Ronan

Hello all! Slight issue i am having. I am printing 4 0.4mm thick squares, 1 at each corner of the bed. Rear left/right and front left are comming out perfect. Front right is having some issues, there's tiny holes where the lines aren't quite connecting to the shell/outer perimeter. I have been tweaking that side for a few hours, nothing seems to fix the issue, not even releveling the bed, changing the z axis, etc... Please advise. Photo attached.

Alright so this explains a few 'weird' things that happened when messing with Cura. I ended up ahving some bad first layers when it was set to 125% and 150% for the initial layer width. Basically some spaces between the lines it was putting down.

Yepp UPS are great. We have one here that saved long prints on more than one occasion.

If I print a thin rectangle of a height of 0.4mm, in Cura my layer height is set to 0.3mm and my initial layer thickness is set to 0.5mm, what layer height is my first layer printed at? If i change the Initial layer line width from 100% to 125% or even 150%, what does that do exactly? Increases the flow to put more material down? Increases the nozzle width of each line by the % needed? Does Dual extrusion Switch Amount (mm) overule the retraction settings for each extruders? Thanks

Not bad, we mostly use Filaflex and had to get an additional system to print it properly. Biggest issue we found with any bowden system is it's not 100% reliable. You can get the occasional binding/etc and it would ruin a print.

Correct already printing at very low speed, from 10-15 depending of the print. With some finicking and tweaking there's zero stringing, but some blobbing. This isn't on a UM2 by any means, you can't get high quality prints on a bowden system with ninjaflex/filaflex. Tried all aftermarket extruders, you can get by, but can't get the quality for a professional print. Had to add another system to get to that level.

I can't get a picture, the blobs are too small for my regular lens. But it's basically the typical blobbing you get from retractions, instead of stringing you get a little 'blob'.

Hey guys, what setting in Cura deals with blobbing from retractions. I have my retractions dialed in, temp dialed in, speed dialed in, and get near-perfect prints, but on retraction it has a bit of blobbing (just enough that its a problem). Zero stringing or any other issues with the dialed in settings. Printing ninjaflex on a modified UM2.

Which bowden did you swap it with? This was for a UM2? Also you changed the hot end? Thanks

I need it by the end of the week, hopefully he is done soon! Great news to hear he is nearly done Thanks neotko! If anyone else knows, please do share

Anyone know of a feeder replacement for the Ultimaker 2 for printing (a lot) of flexible filaments (ninjaflex/filaflex)? After 2 days of finicking with it, it's just a pain, not realistically possible to print a lot. So a new feeder is needed, preferably one that attaches to the hot end to eliminate the bowden. Thanks

We are waiting for feedback before purchasing.

It's appealing to first time users (it's called the Apple Symptom, ease of use, no customizability). Once someone is done printing a few 'plastic gadgets' they soon realize the mistake they made in buying one of those printers (or an iPhone).

I would take 25W heater + hot bed solution.

OP let me put it this way: I have a startup that had a significant amount of capital to start with. We did 6 month of research, contacted numerous top manufacturers and have a lot of first hands experience. The Zortrax didn't even make it on the list of which printers to buy (mind you, not 1 printer but numerous). The Ultimaker 2+ also beat much more expensive machines ranging in the 10's of thousands of dollars. The results were 99% identical. So far, i haven't seen a Zortrax print that comes out better than a Ultimaker 2+ (as in, the Ultimaker 2+ wouldn't be able to print it like that). Our criteria was at follow, in no particular order: Open source system for ease of service, more (all) options of filaments and unlocked prices of filaments. High (read VERY) quality/finish of prints (high quality prints aren't what they are all about too, we print at 0.1 for our customers and charge what other places charge for 0.2 prints. Our customers are mind blown at the quality, and 0.1 is no where near the limit of the Ultimakers!), to reduce/eliminate post processing work. Affordability, it's better to have 2 3D printers than 1, when running a business. We own 7 3D printers now (2x Ultimaker 2+, 2x Ultimaker 2 Extended+, 1x Ultimaker 2, 2x Formlabs Form2). FYI, we get better results on our Formlabs Form2 prints for super high quality/details... But they have their limits in printing material (it's also a PITA to work with, very messy and smells). We mostly print castable parts (think lost wax casting), low run figurines and model/statues on them. Also, HUGE pro-tip: When you buy in a lock in system, you are LOCKED in. You think it's not a big deal, but it can become a huge deal very quickly... ask me how i learned that one (don't it was a painful lesson). Cloakfiend is very generous in posting his prints, go take a look at his gallery, it's very impressive. Yes he works a bit of magic, but (no offence Cloakfiend) there's no reason you can't achieve superb prints with time & practice.

So you have seen zortrax prints and compared them with um2+ prints of the same object in person? No, when we were deciding which systems to go with, our other options were actually much more expensive (think $5000-$20000 printers) and the Ultimaker 2+ won over those (we were getting very similar results from those other printers, so why pay a lot more and be lock in a proprietary system + slaves to their customer service, which sometimes was international). I i have seen online examples of the zortrax and they look the same as a UM2+, except... you are lock in their system. Those photos you posted have flaws in the 3D prints (especially where the parts were printing against the bed), you can see layer lines too, and honestly you get the same results with a Ultimaker 2+. You could get better results, it depends on many factors of course. We strive for perfect prints at pro3dservices.com but that means a lot more extra work. The biggest difference is that Ultimaker has a huge following of people willing to help you. I don't know if Zortrax can claim that. Also open source, open system... print with $5 pla rolls of $50 rolls. We use the best material in the industry and it shows in the result (also being able to print in metal infused PLA's is a HUGE plus).

1) YES! Cheap printers = cheap results. At minimum they are very finicky. If you print very little it's fine, we actually use Ultimaker 2+/E+ as commercial printers. Yes, they are that good! 2) Yes, we run a 2 and 2+ and the 2+ is much better. You get perfect or near perfect results most of the time (of course skills are important). It is not plug & play and expect perfect results (plug & play will give you good/very good results). 3) We print with XT-CF20 quite a lot, use a steel nozzle and you will be fine. I am unsure why you think a zortrax m200 gives better prints. I have seen same/better results on the Ultimaker 2. I think the model printed + print settings are more important. All our Ultimaker's are enclosed though (FYI).

I'm in MD, right next to Washington DC.

I just tried half a dozen prints on a regular ultimaker 2. Exactly the same issues (this one has no hood, no door, used normal settings). When ever i print on tape and shut the bed heat off, the parts print perfectly (they are insanely hard to get off the bed though!). I have now tried it with 2 different ultimaker and colorfabb PLA, i keep getting the same results both ways. It seems to be there's a LOT of fine tuning to print 'lego' like blocks on a hot bed, while on the cold one i can use regular PLA settings with the hot bed set to 0.

Here's the kicker... did a full print last night on tape, cold glass, tape cleaned with alcohol. Half the parts came perfect, the other half came deformed. Those are all the same parts just printed in multitude. It seems to me something is wrong, and its been causing issues over the past few days. I am going to clean the glass (again), relevel the bed (again), reset the settings, print a ulti bot on my normal settings and see what happens. I also finally have another printer that is free, so it's gonna take a print today to check. I shouldn't have to print on tape those parts, there's nothing 'weird' about them (it's like printing a rectangle lego block basically).

My temp sensor gun is dead so i would have to buy another one to confirm the bed temperature. That or once the other Ulti's are finally free then i can try on one of those. I'm curious, how often do you have to clean + recoat with PVA glue?

I tried again with tape, this time it turned out fine. There must have been a bit of wax left before. Now my issue is the tape is good once, after i peel it off, you can see the top layer of the tape ripping off. It's a minor issue but heh. I'm also seeing trouble for the bigger parts, taking them off w/o breaking (or is it just the tape that breaks off?). More testing to do. I'm also tempted doing a test at 50 degree's hot bed, but seems to be the fans go on and the wall cave in happens (it moves up/down the part when i change when the fans turn on)...

Update: Did a quick test print, on blue tape, stock cura settings, came out 99% perfect. The 1% being one of the corners lifted ever so slightly. So it's a heat issue causing the peeling which was resolved using the PLA glue, but then everything is to hot and as soon the fans turns on, it causes wall cave in. Any idea how to print this on a hot bed? Otherwise i am going to end up going through a lot of blue tape...!

So this is what i tried on PVA glue: Same settings as before but with yellowshark tweaks, bed at 55, nozzle at 200, fan start 30% at 2mm. Same result except the cave in was bigger. Same settings but with the hood + door taken off, same results as above but edges curled. So those 2 prints were worst than before. So it seems that the fans are causing the wall cave in... should i try having them on from the beginning? Will that hurt the first layers even though the bed is at 50/55/60 + PVA glue?? Do i raise the bed in this case?...

Trying yes, in practice no :( Not until i get a seperate place for them. One thing i noticed... the cave in of walls happens at around 0.5mm which is when i have my fan 100% setup to start! So gonna change it to 2mm, start at 60% to 100% to see if that changes anything. I'll also lower the nozzle heat a bit, but keep the bed at 60 degrees... Wish me luck!