paulsroom

My Ultimaker 3 recently started to make crunching noises and stopped working. The display said that there was an X-Y error. I decided that getting to the tiny screws was awkward and as I wasn't entirely clear about what to do, I would send the printer off for professional repair. I used an offical authorised UK Ultimaker dealer. A week or so later it was returned supposedly corrected. But despit using the orginal packing for it protection in transit when I unpaked it I found that the guide rod at the left was hanging and not fitted. It told me to recalibrate which was not what I wanted to do since I had paid for the service. I couldn't prove that this rod had become disconnected by rough handling by the courier but I didn't really believe this. So then I sent the printer to another UK Ultimaker dealer for them to recheck and correct. When it came back last week everything seemed okay and the print head moved far more smoothly. I always enable the PrimeBlob and in most cases I use a skirt adhesion. These are to ge the filament flowing if it shows signs of reluctance. I noticed with initial models that the skirt printed half way round then faded off. The models were too small to seem to have any major effect. But then I decided to print a min escalator and the attached images show what should have printeed and what actually was - after a few layers. This suggests to me that the print bed is tilted and not 100% aligned. I wonder if anyone can confrim that this is the case? I will now have to send the printer away for the third time.

I was actually trying to avoid the surface roughness left from breaking off support. But I think you're right it should be printed the other way up. It's the mouth of an articulated shark. This is not my design and unfortnuately all the sections that make up the shark do not have a flat part that can sit on the printbead.

Can anyone suggest what's happening here? I think that I have an incorrect setting but don't know which it is. There is a lot of travel inside the model which appears to extend to the outside - shown as white spots on the outer surface. I havent't printed this yet as I thought I'de check with a preview. I'm using Cura 5.1

I've had my Ultimaker 3 for several years now and occasionally the ERR18 occurs and I reseat the cable. But support from a 3D printer retailer suggested that I provide support to the cable immediately it leaves the print head. So what I now have done is to apply some blue adhesive tape (thus low tack) around the cable and across to the bowden tube. The tape is applied at the point where the cable leaves the printhead and again about 2 inches further up maintaining the upright parallel distance between the cable and the bowden tube. So when the print head pulls the cable as it prints, the cable remains upright and does not pull at a sharp angle to the print head. I can't guarantee that an ERR18 will not still occasionally occur but since I've performed this ad hoc solution it's been ERR free. I've used blue tape because it has a light adhesive and I don't want the cable 'glued' to the bowden tube. So if the tape works loose I just reapply some more. But I am thinking of printing a clip that holds the cable parallel to the bowden tube in two places.

I used spiralize in Cura to print a multi-faceted vase. Although it printed fine, with the resulting thin wall you could squeeze the finished model just from gentle holding. This vase would hold artificial flowers okay but was rather unstable at holding a bunch of fresh flowers in water. So with a different vase but equally complex shape, I passed it through Meshmixer using the hollow command. Because this command treats the object as internal hollowing I had to slice the top thickness using plane cut to make it an open vase. But what I now had was a vase with a much thicker wall and greater stability. Of course it takes much longer to print but provides a more practical thin wall than spiralize offers.

I was using Windows 7 on a laptop with an old version of Cura. I've tried the latest version of Cura with Windows 10 and the graphics card is Radeon RX Vega M GH Graphics. The file loads but it says it's non manifold and won't print.

When I load a particular model into Cura it shows the shadow of the model but no model to slice. The shadow is kind of like Peter Pan and detached in that it's as if there's a model there but it's so far off the print bed that you can only see the shadow. I've looked at the model in Meshmixer and although it's a very big size, it does show in all its detail. I've used the inspector in Meshmixer to confirm that it's okay to print and also moved it around - and even plane cut a section - but I can't get the model to show in Cura.

From various investigations, I believe that the current specifications of the feeder spring are Outside diameter: 7.5mm Inside diameter: 5mm String diameter: 1.2mm Height: 20mm But I believe that there has also been a slightly weaker spring fitted to UM2 at some point Outside diameter: 7.5mm Inside diameter: 4.5mm String diameter: 1.2mm Height: 16mm Would this weaker spring still work okay and lessen the occurrence of filament getting stuck in the feeder?

Does anyone know what the spring specifications are for the compression spring in the feeder unit at the back of the machine? And what are the details to order the specific one from a spring manufacturer? I had to disassemble the feeder unit for print core 1 because the wheels inside the feeder had crunched up the filament and was actually grinding it into powder. I discovered this when the filament got thoroughly stuck and would not unload. Unfortunately, although usually being very careful to put all the parts in a little container, the spring shot out and is somewhere in the room. At least I know it is in the room, but as a back-up I'd like to get a replacement spring if possible. I have concluded that the PLA filament I used was wet and so am drying it out by packing it in silica gel - my next option is to buy a food dehydrator and use that to dry out the filament. But first I need a complete feeder assembly.

Thank you geert_2 that is an excellent link with very useful items and ideas. I believe I may now have cleared my filament stuck issues, I have thoroughly cleaned the print core area and Bowden tube with compressed air and the filament loads okay.

I don't think that this thread has been messed up my question, because the link given by fbrrc8-erin deals with all Utimaker models - 2, 2extended, 3 and 3extended. The principle is the same for all. The Ultimaker 2 has one printcore while the Ultimaker 3 has two printcores. The Bowden tube and feeders are the same, just one set for 2 and 2extended and two sets for 3 and 3extended.

The filament in core 1 has stuck a couple of times recently and would not unload without me pulling it at the feeder end. Since initially the filament was ColorFabb PLA and the proprietary Ultimaker PLA, I wondered if the composition was slightly different and thus sometimes result in sticking. I contacted ColorFabb and they didn't seem to know - maybe no one has ever asked them the question. Anyway now it is the proprietary Ultimaker PLA that has got stuck, but worse, it has broken off in the feeder and I can't load any filament. I am assuming that there is a piece of filament stuck in the feeder that's preventing a new filament from loading. The attached image shows that it is being squeezed - this is not the heated end, it is right at the start. What is the solution? I have unclogged the print core several times and have no problem disconnecting the Bowden tube, etc. at that end. But it suggests to me that feeder grabbers may have become displaced.

I happy that I have correctly levelled the print bed and that the glass is either very clean or I am applying glue. Just before the print core gets ready to print, it extrudes about a 2mm strand of extraneous filament. This hangs from the nozzle and seems to interfere with the first printed line. As this is usually the skirt or brim line, it doesn't matter, if it is then absorbed into the further lines of this type. But then I think – I can't easily tell – when the nozzle moves to the model printing outline, it is still extruding this extraneous strand. That means that it doesn't starting printing properly until a short distance past the starting point. So there's a gap in the first printed outline. If it's capable of ignoring this and still building up layers, then this area is actually printed thinner than required. It may not pose a significant problem depending upon the model. But the starting printed outline can result in a vertical positioning of this extraneous strand and the gap. This is where the problem is because when the nozzle comes around to do the next line, it can easily get caught up in this arrangement and drag the printed layers along with the nozzle. That's when I have to abort the print and start again. My only option, if it works, is to pause the print and snip off any vertical strands. Then resume and hope that the gap doesn't cause a problem now. It's hit or miss.

Well I only use the glue stick that was supplied with the printer. I'd have thought that hairspray was rather fierce for an adhesion method. Yes I think that it would be an idea to slow it down and I'll probably try that.

Well before I went through the levelling procedure, I had washed the glass plates in warm soapy water and dried it thoroughly. First with a cotton cloth and then with a microfibre clth to ensure no strands of cotton remain or areas of grease. I also only touch the glass at the edges. But I'm going to clean the glass again before anything else.