Ultimaker 3 Extented - Nozzle Offset Plausibility Problem

[Welveryn 2]

Hello 3d printers,

 

I make you a brief paragraph for the history: I recovered an Ultimaker 3 Extented which was neglected by his buyer who did not want more (an unscrupulous industrialist). He gave it to me saying that it did not work anymore ...

 

Anyway, I decided to make it running. So I reset it, get started, configured, etc ...

 

However, I have a problem with the next one raised by the printer: "The difference between the detected height of the two printcores exceeds the realistic values". Indeed the error is raised when I want to make an print or even make an XY calibration. I checked, the nozzles were not clogged, I cleaned the tray and made a leveling adjustment manually.

 

However, still no way to print ... Then I discovered that my nozzle AA - 0.40 was unusually flat (Attached some photos as evidence). I thought maybe it was the Ultimaker design, but looking at the new ones on the shop, I see them more conical. Mine seems to have been ... damaged ?!

 

I would like to have your opinion ... Do I have to buy a new print head? Can this flat nozzle be the cause of this error? How does the utimaker 3 detect the tray exactly? Is the probe inductive?

[Enigma_M4 123]

Hi,

first point, i suggest you turn your text-color to an eye-friendly black, als this (50%?) grey is very hard to read (no offend, just a proposal) ;-).

 

This flat nozzle tip IS unusual and absolutely not correct. It reminds me to reports of other people, who printed with abrasive materials, which eroded the nozzles and made them unusable (that's why hardened steel nozzles and ruby nozzles, like the CC Printcore, exist). The tip of your BB Core looks as it should be.

So, in my oppinion, the worn is to be replaced with a new one. Usualy the UM3(E) is shipped with two AA cores and one BB Core. Is the second AA still available?

 

Greetings.

[ultiarjan 1,223]

"The difference between the detected height of the two printcores exceeds the realistic values"

It will usually help if you have a correct bed leveling. Level the bed manually first, in a way that you have about 13-14mm to the bottom of the bed (works for me), see picture. Also if its one of the first UM3's it may still have a weak bed spring at the back of the 3 adjustment wheels. If you can very easily pres the bed down at the back, you want to replace this 3th spring.

 

The AA0.4 core is indeed worn down by using abrasive materials. You can still print with it, use it for vase mode f.e.,  but you want to replace it for fine detail prints. If you want to print abrasives you need the CC0.6  core with the Ruby nozzle.

 

 

[Welveryn 2]

Thank you very much for your answers, I will definitively change the Printcore for a new one. 

It's really difficult when we don't have the history of the printer, but according to the picture, it seems that the old owner of this printer has printed with abrasive materiel, I assume Carbon.

 

You're right it's a very early UM3, so I assume that I have to change the springs. So I would like to change them but, I didn't find any re-sellers, even on the Ultimaker site...

Can you tell me where I can find it ?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Enigma_M4 123]

Hi Welveryn,

 

I think I found it.

The spring (DR2160) seems to be Part-Nr. 1788, as shown on page 21 of the attached "parts manual".

With the part-nr. your reseller should be able to get you a spare.

 

Greetings

UM3_Parts_Manual.pdf

[ultiarjan 1,223]

correct, you can get the part from any ultimaker reseller, in the Netherlands I use makerpoint.nl They probably don't have it on there website but just write them a mail and mention the ultimaker part number (1788)

 

[ultiarjan 1,223]

And the resellers are under the "buying options" button on the ultimaker website

https://ultimaker.com/resellers/de

[Welveryn 2]

Thank you very much, I've ordered springs thanks to you! 

 

I also changed the Printcore, buy a new one and installed it. It was strange because I found something in the new printecore, like a really really thin plastic wire, and I did not success to remove it. So I let it in and charge the Printcore with. It seems to work well. So now, The error from the auto leveling has disappeared. 

 

I will wait for the spring and then I will manually set the bed. 

 

Unfortunately, it seems that the XY calibration is really hard to perform. Actually, the BB Printcore print like nothing really well (see in the attached picture). The extruder for this nozzle is always trying to push in push out. Is it a normal behavior? 

 

Can you help me to understand? 

 

Thanks very much for your support 

[Enigma_M4 123]

Hi Welveryn,

as I was never forced to do a xy calibration, I only know from hearsay:

If your UM3(E) is running an "old" firmware (4.x or older), there should be no issue in the calibration process, so the behaviour of the feeder may be normal. If you're running new firmware 5.2.8, there is an issue with the retraction, which requires the filament pushed forward manualy at the beginning of the calibration process.

 

The bad adhesion of the PVA (?) from core BB could result from bad bed levelling (but i don't think so, because the PLA rectangle looks ok) or possibly from a "dirty" glassbed (for example fingerprints or other residue is bad for adhesion).

As PLA can be used to clean a BB Printcore, you might be able to use it also for xy calibration, if PVA does not stick properly.

 

Possibly Ultiarjan has an idea?

 

Greetings

[ultiarjan 1,223]

Cleaning the BB core is anyhow a good idea so a few cold puls with PLA can be usefull. If you run the latest firmware there is indeed a bug that causes to much retraction before the XY calibration. Ultimaker is taking a silly amount of time to repair it but a new firmware is expected any moment now. Just pushing the material manually (lift the level on the feeder and push the material) at the start will do the trick.

 

You can ofc also just first check the BB core by doing a single extrusion test print using the BB core with PLA, just print a small cube and see if it's ok. You may need to "overrule" in Cura as cura will tell you the BB is not for PLA, but it's actually fine, it's just a bit more prone to dripping due to the internal shape of the BB nozzle, but for a single extrusion print that hardly matters...