larsgw

Thanks for posting. The arm in mine is fine. It seems the issue is that there isn't enough of an overlap in the two gears on the back of the filament feeder. I used a washer to push the larger gear out, and now it works fine. It looks like there's also room to push the gear on the motor out from the motor a little further (it's not seated at the end of the shaft, but rather farther up).

Hey - I pulled the gear off and put a washer behind it and now my UM2+ is printing beautifully. No popping, grinding or under extrusion. The washer pushes the large gear so it's almost against the metal plate on the back of the UM body, so I put a little grease on it as a precaution.

Seems to be fixed! I put a washer under the large gear, which pushed it out to meet more solidly with the gear from the motor. Print quality is currently back to where it was before the problem - no skipping, no under extrusion. Major kudos to you Anxjfarnorth, for locating the problem.

Not mounted to the machine. I've got one nut that keeps coming loose and I was too lazy to glue it, so I took the thing off each time...always thinking that would be the last time.

When I was trying to nail down the problem I started with it in the middle, started a print, worked my way all the way to the bottom then back to the top as the print was happening to see if it would make a difference, but it didn't seem to make a bit of difference. Good eye though!

I'd love to - I just don't know how to fix the problem. The gears are too far apart, and there's no problem with any part of it not being tight enough - the gear just isn't thick enough. The two gears only overlap by around .8 mm, so it keeps skipping. It's under extruding constantly. This is what's happening (sorry about the radio being on): http://www.larsgrantwest.com/p788332907/h7398E444#h7398e444

I've taken the feeder apart and put it together six times now...and it's definitely that gearing that was the problem, so I'm grateful for the help pinpointing the issue. I think I'll go back to the old feeder - then try to print one of these: https://www.youmagine.com/designs/alternative-um2-feeder-version-two https://www.youmagine.com/designs/yet-another-ultimaker-2-feeder I really like the idea of being able to watch the filament going through. Makes it easier to see what's going on. Now I just have to see what parts of the upgrade kit I can keep and what I have to change.

Here's a video. This tolerance I mean. I had it tightened for the first time at the bottom! Ah! That makes sense. The plate on mine is on nice and tight, but there is still not enough connection between the gears to stop the skipping. :(

So you upgraded a UM2 to a 2+ with the extruder upgrade kit, and now went back to the old black feeder? Did you also have to change the print head back? I got the upgrade kit ($395), but that included the new print head and fan and Ollson block. Did you just leave those on? I'll do that - though it'll suck to go back to grinding filament, maybe that'll last long enough to try one of the other downloadable filament feeder upgrades out there.

Do you mean the metal plate the filament feeder attaches to the ultimaker with? If I didn't have that on there I could see it working...but then I'd have to figure out how to attach the feeder to the ultimaker. Hello, My English is (taken a translation program to help) not good. I had a similar problem. The mistake was having the adapter plate much tolerance (big holes), and I had screwed my adapter plate at the bottom. Loess times the four screws slightly (so that it can just move so) pushing the feeder back on it and try to push up. I hope it is understandable.

Wait - so you put the original feeder back on? I had grinding with mine - but I'm tempted to do the same thing just so I can print.

Did you read the post on the popping/skipping? I think that's more likely the problem you're seeing. I took my feeder box off and took some measurements and it looks like the two gears barely cross each other - and in fact I can turn the slotted screw head that turns the gear and I get the same skipping - with no filament in the feeder. I measured less than 1/32" of overlap in the gears, so if there's much pressure at all it just skips. The overlap on mine is less than the thickness of the metal plate the feeder mounts onto the ultimaker with.

Okay - I took off the feeder and did some measurements. if my feeder is flat/flush against the metal plate on the back As it turns out - overlap between the two gears is barely 1/32" (around .8mm) - so any shimmy at all and the thing skips. So Ultimaker crew - we need a new gear, or some alternative solution. I'd print one to go over the old one - but at the moment I can't print.

This post interested me - and seems like it might be on the right track for my issue, but here are some photos. hopefully some show what you're after. https://ultimaker.com/en/community/20570-loud-popping-from-the-feeder-after-ultimaker-2-upgrade?page=1&sort=#reply-143880

AGH! So that is the problem - Not sure how to fix it because neither gear on my ultimaker seems to be able to move in or out, but if I turn the little slotted silver head on the back of the feeder it's causing the same issue - but skipping every 1/4 turn or so. Maddening because everything appears to be snug. I'm going to pull the feeder off again to see if I can get them closer - but I don't see how I can.

I'll have to check it out. I'm having similar problem - posted here. Check the end for video - though the video only shows the slightest bit. I have the printer upstairs, but could hear it knocking every once in a while from downstairs. https://ultimaker.com/en/community/20652-pinpointing-under-extrusion-problem Maybe I messed up the gears on the install.

I'm having a problem which seems pretty clearly to be under extrusion. I'm having trouble figuring out where the problem is, though I'm trying to troubleshoot as best I can. I've got a new UM2 extended. I recently installed the extruder upgrade kit. the machine has only printed 43 meters of filament (maybe 100 hours) There is a sporadic knocking that comes from the feeder. When I first started having the problem it was really quite loud sometimes. The noise is the feeder skipping. I started this large print of some teeth a few days back. It started great, but then deteriorated to the point where nothing was coming out. [/media] • I did an "atomic" cleaning of the nozzle, took the filament feeder apart and cleaned it. Everything seemed fine, but as soon as I start printing, the knocking comes back. • Since I upgraded to the new feeder the filament is not getting chunks ground out of it. It's just skipping. • I switched nozzle sizes (tried .25 and .08). No change. • Switched to a brand new 4.0 nozzle. No change. • I've taken the filament feeder apart twice more. • I have tried different pressure settings on the feeder • Switched back from the Hatchbox white PLA I was using to the ultimaker silver that came with the printer. I've gotten good prints with both...just not since this problem started. The only thing I can imagine at this point is that there's a bottleneck close to the nozzle that's causing the issue, but I figured I'd check in with you guys to see if this is familiar at all. I feel like I've tried everything I've read about except for taking the print head assembly apart - and I'm leery of doing that because of the notes on 3DVerkstan, "On the Ultimaker2+ the spring above the PTFE has been replaced with a static spacer. Because of this it is critical that the distance between the two metal plates is correct or you can run into problems. A little tool will be made available to measure this distance in the future. In the mean time you should know that the rigid spacer and the updated material in the coupler means it will last longer than the original so it is a good idea to check for other causes of your problems first." (http://support.3dverkstan.se/article/56-replacing-the-ptfe-coupler) As far as damage to the coupler, I've only used PLA on this printer, and it's never been hotter than 120c Here are some images of the (failed) filament duster I was trying to print, followed by some video showing the low end of the knocking I'm seeing. A second attempt which I stopped pretty quickly: and video of the slipping - though this is tame. Sometimes it's really loud, really steady, or sounds like someone grinding their teeth. If I understand the process, it still executes retractions fine. I can't correlate the skipping to anything accept that the filament has no where to go, so the gear is slipping. http://goo.gl/Ffg4sU Oh - and my Cura settings. I went simple for this, though I've seen the same problem with simplify3D files as well. Thanks in advance for any wisdom you can share! PS: I have found that if I gently push the filament the print stays fairly normal...but I have to assume I'm working against the natural functioning of the printer. I'm also utterly incapable of maintaining pressure for and hour, much less five or six. PPS: Also just installed the Cura and firmware updates for the 2+ extended. It didn't make any difference.

Thanks for the quick and informative reply. I'll hold off on removing the feeder until the replacement arrives. This is my first 3D printer and I'm not in a hurry to visit it's guts without a solid set of instructions. I have to say one of the things that sold me on getting an ultimaker was the robust community around them. You didn't let me down!

I'm running into the same problem now. Brand new UM2 extended (not extended plus - I have the upgrade kit on order). I printed 3 things on it, and all of them came out well. Until this morning. I re-leveled the bed and I started printing. The printer seemed to start okay, and got about halfway through the raft, then I heard it making an odd noise every second or so. I walked over and found the head still moving but nothing coming out of the extruder...and at this point the raft looked like hell, and nothing was coming out of the extruder. I did notice the feeder in the back was slipping. The filament would move about a quarter inch, then slip back. I took the filament out and found this: I followed web advice and detached the bowden tube ends to check for blockages. I pushed some filament into the nozzle end at it came through fine, so it seems to me the issue is something to do with the material feeder. I was wondering if it's okay to take those four hex bolts out and open the feeder up to try to clean the area around the gears out if they need it. I don't want to take those little bolts pout and hear something fall inside the printer.

Okay - so where's the plug in folder? I'm on a mac. There isn't a plug in folder in the cura folder, and I'm not finding one in the library either.