Error: Tried printing out of printing area - SOLVED

[gr5 2,172]

Over the last few weeks I was getting this error occasionally and even worse - every few minutes of printing the print head would move to the edge of the print and then come back to the print and continue.

I tried many things - changing SD cards (no difference) cleaning the SD card.  Swapping ribbon cables.  Finally I cleaned out the SD card reader inside the printer and that fixed it instantly.  While cleaning I noticed a large hair about 2cm long inside there.  But I also used a wooden toothpick dipped in alcohol to clean each of the 10 or so contacts.  One at a time.  Carefully.

I think I probably could have done it without taking it apart so next time I will try that.  Blowing hard in the slot probably would have fixed the problem.  But if you do take it apart there is one tricky step.  So do the tricky part first.  First remove the white knob (not the transparent cylinder that the knob goes in). { edit - push the knob out from behind as shown in Erin's post below }   Once it is out you will see a metal nut.  Remove that nut!  That's the tricky part.  Everything else was pretty obvious.  If you really want detailed directions you can get them here in this pdf with pictures:

https://github.com/Ultimaker/Ultimaker2/blob/master/um2%20assembly%20manual%20V1.1%20_english.pdf

Edited March 14, 2017 by Guest

[fbrc8-erin 272]

The best way to get the white knob front off is actually to push it from the back. There's a hole in the clear plastic cover; push your screwdriver into the hole and you can push the white knob front through from behind.

I've tried slipping an exacto knife around the edges to pull the white knob front out once...broke the knife blade. That was not fun.

So, the hair was interfering with the contacts between the SD card and the reader?

[gr5 2,172]

>So, the hair was interfering with the contacts between the SD card and the reader?

It seems so. Something was interfering. I don't know if it was dust, the hair, or corrosion (does gold corrode? I guess it gets rubbed off and then the copper below corrodes?)

But my guess was that hair. It was almost as long as the SD card is wide. With a gentle curve.

[ultiarjan 1,223]

I just had the exact same thing, did not take anything apart, just held the vacuum cleaner on the SD card slot of the printer for a while and it solved it..

[Tonypartington 0]

Disassembled the display unit and cleaned the SD reader with alcohol soaked toothpick blew on it an vacuumed it and it now works! Still not 100% but having learned the procedure I now feel more confident - it would be nice to have an alternative to the SD card on the  

 Ultimaker 2 As the SD card reader seems to have a finite life.  Many thanks for your help again.

[leonardo-aguiar 1]

So just to confirm. Dirty SD contacts can cause the printer to incorrectly position the head and go outside of the print area. Right?

 

If the SD contacts have been checked and the issue persists, where would you begin trouble shooting?

 

Just some background info. I upgraded my UM2 to have an e3D titan extruder and hot end. Now my sliced gcode looks centralized in Cura but my prints are way off to the right side on the print bed.

 

[gr5 2,172]

That's a different issue than this topic.  

 

Could you maybe post again so people will ready your post afresh?  Create a new topic please?

I'm thinking something is wrong in your machine settings.  Can you get into the machine settings and check the build plate size?  If your printer is a typical um2 with dimensions roughly 21cm by 21cm but you tell cura it's 30cm wide it will try printing in the "center" which would be at position 15cm which is right of center.  Please don't reply to me here but start a new topic.

[gr5 2,172]

UPDATE

More info on the dirty SD card reader issue.

 

My problem isn't 100% gone.  Before and after cleaning moved the problem from happening about once every 3 minutes to once spurious movement every hour.  But I still get it.  I even swapped the small board in the front of my printer with my um2go and the problem seems to have not moved.  I'm still getting the problem rarely on the same printer (with the "new" board).  It might be that both boards do it now but rarely?  It's too rare for me to debug as it may happen every hour (where it gets a spurious X or Y or E movement) but the prints only fail about once per month.  But it seems like the problem stayed with my printer and did not move with the small board.  So I fixed the dirty contacts but still have some intermittent problem.

 

[leonardo-aguiar 1]

OK. Thanks. Started this topic: 

I checked the machine settings. The width and depth were set to 230 x 230. Reduced it to 205x205 now. Will check if the problem persists.

Thanks again.