Material Sync not working

[ElizabethT 0]

Hi @MariMakes

 

I'm having issues trying to sync my materials as well, when trying to sync over the network it stays syncing forever and never says "done". When exporting from usb, won't show mw a file to save and if I just type a name for the umm file, when I take it to the printer it says that there's no new profiles. This is not the first time, but in this particular case I can't use a generic setting. What could I be doing wrong?

 

Thank you

[MariMakes 203]

Hey @ElizabethT,

 

I've split of your post to a seperate topic because I believe you might be running into a different issue.

 

What materials do you want to sync?
Are you working with materials from the marketplace or with your own custom materials?
These two have a slightly different workflow. 😉

 

[Trlby 0]

I've always had a Sync problem with my S5 Bundle via my local network.

 

This is just another example of the CURA software not being well implemented for Ultimaker systems. Ultimaker seems to be still stuck in the "hobby" business mindset and should make CURA releases that are specific to only Ultimaker's systems. The software now is bloated and has too many bugs, with a very poor GUI by trying to accommodate the general public.

[MariMakes 203]

Hey @Trlby,

 

I'm sorry to hear that is how you feel about our products.
We work hard to make it fit needs of all kinds of customers.
But the best way we can do that is to listen to constructive feedback. 

Next time you are stuck sending materials I personally follow these troubleshooting steps. 
https://support.ultimaker.com/hc/en-us/articles/360016857859-How-to-troubleshoot-issues-with-material-printer-synchronization-

[Trlby 0]

Thanks Marimakes,

 

Most of my frustration is with CURA and how it interfaces with the S5 Bundle... the printer (when it's behaving) is great. The problems occur, when something goes wrong, and you're forced to shut the  system down and start all over.  Just now I received an ER65 error telling me my #2 extruder wasn't happy. I used the QR code and Ultimaker's website is down. But knowing that there's no real information there on why it stopped working, I just hit OK. I was sent back to the main screen on the S5, and clicked on to continue... and it started right back were it left off... NO ER65 anymore.  But what really gets me frustrated is seeing this happen when running parts overnight... and then when checking in using the Digital Factory, to get only a printing is  "paused"  message...  So I lose half a day, since I can't rely on the S5 Bundle to be smart enough to get past this automatically through the night. 

 

This just started happening since my last firmware upgrade... figure that. 

 

 

 

I tried that link you posted only to get timed out.... see below.

 

 

 

[MariMakes 203]

Hey @Trlby,

 

I'm sorry to hear that you are having so many problems.

We did a migration on monday and not all links seem to be working as expecting. 
This should now be the correct link for the support page. 
https://support.ultimaker.com/hc/en-us/articles/360016857859

[vagredajr007 2]

Well here we are a year later and my printer is connected, Cura is up to date, and yet sync materials just spins and spins.  I managed to get it to sync ONCE -- and never again. On the Mac, it freezes up Cura entirely if you cancel out of the sync attempt. I now have the curious situation where Cura sees my S5 locally connected (blue check) but in Sync Materials shows the blue cloud icon... Either way, it is impossible to sync materials, causing major issues with printing some PLA that has different thermal properties and I need to adjust settings. We're wasting time and money on this and Makerbot seems to just not care. 

Edited September 8, 2023 by vagredajr007
Update

[vagredajr007 2]

USB sync also failed. The S5 does not see the .umm file that is on the properly formatted drive. I tried 2 drives, both were seen by the printer but when I try to import it says no new material profiles were found. I hope Ultibot/Makermaker takes this seriously because it's a real pain and reeks of anticompetitive behavior (ironic considering how good Cura is otherwise).

[FSPA 0]

I'm having the same problem with the S5 bundle. I managed to get it to sync once about a year ago and I've spent countless hours trying all of the suggestions found in this thread and others on here. Why is this still a problem? Ultimaker, you can see from the comments here that this is a recurring problem. Please provide a fix!!

[Elquattro 0]

As i just found out, i'm having the exact same issue - a fix or troubleshooting guide would be nice

[jeremymorgan 3]

Same problem with my S3.

 

Network Sync just spins.

Tried USB again and again, but just says 'No new materials'..

Tried re-flashing the S3 completely (SD micro card) - no difference.

 

I get the feeling that UM/Makerbot don't care, as long as their own brand materials are supported.

[MariMakes 203]

Hey hey, 

 

Quick update on our side. 

We've seen some reports that it might be related to a change in Cura 5.8.

This change to be exact.

Can you let us know if using an older version of Cura solves your problem here? 
The team is working on a solution to resolve this. 

 

Thanks for your report 👍

[jeremymorgan 3]

 

@MariMakes

Yes, I spent some time on this yesterday and managed to figure out a workaround. It is indeed related to the change you indicated in your post i.e. the material XML files have element String values that the printer rejects when it tries to load them. This occurs when using Cloud Sync or a USB stick.

 

The workaround involves manually editing the material XML to fix the errors, then transferring them to the printer manually.

 

I have written a guide for this which I will post below if anyone wants to try before the issue is fixed in Cura.

[jeremymorgan 3]

MATERIAL SYNC WORKAROUND

 

This is caused by problem data in the XML material files that Cura creates. When the printer tries to parse them it fails because some element values have String fields e.g. 'yes', instead of a number value e.g. '1'.

In a nutshell, the fix is to edit the custom material files, then manually transfer them to the printer. YOU NEED TO HAVE DEVELOPER MODE ENABLED ON THE PRINTER SO THAT SSH CONNECTION IS POSSIBLE.

SSH login credentials are username: root, password: 'ultimaker'.

In Cura, custom material files are saved in e.g. C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\cura\<curaversion>\materials

The filenames are in the format '<description>.xml.fdm_material' (I'm not sure where they are saved on Linux/Mac.)

When creating a new material in Cura, either use 'Create new', or if 'Duplicating' a material from the burger menu, make sure that you immediately 'Unlink' it. I believe the latter means that it gets its own GUID.

You can then edit the material XML files to fix the errors. Optional: The files contain machine definitions for the newer UM printers (in '<machine>' XML elements), so you can just trim out these XML sections for printers that are not relevant to you. This makes the files more manageable.

Elements I found to have problems in my materials files were:
'adhesion tendency'
'no load move factor'
'anti ooze retract position'

All of these had 'yes' or 'no' rather than a numeric value.

Once edited and fixed, copy the files to another safe location on the PC, so that Cura won't overwrite them. Then copy them to the printer (use SSH), and put into /usr/share/fdm_materials. Restart printer. The new materials should now appear in the list on the printer.

N.B. these will get overwritten if the printer firmware is updated, so keep the modified files safe and simply SSH them to the printer again following the firmware update.

VARIATION ON ABOVE IF YOU WANT NICER FILE NAMES

One issue with letting Cura create the files (under 'Create new' button) is that it names them 'custom 1', 'custom 2' etc. so they are not clear what material they are for without opening them.

If you want more descriptive material XML file names, then do the following:

1) Using SSH, copy a material XML file from the printer that is similar to the one you are adding (from /usr/share/fdm_materials) to your PC.
2) Give it a new filename matching the type/colour of filament.
3) Use an online GUID generator to create a new GUID in the same format that is already used in the file. You can use e.g.https://guidgenerator.com/
4) Set the GUID field in the material XML file to the generated GUID.
5) Edit other elements in the file to suit the new filament, in particular the <name> elements.
6) Keep the modified file safe in a dedicated folder on your PC.
7) Import the modified file into Cura ('Import' button).
😎 Copy the modified file into the printer /usr/share/fdm_materials folder using SSH.
9) Restart the printer

It may be possible to load the materials into the printer using the USB stick method. You cannot use the 'Sync materials with USB' option to create the file as Cura will create corrupted XML - even from the materials that you just imported .

The way around this is to create the .umm file yourself. This is simply a ZIP file renamed with a .umm file extension. Use a ZIP utility e.g. 7-Zip or Windows built-in compression tools. Rename the zip file so that it has a .umm extension. Then copy the file to s USB stick and transfer to the printer in the normal manner ('Maintenance' -> 'Import material profiles'.). Disclaimer: I haven't tried this method myself yet.

TROUBLESHOOTING

The way I discovered the problem was by looking at the printer's log file.

If you find a material will not load, there may be another XML element with a problem, or a typo etc.

You can look at the relevant part of the printer's log file by opening an SSH terminal session (e.g. use putty) and run the following command:

journalctl -u griffin * | grep MaterialService > /root/log

Then view the log file using:
vi /root/log

Look for the phrase 'failed to load material profile from:'. The text after this will give a clue to the problem.

[FredericM 1]

Hi!

 

Sadly, this issue slipped through our Cura QC checks for the 5.8 release. We fixed an issue with how settings were saved in Cura, but that caused quite a bit bigger bug of the 3rd party materials not syncing with the printer.

 

We're working on a fix and can hopefully release fix soon. In the meantime, you can download Cura 5.7.2 to sync your material to the printer. Once this is on there, you can continue using Cura 5.8 to slice and print.

Edited August 26 by FredericM

[MariMakes 203]

Earlier today we released a Cura 5.8.1 with a fix for this issue. 🎉

The updates are:

• Fixed an issue where materials could not be synced to UltiMaker Printers.
  If you still run into trouble, please consult this troubleshooting page.
• Significant improvements for PVA and TPU 95A profiles for UltiMaker Factor 4

 

You can download the files here: https://github.com/Ultimaker/Cura/releases/tag/5.8.1

[JoVi 0]

I have the same problem of not syncing materials. Even after the update of 5.8.1. I tried the Cloud and USB way. Is there anything other i need to do to make it work again? It worked before several times.  

[lrodriguez 32]

4 hours ago, JoVi said:

I have the same problem of not syncing materials. Even after the update of 5.8.1. I tried the Cloud and USB way. Is there anything other i need to do to make it work again? It worked before several times.  

Did any of the methods in the troubleshooting page work for you? How to troubleshoot issues with material - printer synchronization? (ultimaker.com)

 

Please submit a support ticket so we can assist you. You can 'Submit a request' in the upper right or use the chat with an agent in the lower left: Home (ultimaker.com)

 

You could also use github to submit an issue: Issues · Ultimaker/Cura (github.com)