very large vibration when starting print

[justin-woolich 0]

Hi, i have an Ultimaker 2, whenever i start a new print and the print head goes to the start position in the back left of the box it shudders very loudly, it does this for a couple of seconds.

 

It has done this since i received the machine, Is this normal? If not how do i fix it? i dont want to break or damage my new machine.

 

[IRobertI 520]

Nope, that's not normal. It looks like the end stop has moved out of position. Looks like it's the one on the left. Try turning off your machine and move the head slowly to the left, do you hear a faint click sound just before the head physically can't move any further? If you don't try to adjust the switch so that it activates earlier. This is easy to do, just loosen the two screws and push the switch into a better position and re-tighten.

What you're looking for are these two switches. I believe it's the one to the right in the picture that is causing you trouble.

However, if you DO hear a click before you can't move the head any further I would check and make sure that the cable is plugged in correctly in the board underneath the machine. Remove the metal cover and trace the cable from the switch to the board and make sure it's plugged in properly.

 

[gr5 2,177]

Robert gives great advice but also know that you will not cause damage. The UM is designed to withstand this kind of force and the steppers definitely don't care at all if they skip steps (which is partly what is happening).

 

[chelys 0]

It is not a very difficult fix; one or both the axes entering in the print head are not centered.

In the present condition one side the axis could touch the internal panel and the other side is too far from the microswitch.

Move the print head in the middle.

Place your thumb on the bottom of the slider block and use your index finger to push out the axis.

There is no need for excessive force.

Do this on both ends, put the rod in place and click it back in.

 

[lennart-bruggink 3]

Hi guys,

My Ultimaker 2 has arrived yesterday, but it seems to need some tinkering as well to get it running (excitement was bit tempered though). So let's fix it!

The problem described above is one that I also seem have. A lot of noise when homing in.

My first question on this, Should I tighten the bolts in the axis from the drive belt from the step motor? Loose, calibration print is not square ( actually i have no idea what it should look like), Tightened, Motor grinding as in the video from the first post.

when I only loosen the one connected to the motor, it is not always "gripping" in properly when moving the extruder left to right. (see video for what I mean)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/357xmnbkygv0jio/2013-12-20%2017.07.41.3gp

Any tips?

For more info and my second problem:

calibration print:(Minicaltest: believe it or not)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kl7s1gr0znway03/2013-12-20%2016.40.50.jpg

https://www.dropbox.com/s/7qv2bz6wahok6x8/2013-12-20%2016.41.26.3gp

I think its related to the above question. So that one goes first.

another issue om having regarding to leveling and the fan cover hitting the clip:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/mw3keqmavz9uyoo/2013-12-20%2015.18.53.jpg

Any advice on that?

Allright, Thanks in advance!

 

[lennart-bruggink 3]

Robert gives great advice but also know that you will not cause damage. The UM is designed to withstand this kind of force and the steppers definitely don't care at all if they skip steps (which is partly what is happening).

 

I Really like that you clarified this,

as i was in shock the first time it happened

 

[lennart-bruggink 3]

OK i have done some adjustments,

and it works!

My conclusion: the metal is really weak from the home "clipper" and in a relaxed state it missed the header home.

This is my improvised version:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/de9ox1plq61zohf/2013-12-21%2014.17.31.jpg

( some tape and pads for furniture ( thanks to Ikea))

and a video on how it homes properly now:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8pnyeejde7ze1dj/2013-12-21%2014.24.33.3gp

This evening i will make a calibration test print again: still some issues remain!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/8pnyeejde7ze1dj/2013-12-21%2014.24.33.3gp

Cheers,

Lennart

 

[gr5 2,177]

Yikes. Your UM2 is in bad shape. First of all in the first video you posted I could clearly see that the X axis was moving - I think you were probably pushing it - but the stepper motor wasn't turning. One of the set screws needs tightening - fix that first! It's very easy - there are very small screws to tighten the pulleys to the shaft. Tighten those a lot - very very tight. Then when you push the head back and forth the stepper motor should move also. This may help solve your limit switch issue.

The second problem is your print head isn't assembled properly. In this picture here you can see that the right side of the head - near the bottom has a huge gap making the bottom plate, the fans and the fan shrouds all crooked. This is a problem which will make the right fan shroud touch your clips that hold the glass on. Also it might hit your parts as you are printing.

To fix this I think you need to loosen the 4 very long screws, reposition the bottom plate and tighten again. Possibly/likely you only need to loosen the two screws on the right.

[lennart-bruggink 3]

Yikes. Your UM2 is in bad shape. First of all in the first video you posted I could clearly see that the X axis was moving - I think you were probably pushing it - but the stepper motor wasn't turning. One of the set screws needs tightening - fix that first! It's very easy - there are very small screws to tighten the pulleys to the shaft. Tighten those a lot - very very tight. Then when you push the head back and forth the stepper motor should move also. This may help solve your limit switch issue.

 

 

Done! It seems to have solved the problem for hitting the clips too, as i am now printing a cal test:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/afpehlr9na2fch2/2013-12-21%2021.43.12.3gp

(see the video for the first calibration print, and second in action)

Some issues with the edges remain, however. I am now grinding the forums to look for how to improve this.

Any tips, as usual, are welcome.

Sidenote: I did use the glue stick that came with the UM2, but it wasn't helping so I scratched the glue off again. This gave more grip.

 

The second problem is your print head isn't assembled properly. In this picture here you can see that the right side of the head - near the bottom has a huge gap making the bottom plate, the fans and the fan shrouds all crooked. This is a problem which will make the right fan shroud touch your clips that hold the glass on. Also it might hit your parts as you are printing.

To fix this I think you need to loosen the 4 very long screws, reposition the bottom plate and tighten again. Possibly/likely you only need to loosen the two screws on the right.

 

The crooked fan shroud indeed remains, but luckily now is not yet a limiting factor anymore. I was already thinking of loosening the fan.

Also fresh from the press: (dutch saying translated in english)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/kl4wk9saq5vcghx/2013-12-21%2022.12.27.jpg

https://www.dropbox.com/s/acbpat3ze30v67x/2013-12-21%2022.12.21.jpg

Cheers!

Lennart

 

[gr5 2,177]

Much better!

I see the bottom of your test print is lifting off the bed. Time to start using the glue stick again.

Also I see lots of stringing between the two posts. You can reduce that to nothing if you want although it means slowing down printing:

ultimaker2 retraction settings

There are 6 retraction related settings:

1) Make sure retraction is checked on basic/quality

2) In expert settings set minimum travel to 0mm or at least something small like 1mm.

3) In expert settings set "minimal extrusion..." to 0mm. I hate this setting right now.

4) In expert settings you can set "combing" on or off - it shouldn't make a huge difference for this part. Lately turning this "off" seems better in the current version of Cura but in the next version it might be best to turn it back on.

5,6) On the printer, you can control retraction there also Leave the retraction speed alone but change the retraction amount from 4.5mm to 5.5mm.

 

 

[gr5 2,177]

To fix this I think you need to loosen the 4 very long screws, reposition the bottom plate and tighten again. Possibly/likely you only need to loosen the two screws on the right.

 

Looks good now. You must have fixed it.

 

[lennart-bruggink 3]

Cool, I will try the retraction settings tomorrow! ( it's bedtime here)

I need to configure Cura as well, but that is something for tomorrow/ later date.

Fun times, and thanks Gr5!

 

[lennart-bruggink 3]

So now with the glue stick and the retraction settings to 5.5 some better prints have been made.

Coffins cube (still havent solved it):

https://www.dropbox.com/s/f0ze4spoce26qzy/2013-12-22%2019.15.54.jpg

Ultimaker brobot printing in action:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/hjdmfznseh24apx/2013-12-22%2017.14.34.jpg

all in all, Looks good!

some minor overhang improvement is needed.

I'm going to print something more intricate first and see how Cura handles it.

Cheers!

 

[gr5 2,177]

Wait - what? Coffin's cube? Is that "stewart coffin"? I know him. My mom is dating him. He gives me puzzles all the time. Nice guy.

He has something like 300 puzzles invented. Each of which probably took him a month to dream up and create the tooling to make them in wood. He's working on a new book showing/discussing all his puzzles. And he's still making new puzzles but he's mostly retired.

 

[lennart-bruggink 3]

Hey Gr5 ( George?)

Yeah "The coffin's cube" .

it was on the disk when UM2 shipped so i wanted to print it

Cool that you know him, it's like a small world afterall! ( STILL haven't solved it btw)

Anyway, check out my new 8 hour print ( with 3 hours of support and retraction problem cleaning)!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/wf0rvxyvfqwvjnb/2013-12-23%2020.26.59.jpg

https://www.dropbox.com/s/5lhjrtbejxq593e/2013-12-23%2020.27.11.jpg

and after cleaning

https://www.dropbox.com/s/3mt7ycrwieiqjem/2013-12-24%2000.03.09.jpg

https://www.dropbox.com/s/1al1acnkbf0omzb/2013-12-24%2000.03.31.jpg

( retraction settings: only the onboard retraction was set to 5.5 instead of 4.5)

Actually the support generated was a pain to remove together with the stringing, thus I think next time I will generate it with Meshmixer.

Also the overhangs are a problem, but the print came out really nice for one of the first prints.

Cheers!

Lennart

 

[lennart-bruggink 3]

Hi!

I have some questions:

 

Much better!

I see the bottom of your test print is lifting off the bed. Time to start using the glue stick again.

Also I see lots of stringing between the two posts. You can reduce that to nothing if you want although it means slowing down printing:

ultimaker2 retraction settings

There are 6 retraction related settings:

1) Make sure retraction is checked on basic/quality

>> done

2) In expert settings set minimum travel to 0mm or at least something small like 1mm.

>> will 0.5 work too or should it be 0.1?

3) In expert settings set "minimal extrusion..." to 0mm. I hate this setting right now.

>>Why should this help? Can I expect grinding issues with this one going at 0?

4) In expert settings you can set "combing" on or off - it shouldn't make a huge difference for this part. Lately turning this "off" seems better in the current version of Cura but in the next version it might be best to turn it back on.

>> I will leave it on for now. If issues persist perhaps i will turn it off ( Cura 13.11.2 right now)

5,6) On the printer, you can control retraction there also Leave the retraction speed alone but change the retraction amount from 4.5mm to 5.5mm.

>> done and done

 

 

Ok,

When more issues arrise I will check back in.

Again thanks, Gr5

 

[gr5 2,177]

>>>2) In expert settings set minimum travel to 0mm or at least something small like 1mm.

>> will 0.5 work too or should it be 0.1?

Whatever you want for here - if you set it to 0.5 then it will only retract if it is jumping over gaps larger than .5. I change this for every print. If I know all my gaps should be > 5mm I set it to 5mm. That way it won't screw up and retract for inside moves.

>>>3) In expert settings set "minimal extrusion..." to 0mm. I hate this setting right now.

>>Why should this help? Can I expect grinding issues with this one going at 0?

Illuminarti did a print with something like a kilometer of retraction. A kilometer! And it didn't grind up the filament at all. Just set this to 0 for the Ultimaker 2 and the UM Original if it has the extruder upgrade.

 

[gr5 2,177]

>>>3) In expert settings set "minimal extrusion..." to 0mm. I hate this setting right now.

>>Why should this help? Can I expect grinding issues with this one going at 0?

This is the minimal extrusion of 3mm filament. It turns out that there is a 200X factor for .1mm layers. In other words if you do all the math, 1mm of extrusion translates to laying down 200mm of "trace" or "filament line". So for example if you have 2 cubes 50mm on a side with a gap in between it WILL NOT do retraction if it only does the outer shells before jumping back to the other box if this is set to 1mm.

Of course if you do .2mm layers it uses more filament and 1mm filament translates to only 100mm of "line". .1mm translates to 10mm of line (if .2mm layers). And so on. I just memorize the first set of values (1mm this setting = 200mm travel at .1mm layer height).