Ultimaker 3 heater error on the print head slot 1 ER15.

[cautio75 0]

My company just purchased a new Ultimaker 3 from amazon. We had our first print of 45 hours make it about 90% through the print. It got a heater error on the print head slot 1 ER15. I powered down the printer and started the same print over again and 5 hours into the print it failed again. Now it will not print with either “aa” print heads or the “bb” print head in slot 1. I was able to get the print to run on slot 2 for an hour or so now that print head seems to be clogged. I have also seen the error code ER12. Is there something wrong with the printer overall and should be returned? My company is looking for a turnkey type of printer. Is the Ultimaker considered a upper hobby grade printer? i checked the 10 pin connector on the print head to see if it was seated well and it was. i also cleaned both print head contacts with a cotton swab and alcohol. still getting ER15. i cant even load PLA in core 1. when it preheat the head it gives me the ER15 before the feeder even turns on.

THANKS chad

[gr5 2,234]

There is no such thing as a reliable 3d printer whether you spend $300, $3000, or $300K. I mean it takes some learning and things can go wrong. But the UM3 is much better than most in it's price range. It's more like owning a cnc milling machine than owning a 2D printer as far as "plug and play".

heater error is worrying. It may be a bad core. The easy thing to try is to mark that core as "bad" and try the other AA core instead. Of course you will now have to recalibrate this new combination of cores.

If you are handy and have a multimeter I would ohm out the heater on the core when it's not installed. It should be almost exactly 23 ohms. If you find it is instead closer to say 30 ohms then there is probably a bad connection or a bad heater. I would also try gently tugging on those wires where they connect to the PCB to see if they are loose and to see if the resistance changes when you do that.

Clogging can happen. What material were you printing that clogged? ABS clogs quite easily. Or if you have a lot of dust on the filament the dust can travel slowly with the filament through the tube and into the nozzle where it clogs. If you have a dusty environment you might want to build a filter out of a kleenex and some oil and some string that cleans the filament as it enters the feeder.

You should read about "cold pulls for um3" to get that nozzle unclogged. If it's an ABS then things may be tricky. If you destroy it then this might be a good time to trade it in and upgrade to a hardcore which can take multiple nozzle sizes (full disclosure - I sell those so I'm biased).