Ultimaker S5 - one material appears to be empty

[ConnectDER 0]

Just started getting this issue on my S3. The only difference between today and yesterday is that I loaded a 1kg spool of generic PLA instead of the 350g spool of ultimaker branded PLA we have been using. My initial inclination is that the motor is having a hard time unspooling the heavier spool. The spool 1 attachment is too short to fit through the 1kg spool so I just put it on the end of the arm behind my PVA spool. Maybe it's too much friction?

[ConnectDER 0]

After watching it finish a layer to find out when the error is happening, it's the PVA extruder that's triggering it. It has been raining and there is an open window near the machine, so this lends some support to the wet PVA theory.

 

edit: I swapped in a brand new spool of PVA and the error stopped

Edited February 26 by ConnectDER

[dorlik 0]

I was having this "material empty" issue, too.  I turned off the flow sensor but the print got so filled with webs that I had to turn it back on.   I am printing with ordinary PLA from MatterHackers on a spool in back of the machine on a roller mechanism. In my desperation to deal with the material empty problem, I decided that the S5 wanted the spool to hang from the back.  I took off the Ultimaker "tough PLA" spool and set it directly in back of the machine (for no reason other than I was too busy to put it away) and put the MatterHacker PLA hanging off the spool holder.  Since then, I haven't gotten the error message. (It's been about a week.)  

 

 Is there a sensor in the Ultimaker spool?  I have no idea.  But no error message is good enough for me.  (Fingers crossed that I haven't jinxed the whole thing now.) Of course, that spool of tough PLA is going to go bad from just sitting around there...

[PKlemm 0]

I mentioned earlier in this thread that the cause of the transportation problem is often contamination in the pipe or inside the feeder. I have had these failures more often in the last year and it was always because a crumb got stuck with the filamet and thereby blocked the feeder.
This takes place e.g. sometimes when changing the filament, which is automatically withdrawn. If you take a closer look at the end of the filament, there is sometimes a drop-shaped thickening attached to it, which tears off when it is removed from the feeder and remains undetected in the feeder. The particle then sticks to the filament in the feeder. The feeder must then be opened and cleaned in order to remedy the situation.
At first I found it strange that some materials happen more often than others. As it turned out, it is because this end drop on the filament either holds better when pulled out or breaks off faster.

 

[robobartz 1]

To answer the question about the sensor. Yes, the ultimaker brand materials have a rf chip in the paper of the spool and the sensor to read it is in the spool and there is a plug that connects it to the mothership.

 

Regarding the crumbs in the tube from PKlemm.  Agree- first thing we try after the message.  we've had that issue and it works to blean out the bowden tube.  The issue we were originally having is we bought a 5kg  spool of PLA and the traction motor is not rated to turn a spool of that mass. We verified that with Ultimaker technical support. It might work for you, but touch and go. Also we had some poorly wound spools where the material was binding and it couldn't pull out the snag.

 

REQUEST TO ULTIMAKER: Please, if you can, include the specific spool# of this error  in your error message in your next firmware update(if it can interface w/hardware that way). 

[Carla_Birch 73]

1 hour ago, robobartz said:

REQUEST TO ULTIMAKER: Please, if you can, include the specific spool# of this error  in your error message in your next firmware update(if it can interface w/hardware that way). 

 

Really don't think that's needed. The error will always be for the core that was active at the time of the error is given.

 

So whatever core is lowest it the core thats given the error, in other words if core 2 is in the down placement than its that core, if core 2 is in the up placement then its core 1.

[GoncaloLaranjeira 0]

Hello,

I'm getting the "One or more material appears to be empty" error message too and it's completly random (I think).. Sometimes it print very big models (like 11 hours printing jobs), other times it starts the error message in simpler models (3 hours print job). All this times if I keep pressing "resume printing" the S5 keeps doing it's job, sometimes in a range of 1 hour I press 5-20 times and the print job keeps going, sometimes it actually passes by the hard part, other times it keeps getting the error...

I'm currently doing a print job of 8 hours and the printer is "jamming" always in the same spot (first image), if I keep pressing the "resume printing" the printer prints more 1-10 minutes and then gets the error message... I canceled the print job 1 time with a old spool because I couldn't be on the printer and I know I would loose 1-2hours just waiting and pressing "resume printing".
Today I placed a brand new spool (PLA), a brand new nozzle (AA 0.4) and changed the print job to be printed on the extruder 2 only so I would discard if it was an extruder 1 "sided" problem.. But nah.. Same, same.. 😞

Is it about some models, is the printer?
Some help would be apreciated...

 

I attached also the Cura project file.

 

In this print job it get's the error always in the finishing layer of the center.

UMS5_e8e7246b-02a8-4ea9-9fe3-54fe777a13c3.3mf

Edited June 17 by GoncaloLaranjeira

[maht 88]

1 minute ago, GoncaloLaranjeira said:

Hello,

I'm getting the "One or more material appears to be empty" error message too and it's completly random (I think).. Sometimes it print very big models (like 11 hours printing jobs), other times it starts the error message in simpler models (3 hours print job). All this times if I keep pressing "resume printing" the S5 keeps doing it's job, sometimes in a range of 1 hour I press 5-20 times and the print job keeps going, sometimes it actually passes by the hard part, other times it keeps getting the error...

I'm currently doing a print job of 8 hours and the printer is "jamming" always in the same spot (first image), if I keep pressing the "resume printing" the printer prints more 1-10 minutes and then gets the error message... I canceled the print job 1 time with a old spool because I couldn't be on the printer and I know I would loose 1-2hours just waiting and pressing "resume printing".
Today I placed a brand new spool (PLA), a brand new nozzle (AA 0.4) and changed the print job to be printed on the extruder 2 only so I would discard if it was an extruder 1 "sided" problem.. But nah.. Same, same.. 😞
In this print job it's always in the transition from the support to the layer itself..

Is it about some models, is the printer?
Some help would be apreciated...

 

I attached also the Cura project file.

UMS5_e8e7246b-02a8-4ea9-9fe3-54fe777a13c3.3mf 309.07 kB · 0 downloads

 

This is the result of a false positive from the filament flow sensor in the feeder of the S5. You can disable it in the menu of the printer as a workaround if needed. I'll also let the team know about this.

[aag 2]

I had one feeder replaced on warranty, and that eliminated the issue. The filament channel within the feeder can become worn out pretty badly: the knurled wheels of the feeder are of hard metal but everything else is wobbly plastic. It would be nice if some third-party would be a more sturdy replacement feeder, all in metal.

Edited June 17 by aag

[GoncaloLaranjeira 0]

Just now, maht said:

 

This is the result of a false positive from the filament flow sensor in the feeder of the S5. You can disable it in the menu of the printer as a workaround if needed. I'll also let the team know about this.

I tried this workaround once and the final result was pretty visually bad 😕

[GoncaloLaranjeira 0]

1 minute ago, aag said:

I had one feeder replaced on warranty, and that eliminated the issue. The filament channel within the feeder can become worn out pretty badly: the knurled wheels of the feeder are of hard metal but everything else is wobbly plastic. It would be nice if some third-party would be a more sturdy replacement feeder, all in metal.

Will check with them to get a new feeder 😄 but I don't think my printer is still on warranty 😕 It's my company printer..

[covers911 0]

This isn't solved.

 

Whatever else the cause, it also seems to be dependent on the particular model I'm printing. I.e.:

 

I try both extruders. They both fail.

 

I print a different model with identical print settings, once with each extruder. They both succeed.

 

I switch back to the original model. Both extruders fail.

 

I switch back to the other model. Both extruders succeed.

 

Etc, etc.

 

Could someone help me out by trying to print the attached model? It's tiny..

 

Thanks,

 

-- Anthony

umma95_vista_mount_TOP.stl

Edited Wednesday at 11:26 AM by covers911

[SandervG 1,329]

23 minutes ago, covers911 said:

This isn't solved.

 

Whatever else the cause, it also seems to be dependent on the particular model I'm printing. I.e.:

 

I try both extruders. They both fail.

 

I print a different model, once with each extruder. They both succeed.

 

I switch back to the original model. Both extruders fail.

 

I switch back to the other model. Both extruders succeed.

 

Etc, etc.

 

Could someone help me out by trying to print the attached model? It's tiny..

 

Thanks,

 

-- Anthony

umma95_vista_mount_TOP.stl 731.63 kB · 0 downloads

 

Hi Anthony, which filaments do you have loaded on your Ultimaker, and which print cores are installed? Can you tell us what message you received when you say 'both extruders fail'? Could it be that there was a configuration error?

[covers911 0]

Both cores are AA 0.4, both loaded with Ultimaker brand black TPU95A.

 

Cura version is 4.7.1, firmware version is whatever the latest is as of today.

 

By fail I mean that I receive the error message that is the subject of this thread: "One material appears to be empty..."

 

Not a configuration error.

Edited Wednesday at 01:20 PM by covers911

[dorlik 0]

Covers911: I printed your little part on my S5 in PLA.  It printed just fine.  Nothing wrong with your file.

 

When I first got my S5 machine (I have 5 Ultimaker 2+ machines), I experienced the "One material appears to be empty" error message frequently.  (So aggravating!)  I solved the problem by putting 2 spools of the S5 filament on the spool holder.  This seems to satisfy the printer's need to sense its own filament.  I print (using whatever PLA I get from MatterHacker) from a separate spool holder.  I haven't had that error message since.

 

I hope I've been of some help.

Edited Wednesday at 05:48 PM by dorlik

[covers911 0]

Hi dorlik,

 

Thanks very much for checking the model. Appreciate it. Can you confirm that you printed it with TPU? If so, can I have your settings?

 

Are you saying that you usually put a couple of Ultimaker reels on the S5's spool holder, and then print from a reel on a separate spool holder? If so, that's interesting. I was printing from a separate spool holder too, but with only one Ultimaker reel on the S5's spool holder.

[SandervG 1,329]

2 hours ago, covers911 said:

Hi dorlik,

 

Thanks very much for checking the model. Appreciate it. Can you confirm that you printed it with TPU? If so, can I have your settings?

 

Are you saying that you usually put a couple of Ultimaker reels on the S5's spool holder, and then print from a reel on a separate spool holder? If so, that's interesting. I was printing from a separate spool holder too, but with only one Ultimaker reel on the S5's spool holder.

 

I think he is saying to load two spools on the spoolholder, even if you only use one. 

[Smithy 621]

It makes no difference if you have a spool on the back on the holder or not if you print from an external spool holder. The NFC reader is only used during loading to detect the correct spool. After loading the NFC reader is not used anymore. 

 

The message that one material is empty comes from the filament sensor in the feeder. When you print with both cores, the message is the same, so you have to check which nozzle was currently printing, then you know which of the two feeders has notified the filament error.

 

The filament sensor UM is using, is quite good, not much false alerts, but it can happen. Specially when you print with PVA or transparent or semi-transparent materials and could also be the case with TPU. The sensor is not just a switch as you have it in other printers, the sensor detects also if the filaments moves or not. So in case of TPU which is flexible, it can happen that the sensor detects that the filament is not moving or not moving enough and you get that error. So best solution is, to disable the sensor when printing TPU, but enable it again when printing with other materials.

[dorlik 0]

Covers911:  I did not print in TPU. Your model is an STL so...no settings for the printer?  

 

I appreciate what Smithy is saying. He's clearly more knowledgeable than I am.  I can only tell you about my experience.  When I got my S5, I got the one material empty error message constantly and the machine would not print.  I disabled the the sensor in the settings but that didn't help. Then I put the S5 filament on the spool holders and started printing from another spool and I haven't had any problems since.  I have printed in TPU

 

Perhaps Smithy is correct and the filament sensor in the feeder righted itself.

 

 

[Hops 0]

I have this same issue since firmware update, i just updated 2 days ago and it giving me this error. im on firmware 5.8.0