the Bowden that serves as a hood.  It does a good job, even if it does look horrible.  I do worry about stepper temp when I run this setup, but it doesn't seam to seal the board in with the heat.

     

    Here is a link to my set up. My boss didn't like oven bag I had clipped over the front.

    https://ultimaker.com/en/community/17521-enclosure?amp%3Bsort=&page=1#reply-158697

    https://www.youmagine.com/designs/ultimaker-2-extended-enclosure

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