TheRealJoost

@StephanK - thanks for the hints and reference to troubleshooting guide, that'll come in real handy. I hadn't had time to fuzz with the printer settings yet so it was/is all default. I cut out the section that was damaged and printed the same object again, this time without issues. I'll take a look at the rods and set screws - thanks for those points.

No idea why this is happening, on a brand new Ultimaker 2+, second print, it stopped feeding somewhere in the middle of a 50 minute print. It seemed the feeder stopped (no more PLA coming out the nozzle). When I removed the PLA in the tube, it showed two areas where the feeder gears seemed to have been chewing at it. When one of these sections reached the nozzle, extruding stopped. I ensured the spool is free and the PLA can easily be moved into the printer, no obstructions of any kind. Any idea what is going on?

@ultiarjan; that looks slick, I've gotta try that ... when it becomes available that is.

I would like to print structures that are illuminated with LEDs. Specifically, I would like to create a structure that guides light from the LED to some sort of orifice/output i.e. a light-pipe. But also, I am interested in creating structures that light up more or less homogeneously when LEDs are positioned at an appropriate spot. For example a ring that lights up entirely with one or two LEDs underneath. I have experimented with transparent PLA on a Makerbot and although I can get the light to come through, the spectral content is changed a lot (just about everything turns into yellow) and the output is fairly dim. Now that I am on an Ultimaker with Ultimaker PLA and this awesome community (grin), any ideas were to go next for me? Or is this a hopeless endeavor?

The XTC-3D is really not that bad and can be worked with good results although it highly depends on the model. I only do pre-production electronic enclosures i.e., no artsy stuff with lots of nooks and crannies. Large flat surfaces sometimes look good when prepping with XTC-3D but show patches when dry (apparently I am too stingy with that stuff). Also, your dimensions change slightly so holes and threads should be avoided or expect to put in some elbow grease afterwards. That said, I have seldom gotten a perfect result that could fool anyone into believing it was the actual production part. But again, that may just be my lack of patience to do it right. If you have no experience with it, I would at least give it a try - it is only 40 bucks or so on Amazon.