kmanstudios

I have been following this as I was curious. But tomnagel's reply makes sense to me. I do not experience that, but, as I change plates, clean and other things, I am doing a pre-heat just to cut down time. So, this would explain why I do not get this as I do the leveling after all that time doing other things.

Cura was not the issue. It was the model. Here are the steps to identify and fix without getting into specifics as each package used will be slightly different, but the procedure remains the same. And, this is why I rarely use online models. It is almost as much a pain to fix as to build properly from the beginning. And the fixed Helmet piece that I did to check it with: Face Plate Fixed

Is your ooze shield on? I do not think so (Does not look like ooze shield), but just throwing it out.

Leveling issue: Do a manual leveling to get it aligned within tolerance: https://ultimaker.com/en/resources/23127-build-plate-leveling I usually do this and then do an active leveling because it is more accurate than I can do at this time. But it does require being close to level. Also, make sure your nozzles are cleaned and no material oozing out or collected around the opening causing a different measurement between nozzles. Both methods in link Printhead colliding with models: Print head can be hitting print if there is curling. Also, it looks as though your priming tower broke....it is prone to do that. Make sure you are on latest Cura and Firmware. Cura Firmware I have moved further and further away from using the priming tower. Different Materials will have different temps and fans and such, but the presets are very good to get you quickly in the ball park. Edit: Oh yeah...also a good brim and adhesion method will help. Adhesion methods are things like Blue tape, BuildTak, PVA Glue slurry, hairspray, light salt water solution (research that because I am not familiar with its usage and materials to work with......I think it is geert_2 that uses that)

For now, the project is pretty much done. It was my senior year engineering project during high school (I graduate this Thursday!). Maybe in college, I can find some more support and develop the project further to give the fingers more degrees of freedom. Congrats and good luck!!

Betcha they are all fake numbers too.......

Those were my reasons for not getting that line (or family group) of printers. At the best, I could not justify twice the cost for almost half the weight of filament as well as the proprietary nature of the system. I have avoided anything proprietary for nearly 30 years. Since you are in the US, contact fbrc8 and see if they have something in the same price range. You will not get 3 colors, but you will get a rock solid printer from good people who make them in the US for Ultimaker.

I have had it hit the print if there is curling and such on edges. And, I have found that having the springs not too tight will let it give a bit if it hits a blob or something. That usually happens when the priming tower fails and it drags some plastic onto an area and creates a not so even surface. But I have never had the print get hit so strong though, that it could move the plate. The clips may be a bit loose. If the plate clips are loose, try to push them down, with the plate not in place, a bit to grip the plate better. Also, how did you level? Manual? Active? I usually have to do a manual every now and then to bring it back into alignment after changing buildplates many times, or if I banged the plate with me clumsy fingers and bounced the plate down on the springs, but I always run an active after that.

Is it not fun to find those things? Really cements the process. And, thank you for sharing. Other noobs can see this and it helps them to understand too.

That is cool Thank you for sharing it!

That would be a rather easy assumption as most places do get weekends off. And, some people just have no home training. Whatever happened to basic decency?

It sounds like you may have a 'floating vertex'. I have found that personally exploring the model in all its parts to be more efficient than trusting software to automate the process. I find things that software often misses. And, sometimes, software finds things I miss. Edit: I did some tests and Cura will ignore a single, unattached vertex. But all one vertex needs to be out of alignment to throw it off is -0.25MM. But, I wonder if maybe you have the brim, somehow, turned on to put it under the model and not just outside or some weird action with the model itself. But, I cannot replicate the issue by creating a new object. Would you be opposed to putting the model up for someone to inspect? I also notice that it is the support you mention. I am trying to replicate this and I have not been able to. But, I remember support being placed under an object a while ago and for the life of me, I cannot remember what I did that got rid of the problem.

Roger that!!

Thank you tomnagel for the added information. I had no idea you could use PC on the BB core for cleaning and that much heat. I was worried about going up to 250°C from the recommended of 230°C on the Ultimaker site. But, I had to so I could get the charred bits out. Thank you for confirming I did make more damage. I ran out of clear PC (bought 3 rolls and one was actually black...spool says transparent, box says so, it was just a goof and not complaining) and I would think Black would be difficult to see the char and such. Do you have another recommendation for cleaning the BB core at high temps? I do have some clear nylon, ABS, etc. And, I do think that the lower temps I had been using, for whatever reason me addled brain was thinking, did leave a lot of stuff behind as I would bet it had about 1,000 hours since the last cleaning. And lastly, I did follow directions (And not the 'Tim the Toolman approach which is the norm'...just skim and tear into it.....) on the timing for the hot pulls. I did the old '1 Mississippi', 2 Mississippi' before pulling it out.

HA!! You can never have too many of that sort of stuff when you get it at the same price......Win! is right!!

If you're not going to do anything with the BB Core for a while, I do recommend pushing PLA through it or doing an Atomic Method to clear it before you set it aside. PVA left in the nozzle tip will degrade over time, which is why when the Cores are tested before leaving the factory, they're tested with PLA. That is a great addition of information. But as I refine my process, I am going to be doing a bit more preventive cleaning, and as you suggested, I will also clean cores before storing, even for a short time. I had only been printing for two days with the dual PLA in AA Cores. I guess that was enough time to FUBAR the core into not working at all upon restarting. And, with gr5's input on a previous pic, I can now see that it was clogging up while in use. But, yeah, the not cleaning before storing did make it fail. Working great now thanks to all the input from youse guys

Electric tea lights are great for lighting up prints. Yeah, I should plan for that a bit more LOL.....It was a complete accident that they fit just right. The port nacelle dome is a bit shallow for the full tealight, but it does open up possibilities.

\Oh, and thank you for the compliment. It is all an ongoing experiment. My real goal is to make it look good unlit. Still got a bit to work on for that though.......The lighting was because I accidentally made the domes the right size for a tiny tea light candle (electric), But it did open up a few ideas to light it without major wiring.

For a full (ie, long winded) review of the issue, go HERE.

Continued, because I am long winded... Patience is required. These are hugely delicate mechanisms and not like buying a smartphone or tablet or even a high end PC. It does require proper intervention (We called it PMS in the Navy 35 years ago. Preventive Maintenance Service) to keep the parts running smoothly. Also, because it is a delicate system on emerging technology, there will be failed parts on a new machine every now and then. But a bit of diligence, research and patience, you can rule out whether that is the case. And finally, do not discount luck or mistake it for actual knowledge. I have been corrected many times and it is great to learn more and more. It is also why I say that there are no stupid questions. Ignorance is not stupidity, it is just not knowing. And, we all start out ignorant and will all make mistakes as we learn. But, yeah, have patience with the cores. they are your friends and allies and just need a bit of loving, not frustration/anger because it does not behave right away or to unrealistic expectations. Also, as any corrective information comes in, I will edit this original posting to keep it fresh. No need for anybody to read too many posts to get to proper information. Edit/Added as Per tomnagel: I'd like to make a few additions: * I don't think that it is necessary to clean out a well maintained BB core before storing it. I say "well maintained", because maybe in your case, the thing was already almost clogged when you put it away. I think even in the case the PVA in the core gets moist, the printer will push that out during the next time it primes. Absorbing moisture only makes the filament soft, which is an entirely different thing than (thermal) degradation. Of course I'm not saying that cleaning it before storage is a bad thing, but I think it is not worth the trouble. * We have done a large test with 22 printers for more than 2000h. All with different preventive maintenance intervals. Our conclusion (yet to be published, so consider this a preview): the advised cleaning interval is 400h. Reason: during normal use, there is some build-up of degraded PVA on the inner sides of the nozzle. Even the printers which we gave *no* preventive maintenance stayed open, but the build-up will increase the chances of clogging when you have an incident, and probably the flow resistance increases as well, though this was not measured. This research concluded 400h was the optimal interval. * Just by trying, we found that for some reason, clear PolyCarbonate (PC) works very well for cleaning the BB core. In many cases, the brown build-up is extruded when PC is pushed through the nozzle, while PLA is just extruded and leaves the brown stuff behind. Hot pulls at 270degC, cold pull at 135degC. * Last but not least a remark about hot pulls: timing is of the essence. To be able to "fish out" the clog or dirt, you need to press the filament in the print core not too long and not too short. Too long will melt too much of your stick, and all the molten stuff stays inside including the dirt. Too short, and your stick has not become soft and sticky enough. You will learn by doing, but 1-2secs covers it I think. Edit: Added Per fbrc8-erin Clear nylon works really nicely--

So, before I tell the tale of woe (3.5 hours cleaning the BB Core) let me first say that so far, in 6 months, I can trace 99% of my errors to either user error (self-inflicted) or Environmental (No real control in current living setup). And, let me say that PVA can be a bit more of a problem than the average filament, but really, not by much. It is just quirky. Also, let me say that thanks to tomnagel, geert_2, gr5, SandervG, fbrc8-erin and Team Ultimaker for their support, answers, clarifications/corrections to my attempts to share knowledge and general support to enhance the experience. I would also like to add, to all the people newer than myself, failure teaches more than success as success does not really let you know when you are just lucky. Case in point: I have been printing with the BB core as well as dual colors for more than 2,000 hours now. But in another thread, gr5 made some interesting observations about my PVA pic in another thread and offered some insight I had not considered. In another thread, tomnagel corrected me on my misunderestanding of the temps to be used. Mostly what I learned last night was I had been printing a lot with luck on the PVA/BB Core side of things. But, part of it was getting temps and such straight as I had conflated a few of them and set straight by some of the above listed. I would also recommend bookmarking the following links as returning to the reference will prevent this type of mix-up....or, you just may be better than myself at such things. Ultimaker Core-Atomic Pull: Ultimaker Hot Pull/ Atomic Pull Fbrc8 Resource for additional info: Fbrc8's Temps and methods Now, I listed all these resources because I did crank up the temps to the higher ones listed by Fbrc8. I do not know if this creates an issue with the BB core or not, but it was seriously clogged and I am hoping that someone at Team Ultimaker will put a fine point on this for all us Noobs or, even the not so Noobish. The one thing that really got things moving was I read in the Fbrc8 posting that there can be applied a 'pumping/plunger' type motion with the PLA filament while cleaning. Also, make sure you have the printhead in the corner and not in the middle. You can pull rods loose or bend them; but the corner will give it a lot of support for serious action with the filament. And, I had to get REAL serious.This proved to be essential as I could see it force a release of some really black gunk that had built up over time for a variety of reasons. I cannot emphasize enough how much the pumping action helped. I had also removed the BB core to do a few two color PLA prints and it must have really clogged during that time. How? It was not in use. Maybe just residual junk getting moist (even burned PVA can absorb moisture) and just making it dry even more firm when heating back up. Best I can figure is that (A) I have bad climate control in this apartment and the humidity did build up. This probably made the filament waste still in the nozzle to glue itself even tighter to the metal. (B) My previous methods (Low temps and no pumping on the filament) did not thoroughly clean the nozzle and there was just a build up over time that kept re-glueing itself to the metal. It did not 'bond', but it sure made it hard to get out. Many, many hot pulls with the pumping action. Many, many Atomic Pulls until I could not see any black or schmutz on the filament when pulled out, as well as getting the shape of the nozzle on the end as pictured in the above references. I could hear the PLA crackle as it began to cut loose the PVA. I do not ever remember PLA crackling, so this meant that I was hearing loosinging PVA cutting loose and mixing with the PLA. And lawdy, mercy me, I used about a full meter of PLA scraps to get it cleaned!

Also, where did the model come from? I hear a lot of people having trouble with some programs such as Sketchup.

I was not able to devote as much time today to finishing the Bussard Domes due to having to clean out my BB Core. Had to go back to Fbrc8's reference on hot pulls and Atomic Pulls and it took 3.5 hours to get it working again.....sigh..... But, here is a test (Very quick test) of one of the new ones and I slipped a tea candle light in it just for funsies.... Will go up when I get all the kinks worked out and such.

Thank you The PC is really nice. So far, I have only tested Ultimaker PC and it is rock solid. Holds overhangs and does a great job of printing, even in my primitive, not good climate controls in my apartment. I just finished redesigning the Bussard Domes (Those red thingies) so that it can give a decent effect like they had in some shots. Though not lit, and playing with variances of thicknesses, it does have that sort of look like this: I will be uploading those soon as well so that people have choices on how they proceed.

Of course it is. It has nothing to do with 3D Printing and is just some nutjob clogging up an area.