Ultimaker S3 Printing Major Malfunction

[cosmicfugue 0]

I found the device as in the figure below after leaving a printing process for about 9 hours. The glass mat had come out of the device and fell to the floor. The print core had pressed strongly on the heat table and deep scratches were formed. The filament was stuffed into the print core and clogged.

 

Before starting the process, the device was calibrated. Even if it wasn't calibrated, shouldn't the print head be able to recognize the surface and stop? Couldn't the distance sensor have prevented such massive damage?

 

The clogging problem could be solved somehow, but how to repair the damage to the device and the print core?

[gr5 2,235]

The printer is pretty tough.  I suspect if you push the bed down it will un-crooked itself.

 

The bigger problem is that you have a "head flood".  If this is a brand new printer, contact your reseller.

 

You can fix that with a heat gun and 30 to 60 minutes of patience.  You'll have to throw away the core in slot 1 as I think that error on the screen indicates the head flood damaged the wiring of the left core.  But your printer came with a spare.  And they are consumables like filament (but cheaper in the long run than filament).

 

What caused the head flood?  Either the print head door popped open while printing or the part didn't stick well to the glass.  I'm thinking the later in your case.  I've never had a head flood (thousands of prints) but it can happen to the best of us.  Mainly you might want to learn how to keep your part stuck to the print bed.  But first you need to fix that head flood.  Again, if this printer is brand new, maybe you can get your reseller to fix it or send you a new head.  But if it were me I would break out the heat gun so I could get back to printing today.  I would heat up the BB core as well to help heat things from the inside.  Also after it's fixed make sure that the magnets are working and the print head door takes a little more than a feather touch to pop open.

 

[cosmicfugue 0]

After starting the printing process, I waited for about 10 minutes. The process had begun with the piece adhered to the glass tray. The glass tray was also fixed with clamps. My guess is that because the print core was dragging the glass tray by pushing it open the glass door and threw it out. Will our reseller charge us a service fee to fix the head flood? I think the total fault is not mine.

[gr5 2,235]

Every reseller is different.  If you have to ship the printer to them for them to fix it then likely they will charge you shipping.  Some will fix the head for free after that.  Some might charge $100 per hour for one hour of service.

 

If you live near the reseller and can drop it off that can save you a lot.

 

I don't quite understand the "dragging the glass" issue.  Maybe the autolevel failed.  I've never seen that issue.  I've seen 1000s of issues on this forum and having the glass go out the doors - this is the first ever.  I'd like to see a video of this "dragging the glass" thing but hopefully you won't see it again.

 

Anyway it's not so hard to fix yourself.  Heat the BB core to 200C and get a heat gun and some metal tools such as needle-nose pliers and maybe dental-pick like tools and just get started and take your time.  Don't overheat and melt the white plastic parts.  If this is PLA the softening point of PLA is around 52C and 90C is plenty hot.  The softening temp of that white plastic is around 100C I think and will maintain it's shape if you don't push too hard on it up to maybe 150C.  So it's really not that hard to heat up and remove that head flood.  It just takes an hour.  You could be done already 🙂  I'm kind of kidding - I'm sure you have other things to do.

 

[gr5 2,235]

Let me describe the most common head flood issue in more detail.

 

You don't use any adherents (like glue stick, or better alternatives - like magigoo).  You start printing and the first 2 layers look perfect.  You walk away.  At about 5 to 10mm up, the upper layers shrink and pull up the print off the bed.  At this point if your part is tall and skinny it falls over and you get spaghetti mess.  But if your part is wider than tall - like a hockey puck - it often gets carried around by the print head.

 

As the part is sliding around the print bed, more and more filament is going into the "print" but the print is stuck to the nozzle so the molten filament has nowhere to go and a lot of it backs up into the print head eventually pushing the print head door open.  Meanwhile the part that is being dragged around can hit the sides of the printer, or the printer doors and pop the doors open.  It can even hit the clips that hold the glass down I suppose if it's a large enough print.

 

That's the common problem and the fix is usually to prepare the glass better.  There are other techniques. Using "brim" feature helps as well.  I have a 20 minute video that goes over all the ways to get your parts to NEVER come loose from the glass (well up until you are done printing and it's time to remove the part).

 

[cosmicfugue 0]

Thank you for your support. I'll try to fix the head flood, I'll let you know the result. Maybe it will help someone who has this rare problem. 🙂

[gr5 2,235]

Head floods are probably not rare.  Glass coming out of the printer is rare.