S5 Pro Material Station Maintenance

[TrueNorth 3]

Our UMS5 Pro has been running long enough to need bearings and bowden collets replaced. Having purchased it new less than 6 months ago, these machines apparently are high-maintenance and finicky. (I documented 5 errors and nearly as many shutdowns within the last 12 hours.)

 

Is there any preventative maintence that should be done to keep the material station happy? I'm concerned about clogged feeders and blocked sensors causing errors mid-print. My search for UM documentation on the subject has not landed any results. I'd be glad to hear what other Pro users have found helpful. 

Edited July 21, 2020 by TrueNorth

[ICarrE12020 0]

I was also looking for this information last week, and had no success, hopefully someone on here can help. 

[SandervG 1,522]

Hello, there are no specific (preventative) maintenance tips recommended for the Material Station. For example, it has bowden tubes just like the Ultimaker S5, which need to be replaced once a year. But the bowden tubes for the Ultimaker S5 are being removed occasionally if you need to clean a print core and for the material station they are not. The deprime sequence should also ensure a clean tip of the filament, which besides the other benefits that it brings, also means it shouldn't scratch the inside of the bowden tube. 

 

The feeder wheel is of a slightly different design so it shouldn't hold any particles, so there would also be no need to clean that. 

 

Let me know if you feel unsure about any specific part in the Material Station. Have a great day,

[TrueNorth 3]

2 hours ago, SandervG said:

...the bowden tubes for the Ultimaker S5 are being removed occasionally if you need to clean a print core and for the material station they are not. The deprime sequence should also ensure a clean tip of the filament, which besides the other benefits that it brings, also means it shouldn't scratch the inside of the bowden tube. 

 

The feeder wheel is of a slightly different design so it shouldn't hold any particles, so there would also be no need to clean that. 

 

Fascinating. Your insights are helpful. On more than one occasion I have had difficulty with the getting the MS to respond to  a new filament being inserted for loading, and assumed there was a buildup of filament dust/shreds on/in/behind/around/in front of (not sure of the sensor concept employed in the design) that kept the MS from recognizing the insertion of new filament. I've been having quite a number of issues with the Pro Bundle over all, and at this point any little glitch makes me jumpy. Thought it would be better to know what and how to keep it working rather than helplessly (and irrationally)  hoping it doesn't cause another failed print.

 

That being said, I do hope the MS continues to stablize as it ages. It's a wonderful piece of hardware, but the software seems to be a bit soft yet, and needs time and patience to mature. 

Edited July 22, 2020 by TrueNorth
additional thoughts, edited for a positive tone.

[SandervG 1,522]

It is definitely a fair question, good for asking! If you need any support / insights on certain behaviour you are seeing feel free to create a new thread in the community and we can see what we can do 🙂