[Layer Shifts and Extrusion Problems (S5 Pro 0.8 AA)]

9 hours ago, SandervG said:

Oh, and you mention in your last post it 'otherwise should be a stock 0.4 profile'. You print with a 0.8mm nozzle, and have layers of 0.2mm. Is this a typo or did something not match your profile in the curaproject file?

 

My mistake on the layer height; that was definite a mistake on my part when I saved the .3mf file. It was to be sliced at 0.4mm "sprint" height. 

 

Another question that has been rattling in the back of my mind is whether the esteps need calibration. Do you think that overextrusion could be a possible side issue?

 

Thank you for your thoughts and collaborative advice. I'm looking forward to experimenting with your ideas once we get our printhead back from the warranty department. Our S5 Pro has been a very tempermental child. 

 

It may be a substantial length of time before I am able to test the theory, but once I do I'll be sure to let you all know what the results are. 

[Layer Shifts and Extrusion Problems (S5 Pro 0.8 AA)]

 

1 hour ago, SandervG said:

Hi, could you share your Cura project too, so we can look at your full set of settings? Thanks!

 Sure. I didn't have a .3mf file saved for this print, but I recreated it as best I could recall. We needed an extreme level of structural integrity in this component, so the wall count is abnormally high with 75% infill to bolster any compression loads the walls couldn't handle. Because I've had issues with oozing, I turned on coasting and increased retraction to 8mm. Otherwise it should be a stock 0.4mm Sprint profile.  

Layer Shift Profile.3mf

[Layer Shifts and Extrusion Problems (S5 Pro 0.8 AA)]

Using an AA0.8 hotend, our S5 Pro produces irregular shapes on what is supposed to be a vertical or near-vertical face of the geometry. The print layers shift erratically. 

 

It appears that some layers or groups of layers are inexplicably adding steps:

 

However, layers shift both in and out but mostly out, thus eliminating the possibilty of a single axis losing steps and shifting an entire layer profile: 

 

 

Sometimes the shifts are more gradual. It still destroys the dimensional integrity of the component:

 

Another issue that I am getting is a "warty" surface texture.

 

Tuning extrusion flow rate down to 95% seemed to help, but resulted in a bulging print wall and inadvertently redefined the print geometry and dimensions (severe layer shifts continued to plague the print after tuning):

 

The above photos are of a PLA print for a machine shop fixture. Dimensional accuracy, or at least consistency, is highly desireable. 

 

PLA is not the only material to suffer layer shifting. This print is PETg:

 

If anyone can translate what I'm seeing, I'd be grateful to be able to address these issues. 

 

 

(P.S. Perhaps this is under the wrong catagory, if so feel free to retag it.)

[S5 Pro Material Station Maintenance]

2 hours ago, SandervG said:

...the bowden tubes for the Ultimaker S5 are being removed occasionally if you need to clean a print core and for the material station they are not. The deprime sequence should also ensure a clean tip of the filament, which besides the other benefits that it brings, also means it shouldn't scratch the inside of the bowden tube. 

 

The feeder wheel is of a slightly different design so it shouldn't hold any particles, so there would also be no need to clean that. 

 

Fascinating. Your insights are helpful. On more than one occasion I have had difficulty with the getting the MS to respond to  a new filament being inserted for loading, and assumed there was a buildup of filament dust/shreds on/in/behind/around/in front of (not sure of the sensor concept employed in the design) that kept the MS from recognizing the insertion of new filament. I've been having quite a number of issues with the Pro Bundle over all, and at this point any little glitch makes me jumpy. Thought it would be better to know what and how to keep it working rather than helplessly (and irrationally)  hoping it doesn't cause another failed print.

 

That being said, I do hope the MS continues to stablize as it ages. It's a wonderful piece of hardware, but the software seems to be a bit soft yet, and needs time and patience to mature. 

[Ultimaker Material Station Errors [Maybe solved]]

14 hours ago, UlrichC-DE said:

I just cleaned the printheads from last night. (I was running version 5.7.3 and during the first third of a 15 hour print the printhead was clogged.)
- They were clean but clogged. Fascinating. I had to wait a long time and then press firmly to get the plug out.

 

 

Aha. I've been fighting the same issues (Error 65, error 58), and like you have not been able to find any causes. Cleaning of the cores did not show any reason for the plug. No job has reached completion (including several failed prints) since updating the firmware. I came into work this morning purposing in my heart to remove the MS and just print. We need to get some jobs done with a minimal amount of fanfare, and the pressure is building. Thanks for sharing your observations, @UlrichC-DE. Maybe I'll try to retrograde to a stable firmware version instead. 

[Ultimaker Material Station Errors [Maybe solved]]

15 hours ago, UlrichC-DE said:

ER998, ER63, ER52, ER56, ER65, ER57
With Material Station, I had a new surprise after or before each print.

 Amen. I'm new to UM, having been most familiar with Lulzbot previously. To this point have not been impressed with UM. It seems there is forevermore something wrong, aborted prints, etc. Perhaps it is due to the Material Station. 

 

15 hours ago, UlrichC-DE said:

Also sporadic effects such as empty spool turning and spool not turning.

I have probably finally found the main cause of the errors. I had previously checked ER57 and therefore all Bowden.

Maybe interesting for others:
The Bowden from the Material Station Material Sensor to the printer feeder was not installed properly. The Bowden hadn't been inserted deep enough in the material sensor or had come loose.
They were pre-assembled on delivery, so I didn't have them on my screen at first.
The first Bowden was long because of that and not fastened enough. This sometimes confused the material station when unloading.

The profiles for unloading could not be carried out properly.

Had the problem on print head 1. But it also transferred to print head 2. Probably because the feeder is not started up like the first one at the start (time is money).
Printhead 1 was almost not extruded at start up. On the other hand, the filament ran at full throttle in extruder 2.
- This often caused the PVA material in the bowden to break.
- Other materials reported clogged printhead even though it was unaffected.
- By extending the bowden on extruder 1, I had the usual "Can't unload material" problems at the end of printing.
  For TPU95A filament, this was probably expressed in ER998. With other filaments ER63. When unloading, the station moves back a certain length of the filament.
  First warm pull then cold pull in millimeter work. If the bowden is too long, only the tension from the filament is relieved. But the filament in the extruder doesn't move a bit.
(I don't have any technical documentation. Therefore, I can only observe and draw conclusions.)

 

I'm not following your thoughts on the Bowden length, but I have had repetitive problems with the collets slipping in the decoupler, and have learned not to trust them to stay put. 

 

I'd be interested in hearing others' tips on how to smooth out the myriad of errors that seem inherit to the S5 Pro Bundle. The design is still quite unstable in my limited experience (6 months). 

[PETG brittle after printing]

On 1/16/2020 at 1:41 PM, Elfonerio said:

I make end use control panels for our product and have tried MH, both build and Pro, and Esun trying to save a few bucks, but in the end Ultimaker material proved to be the best, but most expensive.  It had much better flexibility (before cracking) and print properties.  

 

Thank you for sharing your hard-won experience @Elfonerio. I just got done with 4 rolls of MH Build series PETg in Black. Layer adhesion was excellent, but flexibility was nearly non-existent and my parts broke easily. The breaking characteristics of the PETG was much like flint or glass:

 

After reading your post @Elfonerio, I ordered some UM CPE+ to do a re-print. So far, so good. It is has much better manners in the printer.  But you're right, @P3D, it is expensive. But my alternative was reinforced (abrasive) filament, so UM CPE+ is a halfway point to see if we can avoid the uber-expensive structural materials. 

 

 

[S5 Pro Material Station Maintenance]

Our UMS5 Pro has been running long enough to need bearings and bowden collets replaced. Having purchased it new less than 6 months ago, these machines apparently are high-maintenance and finicky. (I documented 5 errors and nearly as many shutdowns within the last 12 hours.)

 

Is there any preventative maintence that should be done to keep the material station happy? I'm concerned about clogged feeders and blocked sensors causing errors mid-print. My search for UM documentation on the subject has not landed any results. I'd be glad to hear what other Pro users have found helpful. 

[s5 Poor quality prints AA0.8]

I'd be interested in hearing more input on this thread. We recently recieved an AA0.8 hotend for our S5, but are struggling to create the near-perfect prints we have grown to expect from our AA0.4 hotend. Our latest 0.8 print turned to Ramen noodles:

 

 

We are using stock Cura profiles in 4.6.1, with the travel slowed to 35-40 and temp at about 208 (using Matterhackers Build PLA). Print bed is 60C with PEI surfacing (BuildTak). 

 

What causes the "warts" protruding from the layers?

 

 

 

And the ripply "blistered" look? 

 

[Recovering a bricked Ultimaker S5]

Good news! One of UM's techs has offered me access to the information, software, and hardware I need to repair our S5 Pro and get it back in production. I find it amusing that I'm using our trusty Lulzbot to print the UM-required safety plugs to repair the S5 Pro. 

 

1 hour ago, gr5 said:

Oh - and on the S5 there are deadly voltages under the cover and for a while I believe UM refused to let customers open that up but now they have some kind of document that they gave to all resellers and if you promise to follow the document perfectly then they are okay with you taking the cover off and reflashing.  The UM3 and S3 don't have the deadly voltages issue as you can reflash without uncovering a power supply.

 

Gr5, you are entirely correct: The instructions are explicit. You can kill yourself--literally--for cheap with an S5. I'm not flinchy when it comes to dealing with electronics, but it is helpful to know that I need to be v..e..r..y   c..a..r..e..f..u..l. 

 

Also, before opening the bottom plate, I want to be sure I have UM's permission to do so without voiding the warranty. Since I don't have the luxury of time to ship the machine out for service, I am grateful for the opportunity to service the machine myself. The only thing I would wish differently in this scenario is that the machine's software would be stable from the start. 

 

On 3/8/2020 at 6:21 AM, Ultimakercam said:

Please let me know how to do a factory reset from this screen, I’ve got a customer that needs a product yesterday already and nobody seems to be available on the weekends

 

To anyone else who may have this very frustrating and seemingly pointless problem, be advised that recovery cannot be done from the GUI. You have to open the hardware and perform a manual operation. To gain access to the instructions and firmware you need, I recommend you open a support ticket with UM via Fabric8. If you value your life and warranty, get your information and software from official sources. 

[Recovering a bricked Ultimaker S5]

A 3.5 day print finished on our S5 Pro over the weekend. I removed the print, shut the machine off, and went to prepare the next model. Turning the S5 back on yielded the Linux boot screen (Black Screen of Death). I did nothing but cycle the power while the machine was between print jobs. 

 

I am waiting for instructions from UM. Their tech said I should be able to re-flash the firmware with a microSD. Meanwhile, our parts production languishes at Zero, so to speed recovery I canvassed the forum and came across this thread. It's not a reassuring read, to be honest. 

 

I look forward to seeing more information on the subject.