Strange problem with failed prints.

[woofguy 1]

I'm a brand new Ultimaker owner (UM2 Extended+)

The machine was just purchased last week.

I obtained models from Ford Motor Company (Here in the USA) in STL format for 3D printing of two different cars.

These models I paid for and purchased directly from Ford.

I would expect since Ford is charging for these models, they should be "Print Ready" as they advertise on their website. However I have had nothing but trouble trying to print these models successfully.

I have run these through NetFabb web and tried both Simplify3D and the latest version of Cura to slice the models.

no matter what settings I have tried, they always fail.

I have a included some photos in this DropBox link: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/wx0doxvtx9gnclj/AACFsOh7rEMwNtbEvgakVPsja?dl=0

Any ideas of what I maybe doing wrong would be greatly appreciated! all of my other prints are 100% totally fine and error free.

Thanks!

[neotko 1,417]

Your printer seems to be shifting layers.

http://support.3dverkstan.se/article/23-a-visual-ultimaker-troubleshooting-guide#shifted

[woofguy 1]

Your printer seems to be shifting layers.

http://support.3dverkstan.se/article/23-a-visual-ultimaker-troubleshooting-guide#shifted

 

Neotko,

Could this really be the issue even though other prints are fine?

[neotko 1,417]

I just think that when your printer was assembled they forgot to tight hard one of the pulleys (check all of them if possible including the one on the motor). After all it's tight it will print just fantastic.

Once I also had this issue because I dropped a bit of oil on one belt, cleaned it with alcohol and never got the problem again.

Read the troubleshooting guide. It covers and explains how to fix it quite fast.

Ofc this doesn't have to happen on all prints, but clearly somethings it's slipping on that print and since it's only on the X, I would check the x motor (right bottom corner) pulley screw and the corresponding shafts/rods pulley screws.

Edited August 15, 2016 by Guest

[gr5 2,265]

Trust neotko. He is 100% correct. It's one of the 6 X axis pulleys and almost surely one of the 2 on the short belt (motor or just above motor). You many need to remove the motor cover to get at the set screw - only 2 screws to remove the steel cover. Keep in mind that you can push the head around to align the set screw to your needs and you might be able to do it without removing anything.

Tighten the hell out of these screws. The tool should twist slightly. You should be scared you will break something. It should hurt your fingers if you are using an L shaped tool. Use only the correct size metric allen wrench. I think 2mm.

[woofguy 1]

Thanks so much for the advise guys!

I am at work now, but will try this when I get home and post updates!

[woofguy 1]

Hi Folks,

So I went home last night and started working on my UM2E+ and following the direction of Neotko, I tightened all of the set screws on the pulleys and checked the belts etc.

I found that the small belt on the left hand side was kind of loose, so I looked up the process for tightening it. Which was loosen the screws that hold the stepper motor in place and push down a bit till tight, then just tighten the screws.

This made a huge difference and now the belt is snug like the small one on the right side of the machine.

Moving on, i loaded up Cura and used the trusty 40mm test cube STL to see if the shifting was gone or not. This is where the my next calamity happens.

The cube started printing beautifully, all of the shifting in the layers appeared to be gone.

However, about 15mm (Z Axes) into the print, the machine appeared to start colliding with the print. (Photo) I quickly aborted the print and then the machine went nuts! It lowered the build plate, the moved the print head to the left side and started grinding. the machine then displayed an error code "ER07" with the instructions to go to http://ultimaker.com/er07

The error page on here says that my X or Y switches are "Broken".

It was late at this point, so I turned it off and figured I would live to fight another day.

I have once again included photos of everything in this link: Photos can be found here

I'm a little upset and disappointed at this point. I just picked this printer up from my local dealer on friday. I was able to get about 5 small prints out of it before all of this started happening.

Do I have a lemon? I don't think a $3000 printer should be giving me this much trouble 4 days in to ownership. As before, your help is GREATLY appreciated

[neotko 1,417]

First I would call the seller and send the photos.

I think (and I might be wrong) that the y endstop meta 'thingy' it's a bit twisted. If it where my machine I would twist it so it's straight again. Ofc by doing that it might broke (I never broke one but it's posible).

So, I think the seller should help you on this asap.

So you have two paths. One try to solve it by yourself or call the seller so they explain why that part it's giving troubles (even more since your machine it's brand new).

The weird think it's that the error occurred while printing. I suppose @gr5 or someone more experienced can give you better support for this issue.

[gr5 2,265]

Are you in the Boston area? I could fix this machine in seconds. I assume not. Oh well. Did you get this from printedSolid? If so you should just call them. This is easy stuff to fix.

Anyway - whomever built your machine (in Memphis) didn't tighten the set screws enough. Their quality is pretty amazing normally so this is probably a one-off or rare event - still they probably would like to know about the serial number. Do you want to post the serial number here?

@fbrc8-erin: someone at (I assume Memphis) didn't tighten this guys set screws enough.

Anyway originally it was your X stepper that was slipping (the one in the rear right corner). I hope you tightened the hell out of the screws on the stepper and the pulley above the stepper.

Now your problem is with the Y stepper. What happened is the head just mostly stopped moving in Y completely. This means the head is moving left and right but not up and down. You can see this clearly on the top of your cube - lines go left and right instead of diagonal. And it's putting down too much filament so it sometimes hits these bumps and makes noises and probably almost knocked the cube off the bed. Anyway then you aborted it and it homed X,Y,Z and the Y couldn't home so you got the limit switch error.

The noise hopefully was just the set screw - it's possible you have a 3rd (minor) problem in that the X limit switch isn't getting hit - test this by pushing the head around and listening for the clicks when it hits the X and Y limit switches. Also note the friction while you are at it - the friction should be about the same for both. If the X limit switch isn't getting hit it's probably the fan shroud is bent or maybe you just need to bend the X limit switch out a mm more. Anyway I'm not even sure this is an issue.

Back to your issue with the cube - the Y axis is now slipping - that's the one in the rear left corner - you need to tighten the hell out of all 6 (six) pulleys (actually 2 pulleys might be on the same screw but there are 5 or 6 set screws to tighten PER AXIS).

Sorry it seems like your printer is a "dud" but you'll be fine. These printers are tough as hell. And you may be tempted to send it back and get a new one but it will be much less headache to just tighten the 6 screws.

[woofguy 1]

Thanks gr5,

I'm in Delaware and so yes I did get this from Matt at PrintedSolid (great guy!)

He has been extremely apologetic about this issue, hes on vacation this week so I have to wait until he is back.

Anyway, I did tighten every Pulley set screw as mentioned in my previous reply. that "Seemed" to correct the shifting issue. but apparently caused this new one.

I have no doubt this will be resolved one way or the other, but was just reaching out to this forum in hopes I can resolve it myself. i'm by no means a pro with 3D printing, but not a totally ignorant either. I'm a technology engineer by trade so most of it I have a solid understanding. its the mechanical side that I like experience with.

[gr5 2,265]

I like Matt also. I have met him in person a few times.

Tighten more. Do you have a hex screwdriver or an allen wrench? The printer should come with an L shaped allen wrench. You need to tighten the hell out of those Y axis set screws. The tool should be twisting slightly. You should have marks in your poor hurting fingers after.

[woofguy 1]

Ok,

So a little update.

Last night determined by gr5's advice I went in hard on all set screws.

This still didn't resolve the seized Y stepper. I could move X without issue when the machine was powered off, but Y was just stuck.

I completely removed the 4 screws holding the Y stepper in place and inspected it thoroughly (Meh, it looked fine from the outside) however when I tried to turn the pulley clockwise it wouldn't move. So I tried turning counter clockwise and heard a very faint "Click" sound. the pulley was then able to move in either direction without issue. I carefully remounted the Stepper at this point making sure no wires were pinched and that the small belt was snug.

I took a deep breathe, plugged the power back in and turned it on.

No errors came up, I went into the Maintenance Menu>Advanced>Home Head

and the head homed to the back left corner without error.

I figured it was safe enough at this point to try my 40mm test cube again and so I did.

ANNNNNNND it printed flawlessly, no shifting, no extrusion problems, no grinding, no errors.

It just worked! this was the only test print I did last night, but i'm cautiously optimistic that this resolved the problem. Again, thanks to Neo and gr5 for all of your help and input!

[gr5 2,265]

>when I tried to turn the pulley clockwise it wouldn't move.

Oh! Sorry I kept blaming the set screws. This is rare. I figured you would notice this when pushing the head around manually. But I often forget that "newbies" don't know it's okay to do that (I do it every day for various reasons).

I've never heard of this before - there should be no moving parts in there other than the one obvious one. So this means some piece of metal or a screw or something was in there. I hope it stays out of the way from now on. Don't turn your printer upside-down! Maybe you should insist on a new Y stepper (they are like $5 wholesale/bulk). Point Matt out to this thread.

[gr5 2,265]

Oh - I just realized about that noise you mentioned. That was the Y stepper trying to move but seized. Got it now. I will remember this if it happens to anyone else. Ever (you are the first person who had this problem on the forums - I read pretty much every post).