bsaygan

HI SandervG, Well, the page is all different, so I'm not sure if it still exists anywhere, but I expected to find the information I was looking for at this link: https://support.ultimaker.com/hc/en-us/articles/360011490220-Check-for-play-on-the-axles-of-the-Ultimaker-3 Which is when I usually check the play on my axles. The prior documentation had this whole list of loosen all the set screws, then tighten them in a certain order, and then line up the print head using calibration sticks which it also had a link to download the STL, and then continue on. It was pretty in depth, and particularly I think the order is important in regards to getting the slider blocks aligned if they happen to be misaligned (I happened to just change my belts, so I definitely had to get that right). Anyway, the new page just starts with one axle and then says 'and then just repeat for the other axles and if you're having trouble do a print head calibration print'. Anyway, not sure about the rest of the maintenance docs, but that was one I happen to reference pretty regularly when I woudl do my regular maintenance. Also, I forgot to mention that I run an Ultimaker 3. Thanks! Bobby

I noticed that the maintenance instructions on the Ultimaker website are way less detailed now than they used to be - particularly when checking play on axles. Previously, it would outline step by step which side to tighten first, followed by utilizing the calibration sticks, etc. I haven't been able to find this anywhere anymore - I used to just go step by step methodically every so often (more or less depending on how much I printed during that period of time). Does anyone have any insight on this? Or perhaps it's tucked away somewhere? It's just odd to me that there's less detail for me to do maintenance, troubleshoot, etc. for seemingly things that you should be doing regularly. Bobby

Thanks so much I'll try some of those things. I'll look at the model as well, but just found it weird.

I wasn't sure if it mattered for the version of Cura, so I saved both. Cura3_6_UM3_nes_testhinge.3mf Cura4_4_UM3_nes_testhinge.3mf

Printer is an ultimaker 3. Running Cura 4.4 and now 3.6. So I've had a troubleshooting adventure for random stuff in the last few months. Some of which was hardware wear-and-tear, but generally I had some weird areas of some of my prints where it seemed like I was suffering from some under extrusion (so my troubleshooting tended to focus on that). Today, just because the areas of the prints that would be messed up were so consistent, I looked at the layers. I thought maybe my 3d model was off, but then I decided to install older (and newer) versions of cura as well as mess with settings. It seemed that Cura 3.6 sliced my file and provided the PVA supports fine, but in 4.x (4.0 through 4.4), the support on layer 3, would always end up having a weird gap in the same spot - like a hole. Anyway, this is weird and I think it's a bug, or maybe just the way slicing supports is handled is different in 4.x for some reason. If I can provide further information for this to resolve in in 4.x I'm more than happy to do so - but see the attached image to see layer 3 sliced of the same model in Cura 3.6 and 4.4 to see what I'm referring to. ALso, I did try to mess with settings in 4.x such as 100% support infill and that hole in layer 3 is still there as an FYI. I tried other settings but also didn't change anything as it related to that gap. Thanks! Bobby

Hi all, I am one who is supposed to provide some dump files - so my bad I should do that. I did/do have issues with active leveling, but I can get it to work. I apologize if you guys have already done this, but these are the 3 things I needed to do to get active leveling working. Point 2 being the most important. 1) I did do a manual level once (to make parts of it easier I did print a 1mm thick piece of plastic and the 14mm jig that someone else has to help with the initial parts of leveling). 2) I need to have my active leveling set to always, so it has to level prior to the print starting. You can't active level then send a print job - it WILL press into the glass plate like @patronus has described. 3) For some reason when I would install Cura, there was some legacy settings leftover from some mystery time. So if I went to my printer and went to machine settings, there would be some extra starting and ending G-code that I have to delete everytime I update Cura or anything. It's sort of a weird quirk, I don't know maybe I didn't uninstall completely before but that G-code keeps coming back so I keep deleting it. Anyway, I will get my machine logs to the UM support team to help our case, I am one of the ones affected by this as well, but again, I have it working at least to a point that I can print normally albeit that annoyance of having to active level each time. Bobby

Final (?) update - more or less solved all my issues: TLDR; replaced feeder assembly and linear bearings to fix my issues. 1) "Vibrations"/Wiggly lines: I replaced the linear bearings on the X/Y axle rods in the print head. The bearings were catching just slightly, more so at higher speeds than lower speeds. I'm going to guess I've been over-lubricating on the monthly maintenance. There was actually a buildup of what looked like sort of burnt oil, which probably led to those bearings going bad (sooner). My infill pattern lines are now straight as can be, as well as the surface on the outer walls of my print. 2) Under-extrusion: Mostly fixed, but bought a new feeder assembly so I'm going to guess once that comes in all will be solved. Essentially two parts of my feeder were causing some additional friction, and sometimes if unlucky, caused the filament to lock up and grind. First - the bearings that bookend the knurled wheel/large gear, were catching just ever so slightly. My guess is that it would end up skipping a tiny bit during retractions as I noticed that the longer the print went on, the worse the print got, so the cumulation of skips over the duration of the print just made it worse. The bigger culprit in the feeder - is the tension arm that has the wheel that presses the filament against the knurled wheel was off center(?) or mis-seated. I think it would catch the filament at sometimes a weird angle and just wouldn't turn/move causing the filament to grind. After oiling the bearings and wiggling the wheel in that tension arm to center it, my prints are now close to perfect, but I notice over a few prints, they start to degrade again, so that tension arm or the bearings may keep catching or something -- thus my theory that a new feeder assembly will fix this issue. I came to the broader conclusion printing the same filament, in the same core, but on the different feeders. The feeders were the only variable I am aware of, and one print came out great whereas the other came with symptoms of underextrusion. Temperature settings/speed settings helped but seemed like an inconsistent bandaid fix that caused other issues like globbing. Anyway, just wanted to tie this up in case anyone in the future on this forum has a similar issue to me. Bobby

Any updates to this? I’m experiencing something sort of similar along Y axis. Was about to replace the bearings to see.

Out of curiousity how did the fatigue affect your prints? I have some weird things happening so,etimes and also print with an enclosure and just trying to eliminate variables.

Ok, another symptom to diagnose in this whole thing... Here is a view of part of the infill print. You can see some of the lines end up squiggly (the squigglyness is why I asked about "vibrations" before). Are squiglies a result of underextrusion? I feel like this is a related symptom of my overall print issue. I also noticed that if I did print a square/cube - the left side has the worst finish. So the Y direction on the leftmost side. Not sure what to make of all these pieces of information. Bobby

Eh, I spoke too soon. Later layers still showed the under extrusion or gappy layers.

So just to update: I ended up doing all the maintenance again, but the two biggest things is I just full on replaced the bowden tubes and collet clips, and really took apart the extruders including the nylon gear wheel and knurled wheel. It helped immensely. There's still like a touch of the under extrusion, but it's significantly better. THe one thing I noticed about the extruder wheel (the one having the issue), is that the bearing might be going bad? I took the nylon wheel off leaving the knurled wheel/axle in that bearing, cleaned it off as there was some ground filament behind that nylon gear, but if I compare that bearing to the second extruder bearing, it doesn't roll as smoothly. I wonder if that is contributing to that like 1% under extrusion I still have. I may just have to replace that bearing on that extruder. I'm not sure how much having brand new bowden tubes helped, as it doesn't seem like that long ago that I replaced them, but I think it helped quite a bit too. I finished up with the rest of the maintenance of tightening the axles and belts, etc. and my print is looking good so far. I'll know more when it finishes tomorrow morning, but the progress is looking good. Anyway, just wanted to update.

solid cubes still showed the gaps with 100% infill. The increased temperature was a little bit of a mixed bag. It often helped a little more at the sacrifice of losing some dimensional accuracy in corners especially (globs). I think probably speed more of a culprit than heat. I do notice on some lines that are layed down, the bead goes from a pretty straight smooth bead to having a little wiggle/waviness on the edge. Wonder if this is an indicator of anything else? ultimately, this is not a huge deal, mostly cosmetic, but I can't remember it ever being quite like this before.

I see. I still have issues with active leveling on the latest firmware, which has been my primary issue since the 5.2ish firmware. I've been meaning to send a log dump but have to find a USB drive. Essentially I need to have the active leveling on to always, otherwise the print following a leveling pushes so hard into the glass essentially no filament is pushed out (or such a thin transparent layer I need to scrape it off resulting in dust). Manual leveling also is fine as long as I have it set to never. So in summary: Leveling frequency to never, Manual leveling - works Leveling frequncy to always - works Leveling frequency set to anything else (weekly, at startup, never) + an active level - broken

Yeah, perhaps the vibrations not part of it. I thought the belt rubbing might have been some misalignment, but I readjusted all those things last night. So I do get slightly better print quality overall, but still the same issues with diagonal gaps. It is not just the first few layers over infill, but it's also not 100% infill, although I've tried settings like a thicker top layer. I'll try the cube. I thought it was underextrusion as well, but the first layer does print very well (although I guess the settings for first layer are usually a higher temp and slower speed by default). I did do things like try different brands of filament, clean the extruder and bowden tubes (although perhaps I could replace them) and try different cores (I use my second AA core less so than the BB so wondered if a "newer" core would help). I also get these gaps regardless of "quality"/layer height settings. I'll try the solid cube, and if it still shows the gaps, try reprinting it in incrementally higher temps or slower speeds. There are no other appearances of underextrusion anywhere else on the print (side walls), so it's just a bit perplexing. The solid cube should be an interesting test. I'll let you guys know, and thanks for the input! Bobby