ONE MATERIAL APPEARS TO BE EMPTY.

[dupton 0]

Hello, my ultimaker s5 keeps stopping and displaying this error. I have read the blogs and have tried to fix it but to no avail. I have disabled the network . that didn't help.

I have the latest firmware loaded. that didn't fix it either. I took the feeder apart and cleaned it . that didn't fix it. I have a print job on and its a 2.5 day print. I have 1 day and 5 hours left and am sick of restarting the printer. is there any  PERMANENT solution to this error?

 

highly frustrated,   Dermot

[Smithy 1,144]

You can turn off the filament sensor in the menu to get your print finished. 

I don't know why the sensor shows sometimes false errors. I had it too, but only with a specific material/brand (can not remember anymore) But then after enabling it again it is working fine.

[fbrc8-erin 272]

Usually if it thinks the material has run out and you still have filament on the reel it's usually that your filament is ground down--either printing too fast or with a partially clogged nozzle. Is your filament that's inside the feeder chewed up/has a bite taken out of it?

[dupton 0]

cheers Smithy,  I must try turning off the sensor to get it finished but I have to find a long term solution. my prints take 1 to 2 days on average and I don't want to babysit the machine.    

[dupton 0]

Thanks fbrc8-erin,  how does my filament get ground down?  It looks o.k.  Its PVA Filament thats causiing me the issues and it looks fine on the reel. I cleaned the tubes this morning and might get some new tubing as spares before I change out a reel of material.  I measured the tubing and its 1/4 O.D. 1/8 I.D. clear tubing so I might give that a try before I get into to it futher.

[Smithy 1,144]

If it is PVA which makes the problems, then it is probably too wet and has absorbed too much moisture from the air. It is very sensitive and you should not leave the spool in the air for a longer time. If your prints are mostly 1-2 day prints, then you should consider to by a Polybox or any other solution where your spool is in an airtight container to keep humidity outside.

 

I guess this could be the root cause for your problem. You can dry the PVA spool on the heated print bed overnight or in an oven.

[dupton 0]

I changed to a new  reel of PVA and the first thing I noticed was how ridgid and almost brittle the filament of the new reel is compared to the old reel that I took off. The old reel filament was  very compliable to the touch so hopefully that will solve the issue for me.   I am new to this so I'm trying to build a preventative maintenance mini programe to deal with the histories and issues. The old reel had been sitting on the back of the printer for a few weeks in a spare bedroom.  I did not know how sensitive the PVA filament is. I will build a container to keep it stable but for the time being I have the old reel in the sealed bag that came with the new reel.   fingers crossed!!!!   

 

Thanks again  Smithy.

[Smithy 1,144]

Yes PVA and Nylon are very sensitive. In a hot summer with a lot of humidity a PVA spool can absorb moisture within a few hours. And if you say it feels soft and sticky, then you have found the root cause. Ultimaker says, the humidity should be lower than 40% or something like that, but I have the feeling this is still too much. So try to keep it as low as possible.

 

A sealed bag alone is not enough, you should put some silica gel packs too into the bag and do not forget that these small packs don't last very long. So for a long term solution you should buy something like that: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01JOPJ0HA/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_U_pGpDDb61T4H25 which can be regenerated.

 

But these solutions, regardless if a sealed bag or a box, only helps to keep a good dry spool, dry. To regenerate your wet spool, you have to active dry it. Heat up your print bed to 70°C and put the spool on it. Cover it with a towel and leave it for several hours, overnight or even longer. Then your spool should be dry again. If you want to put it in an oven, be carful that ovens often overshoot the target temperature!

 

There are also a lot of DIY dry box solutions on thingiverse and it doesn't matter which solution you prefer, important is, that you have a solution to keep your PVA spool in a dry place also during printing.

 

 

[Smithy 1,144]

Basically you have these possibilities to keep it dry:

 

• Polmaker PolyBox

 

 

 

• PrintDry Filament Container (for storage only)
  
   
• Lock & Lock Container HSM952 
  This container fits perfectly for one spool
  
• Sealed bags
  
   
• DIY Storage
  

 

 

Personally I use the Polybox, because it looks nice, works great and is not so big compared to the DIY solutions. But every airtight box will do the job when you drill a hole for filament feeding.

 

For storage I bought a bunch of these Lock Lock containers, but only for the sensitive materials, everything else I store without anything.

 

[dupton 0]

That polybox is just what I need so .   I will also have a look for  some sealable containers and get some silica gel while I'm at it. 

I'm using  PLA (white, black , silver) and  natural PVA   filaments  for the time being until I get familiar with the 3D printing process.    Thanks again you've   saved me a lot of hardship on the learning curve!  

 

[Smithy 1,144]

You are welcome!

For PLA you don't need anything and you will be happy with the PolyBox. 

I store my PVA when I am not printing in the lock lock box, but only because I print not very often with PVA. If you print often then just let it in the PolyBox.

 

One more additional information: When you use the Polybox, or every other external holder, then the NFC functionality is not working anymore. So your printer will not detect the spool itself. There are two possibilities, put only the sticker from the spool on the holder during loading or ignore the whole NFC thing and just choose the material on the printer display during loading. The only drawback when you do it manually is, that you then have to choose the "Generic PVA" in Cura and not the Ultimaker one. Otherwise you will get a warning that you have to change the material when you start the print job. The reason for that is, that only NFC detected materials are recognized as Ultimaker materials. As soon as you select it on your own you have to use the generic ones in Cura. But don't worry, both profiles are the same. But you can also override the warning if you want to stay with Ultimaker material selection in Cura, so this would be the 3rd way.

[dupton 0]

That's good to know because I'm in the process of buying a polybox and some storage vessels. there must be a sensor in the spool arm that detects the utimaker pva?

 

[Smithy 1,144]

Yes in the spool holder, there is the NFC tag reader, which is connected to the printer with a short cable. And on the UM spools there is the NFC tag (2x2mm very small) which is under the sticker if I can remember correctly.

 

In my opinion the NFC thing is a nice add-on, but not really needed. So when you don't want to select the material manually, you can put the NFC tag from the spool to the holder or even easier, take out the spool from the poly box and hold the spool to the holder during the load process, then put the spool back. Or you could extend the cable somehow and put the reader in the Polybox, but I don't recommend to do that. 

 

You will see it makes absolutely not difference if you have the PVA spool autodetected by the printer via NFC or if you select it manually from the menu.

[Cymon 5]

Did anyone try this?

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2993354

Is the NFC Chip the same in both printers 3 and S5? 

[Smithy 1,144]

The chip is the same, but the cable is too short, so you have to extend it somehow or better make an extension with a connector that you can reverse it. The thing will work, but why so much effort just to have the spool auto detected instead of manually selecting.  In my opinion it is not worth, but YMMV.

[dupton 0]

at last my polybox has arrived!!! 

 

I want to mount it behind the ultimaker on an extended shelf ( on my old portable computer trolly) to get it as close as possible to the infeeders so I'm wondering can I remove the ultimaker spool holder ? I  have another container for my spare spools and plan to put it on the bottom shelf, currently occupied by the polybox. My ultimate goal is to have a dedicated portable 3d printing station that can be rolled out to trouble shoot the feeder mechanisms should they need attention. 

Edited October 2, 2019 by dupton

[Smithy 1,144]

Of course you can remove the spool holder. Simply press the two clamps together inside, then you can lift up and remove the holder at the back.

[dupton 0]

My polybox readings are , temp 21.5 ,   humidity 28%. Hopefully these values are stable and  adequate for 3d printing.

 

[Smithy 1,144]

28% is already good, it's going to fall even further. The filament will still give some moisture into the air, but after 2-3 days it was 11% for me.

 

But no matter, everything below 30% should be fine.