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Ultimaker S5 - one material appears to be empty


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Posted · Ultimaker S5 - one material appears to be empty

Brand new S5, firmware 6.3.0, getting this same error - for now turned off the flow sensor, but this is not a fix, this is a band-aid. Translucent PVA material (Ultimaker brand) on spool 2.

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    Posted · Ultimaker S5 - one material appears to be empty

    This is probably the most obvious thing but I've been having this problem for a while and I found that some new spools often have tangled filament on the outer layers and during the print the filament can get stuck by itself on the spool, therefore causing the material to "appear empty".

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    • 1 month later...
    Posted · Ultimaker S5 - one material appears to be empty

    I have this same error coming up when I print with the more flexible filaments: PVA, PP, TPU. It was maddening until I dug into the hardware a bit. There was no tension on the feeder (the indicator was all the way up), and the feeder was different in one aspect from the ones in the videos I'd seen. Instead of a hole to adjust the feed tension, there was a screw head (see photo). I tried to adjust the tension with this screw, but it just got tight and didn't adjust anything. I pulled the back off the feeder (again) and noticed a small space about the same size as the screw head just under the top of the feed enclosure. I loosened the tension assembly and turned the screw until it fit in that space. I replaced the back, and like magic, I was able to adjust the tension. For PP, I had to tighten it all the way for it to print consistently.

     

    I have to say I'm a little disappointed that Ultimaker would ship a machine with the screws installed improperly on both feeders. From unboxing videos, I couldn't see any other machines that came out of the box this way. So if you have feed problems, check to make sure the tension is correct. If there is a screw head on top of the feeder enclosure, you'll have to pull the back off and place the head in the slot it's supposed to go in (see photo).

    20210707_110122.jpg

    20210707_110226.jpg

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    • 2 months later...
    Posted · Ultimaker S5 - one material appears to be empty
    On 7/7/2021 at 12:15 PM, blanerobinson said:

    I have this same error coming up when I print with the more flexible filaments: PVA, PP, TPU. It was maddening until I dug into the hardware a bit. There was no tension on the feeder (the indicator was all the way up), and the feeder was different in one aspect from the ones in the videos I'd seen. Instead of a hole to adjust the feed tension, there was a screw head (see photo). I tried to adjust the tension with this screw, but it just got tight and didn't adjust anything. I pulled the back off the feeder (again) and noticed a small space about the same size as the screw head just under the top of the feed enclosure. I loosened the tension assembly and turned the screw until it fit in that space. I replaced the back, and like magic, I was able to adjust the tension. For PP, I had to tighten it all the way for it to print consistently.

     

    I have to say I'm a little disappointed that Ultimaker would ship a machine with the screws installed improperly on both feeders. From unboxing videos, I couldn't see any other machines that came out of the box this way. So if you have feed problems, check to make sure the tension is correct. If there is a screw head on top of the feeder enclosure, you'll have to pull the back off and place the head in the slot it's supposed to go in (see photo).

     Thank you very much for this response and the pictures. I had the exact same issue. We had a tiny pellet of the previous spool break off and lodge in the feeder perfectly so the next material we installed kept failing to feed. We took the feeder apart, found the debris, and cleaned the whole thing out but in the process we must have dislodged the spring tension adjustment screw so it looked just like your picture. And indeed when I looked at extruder B I could see the screw was below the surface.  I took it apart and put the screw where it goes and I think this will solve our 'material has run out' issue.  Very frustrating issue so thanks again for the pics and explanation!

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    Posted · Ultimaker S5 - one material appears to be empty
    On 9/16/2021 at 6:22 AM, dmanthei said:

     Thank you very much for this response and the pictures. I had the exact same issue. We had a tiny pellet of the previous spool break off and lodge in the feeder perfectly so the next material we installed kept failing to feed. We took the feeder apart, found the debris, and cleaned the whole thing out but in the process we must have dislodged the spring tension adjustment screw so it looked just like your picture. And indeed when I looked at extruder B I could see the screw was below the surface.  I took it apart and put the screw where it goes and I think this will solve our 'material has run out' issue.  Very frustrating issue so thanks again for the pics and explanation!

    Hi, thank you for this very helpful post.

     

    I'm having a bit of an issue reassembling the feeder, I have put everything together as it shows on your pictured, but I can't seem to position the tension into the middle position, I screw down the bolt and the indicator is not moving at all and I can see the bolt going down deeper with no movement whatsoever. Am I doing something wrong?

     

    Thanks

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    Posted · Ultimaker S5 - one material appears to be empty
    16 hours ago, Smithy said:

    The most common mistake is that the screw head is outside of the case and not inside.

    Hi, it is inside the case, is just that I can't manage to position the tension button into the middle setting when screwing the bolt.

    IMG_7744.JPG

    IMG_7745.JPG

    IMG_7746.JPG

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    Posted · Ultimaker S5 - one material appears to be empty
    On 9/21/2021 at 7:27 AM, ElizabethT said:

     I screw down the bolt and the indicator is not moving at all and I can see the bolt going down deeper with no movement whatsoever.

     

    Your pictures look fine, with the screw head inside the housing.
    Then, I read your comment again where you mention "the bolt going down deeper"... This means you are turning the bolt the wrong direction! Try turning the other way, this causes the bolt to move upwards and in doing so, creates tension on the spring.

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    Posted · Ultimaker S5 - one material appears to be empty
    On 9/22/2021 at 6:35 PM, CarloK said:

     

    Your pictures look fine, with the screw head inside the housing.
    Then, I read your comment again where you mention "the bolt going down deeper"... This means you are turning the bolt the wrong direction! Try turning the other way, this causes the bolt to move upwards and in doing so, creates tension on the spring.

    Thank you so much!

     

    I tried this and didn't see it moving immediately and a stopped, neither the store that sold us the machine or the Ultimaker provider in Australia  picked up that. I just assembled it again and were able to position it in the middle.  

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    Posted (edited) · Ultimaker S5 - one material appears to be empty

    Hello!

     

    I'm brand new to this world of 3D printing and I started to face this problem while printing a case for a nvidia jetson xavier. Interesting though that all other prints worked out very fine with the same configurations on Cura, EXCEPT this one.

     

    Funny thing also is that another case was printed with exactly the same configs and everything went just fine, but another file though.

     

    I don't really know what to do... Every other print works fine, but I really want to print this one.

    Edited by fabioribeiro
    Adding and correcting some things.
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    Posted · Ultimaker S5 - one material appears to be empty

    Same, same but different.

    Sorry for the silly joke, but you say the printer is printing a few models correctly, and then one other file fails. You think the situation is identical, but perhaps we can help you verify this?

    You mention it fails with 'this problem'. I assume you refer to the topic of this thread, the printer showing an error message "One material appears to be empty"?

    What material (type and brand) are you printing with?
    The files that were printing correctly, were those printing the exact same material and color as the print that is failing?
    Is it possible for you to share your Cura project? From Cura select "File/Save as project" and post this 3mf-file on the forum. By doing so we can verify all the settings you've used.

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    Posted · Ultimaker S5 - one material appears to be empty
    On 12/3/2021 at 4:21 PM, CarloK said:

    Same, same but different.

    Sorry for the silly joke, but you say the printer is printing a few models correctly, and then one other file fails. You think the situation is identical, but perhaps we can help you verify this?

    You mention it fails with 'this problem'. I assume you refer to the topic of this thread, the printer showing an error message "One material appears to be empty"?

    What material (type and brand) are you printing with?
    The files that were printing correctly, were those printing the exact same material and color as the print that is failing?
    Is it possible for you to share your Cura project? From Cura select "File/Save as project" and post this 3mf-file on the forum. By doing so we can verify all the settings you've used.

     

    Hello CarloK!

     

    I'm really sorry for the late answer! But help is still needed because the error still happen haha

     

    Let me update you about what happened and what I could see since I commented:

     

    I managed to print this so wanted file but only with the flow sensor off.

     

    Simple shapes work just fine, this error happens when the complexity of the piece increases.

     

    I use PLA Black for the extruder 1 and Natural PVA for the second one, brand ultimaker. it says that the lack of material comes from extruder 1. I have other materials also like ABS Silver, ABS White, PLA red and PLA white, all from ultimaker also, but these 3 ones are more used on the other printer we have here (Ultimaker 2 Connect+).

     

     

     

    I somehow answered some of your questions but just to better organize:

     

    You mention it fails with 'this problem'. I assume you refer to the topic of this thread, the printer showing an error message "One material appears to be empty"?

     

    Yes! But now it says clearly that it comes from the extruder 1!

     

    What material (type and brand) are you printing with?

     

    PLA Black and Natural PVA from Ultimaker.


    The files that were printing correctly, were those printing the exact same material and color as the print that is failing?

     

    Yes, same material and settings also.


    Is it possible for you to share your Cura project? From Cura select "File/Save as project" and post this 3mf-file on the forum. By doing so we can verify all the settings you've used.

     

    Sure!

     

     

    I'd like also to already attach another project I did that had the same problem also. It is a designed piece for supporting the case along with a camera to attach on a robot. I have tried to print this on both S5 and 2 Connect+ and failed also (ABS White for 2 Connect+). The S5 gave me this lack of material error, and the 2 connect finished the print but full of flaws, missing layers etc.

     

     

    Thank you in advance. Hope I could explain correctly.

     

     

     

    UM2C_Support for the wifi bot jetson xavier.3mf UMS5_jetson-case.3mf UMS5_Support for the wifi bot jetson xavier.3mf

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    Posted · Ultimaker S5 - one material appears to be empty

    Hello,

     

    I as a product engineer got to this problem myself. I figured that the problem originates from the flow sensor mechanism in the feeder. The fillement enters the feeder verry tightly. Therefor pulling the sensor mechanism slightly open resulting in false reedings. The solution is rather simple really. Just add a conductor right below the feeder so the fillement can enter the feeder without an angle. You should'nt have any error messages anymore. see pictures for clarification. 

     

    i hope this helps you all out.

    fillament enters feeder.jpg

    20220621_143452.jpg

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