Feeding issue

[tboon 0]

We bought a Ultimaker 2 Extended over two weeks ago and it seems like it has resulted in seemingly endless problems. We bought the machine to save time and it has done just the opposite!

Before we return it and get a different machine, I wanted to post the latest in many problems. It is that the material stops feeding and "grinds" to a halt.

The head seems perfectly clean and material seems to flow very well. The spool is free and the material comes off without much resistance. Looking through the blog, this seems like a problem that has been around for years and yet is still not solved by Ultimaker.

FYI, we are printing organically-shaped parts (heart, lung, arteries and veins) using PLA for material and Simplify 3D (as Cura would not produce enough support material regardless of settings).

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks.

[Nicolinux 288]

Hi,

here are some things to check (if you haven't already):

 

• Filament diameter (is ist really 2.85mm?). Filament tends to soak up humidity and deform.
  
• Clean feeder case. Open it up (4 screws) and check to see if something got stuck in there.
  
• Wrong/faulty firmware. Download the latest stable Cura version 15.04.5 and upload the firmware. Then do a "reset to defaults" from the maintenance menu on the device.
  

 

As a last resort take a short video and put it on Youtube and share the link here. Start to record when the heated bed drives upwards at the beginning of a print and stop after the issue occurs (let it roll for a few more seconds in order to capture new sounds or other clues). Also film the feeder at the back of the printer when the issue occurs.

[Nicolinux 288]

The S3D profile might now be perfectly tuned for the UM2. I don't use S3D but there are many others here who do. Maybe they can chime in and provide some tips.

Organic models are hard to print. If you can, post an example.

[gr5 2,192]

Still reading this tboon? These are common problems and easy to fix but I fear you already returned your machine.