Smoke... Is it normal ?

[makingzone 2]

I've finished to assemble my ultimaker yesterday, after calibrate the axis, run the basic wizard, i launched the bed levelling wizard, calibrate the plate, but when the wizard want to print a line and heat the heatend, quickly I've got little smoke? Is it normal ??? I stopped the machine immediatly, and the brown piece burn black a little... (cf picture bellow)

I hesitate to power on my ultimaker again, please, I need answer...

 

[joergen 2]

yep, lucky you... you almost destroyed your PEEK part.

The wizard should have caught the lack of temp rising.

check if your TC cables are actually connected to the green terminals.

watch the display on the ulticontroller, and/or launch print run, and click on "monitor printer", and see what temp reading you are getting. then use a hair drier and heat up the hot end a bit and see if the temp rises accordingly. if not, go back to the instructions and see if you made a mistake in the wiring.

 

[makingzone 2]

I'm not sure to make this dammage because the smoke appear less than 10sec after the start of heating and I tried the wizard again and I hadn't smoke this time.

Concerning the temperature, the wire looks good and in the wizard I can see the temperature increase. I really check twice all the wires during the assembly, I'm sure to 99% to don't make mistake at this point. But I will check again.

But, my extruder doesn't extrude... The last part of the wizard is to print a square, the head move like square, but no PLA is extrude. It's work if I disconnect the extruder clamp and push the PLA myself.

 

[makingzone 2]

But I don't find the way to monitoring the temp without use the wizard, and I don't find the menu to manually move the head, the bed etc...

I precise I'm on mac

It's ok I find Printrun and install it on my mac... But I try to connect to my ultimaker...

 

[Daid 306]

Actually, most people forgot this already. It's quite normal for a crisp clean hotend to smoke a tiny bit the first time. I think it's some kind of oil or coating that's burning up. It's only a tiny amount of smoke, but it even catches me off-guard when it happens and I see it.

The "burned up PEEK" which correctly Joergen warns you for, is quite nasty. And one of the more common failures. But if you got trough the initial checkup wizard, this is much less likely to happen. If you want to be sure, you could run that wizard again to check. There are quite a few things in place trying to prevent the PEEK burnout, but it isn't 100% fool proof. (a disconnection of the sensor board while the machine is hot is the biggest issue, as the machine will keep reading the "old" temperature from before the disconnection)

A simple tip, insert PLA into your machine. I see your tube is still empty. The reason for having PLA in your machine is simple, PLA will start to smell quite nasty before you reach "PEEK destroying temperatures". You can react on this nasty smell and save your hotend. (It's really a last resort, and I hope you never have to. But it has saved a few hotends in the past)

 

[gr5 2,265]

But, my extruder doesn't extrude... The last part of the wizard is to print a square, the head move like square, but no PLA is extrude. It's work if I disconnect the extruder clamp and push the PLA myself.

 

Look at the knurled bolt, make sure the sharpest part touches the filament. Put some filament inside the feeder. Does the spring compress when you close it? It should. Try turning the large gear by hand. If everything seems fine, heat up the hot end to 200C. Then try turning large gear by hand again.

 

But I don't find the way to monitoring the temp without use the wizard, and I don't find the menu to manually move the head, the bed etc...

 

In Cura, the temperature is the first window, and x,y,z,extruder can be controlled in the next tab. But I prefer to use my hand for the turning the extruder/feeder.

 

[makingzone 2]

@Daid, Thanks, As I said, I launched the wizard again without smoke...I'm reasured...

@gr5, I inserted PLA, heat up the head to 200C and tried to push the pla manually... it works, the PLA is extrude, BUT, I've got to push hard to do this.

I think that my nozzle is already clogged :

 

[snowygrouch 1]

200 Degrees is a bit low. When you are starting out, heat to 220 or 230 degrees.

 

[makingzone 2]

200 Degrees is a bit low. When you are starting out, heat to 220 or 230 degrees.

 

Yes, I will try to 220 and 230...

 

[makingzone 2]

It's OK ! I let the head heat to 220, insert the pla, wait a time... then the PLA was extruding !

Yeahhh, I tried to do the samething with the extruder, and it works again !

Then, I sliced the ultimaker bot, lunch the print and :

 

I love my first print !!!

I've just a leak between the peek part and the aluminium bloc :

 

Tomorrow I will heat the head to 220-240°C then disassembly to clean it. Have you got advice to do that ?

 

Thanks again !

 

[owen 19]

Hi Elbozo

I'd just print something else and see if it keeps leaking. It may stop and you won't have to take it apart. Also you could go as low as 190 just for taking it apart.

 

[Daid 306]

The leak doesn't seem that serious. You could extrude some ABS (if you have it) this usually plugs it. Else use some tools to slightly tight it while the hotend is hot, this usually also seals the leak. (Do while HOT, else you'll break it!)

 

[joergen 2]

those leaks are nasty, and will lead (IMO) to a plug.