Ultimaker S5 - Constantly says it's out of filament, when it's not...

[johnse 31]

I had an issue with an Ultimaker 3 using MatterHackers' PLA being printed along with Breakaway build support. The MatterHackers' spool is slightly too wide for to use the guide arm for the Material 1 spool. I notice @nano-l's picture of the spools also does not have the guide arm in place. I got part-way through a long print and it began seriously under-extruding. I found that the filament from spool 1 had jumped the spools and was getting pinched in between coils of the filament in spool2. These spools counter-rotate and it was causing underextrusion of both materials.

 

Another time, I was using Ultimaker's ToughPLA, and somehow it got a loop around the guide arm. Again, destroyed a long print. At that time I thought it was a clogged nozzle. Cleaned the nozzle and restarted the print but again was having the underextrusion. That's when I noticed the wrap around the guide arm.

 

I haven't set it up yet, but I'm planning to create a spool holder to hold MatterHacker spools to the side so they can't interfere between the spools.

[Wallabear 0]

I would think that if it did not recognize that it had something loaded it would not extrude at all.  The flow sensor would just trip and tell you that your material was out? 

[RiffRaff 0]

I have been running print after print with no problems at all untill i needed to run a print that needed support...and then it started to give me the material appears to be empty error.

[JasonA 0]

I'm having this problem too. I have PVA in the 2nd feeder, and my prints keep pausing with the same message shown in the thread. I opened up the feeder assembly and there were chunks of PVA filament and dust in there, so I assume the issue is with the knurled part chewing up the filament. When I pull out the filament, there is a chunk chewed out of the the thread of filament too.  Is there a way to calibrate the feeder or something to try to fix this?

 

Thanks!

[Carla_Birch 116]

19 hours ago, JasonA said:

I'm having this problem too. I have PVA in the 2nd feeder, and my prints keep pausing with the same message shown in the thread. I opened up the feeder assembly and there were chunks of PVA filament and dust in there, so I assume the issue is with the knurled part chewing up the filament. When I pull out the filament, there is a chunk chewed out of the the thread of filament too.  Is there a way to calibrate the feeder or something to try to fix this?

 

Thanks!

 

First things first, dry your PVA out if you have not already done so. Then you can adjust the tension on the feeder via the bolt you access via the little hole in the top of the feeder. to loose and it slips and then it dig a hole in the filament.

[olubeck 0]

I have had the issue numerous times with my S5. 

Many times the filament has snapped.

 

I've noticed that the non-Ultimaker filament spooi that I am using doesn't sit straight on the holder of extruder 1.

The feed causes it to tilt on the feeder axis and the Extruder 1 spool hits the Extruder 2 spool causing the problem.

 

One work-around that works (most of the time) is that I put a cardboard washer on the feeder axis between the 2 spools.

Not foolproof but significantly better operating. Probably a better washer solution is in order. 

[michaelpalin 0]

I was having the same out of filament issue with the secondary feeder on my S5. A close examination of the flow sensor that is in the filament drive mechanism revealed that one corner of the flow sensor circuit board rub against the housing, thus interfering with movement of the flow sensor. The metal roller of the flow sensor is magnetic, the little IC chip on the circuit board detects the change in magnetic flux of the roller as it rotates. The magnetic roller is held against the filament by a spring. The magnetic roller and circuit board are meant to pivot so that the roller can stay in contact with the filament, but because the circuit board lightly rubs against the housing it prevents the roller from staying in contact with the filament. Thus allowing the filament to slip by the magnetic roller without making it rotate triggering a out of filament message. I sanded a little bit of the corner off of the circuit board to give it more clearance and have not had any more trouble with out of filament messages. Even though I wasn't having any problems with the primary drive flow sensor I disassembled it to take a look at its flow sensor, and apparently the dimensions are slightly different because its flow sensor circuit board had a little more clearance. However just to be on the safe side I sanded a little bit off of the of its circuit board for good measure. I hope this information will help others that are having the same issue.