ultimaker s5 error fillament empty during print

[bidav 0]

hello guys, i am trying to print a simple model with cura default settings (16 hours print). using in core 1 ultimaker genuine tough pla green and in core 2 ultimaker genuine pva support material.

after 4 hours i got fillament empty error, both of them were full so i observed the problem is in core 2 the pva one, so i just pulled it out and in and clicked resume.

since then every 10 minutes the print stops due the fillament empty error (the pva one). i replaced it few times, cleaned the core head and still it will give me this message again after 5-15 minutes in average.

also sometimes when it prints with the pva head i hear very weak "popping" like when you burn plastic or oil in the pan. i don't hear it when core 1 the tough pla head is printing.

some images of the print are attached. eventually i aborted it as it's not possible to work like that.

 

also when i woke up of course i had this error again so the printer was sitting for 6 hours not working and both motors were VERY hot. isnt there some safety option so the printer will turn off if it's not printing?

[Carla_Birch 116]

I would say you need to dry your PVA out, PVA loves to absorb water out of the air and that is the popping sound you hear when using it, its water. You will also run into problems with it not feeding because it becomes soft and the feeder can not feed it and that why the printer says its empty.

 

Follow this: https://ultimaker.com/en/resources/52682-how-to-dry-pva

 

Or what i personally have done is got a food dehydrator and cut the mesh out some the racks so i can fit my filament in it to dry out and then when not in use with PVA make sure you store it right in a air tight bag/tub with a desiccant packet. 

 

Edited September 22, 2018 by Carla_Birch

[bidav 0]

thank you, the pva fillament is only 3 days old since opening it from the package..i live in very humid country, around 60-70% in this season, so i need to dry it everyday or few hours?

[Carla_Birch 116]

In that kind of humid i would make sure you dry it out for a good 4 hours before you start a print and once done with the print, take it right off the printer and store it in a air tight tub. For PVA in a food dehydrator you want to set it to 45C (113F) and as i say a good 4 hour.

[bidav 0]

Thank you Carla, this makes the use of pva sort of impossible for me..i guess i can always use the second print core for regular pla support

[Carla_Birch 116]

You should be good to use the PVA long you dry it out before you use it, not sure how quick it will take to absorb the water again due to being humid where you are, but is many ways to help stop it from happening, like putting a dehumidifier in the same room as the printer to making self something to in case your filament in on the machine itself.

Edited September 22, 2018 by Carla_Birch

[Dim3nsioneer 558]

@bidav there are dryboxes in which you can store the filament during printing such as the Polybox from Polymaker (one of the cheaper solutions) or e.g. the filament storage device from Mass Portal (more expensive). The only drawback is that you loose the automatic filament recognition for the Ultimaker filament as you don't have the filament on the NFC spool holder anymore.

[kmanstudios 1,120]

3 minutes ago, Dim3nsioneer said:

The only drawback is that you loose the automatic filament recognition for the Ultimaker filament as you don't have the filament on the NFC spool holder anymore.

I do not see that as a drawback because one of the things I hate about sending prints through Cura Connect is that if it does see the right filaments, it just goes on ahead and print without any way to pause it and do maintenance. Yes, I know you can make the printer unavailable, but that makes the lights go out and thusly, hard to see to get real work done unless using a flashlight to get under the shadows that an overhead light would cast.

 

So, I am happy that it does not see the chip. I use that to basically 'pause' the print cycle while I prep plates, clean nozzles or move the material to make sure I have good flow (mostly that would be PVA, just to make sure before starting a long print) or doing other maintenance such as hot or/or cold pulls.

[P3D 46]

You can also make your own drybox with NFC functionality, there are some files on thingiverse (for UM3 spool holder, but the S5 spool holder is the same). See https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2756012

 

I made one with a different layout, and with the addition of bowden tubes for the filament path between the drybox and the feeder. The humidity keeps at ~22% rH @ 20°C, using silica gel packs re-conditioned in our PrintDry filament dryer.

I also designed some custom parts to fit Bowden couplers to the underside of the feeders and to the drybox, but they were designed for using some odd couplers I had lying around, so they won't help you very much. 

 

Would be nice if Ultimaker would offer a integrated solution with NFC support.

[peggyb 171]

I guess you could also hang a spare spool or an empty spool on the printer for reading the chip....

[Carla_Birch 116]

Shame can not make own NFC stickers to stick on aftermarket rolls or just stick on spool holder if using a dry box.

[Travis7s 26]

The NFC tags peel off easily if you heat them up. (noticed after running 70C in my PrintDry). Then you can easily store them and just slip them onto the spool holder as necessary.

[P3D 46]

On 9/26/2018 at 3:49 PM, Carla_Birch said:

Shame can not make own NFC stickers to stick on aftermarket rolls or just stick on spool holder if using a dry box.

 

In addition to what Travis7s said, I also want to mention that you can build a NFC capable drybox (re-using the original spoolholder), if you want to. You can use the files from https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2756012 and custom-build the solution to your needs (I used a different (smaller) box and mounted things differently. I also made a bowden tube connection from the drybox to the feeder, if you are interested i could share the 3d model for the feeder insert I made to attach the bowden couplers to.