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CTotten

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Everything posted by CTotten

  1. I finally had the time (and energy) to deal with this issue. I have a couple pictures below of the state the printer was in, with it appearing to have been in the middle of the material change process at the end of a spool. The blue lights on the material station are hard to see, but bays E (light gray CPE) and F (breakaway) were in use, with bay A having the spare roll of light gray CPE that should have been next up. Recovery: I have to do several reboots. The material was stuck in the printcore so hard that I could not remove it without heating. After the first reboot, I got an ER61 (sort of expected) before I could heat the core up. After the second reboot, I was able to manually heat the printhead to remove the material. I ended up cutting the material off as far above the printhead as I could get (left me a few inches to pull with), then fully had to remove the bowden tube between the feeder and the printhead. I pulled the rest of the filament out through the top of the feeder. I have a picture of the tip that I pulled out, just in case, but I don't think it really means much based on the manual heating and interrupted unloading. I did not see any more ER34 errors, so it seems the "communication error" was a one-time thing. I also pulled both printcores and inspected and cleaned both the contacts on the printhead and on the pcb on the back of the printcores. Both looked very clean to begin with. The spring contacts all appear to be in the correct position (atleast all of them are in the same position). On my cleaning swab, there so no "color" after cleaning, so I am confident they were clean to begin with. I have pictures below before cleaning. I attached the log files below. Atleast, I think they are the log files. They were the only files on the thumb drive that I did not recognize. But these files were after the second reboot. I never got a chance to get the the maintenance window to download the logs until after I got to that point. ultimakersystem-ccbdd3007914.5.7.3.config.tar.zip
  2. @SandervG Any advice on how to recover from this? My assumption is that I should power off both the S5 and Material Station, then manually remove the material that is still in the tube (basically using the ER61 procedure)? But since the filament is not visible in on the Material Station bay side, I have nothing to "push" the filament forward through the system with. Should I be trying to cut the filament into pieces (like cut it before the decoupler and pull that piece from the back of the machine, then pull the rest out from the print head end)? The ER61 procedure seems to assume that filament is NOT running all the way from the loading port in the Material Station to the Printhead... (never gives an option of the filament being visible above the decoupler). Once I get the material unloaded, I can check the contacts on the PrintCores and the PrintHead. It will be a few days as I am working remotely this week. I will try to post the logs as well. I should have taken a picture last night, but the machine looks just like it did when I was getting the Stuck Material errors. Filament spool is completely empty, with no filament visible at the entry port. Print bed is lowered, and printhead is in the forward, left position. Filament is still in the bowden tube at the top of the printhead. I even have the slight stringing that I usually see from the item being printed to the printhead nozzle. So it definitely seems like it was definitely in the material change over process when this occurred. So in my mind, something had to dynamically "move" the printcore, since the likelihood of the contacts suddenly failing without moving around is astronomical. And as a general question, does the material change routine use material specific temperature profiles, or does it use a generic "one-size-fits-all"? It just seems odd to me that I have had SO MANY problems with mid-print material changes since the 5.7.2 firmware update, but I have had NO issues with the end of print routine. Both of those should have be using the same process, if the goal is the same (to get the nice tip on the filament being unloaded).
  3. I did a little digging on the internet. Most sites recommend cooling to between 10-25C above the glass transition temp for the material being used for a cold pull. Based on the TDS for UM PLA, and the UM written directions to do a cold pull, UM is recommending about 15C above the glass transition temp (PLA transition temp is` 60C, cold pull directions for PLA say 75C). With that in mind, the UMS5 Pro Bundle is currently trying to "unload" CPE material at 75C, which is BELOW the glass transition temp (~82C by the UM CPE TDS). So this seems to, atleast in my mind, explain all the issues I am having with swapping at the end of a CPE spool. Cooling down too much, resulting in much higher force required to execute the "cold pull", resulting in either a "stuck filament" error or this recent ER34 error. I would be interested to see if this is also the case for other higher temp materials. I print almost exclusive with CPE, so I have never seen an end of spool with anything other than CPE (and Breakaway, which is similar to PLA in terms of temps). Also, I don't recall if I ever checked the temperature plots at the end of print, but I do not seem to have any issues at the end of print, so I should see what temp it cools down to in that case. So does the UMS5 Pro Bundle use 75C for all materials? If not, is it a "bug" that CPE is using this temperature on the end of spool process? Seems like it should be cooling down to 95-100C for the "cold pull" with CPE, based on the stated glass transition temp. Beyond the errors (lost prints = wasted $$ and time), I am concerned about mechanical stresses on the machine over time. When it does a cold pull with CPE (when it actually works), it does make a significant "pop" sound, and you can see the rails flex and the machine shudder).
  4. So here I am again with another issue that popped up at the end of spool on a long print. When I saw the machine was sitting idle, I assumed it was the material (UM CPE) stuck in the printhead again. That has occurred multiple times since a recent firmware (5.7.2 and 5.7.3) update, but can be recovered without losing the print. But to my surprise, it was a new error (ER34). This seems like an odd error to have on a when the machine is used frequently. The printcores have not been moved in over a month. The machine hasn't been moved. I checked the connection at the top of the printhead, which looked fine. Anyway, I seem to be stuck. I am at the end of a spool in the material station (filament is not visible at the front). The printhead is positioned like it was in the process of unloading. I am wondering if the unloading somehow unseated the printcore connection. And the troubleshooting guide for an ER34 doesn't really tell you how to recover mid-print. Seems like this isn't an error you should get while printing... I guess I have to shut the machine down (and lose a partial print that has already used a full roll of CPE filament - $$$). Then I have to manually remove the filament, and hope all recovers well after this. I am still wondering about the "cold pull" routine done by the Pro Bundle. While I was not here for this occurrence, since I updated to 5.7.2 the material change process has not worked well at all. I am running about 50% on successful transitions between spools (with UM CPE). On the successful ones, there is a pretty significant "pop" when it starts the unload. On the rest, the filament is stuck in the printcore, requiring me to manually free it before the unloading will continue. While this works most of the time, it is really annoying, especially on big print jobs. And I have lost significant amounts of material due to these errors. While I understand a "cold pull" is required to keep the material station running smoothly, can someone please look into the dynamics with CPE material specifically? If I recall correctly, the process is cooling down to 75C before pulling the material out. Is it necessary to cool down that far? For all materials? In the instruction manual, it says to cool down to 75C when using PLA to do a cold pull for cleaning the nozzle, but CPE is not PLA. I have to think higher grade materials, like CPE or PC, probably don't need to cool down that far to get the desired result. In my brain, cooling down too far is likely requiring too much force to do the required cold pull by the machine, resulting in the "stuck filaments" and possibly even this phantom ER34 error. And I also have to think the temp it cools down to for the cold pull should be material specific.
  5. I was running 5.7.2 when this happened. I updated to 5.7.3 and it did not happen on the one print I have done since. This happened on two different prints, on different parts, different slices, etc. This was also the same printcore combination that I have been using for months, with the one exception of me using the CC 0.6 core one time, immediately prior this happening. I did not touch the X/Y calibration when I used the CC core because it was a single core print.
  6. Late last week, I had a print where the X position between printcores 1 and 2 was significantly off. This showed up as the prime tower looking like two interlocking rings instead of concentric rings. I re-did the X/Y calibration, and printed another job requiring support material (Breakaway), and the same thing happened. The only "change" before this happened is that I finally tried out the CC 0.6 printcore on a job using. I used it for one job, then went back to the AA 0.4 printcore that I had been using. Both of these instances occurred after that. What else could be causing this? In both cases, the "offset" distance was approximately the same.
  7. I saw there was a 5.7.3 firmware just released. In the release notes, it mentions a fix to an "end of filament" bug. Is that related to my issue?
  8. One more update. The last print did another end of spool change, which worked. But, at the end of the print, I got the wizard again saying the material is stuck in the printcore and unable to unload. The wizard worked, but.... I am still planning to roll back to the previous firmware version. Since updating to 5.7.2, I am about 50% on the material unloading from the printcore. This never happened before the firmware update. I understand the changes made in 5.7.2 were to reduce wasted filament and time during material changes; however, I have wasted 10X more material and time with the issues caused then from the previous firmware's excessive priming and de-priming cycle. And lets me honest, we are talking about several minutes of time and a few cents worth of material that were "wasted" in the previous version...
  9. I just went through another End of Spool material change, and it worked (PrintCore1 with CPE). So I guess I am 2 for 5, in terms of successful spool changes (no interaction from me) since updating to 5.7.2. But I was watching the temperature graphs. I was a bit surprised when I noticed that the S5 didn't start pulling the material until the PrintCore temp got down to like 75 or 80 C. I am not sure if this is "expected" behavior, but that seems to be doing a "cold pull". While I understand you are basically doing that at the end of a print to keep the tip of the material formed from the next job, I am wondering if this is required at the end of a spool of material? The machine can't use the remaining filament, so the shape of the tip is immaterial. And it sits idle for 2 to 3 minutes while it cools down to that temp. For the case of a mid-print material change (if you are concerned with how long it takes), why don't you pull the material from a warmer print core. This will speed up the process, put less stress on the machine (compared to a cold pull), and minimize any risk of the material getting stuck in the print core. The screen shot was taken a few seconds after the S5 began retracting the material for the material change.
  10. Thanks. One more update. The print finally finished, and the material in both PrintCores (#1 - UM CPE; #2 - UM BreakAway) successfully unloaded.
  11. I got lucky. I do not see a noticable layer shift. Finally something is going my way...
  12. The Wizard is new for firmware 5.7.2, so if you didn't update recently, you likely don't have it. For me, this issue only started happening after updating to firmware 5.7.2.
  13. On the third attempt, after swapping PrintCores, both extruder 1 and 2 went through the normal material change (end of spool) process without any interaction from me. However, when extruder 1 went through the end of spool process a second time, I got the wizard again. This time I followed the directions precisely (including leaving 5mm of material out of the Bowden tube when I cut it off), and it seems to have saved the print. The material unloaded, the next spool loaded, and the print resumed. The first time through the wizard, I do not think I cut off the end of the filament that came out of the PrintCore, plausibly being the reason it stuck in the feeder. The second time through the wizard I don't remember what I did, but it didn't work. So I am still left with this: In 18 months with the S5 (4 months with the Pro Bundle), I have NEVER had material stick in the PrintCore during unloading (end of spool, end of print, or changing material). Since installing firmware 5.7.2, this have happened 3 out of 5 times on CPE material in PrintCore 1 (3 out of 4 times on end of spool, and 0 out of 1 on an end of print - X/Y calibration); 0 out of 2 times on BreakAway material on PrintCore 2. I understand that 5.7.2 did make some changes to the material priming/depriming process. Can you please look into this? Is it not heating the PrintCore as much? Is it not pulling as hard as it used to? If the Pro Bundle can no longer reliably change over spools when it runs out, then it lost it's "value added" to me and my company. We purchased the Pro Bundle to maximize printer up-time. If I have to baby-sit material change overs, including pulling the Bowden tube out of the PrintHead, then I might as well just remove the Material Station from the system. Also, I am "eager" to see if the process of freeing the stuck material has caused a layer (X/Y axis) shift in the print. Since the PrintHead does not re-home after this process, there is a high likelihood that the actions the Wizard had me take to free the material inadvertently moved the PrintHead, inserting a bias in the coordinate system. This would potentially cause another failed print, since it will not meet the customer's quality inspection. I am holding my breath on this one....
  14. I may have it working now. Very frustrating, but I removed both print cores to check them, swapped their positions, and re-did the X/Y calibration. Both sides loaded and unloaded properly. I re-started the previous print job that the failures occurred on, and started with about 2 feet of filament left inside the material station after loading, to force early material changes. Material 1 just went through its material change just fine. Material 2 will be changing over fairly soon, so I will update after that. While I had not touched the PrintCores in months, I did have failure last week where the BreakAway did not bond to the printbed well, and a big chunk of it came loose during the print and caused all kinds of problems (including several large axis shifts during the print, presumably from collisions between the Print Head and the loose BreakAway section). I am now wonder if that jarred the PrintCore enough that was not positioned correctly in the PrintHead, and that a misalignment was the cause of the material sticking in the PrintCore (but not enough to cause loading problems)? I guess we will see. And I seem to have bad timing (or luck) with Firmware changes. This is the second time I have had "new" issues right after installing new firmware, but the firmware was not really the cause...
  15. One thing that I did notice after the fact. The machine should have been doing a material change. There was absolutely NO filament pieces on the bottom of the printer, meaning it did
  16. UPDATE: I have now tried 2 prints since I updated to 5.7.2, and both have failed in the same way. At the end of a spool, the material is "stuck" in printcore, so it cannot change spools. The wizard does appear, but even after freeing the stuck material from the printcore, it does not fully unload, causing an ER61 error, and a lost print. I installed 5.7.2 because I thought "Great, I will save a few cents per print since it doesn't prime as much material, especially when printing with the same color material over and over". Well, at this point, I have lost about $125 worth of material in the two failed prints!!! This is a job that I have printed dozens of times over the last few months with no issues. In the two weeks prior to this, I have had atleast 5 material changeovers in the Material Station with no issues. At this point, I want to roll the firmware back to the previous version because I don't trust this machine now, and I have work to finish. ____ I installed the latest firmware (5.7.2) yesterday. I started a print, and all seemed well. When I get to work this morning, the print was paused saying the current spool did not unload due to being stuck in the printhead. It took me into the Wizard, and walked me through a couple of steps to free the material. The procedure says to release the bowden tube at the top of the printcore, and then cut the material. As I was trying to free pull the end of the bowden tube, the material pulled free from the printcore, so I didn't cut it. With the material now released, I continued but it stopped unloading when the free end got the feeder, and gave me an ER61 error. So the Wizard worked (sort of), but didn't save the print. Also, on the ER61 page, it seems to give you two options if the material did not fully unload. One is if the material is visible outside of the Material Station, and the other is if it isn't visible. In the case of it being outside the Material Station, it seems to imply I should be pulling the material out through the small tube before the Decoupler. In my case, there was about 15 inches of material past the Decoupler. It seemed to work fine to pull the material "forward" through the Decoupler (I removed the input line to the Feeder). Perhaps you should update that troubleshooting page to indicate options that include the material being stuck in the Feeder.
  17. I re-did the X/Y calibration, and the settings shown on the display were pretty close. I maybe had to change them by 0.5 of 1.0. So that doesn't appear to be it. I did notice that in the last few days, my Cura was displaying some configuration errors. So I deleted the installation, re-installed the same Cura, re-imported the file, re-sliced it, and just started the print again. It will be about 30 minutes or so before I can see if the Breakaway is printing over the base material...
  18. I don't think that is possible. They are both set up in Cura, so you cannot slice on a 3E and then print to a S5 through Cura (atleast as far as I know). Firmware has not been updated in months. Printcores have not been changed (or even removed) in months. Cura has not been updated in months. Its just odd that this comes out of the blue...
  19. On Friday, I printed a file with 2 materials, and it worked great. Then I tried to print a different file using 2 materials, and suddenly there is a LARGE offset in the X axis between the two print heads, meaning the Breakaway (core 2) is printing on top of the CPE material (core 1). The "shift" is close to 0.25 inches in one direction. I didn't touch the printer settings, in terms of the offsets or calibrations. I didn't touch the print cores. The only thing that I did between prints was change from Red CPE to Light Gray CPE. I aborted the print after I noticed this (about 2 hours in). I also re-sliced the file, and tried to reprint it, but it was doing the same thing. Has anyone seen this before? I have had this machine for about 15 months, and an 3E for about 2.5 years, and I have never seen something like this. I am pretty frustrated by this. I guess I need to re-do the calibration.
  20. So far, I just had this error the one time, about 4 weeks ago (had been using the Pro Bundle for about 2 months). Since then the S5 has basically been running non-stop, without happening again. I did not create a help ticket for this since it occurred just the one time, but I will if it occurs again.
  21. After working through the North American support, I had to replace the main board on the Material Station. That seemed to stop the machine from trying to unload material in Bay D. I still have not re-installed the Material Station into the system; I have only powered it up by itself.
  22. Not sure if @maht or @SandervG have checked up on the GitHub issue, but to summarize: The gyriod infill pattern is "high-resolution" and the S5 Linux board is not keeping up, causing the printer to basically buffer during the print, causing unexpected slow downs. So my workaround is to stop using the gyroid infill pattern; but it seems like some finger pointing saying the S5 hardware is not fast enough to keep up...
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