UM3E: Sporadic reboot during print

[PiJey 0]

My company acquired a UM3E for producing technical prints.

After connecting it up and doing the initial steps connecting up the printer to power and network (Ethernet). I tried to print a simple benchy, print out from USB-Stick. The printer stopped printing after roughly an hour with a print that was about a centimeter high. The display showed the message "Print failed. Carefully remove the print from the build plate." The only option was to select "PRINT REMOVED". BTW, this does not make much sense, since the nozzle was still touching what was printed out, up to this time, so removing was quite impossible. What actually happened when I clicked the button, was that the build plate moved to the bottom position. The print stopped at around 10mm height. Please see the attached pictures.

 

I retried the print with other objects, e.g. the ultimaker robot and others. Usually the print failed somewhere around 10mm but not exactly at the same point, especially when using the same g-code.

We tried different USB-Sticks, different models, all sliced on the current Cura 3.1 set up for UM3E. There was only ONE object so far that worked, probably because it was flat enough. Even with that object we got the same error message. The part that was printed, actually had very good quality. The print had perfect adhesion to the print bed. Dimensions and surface were good.

When checking the logs, I found out that actually at the point of failure, the printer rebooted. This was also backed by a colleague, who observed the print and lost the camera connection at exactly the time of failure. I don't want to upload the log files in public, since company data is generally confidential, sorry.

 

The firmware was updated by the printer via network to the current release firmware without problems before the test prints.

I installed the newest test release firmware this afternoon, but I am not very confident that it helped.

I am quite disappointed in this printer that I recommended to the company.

 

Would you have any Ideas how to fix that issue? I need to print objects that will take about 12h to print. Stopping after less than one will not really fit the business model.

[gr5 2,228]

The power supplies for the UM3 have been known to be flakey.  I'd get a new one shipped to you asap.  I had a bad one myself with my UM3.

 

Meanwhile to prove this and to get started you can put blue tape on the glass (should have been a roll of blue tape with the printer), clean the blue tape with isopropyl alcohol (to remove the wax that keeps the tape from sticking to itself and prevents parts from sticking well) relevel and print with the bed turned off (set bed temp to zero in cura).  This will reduce your power usage by about 160 watts and you should be fine.  The printer is often near the limits of power requirements for the power brick that comes with the printer.

 

Don't think that having the bed at 40C instead of 60C will fix the problem.  The bed, even at 40C, will occasionally come on full power for a few seconds and it only takes a few seconds of over-power to trip that sophisticated, computer controlled, power supply.  You need that bed off 100% until you get a better power supply.  Your reseller should be able to take care of getting you a new power supply for free.

 

Alternatively there are power budget features on the UM3 but adjusting those is complicated and involves advanced stuff like ssh'ing into your UM3 and if you aren't comfortable with that then definitely simply get a new power brick.

 

[fbrc8-erin 298]

gr5, blue tape doesn't actually come with the UM3X or UM3, only with the UM2Go.

 

PiJey, are there any indications of power issues elsewhere in the office? If you tug on the power supply, does the power supply come out of the printer? (It should be locked in place, so it shouldn't come out without sliding the sliding lock; if it does come out, it wasn't seated firmly enough). How long have you had the printer?

[PiJey 0]

Thanks for your quick answers.

 

@gr5: A power supply issue sounds plausible. The power in our office is quite reliable, I never heared of any problems with other devices.

I read some posts here in the forum that seemed to have similar issues and the power supply was mentioned. Since the printer is brand-new, we will get another power supply on warranty, I guess. Using Blue Tape and switching off the print bed is a good idea to verify it. I will see how the return process for the power supply works and see what will be faster.

I just worry that the printer will "improve" and just reboot later. But we have to start somewhere.

 

@fbrc8-erin: Yeah, I would have to borrow or buy some. But if it verifies the issue, it is worth it.

I checked the plug after reading about this here in the forum but it sits snug in it's socket.

 

Thanks again,

PiJey

[gr5 2,228]

I didn't realize some printers don't come with blue tape.  I thought my Um3 came with it but I guess not.  The "blue tape" is actually painters tape found in hardware stores.  You can use blue or green.  It's quite expensive at a hardware store but you don't need much.  Online it's quite cheap.  Wider is better.  Get the widest they sell.  This is because if you are printing a large part and it's trying to lift off the bed at the corners, the wider tape sticks to the glass better - more area to hold it down.  

 

Again - don't forget to wash the tape with isopropyl alcohol after it's on the glass.  Found in stores next to bandages.

[PiJey 0]

Hi gr5,

 

thanks, I'll get some. From what I read, the "original" blue tape is the 3M / Scotch 2090, probably due to the temperature range.

I wonder if using just Glue-Stick on the cold glass build plate for PLA would be sufficient for a test print, if I monitor the adhesion of the first layers?

 

Looking forward to identifying the issue,

PiJey

 

[gr5 2,228]

No it won't.  You would also have to heat it to 40C with a hair dryer for the bottom layer to stick okay.  Blue tape is much better.  Much better.  You can probably get by okay with white masking tape.  And green or yellow "frog tape" should work fine also.  I guess you could preheat it from the menu and then turn off the heat right when you start the print.  Don't go any hotter than 40C because as the glass cools and the part cools to room temperature (20C) there is a large risk the part will pop off the glass due to differential thermal expansion (actually contraction).

 

With 20C you should be okay but if you heat to 60C and cool to 20C the part will definitely pop off the glass.

[PiJey 0]

Hi gr5,

I just bought blue tape to be on the safe side. Thanks for your help!

I'll report how the print goes through.

PiJey

[PiJey 0]

Hi all,

I sliced a benchy without heated print bed. I used blue tape to get the adhesion and it worked well.

Unfortunately, even without the heated bed, the printer was not able to finish the benchy.

It got further, though. Please see the attached pictures, see the bottom benchy.

I'll return the printer to get a working one from our supplier.

Best regards,

PiJey

[Bossler 8]

Uh, that's not an encouraging read for someone who just considers to buy an Ultimaker 3 Extended...

Really? Unreliable Power-Supply?

On a ~4,5k€ machine?

 

Is it really true that customers are nothing but getting ripped off these days?

[kmanstudios 1,120]

I dunno, I got my second one today, had it up and running in about 30 minutes. Did a small test print and it is now printing a 70 hour job. Will finish on Friday morning Brooklyn time. I have not had any of the power supply issues mentioned here. If I had, I definitely would not have purchased another one of these things.

 

If this person is getting spontaneous reboots, then he needs to get in touch with the reseller, or just get a swap out.

 

As all sophisticated machines go, you can get a part that spoils the whole. But in the year that I have been on this forum, I do not remember this as an issue unless someone had tried an unreleased firmware of something. But not like this.

 

Edit: Just out of curiosity, I have just done a quick scan of the thread and I have not seen any mention of battery back up or surge suppression. Yes? No?

Edited January 23, 2018 by kmanstudios

[PiJey 0]

Hi Bossler, hi kmanstudios,

 

yesterday, "this person" actually sent the printer back to the reseller for repair or replacement. I had a talk to them and actually already did, what they requested me to do, thanks to the good answers in this forum.

I selected this printer for it's excellent reputation for quality and professionalism. It was not me who brought the flakey power brick into play here. But to be honest, this is a power supply produced by some company far east, and they also build to price. They also calculate a certain failure rate. Show me any company which doesn't.

Nevertheless, the printer is not working correctly and it is definitely rebooting, I could verify this in the logs. I definitely did not "try any unreleased firmware", the problem existed from day one, after the unpacking and startup as described in the supplied papers. I can only stress that the part of the benchy that was printed was of good, even exceptional quality. But that does not help me. I also need to do prints of 12 hours or more.

The power in our offices is OK, no crashed computers, no heavy loads, no motors in this pure office environment. A colleague in the neighbor office monitored the printer via it's camera, there was no power issue during that time. Usually, our power network is fully reliable. I do not remember one power failure or even flicker in this building for the last 5 years. I don't think that a UPS is required. Guys, this is an office building of an IT company!

Face it: In the real world even the best products fail sometimes. It seems that I am the lucky guy who got the failed one out of n thousand.

Could have happened to you as well. Please be careful with accusations.

 

Thanks for the help so far, I will report the outcome when the printer is back.

 

Best regards,

PiJey

[gr5 2,228]

Good luck.  The odds of you getting two problem printers in a row is quite low.

 

UM is a small company - they aren't like apple.  They make thousands of these things per month, not millions.  So don't expect the same level of quality.  But as far as I can tell Ultimaker is among the best out there when it comes to quality.  They do test every printer before they ship.  I doubt they test the power supplies - maybe they should - maybe they do.  But your issue might not have been the power supply - it might have been something else.

[Bossler 8]

Well, with every company and every products there can be defects.

As lon as that is in some reasonable limit, I would not complain.

What's crucial is how the manufacturer handles such defects.

I've seen good examples of handling defects and recently I've seen a really bad example (of not handling defects...).

 

I do not think that this is a matter of the companies size.

A small company that does not handle such things the right way will hardly become big...

[PiJey 0]

Hello together,

I just wanted to report the current status.

We got our printer back and the supplier reported that the printer worked flawlessly. The returned several perfect benchies with it.

What shall I say? I connected up our printer and it worked since then. Same settings as before, same models, same GCode.

I have now printed one 750g roll of PLA without issues. (OK, a big printout did show a slight warping which I could fix by increasing the bed temperature and thoroughly clean the bed with IPA).

As expected the print quality is very good.

I don't like really knowing what the root cause was, but since I am a little under pressure of getting the printouts done, I am happy that it works.

Hope it will stay that way.

Best regards

PiJey

[gr5 2,228]

Maybe your printer cable was loose?  It has to kind of snap in.  It should not come out without sliding the outer part first.