False alarm: Filament run out, put a new one on

[coduy 0]

Hi everyone, a complete newbie here. So yesterday we run one of the 1st prints ever, total time of the job was 20 hrs. When I came back next day to see how is it going the LCD panel showed "!" > alert sign and the warning was something like "Filament run out, put a new one on". The thing was that it didn't run out of it at all (there's still more than a half on both PVA and PLA "cartridges"). There's a retry button so I clicked on it and it started to print again. Wondering why the printer thought there's no filament if obviously this wasn't the case. Is there a problem with a sensor? The printer is relatively new and has only 30 hours of printing done so far. 

 

Attached is the log file if you'd like to have a look, although they don't seem to help me at all. The log file was copied from web access. 

 

Cheers 

Logs Ultimaker.log

[Smithy 1,144]

Hi and welcome on board

 

the sensor also checks the movement of the filament, so maybe there was something stuck (PVA) and the sensor thought that there is a problem. The sensor don't check the spool itself, it just "looks" in the feeder it there is material and if this material is moving.

 

With some filaments like transparent or flexible you could get false alerts, because the sensor has some problems observing with such materials. PVA should work, but it is also translucent in some kind, so maybe this was the reason for the false alert.

 

You don't have to worry, that something is wrong with your printer, it is normal and from time to time you could get such false alerts. And if you have a material where you know it makes troubles with the sensor, you could disable the filament sensor in the menu before you start your print.

[coduy 0]

Thanks @Smithy! Nicely explained! Many thanks 

[Smithy 1,144]

You are welcome!

[coduy 0]

@Smithy: just a quick favor, could you have a quick look at the previously attached log file to see if you can find the false alert it returned to me? I cannot find it and not sure if this type of alerts are being registered in there. 

[Shadowman 53]

7 hours ago, Smithy said:

Hi and welcome on board

 

the sensor also checks the movement of the filament, so maybe there was something stuck (PVA) and the sensor thought that there is a problem. The sensor don't check the spool itself, it just "looks" in the feeder it there is material and if this material is moving.

 

With some filaments like transparent or flexible you could get false alerts, because the sensor has some problems observing with such materials. PVA should work, but it is also translucent in some kind, so maybe this was the reason for the false alert.

 

You don't have to worry, that something is wrong with your printer, it is normal and from time to time you could get such false alerts. And if you have a material where you know it makes troubles with the sensor, you could disable the filament sensor in the menu before you start your print.

My thoughts exactly as this happened twice during the last long print and a bound PVA roll was the culprit.

[Smithy 1,144]

1 hour ago, coduy said:

could you have a quick look at the previously attached log file to see if you can find the false alert it returned to me? I cannot find it and not sure if this type of alerts are being registered in there. 

 

Here you find the corresponding entries:

Quote

Oct 23 22:46:19 ultimakersystem-ccbdd30068f0 python3[477]: 2018-10-23 22:46:19,700 INFO controller Request to start procedure: PAUSE_PRINT
Oct 23 22:46:19 ultimakersystem-ccbdd30068f0 python3[477]: 2018-10-23 22:46:19,696 WARNING controller Filament flow error: {'hotend_nr': 0, 'display_hotend_nr': 1}
Oct 23 22:46:19 ultimakersystem-ccbdd30068f0 python3[477]: 2018-10-23 22:46:19,689 WARNING faultHandler Added Fault: <Fault: level=4 code=14 message='WARNING:FILAMENT_FLOW:0: 1449/12497/-3/73 1422/9234/115/425 1432/9649/10/415 1436/10060/4/411 1439/10455/3/395 1444/10829/5/374 1446/11232/2/403 1447/11601/1/369 1447/12005/0/404 1452/12424/5/419 : Total flow angle: 145, Total steps: 3615, Flow sensor distance: 1.00, Stepper distance: 9.80, Distance difference: 8.80, Max allowed difference: 7.84' data='{'hotend_nr': 0, 'display_hotend_nr': 1}'>
Oct 23 22:46:19 ultimakersystem-ccbdd30068f0 python3[477]: 2018-10-23 22:46:19,655 WARNING transportLayer Got warning line 1 from printer: WARNING:FILAMENT_FLOW:0: 1449/12497/-3/73 1422/9234/115/425 1432/9649/10/415 1436/10060/4/411 1439/10455/3/395 1444/10829/5/374 1446/11232/2/403 1447/11601/1/369 1447/12005/0/404 1452/12424/5/419 : Total flow angle: 145, Total steps: 3615, Flow sensor distance: 1.00, Stepper distance: 9.80, Distance difference: 8.80, Max allowed difference: 7.84

 

So it seems that the sensor detected problems with the flow of the filament. Maybe it was a real alert and not a false one. I assume you have the PVA on the right side of your head, but when I understood the log correctly, the problem reported was from the left print core, so your PLA and not PVA caused the problem.

data='{'hotend_nr': 0, 'display_hotend_nr': 1}'

 

 

 

[coduy 0]

4 hours ago, Smithy said:

 

Here you find the corresponding entries:

 

So it seems that the sensor detected problems with the flow of the filament. Maybe it was a real alert and not a false one. I assume you have the PVA on the right side of your head, but when I understood the log correctly, the problem reported was from the left print core, so your PLA and not PVA caused the problem.

data='{'hotend_nr': 0, 'display_hotend_nr': 1}'

 

 

 

 

Many thanks for taking your time, the alert was right there, not sure why I missed it. I am just little confused about: data='{'hotend_nr': 0, 'display_hotend_nr': 1}' 

 

When I look at my S5´s print core I see this (standing right in front of the printer):

 

ºººººººººººººººººººººººººººººº

| AA (PLA) | BB (PVA)  |

ºººººººººººººººººººººººººººººº

 

Therefore: 'hotend_nr': 0, 'display_hotend_nr': 1 refers to the first print core AA (PLA), and 'hotend_nr': 0, 'display_hotend_nr': 2 would refer to BB (PVA), is this correct?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Smithy 1,144]

Normally in programming languages the first object is 0 and the second is 1. So I assume that this is the reason for hotend_nr and display_hotend_nr, because they will just add 1 to the hotend_nr to show hotend 1 or hotend 2 to the user, because it is more practical than 0 and 1.

 

So left side (AA) is hotend_nr 0 and display_hotend_nr 1

Right side (BB) is hotend_nr 1 and display_hotend_nr 2

 

But it is just an interpretation of mine how I understood those values.

[coduy 0]

4 minutes ago, Smithy said:

Normally in programming languages the first object is 0 and the second is 1. So I assume that this is the reason for hotend_nr and display_hotend_nr, because they will just add 1 to the hotend_nr to show hotend 1 or hotend 2 to the user, because it is more practical than 0 and 1.

 

So left side (AA) is hotend_nr 0 and display_hotend_nr 1

Right side (BB) is hotend_nr 1 and display_hotend_nr 2

 

But it is just an interpretation of mine how I understood those values.

 

Nice, I like your way of thinking, just to share my way of thinking was this

 

hotend_nr 0: this refers to the 1st "catridge" that includes 2 print cores: AA and BB

 

So: 

left side (AA) is hotend_nr 0 and display_hotend_nr 1

Right side (BB) is hotend_nr 0 and display_hotend_nr 2

 

Then,in next Ultimaker printer generation we could add another "catridge" with 2 print cores and they'd be called hotend_nr 1:

 

So 2nd, imaginary, hotend would be:

left side (AA) is hotend_nr 1 and display_hotend_nr 1

Right side (BB) is hotend_nr 1 and display_hotend_nr 2

 

Anyway, I prefer your explanation

 

 

[Smithy 1,144]

Yes also possible, but I believe more in my version ?