Material (PVA) not detected in S5

[pineirod 2]

Hi there,

 

I left something printing on the weekend, and when I arrived today the printer was stopped in an early stage with an error saying there is no material. Both of them are there.

 

One can see that the support material, PVA, is not printed. 

 

I "changed" it (unload, load, same spool, not event taking it out) and just a bit came out. 

 

The material came a bit out, but not much. I tired to resume the print but again an error.

 

Is it possible the PVA is too old?

 

cheers,

 

[Smithy 1,141]

The problem is not so much the age as the fact that your PVA has probably absorbed too much moisture from the air. PVA is hygroscopic and should never be left without airtight packaging. It can also be a problem if you have a long print job and the PVA is attached to the printer. It is always better to print the PVA from a DryBox, then nothing can happen.

 

If PVA has absorbed too much moisture, it becomes soft and can no longer be feeded properly.

 

But you can save your PVA coil by simply placing it on the 60° heating bed, cover the spool with a towel and leave it overnight. With this you dry the spool and it should be usable again.

 

[pineirod 2]

ok, I will do the overnight drying.

 

and study the drybox purchasing option. Should PLA also be put into the box? then the Ultimaker won't recognize the materials with the NFC chip. One can just introduce manually and that's it, right?

 

thanks

 

[Smithy 1,141]

You have the option to put the spool on the holder when loading the filament, then the printer can recognize the NFC tag, but it isn't really necessary. Just be careful, when you select manually the PVA material, then you have to choose the Generic PVA in Cura, otherwise the printer will come up with a warning that you have the wrong filament loaded. 

 

There is no difference between the UM material profiles and the generic ones.

 

Use the UM material profiles only when the printer auto detects the material. When you choose it manually from the printer menu, then use the generic ones.

 

For PLA it is not needed. I use the PolyBox DryBox, which can hold 2 spools, so it's up to you if you want both spools in the box.

 

But you don't have to buy a dedicated DryBox, you can basically use any airtight box, drill a small hole in it, maybe put a a piece of Bowden tube in the hole and you are fine. Don't forget to put enough silica gel packs in the box, to absorb the humidity.

 

You can also use a airtight bag with a small hole and put the spool without any holder on the floor. The feeder is strong enough to pull the filament without any holder. But if you print more with PVA or longer jobs, I would go with a more "professional" version than just a bag 🙂 

[pineirod 2]

great!

i think we will go for the drybox

 

thanks