Speckles

Thanks for being honest. It is so damn tempting but maybe I am better off trying to get someone else to print it for me on their machine and trade services. Since I only had a handful of spiralize models I needed printed with this filament.

I watched this video And I want to give it a try but can't find any source online of someone trying this with success. So naturally I am dubious. The other times I search about p[eople using 1.75 filament on the ultimaker I get information of doing hardware modifications to the bowden and coupler. Has anyone tried this with success? I don't want to do it all the time, I have a few ocassions where there is a filament I really want to try but the manufacturer does not make 2.85 diameter (in this case, a beautiful burgundy PETG and I have not found this colour from any other filament provider, searching high and low.) I am just terrified of breaking my machine since I am still relatively new to this.

Hello @Torgeir and thank you for coming to respond to my thread 🙂 Yes as you can see my machine is performing a lot better now after fixing the nozzle size. The first layer square you can see, I did change the settings to something you said in the more recent post not to change to.... the first layer height in that test was 0.3 instead of 0.27 so it made the issue worse. I do think you are right about needing the nozzle closer just a fraction perhaps? judging on the brim of the temperature tower which is definitely more rounded and less squished. For the temperature tower, I actually manually changed the temperature myself in cura modifying the G code in post processing. I set cube 245 to be 220 degrees since I knew from previous test 245 was way too hot and made the gaps worse in the Formfutura Volcano PLA. It is true I have not done this exact tower in regular PLA, I will try it and post results. However I really want to tune the Volcano PLA. It is going to have many useful benefuts for me in future projects thanks to its low shrinkage when anneale. I am annealing because I need a high resistance to temperature, after my previous "regular PLA" prints failed when left in the sun. I printed a few things using the volcano PLA at 220 with mostly no horrible issues, except that it didn't have the best layer adhesion. Which lead me to try the temperature tower on spiralize, which lead me to these sad looking results. I read that a slightly higher temperature will help with the layer adhesion, which I do achieve even with the bad gaps. I try pulling the layers apart and 225-230 degrees feels much stronger, I just wish I knew how to remove those gaps. I have done an atomic pull before I changed to volcano PLA, and is a brand new nozzle as you know. I will go print the regular PLA temperature tower tomorrow and show you. I just find it very interesting that the 220 mark on the temperature tower has gaps, but the 245 one (that is set to 220) does not have gaps. They are the same temperature are they not? and the test prints I have been running on 220 never had gaps like the spiralize, then again, you are the expert so I am very happy to listen to anything you might suggest 🙂

Ahh Torgeir helped me initially when I found out I actually had a 0.8 nozzle in my machine when I bought it which was a cause of major underextrusion... and the under-extrusion was super bad. It's super interesting though, I just printed another cube without spiralize and don't have a single under-extrusion on the outer wall. I would say the bottom layers it laid down still had a tad of under-extrusion though

Hey, so I am on an ultimaker 2+ extended, I haven't calibrated e steps. my filament diameter is set to 2.85. and it is a confirmed 0.4 nozzle. I will try thicker on the nozzle for sure.

and here I tried changing the line width to 0.4 and the initial layer height to 0.3 which made it worse on the first two layers badly unextruded. I did run this cylinder test (not 100% sure what it means but another user suggested I do this when I have underextrustion. This was at 220 temp

Bare with me, I am still new to this. I am getting bad layer adhesion with this filament So recently started trying to tune temperature for my Formfutura volcano PLA. The manufacturer settings recommend between 220 and 255. I set up this temperature tower: cube 245 at the bottom is temperature 220 since the first layer I wanted to print the lowest temp to ensure a stable base like the maker who made this tower reccomended. You can see it is by far the best at 220 , I had hoped to print a tiny bit higher to get better layer adhesion like I have read online, since when I printed a test part it felt a tad brittle (I am printing spiralize) I am printing at a layer height of 0.1. I considered printing more shells to help with the part I want to print with this in mind, but I was super surprised how gappy the print was based on the suggested range. Even at 220 the lowest range I am getting gaps.....but oddly the 245 cube (actually 220) does not have the same issue as the top 220 cube. Any ideas if my settings are the culprit? here is my 3mf file to hopefully show I am not doing anything out of the ordinary? Cura defaults settings for 0.1. I did find it odd cura sets the line width to 0.35 by default. I thought it was meant to be the nozzle size usually? I do notice underextrustion on the second and third layers (first looks mostly ok but that might be due to the first layer height at 0.27?) At a loss what to try next. Too inexperienced to know why this happens UM2E_DiyProJames_Temp_Tower_PETG_220-245.3mf

That's fantastic. Thanks for the explanation! Was just worried how blurry my pictures can be, thanks for teaching me how to identify the difference. Now trying to source the correct sized torque wrench to remove it and replace it with a shiny new 0.4 nozzle Thanks again. I was so lost and you've truly helped this newbie.

Oh really this is Olsson already? how can you tell? Oh well that's good news, I guess never assume! The person I bought this from had definitely been customizing this machine. There used to be a magnetic buildTak base on it which I removed due to not getting good adhesion. If you are sure it is Olson block I will go buy some new nozzles then that actually have the nozzle size inscribed on it. Thanks so much, I knew something must have been amiss.

A picture of all my parts for good measure

Thanks for your response as always. A) so this option is talking about the fan at the back? (not the large two side fans) To test this fan is working properly, is it meant to be running constantly? I can run a print and check it is 'working properly', I just need to know what the expected behaviour is. B) Replacing the coupler I have never done. I guess now will be my first time to try if my fan isnt working. I think I should probably do this anyway, how many prints would something need to go through to warrant replacing? I never used this machine much but don't know its previous owner's history. C) the feeder to be honest feels really solid so I think you are right here, unlike my old UM2 it never backs up and clicks. D) The nozzle I have never replaced either, but I also have not questioned it's size. I assumed it was a 0.4 but I honestly don't know how to tell. Would be worthwhile replacing the nozzle too, to be absolutely positive? and that brings me to my last question At this point do we think its worth installing the Olsson block, so at least when I need to replace nozzles it will be a bit easier? I will not lie and say I am a little nervous taking apart this entire printhead for the first time. So I wanna make sure it all amounts to success in the end! I will be gutted if replacing coupler and nozzle does not work, should that happen, would you have any last theories or doubts?

So here are the two tests: one with my cube 10ms speed infill (no extra flow tweaks) It certainly looks worse somehow! And here is the print you passed to me to test: Yikes that's bad. what does this tell you?

Firstly thank you for replying! Well it's almost comforting to know the infill is out of the ordinary and isn't necessarily something I am doing wrong. I will run the speed test tomorrow, I hadn't the chance to run it today. As for the flow test....how do I go about this? If it involves calipers to measure things I am out of luck since I don't own one. Guess it might be time to invest in one! I set off a print where I increased infill flow to 130%, and whilst the strength definitely improved, it still has that tell-tale diagonal pattern. Let's see if speed reduction helps, but it doesn't feel like a long term solution for me, I can't print everything at 10ms haha.... but anything to at least diagnose what might be going amiss here. I sorely regret selling on my UM2+ for this extended one now. I never had these issues on that beautiful machine.

here's an example with a much older cura, 15.04.6. It still definitely does it. albeit maybe a tiny bit stronger/thicker. This was 15% infill there isn't much other settings I can change on this older version

Attached the file you ask for, I am on 4.9.1 I do have a super old cura I can try as well, I know I never had problems with it on my older ultimaker, I kept it around since for some reason spiralize worked better on it somehow. Thanks again! UM2E_UFOMiddle.3mf

I had something similar to this recently, I am not a pro, but my print bed was leveled just a fraction too close. if you turn all your leveling screws about a quarter turn looser could help.

Thank you so much for responding. Yup that setting is there, I just wanted to ask someone who knows what they're doing. thanks I will try this .. but 150% does seem excessive. Is there anything else you think could be amiss?

I can provide more information if need be, I get this on all my prints currently. would increasing infill flow only help?

I have an UM2 extended+ I have noticed on nearly all my prints the infill always underextrudes. My infill is set to 10% Infill line distance: 7.0 speed infill is 35. 0.1 layer height. as you can see, my infill is full of gaps on a diagonal axis. I am still quite inexperienced, what can I change to improve it?

Hmm actually I haven't, I read so much online to not put the nozzle close to buildtak surface otherwise it damages it, and read in a few sources for petg to be slightly further away that normal too, so I steered clear from that idea. I already swapped to a glass bed now, so I will now apparently have the opposite problem and it will stick "too well" and could crack the glass if not careful according to online sources

You are a lifesaver. So turns out when I was jiggling the heatbed around during installation I must have pushed the little lever at least once. I pushed it one more time and now it's sorted. Never noticed that hole before or screw for that matter. Now I am acutely aware! Thank you !

So I went to maintenance advanced options to raise the build plate, and it instead lowered it, and made a horrible grinding sound when it did it, any idea what went wrong? I recently removed this custom build plate that had magnetic build plate installed on it. How can I fix the issue?

Thanks for responding Smithy! Yeah initially I was super ok with it, since it worked with the first filament I used the most. But ever since going out of my comfort zone its been a world of problems. I did give it a clean with alcohol. tried printing without the glue as well. How do you tell when the surface is no good? in the picture I have coated it in probably way too much uhu glue, to compensate for the fact nothing is sticking. Had a slight setback that the person I bought this from didnt include the bolts for the back clips for me to restore it to its former glory. Boo.

I have an UM2 extended that someone did modifications to. I am trying to revert the build plate back to the way it was and noticed the screws for the build plate clamps on the back two corners were missing when I purchased it years ago. I believe the UM2 guide for replacing clamps says they are lock nut and bolts.... but I cannot tell what size I am meant to purchase. Would anyone know?

I am still fairly new to this. I just can't for the life of me figure out why I can't get my brims on my first layer to stop peeling up. It seems to happen in the same two areas. Odd thing is I can get 3 out of my 5 filaments to print perfectly. (colorfabb PLA/PHA and formfuturaHDglass). but there is always a hint of curling in the same areas, My other filaments have been total disasters. Namedly formfutura easyfil PLA, the worst being my petg filaments which don't stick at all (eSun white petG and polymaker polymax petg. I followed all their reccomended settings, and tried small variations increasing up in 5s, including print bed hotter for petg. I use uhu glue stick and have a geckotek magnetic setup with buildtak surface (this is how my ultimaker2 extended arrived second hand) Do you think I should just give up on buildtak and re-convert it back to the glass plate? Or am I missing something more. Attached is what commonly happens on all my attempts