New S5 - Problem with Supplied PVA and nozzle cover

[DanielW 1]

Hi all new to this forum. I am a teacher and managed to get an S5 :).  Having had a 2+ extended I knew my next machines needed to be Ultimakers.  The students were nearly falling out last year due to the waiting times, their mastery of Rhino (3D CAD) had meant they were all desperate to print! Have KS4 and KS5 classes using 3D printers but want to get KS3 groups using them too so have also got a new 2+ just to give me more printing capacity. 

 

OK, new S5 machine arrived and having spent many an hour stripping PLA support material I was excited to finally try PLA.  I quickly mocked up a design for a cactus, pot and little cap to close the base of the pot later. Idea is to make an illuminated USB extention. But main reason is to check PVA support effectiveness and to check the dimensional tolerance to create force fits etc.

 

So, half way up the support, the PVA nozzle blocks (unbeknown to me as it was an over nighter) - tried again the second day after clearing the nozzle but same thing happens. Tried some manual advancing ( and that cold pulling technique ) of the PVA and a whole load of black stuff came out - thought this had solved it but no; still not working.

 

Went in today and tried a new spool of PVA and the job is doing really well now - 2hrs left and the support part has finished! 

 

Problem is the old PVA is the reel supplied with the machine had only been opened minutes before the job.

 

Also, what is with the nozzle cover any slight knock and it flaps down, even more so when nozzle 2 is down? I found two mini magnets and adjusted those which has improved the situation but seems a little worrying given it is a brand new machine. I have managed to use a small weak spring (you can see it in one of my pics) to keep the flap up and have cleared any filament between the silicon pad and nozzle 2 which did build up during the first misprint.

 

Sitting at home like an excited child waiting for the final print to finish so I can pop up to the lab and get it. Darn ICT lot still haven't put the camera on the network so I can't view it from home ?

 

Anyway - I have waffled on a lot but hello to all and thanks for adding me!

 

Daniel