UM3 Extruded Tons of Polycarbonate Above the Rubber Seal----Welp!

[CalebPetersenPhD 0]

Hi guys, my 2-month-old Ultimaker has just killed itself by extruding tons of polycarbonate above the rubber seal into the chamber that holds the two extruders. Looks like this:

https://imgur.com/a/Prj3M

https://imgur.com/a/evaKv

https://imgur.com/a/4VZli

How can I fix this?? And how can I prevent it in the future?

Details on what happened:

-The print went fine for the first 8 layers, then I left it. It was going to take 15 hours to complete

-What remained of the print showed a bit of warpage up from the brim, perhaps causing it to separate from the brim. Also, a few layers were shifted, so may be it got knocked off the brim from this layer shift.

-What remained of the "print" had come clean off the bed and fallen to the bottom of the printer.

-And, as you can see, the printer extruded so much polycarbonate into its chamber that it forced the door open, pushing the door into the print bed so hard that the y axis rod got forced out of its plastic holders! ;'(

Details on print settings:

-Printed polycarbonate filament at 275°C in a HardCore Solex, and Airwolf Hydrofill support material (great stuff BTW) in a BB 0.4mm. I'd made small parts with this combination before and was really impressed with the quality.

-I'd never changed the nozzle on the Solex, so it's not like I didnt' tighten it down enough and let plastic leak past the nozzle or something.

-Bed was at 115°C, and I used the plastic front door from the "advanced printing kit" (super overpriced BTW :(). Didn't cover the top of the printer, though maybe I should have.

-I used blue PEI coating from FlashForge printers over glass, and the polycarbonate raft stuck super well to that.

-I used a raft with 0mm airgap and 0mm z overlap after first layer for maximum adhesion between support and brim.

-There was a 0mm z gap between dissolvable support and polycarbonate. The support and printed objects stuck super well. (Support to raft: not so much, despite having a 0mm gap. WTF?).

-I printed with auto-level on, and anyways the first 8 layers were done perfectly, so there shouldn't have been any problems with the lifting mechanism for the support head.

-Layer height 0.15mm, print speed 40mm/s

[maker654 0]

I call this the "self-destruct" feature in UM3.

until I see some blog post , troubleshooting documentation regarding this problem, I assume it is just a design bug and they will not admit it.

sadly it happened to me with 2 different machines.

from my experience, if you are a big customer (more than 2 machines) the local rep will make some effort to fix your machine, if not, then ...

just sharing my pain and frustration

[gr5 2,265]

I've printed thousands of parts and this has never happened. I think it happens when you are printing something that is wide and flat like a hockey puck and it comes loose from the bed and the head is pushing the object around.

If the part is tall and skinny this won't happen because it will instead create lots of spaghetti if the part falls over - but it won't get dragged around.

Anyway this video will show you how to keep your part from every coming loose which will prevent this from ever happening again. Mostly you need to ignore the auto leveling and the calibration card and instead level directly on the glass:

[kmanstudios 1,120]

It has happened to me twice. Once was as bad as pictured. the other time I got to it before it could be an issue.

But, the cause was as gr5 said. A flat piece had come loose and was being pushed around the plate. This made the filament get glued to that part and then just ooze up from there.

Once I got my parts sticking really, really well, no further issues.

[CalebPetersenPhD 0]

Thanks for the responses, guys. I'm glad I'm not the only one with this problem. Mine's even worse since the plastic was polycarbonate and not a low-temp one like PLA.

In my case, the raft stuck like a rock to the bed--it was hard to remove it even with a razor blade. BUT, the print separated from the raft very easily, despite a 0mm airgap! Any ideas on how to fix that?

And I agree, this sounds like a design flaw that Ultimaker just won't acknowledge. It's one thing for a print to fail. it's another for that failure to be so catastrophic as to ruin two expensive extruders and God only knows what else.

I emailed Ultimaker support about this and still haven't gotten a response :(

[xile6 0]

Happens on all 3d printers.

Its the threads. Either everything isnt super tight, or the high has gotten to it and deform the brass threads.

Unscrew everything. Clean the thread and all the filament from it. Then put it all back together and make sure everything is tight.

[tomnagel 126]

Painfull that this happened to you.

Ultimaker has not tested the combination "polycarbonate filament at 275°C in a HardCore Solex, and Airwolf Hydrofill support ". We intensively test our own hardware and materials, and release Cura together with printing profiles to offer a reliable system.

We sell it as an open system, so our users are free to experiment outside the Ultimaker ecosystem of hardware and materials. But your mileage may vary of course.

Ultimaker introduced Breakaway support material this month. Maybe that works for you. Cura features have been added for optimal results, and printing profiles make it work out of the box for you.

[DaveRaiman 0]

Where does one get the rubber seal replacements?  I must be searching the UM site wrong because I have not found it in spare parts or on the 3rd party sites.  I'm working with an S5 which came with 3 spares.  Down to the last spare and I think a good rubber seal is what helps avoid the situation in this thread.

[gr5 2,265]

All resellers have the rubber seals.  Actually they are called "silicone pads" I think.  All resellers sell all parts but not everything is listed on their websites.

 

fbrc8.com has them in stock and can get them out to you quickly.  I got some from them a few weeks ago.  The S5 has a newer silicone pad that is supposed to be better than the older white ones.  The newer pads are transparent.  The older ones are white.  I think they are 3 pads for $6.  Very cheap.

[fbrc8-erin 302]

Thanks, gr5. Actually 5 for $6. We've still got them in stock. 🙂