Couple of small problems.......

[rx2mazda 0]

Hello all, got a couple issues I'm trying to get solved now.

1. Trying to clean this print up. Im getting these bumps on the outside wall where the printer starts/stops and moves to the next layer. I'm printing on an Ultimaker Original with a .65mm nozzle. I'm printing with ColorFabb PLA and I'm printing Hot 235-245 and at 75mm/s, .8 shell thickness, .5 Layer height. Retraction is stock setting at : Speed = 40, Distance 4.5. Do I need to tweak the Retraction settings since I'm using the bigger nozzle? Any tips would be appreciated!

2. I keep getting a "Heating Failed" error. Only happens when the Head is hot and I try to print back to back fast. Turning the Ultimaker Off then On solves the problem. I read on here that it's caused by the temperature not climbing over 20 degrees within 40 seconds? Any idea why this is happening?

Having a fun time printing and getting to know this new machine! Hopefully I'll learn a lot a be able to give back to this community soon.

 

[illuminarti 18]

Have you updated the firmware - I think the heating failed issue was fixed a long time ago?

Regarding the z-scar, see my blog post:

http://www.extrudable.me/2013/04/02/the-myth-of-z-speed/

[rx2mazda 0]

Have you updated the firmware - I think the heating failed issue was fixed a long time ago?

Regarding the z-scar, see my blog post:

http://www.extrudable.me/2013/04/02/the-myth-of-z-speed/

 

Thanks for the tip, I will try to adjust my z-speed. I don't see where I can adjust that though, can you point me in the right direction? I'm running Cura 14.01 on my MacBook. Thanks!

Yes, I updated the firmware. At least I thought I did. Can a check the firmware version on the Ulticontroller? Where can I get the latest firmware download? Thanks again!

 

[gr5 2,172]

Cura 14.01 comes with a relatively new version of the firmware for UM original - maybe only a few months old. So once you load Cura 14.01 you can do a firmware upgrade if you haven't already. Just takes a minute and a USB cable.

Those bumps are usually improved by slowing down your printing speed by 2X but that's kind of a crappy solution. Speeding up your Z acceleration is a great solution.

 

will try to adjust my z-speed

 

I think you missed the point of the article - leave Z speed alone but increase acceleration.

In ulticontroller there are many "motion" settings including accelerations max speeds, jerk, steps per mm.

When I set my Z acceleration to Illuminarti's suggested value it was too much for my stepper. It looked good and sounded good but when I moved up and down 20mm repeatedly it didn't come back to the same spot. I ended up simply doubling the Z acceleration. After you change it, you must choose the "save" feature in the same menu or it will go back to default values when you power cycle your UM. I recommend you save and power cycle and make sure the value is still correct before printing anything.

I have a .65mm nozzle and I love it. In cura just tell it the nozzle is .65mm. I usually do layer heights of .2mm.

There are other ways to get rid of "bumps" and they all have to do with slicing. One needs to know EXACTLY what is happening when the bump appears. Is it really the Z scar? Or something similar but different? Is it infill pushing through? Is it right before retraction? Right after retraction? Is it when slowing down after a long, straight, fast extrusion line?

 

[rx2mazda 0]

Cura 14.01 comes with a relatively new version of the firmware for UM original - maybe only a few months old. So once you load Cura 14.01 you can do a firmware upgrade if you haven't already. Just takes a minute and a USB cable.

Those bumps are usually improved by slowing down your printing speed by 2X but that's kind of a crappy solution. Speeding up your Z acceleration is a great solution.

I think you missed the point of the article - leave Z speed alone but increase acceleration.

In ulticontroller there are many "motion" settings including accelerations max speeds, jerk, steps per mm.

When I set my Z acceleration to Illuminarti's suggested value it was too much for my stepper. It looked good and sounded good but when I moved up and down 20mm repeatedly it didn't come back to the same spot. I ended up simply doubling the Z acceleration. After you change it, you must choose the "save" feature in the same menu or it will go back to default values when you power cycle your UM. I recommend you save and power cycle and make sure the value is still correct before printing anything.

I have a .65mm nozzle and I love it. In cura just tell it the nozzle is .65mm. I usually do layer heights of .2mm.

There are other ways to get rid of "bumps" and they all have to do with slicing. One needs to know EXACTLY what is happening when the bump appears. Is it really the Z scar? Or something similar but different? Is it infill pushing through? Is it right before retraction? Right after retraction? Is it when slowing down after a long, straight, fast extrusion line?

 

In that case, I did update the firmware when I went through the initial setup. I'm still getting this Heating Failed error repeatedly...ugh.

Sorry it was really late and I was tired lol. I did understant the article and I want to adjust my Z-accel. Can that only be done on the Ulticontroller? I will do it only the Ulitcontroller though, thanks for the info!

I'll inspect the cause of the bumps more today to see exactly whats causing it.

I've been searching the forums and Google Groups but, I can't seem to figure out how to use a plugin?! I am a pretty computer savy guy so I feel embarrassed even asking here. When I click "Open Plugin Location" in Cura it brings up an empty Plugin folder in my Finder. How do I download these .py files and get them into the Plugin folder? Sorry for all the NOOB questions.

 

[rx2mazda 0]

Took a video of the blob. Looks like it happens when the head starts extruding at the beginning of a new layer. I got around this problem by thickening the outer wall but, I would like to be able to print faster with the thinner wall.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RY0P7Nk0dnI

Still can't figure out how to add Plugins, any tips would help. Thanks!

 

[gr5 2,172]

I'm not a mac person. Someone else might help. Or google this forum for mac plugin. You have to put them in the right folder and the correct folder might not even exist yet so you just "have to know" the name. So if no one else answers search the forums.

 

[gr5 2,172]

Can that only be done on the Ulticontroller?

 

You can do it using prontrface also if you don't have an ulticontroller. You can get prontrface here - it's free:

http://koti.kapsi.fi/~kliment/printrun/

I think prontrface will help you set all those parameters up - it certainly queries Marlin for you and displays all the motion settings such as acceleration in the window on the right. You might have to look up the gcodes for setting Z acceleration but it's very simple. Here is the complete list of gcodes (scroll way down):

https://github.com/ErikZalm/Marlin/

more details on gcodes here:

http://reprap.org/wiki/G-code

 

[gr5 2,172]

Took a video of the blob. Looks like it happens when the head starts extruding at the beginning of a new layer.

 

Oh - that. You need to retract. Is retraction on? Look at the extruder gear - it should turn backwards on moves like this. Also you can look in cura layer view and non-extruding moves are blue lines. If the blue line has a vertical component (a vertical line) at the start then that is a symbolic representation of retraction. If no vertical line then your retraction settings aren't right (there are 5 settings).

Also I recommend this part - it makes it so 4.5mm is plenty of retraction. Without this part you need more like 6mm retraction:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:46157

 

 

[rx2mazda 0]

Oh - that. You need to retract. Is retraction on? Look at the extruder gear - it should turn backwards on moves like this. Also you can look in cura layer view and non-extruding moves are blue lines. If the blue line has a vertical component (a vertical line) at the start then that is a symbolic representation of retraction. If no vertical line then your retraction settings aren't right (there are 5 settings).

Also I recommend this part - it makes it so 4.5mm is plenty of retraction. Without this part you need more like 6mm retraction:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:46157

 

 

Thanks so much, that clip made a big difference! Retraction was always on but I made some changes and its doing much better now.

I'm still having this "heating failed" issue which is a real pain! I need to hot lap the printer and I can't. After every print I have to cycle the power switch or I get slow heating then the "heating failed" error. Maybe I have a bad heating element or Temp sensor. When a print is finished and the printhead is at, say 220 and falling and I try to start another the print, the temp will go down a degree or two and then slowly start climbing back. Then I get the heating failed and lets say the temp is at 225 when it fails. If I turn the Printer off and on again, the temp now shows way lower, say 85...then I start a print and it builds up faster/normal to target temp.

Any ideas. Is there way to properly check this?

 

[gr5 2,172]

Set the temp to 95C and then touch water to the nozzle and make sure it doesn't boil. Push the head around to the 4 corners and check to see if the temp jumps by more than 5C suddenly.

Now set the temp to 105C and make sure it *does* boil water. Again push the head around to the 4 corners and make sure the temp doesn't jump suddenly.

Hopefully this test will fail and now you have something more direct to debug. The art of debugging is to first get it to fail repeatedly. Then try to get it to work by doing something that is consistent, then repeat the cycle until you understand the failure and a way to fix it.

If the above test fails I would turn off the printer, put it on it's side and remove the head temp cable and hook it to an ohm meter. Look up the correct resistances for a PT100 RTD and jiggle the wiring to see if the resistance jumps around.

This table is good - room temp is around 108 ohms:

http://www.intech.co.nz/products/temperature/typert.html

 

[rx2mazda 0]

Ok, thanks! I'll test it when I get home.

 

[rx2mazda 0]

Set the temp to 95C and then touch water to the nozzle and make sure it doesn't boil. Push the head around to the 4 corners and check to see if the temp jumps by more than 5C suddenly.

Now set the temp to 105C and make sure it *does* boil water. Again push the head around to the 4 corners and make sure the temp doesn't jump suddenly.

Hopefully this test will fail and now you have something more direct to debug. The art of debugging is to first get it to fail repeatedly. Then try to get it to work by doing something that is consistent, then repeat the cycle until you understand the failure and a way to fix it.

If the above test fails I would turn off the printer, put it on it's side and remove the head temp cable and hook it to an ohm meter. Look up the correct resistances for a PT100 RTD and jiggle the wiring to see if the resistance jumps around.

This table is good - room temp is around 108 ohms:

http://www.intech.co.nz/products/temperature/typert.html

 

I hope I'm doing this right.....I tested the water boiling by taking a small bottle cap filled with water and touching it to the nozzle. When I did that I got this on the screen of my Ulticontroller.. .....

Is this normal? Once I cycled it, it was back to normal. Do I just dip it in and out of the water quickly and wait to see if the water boils off or leave it in the water and wait for tiny bubbles around the nozzle? Either way, I had to set my Nozzle Temp to 130 before the water would boil! Moving the head around didn't make the temp jump at all.

I tried to test the resistance of the temp sensor too but I was having issues. I unplugged the Power and tried to test resistance by pulling the connector from the board and probing the two outside wires of the 3 wire connector and got no ohm readings. I then plugged the power back in, turned the Printer on and checked resistance at the connector that plugs into the transmitter and got a normal reading of 108 ohms at 21 degrees. Then I left the printer powered on and turned it on it's side so I could try to test the sensor . I probed the back of the Temp1 connector while it was still plugged in and got the same readings. Unplugged I couldn't get anything,

Something weird is definitely going on. I have to print at 240-250 with PLA to get good melt. That goes well with the fact that my water isn't boiling until the sensor reads 30 degrees above boiling point.