No extrusion when starting print

[daveholbrook 0]

This post is with regards to my new Ultimaker 2 which I received less than a week ago.

I've already posted this morning regarding a problem but thought I should keep this separate as it is a different problem.

Every time I switch on to try to print the print begins but no material is extruded. If left then material does eventually extrude half way through the print (resulting in a useless ball of material).

What I usually do is abort the print and then heat the extruded head up to 260 and then feed some material through to get it started.

Am I doing something wrong here or is my machine faulty?

Surely I am not expected to do this every time?

I must say that with this being the second problem with my Ultimaker 2 immediately after removing it from the box I am pretty disappointed so far.

[anthonyt 0]

Sometimes the PLA drains out if the nozzle is hot but not printing (like from the end of your last print).

I found that making a simple change to the start.gcode (found from Cura in the Start/End-GCode tab) to make more filament extrude in the beginning, here is the new portion of code (commented old line, newline added below):

;G1 F200 E3 ;extrude 3mm of feed stock

G1 E14 F300 ;14mm at 300mm/s

 

[illuminarti 18]

Changing the start gcode won't help for the UM2, in its default mode as the start/end gcode is implemented on the printer itself, whereas its configurable for the UM1.

However, as Anthony says, plastic can tend to ooze from the head if it's sat with the nozzle hot, so that when the print starts, it doesn't always extrude at first, until the nozzle has refilled with plastic.

Have you updated to the latest firmware? (As shipped with last week's release of Cura 13.12?) There's a bug in that that causes excessive retraction at the filament after you abort a print. Could that be the problem? For now the preheat and manually advance option is the best fix, but hopefully they will have a fix for that very soon.

Don't give up hope! These are new machines, and there are still some teething problems. But UM is working hard to fix them, and there are a lot of folks on here who can help with any issues you run into. The results from the printer can be stunning, so don't get downhearted - you picked a great printer, and it will give you some great results.

 

[gr5 1,710]

260C is dangerously hot for PLA. If you let it sit long at that temp it is likely to boil and turn to gunk and clog your tip. This temp is okay when you are printing fast though e.g. 200mm/sec .1mm layers or 100mm/sec .2mm layers.

If I'm not in a rush I print at temps between 190C and 220C.