so many problems S5

[harrelsontrumpet 0]

So I've owned 4 Ultimaker printers and never had a problem I couldn't easily fix.

 

This new S5 is so much more difficult.

 

1) The Ultimaker brand PVA doesn't feed reliably and stops through even the shortest of prints. I have cleaned the nozzle and it still stops working.

 

2) There's a way to connect my printer to my local wifi network, which I have done. But Cura is asking me to connect it again with an IP address. My computer lists over a dozen IP addresses and none of them are the correct format according to this dumb software. On top of that, the printer did not come with any instructions on connecting to the network and I cannot find any reference to instructions on the Ultimaker website. This is very frustrating.

 

3) There is no way to load print jobs from my computer, but only through USB. Why was it advertised as the opposite?

 

Overall, I'm not impressed with the user interface and technology since I can't get these features to work.

Does anyone at Ultimaker care to share the magical steps necessary to make this printer work?

[Carla_Birch 116]

User Manual

https://ultimaker.com/download/74047/UM180509 UMS5 Manual V18.1.pdf

 

1) You might need to adjust the feeder tension, also PVA gets wet fast and that can give feed problems.

2) check user manual

3) Yes you can, You upload them via wifi, ethernet or cloud

Edited March 17, 2020 by Carla_Birch

[gandy 10]

@Carla_Birch We have the same problem with PVA on the S5, here. Both with and without the material station, PVA appears to be so brittle, it breaks very often during transport to the printcore. Once, it even shattered to small pieces inside the extruder enclosure so we had to dismantle it to get everything out. Adjusting the feeder tension is something we had thought about just recently, but is there a suggested procedure of doing that? I assume the tension has to be smaller, but how can I see when it is too small or even has the right tension? Any help or pointing in the right direction is highly appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Andy.

[harrelsontrumpet 0]

We switched to an aftermarket brand of PVA and the printer is working very well now. I would avoid the Ultimaker brand of PVA (and other filaments) as they have caused a lot of problems for us when working in previous generations of Ultimaker printers.

The original branded PVA that came with the S5 was so brittle, it could rarely be fed into the machine and yes, it did shatter inside the bowden tube numerous times. This was NOT because it was "wet". It was 99.9% dry AND humidity in the room is only 8%.

[Carla_Birch 116]

On 3/31/2020 at 7:04 AM, gandy said:

@Carla_Birch We have the same problem with PVA on the S5, here. Both with and without the material station, PVA appears to be so brittle, it breaks very often during transport to the printcore. Once, it even shattered to small pieces inside the extruder enclosure so we had to dismantle it to get everything out. Adjusting the feeder tension is something we had thought about just recently, but is there a suggested procedure of doing that? I assume the tension has to be smaller, but how can I see when it is too small or even has the right tension? Any help or pointing in the right direction is highly appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Andy.

If the PVA is brittle i would personally try drying it out as it can take on water very fast, this is why i store mine in a polybox and print from it.

 

First up i would give the feeder a good clean inside if you been having a problem with PVA, because you find all little bits inside. then with a dry out spool or another new fresh open spool load it up and do some test prints. For the tension its kinda a guess work deal to be true, you don't want it to tight where its digging in what could snap the filament but then you don't want it to loose where it could slip and dig a chunk out of the filament and stop feeding.

 

So it's one of them where you need to look at some the filament from out the tube and see what the grip marks are like on it.

[SandervG 1,521]

Hello, thank you for your feedback. Did you eventually figure out step 2 and 3? 

Regarding PVA, this is a very sensitive material to print with and certainly has its challenges. This is because it dissolves in water, which makes it absorb moist from the air too. Loading it in the Material station is a good method to keep it dry, but it is important to realise that it doesn't make it dry. It is not a dryer. 

It is recommended to dry PVA before you start using it, to remove any moist that got in there even before it was sealed. If you can then load it in your Material station, you should be pretty safe. If you don't have a material station, try to store it in a dry location, preferably sealed with silica packs. 

 

The default tension on your feeder is right in the middle. You could try to set it a little bit higher (so the indicator goes higher too), but not by much. Talking millimetres here. 

 

If you found other PVA that works better, I'm glad you found a method and material that works for you. That is one of the benefits of having an open material system! Have a great day and stay safe!