Can your UM2 printer achieve 10mm3/s ??? Test it here...

[arska 0]

First try to see if there's a broblems. I've been notising some "ghost" lines on corners and details when printing normal or higher speeds. Im just wondering is this the case on this test too? Could the belts be little loose or some backlash somewhere .. Since I got holes on the markings starting from 6mm³/s. Otherwise print seems to be near ok.

Its printed at 230C and bed at 60C. Only modification on the machine is this:

https://www.youmagine.com/designs/low-friction-um2-spoolholder, btw thanks for great design IrobertI!

 

 

edit by gr5: fixed link

[schafe 3]

I keep thinking about why people report such random variations and why my machine seems to get worse the longer it is on. No ideas just lots of cylinders. Different color cylinders, tall ones, short ones, perfect ones, etc. Not very many perfect ones.

Illuminarti, you mention your experience with several machines and only 10% are less than ideal. Were these machines new or almost new? I don't know for sure, but I'd guess my machine has over 200 hours logged, maybe even 300. It started out awesome but keeps getting worse. Several people seem to have the same report.

Idea for a feature: Add total print hours in the maintenance section. If it is there, I couldn't find it.

 

[illuminarti 18]

Yes, most of the machines I tested were new, but my personal UM2 has continued to work just fine - I first created and printed the test piece when my printer had several hundred hours of print time on it.

 

[gr5 2,167]

First try to see if there's a broblems. I've been notising some "ghost" lines on corners and details when printing normal or higher speeds. Im just wondering is this the case on this test too? Could the belts be little loose or some backlash somewhere .. Since I got holes on the markings starting from 6mm³/s.

 

Please start a new thread and include pictures. I seriously doubt it's backlash related. The holes you refer to starting at 6mm text is due to printing so fast - you slow down for the letters and extrusion is normal, then you speed up to make the cylinder and it underextrudes until the feeder catches up and gets the pressure in the print head back up to ridiculous levels (on the order of 1000 PSI at the end).

 

[arska 0]

Please start a new thread and include pictures. I seriously doubt it's backlash related. The holes you refer to starting at 6mm text is due to printing so fast - you slow down for the letters and extrusion is normal, then you speed up to make the cylinder and it underextrudes until the feeder catches up and gets the pressure in the print head back up to ridiculous levels (on the order of 1000 PSI at the end).

 

Ok, good to know! I will continue my adventures with the machine and start asking questions when I have learned thing or two. :-P Like said the results what I am getting on my prints are more than enough for me so there is no reason to be alarmed yet.

 

[IRobertI 520]

You have under extrusion starting half way up the "7"-mark which continues to happen all the way to the end though.

 

[geeks 1]

You have under extrusion starting half way up the "7"-mark which continues to happen all the way to the end though.

 

Indeed!

That said, it's still a much better result than my previous design

 

It now remains to find out what stuck elsewhere and this causes additional sub-extrusion.

 

[das_enginer 2]

So I should start by saying that this test genuinely surprised me. I had frequent issues with under-extrusion when I first got my UM2 (filament from Ultimaker and MakerGeeks - I strictly use Faberdashery now), and have just printed at very conservative flow rates and temperatures since then (under 3 mm^3/s). I've religiously followed this thread, Nicolinux's thread, Ian's feeder redesign thread, and a number of others hoping someone would find "the issue".

I ran the print at the suggested 230 degC, with a 65 degC bed, in a 68 degF ambient temperature. Filament was Faberdashery's bling bling gold, being fed from my "custom" spool on the floor. The only error I can see on the print is a single stepper skip a few layers into the 10 mm^3/s band. I might try this test again with the Earl Grey or Space Marine colors I have when I switch out to them to see if that makes any difference.

 

[geeks 1]

New test this morning with filament Ultimaker for a nozzle at 230 ° C and a bed to 45 ° C.

 

I win 1mm / s. There is still a place where I can get in trouble friction. I'll have to be patient for a few days.

 

Printing, I'll track down traces and determine the final adjustments. If this is what I think I should soon have a reliable extruder.

 

Be aware though that most of the problem now is to make the right before extruder filament, same output and friction must be reduced in this area.

 

[colorfabb 3]

Hi guys,

Lately I've been having issues with one of our Ultimaker 2's and have been searching this forum for answers. So I decided to give this little test a go as well. Just before I started the test I loosened the four threads on the print head a little, I read a few posts back that this worked for another user. It seemed to have worked for us too! The Ultimaker that was having extrusion problems all the time, now is able to print these tests flawless. I used the advised settings, 230C and 100% speed.

 

[Nicolinux 288]

Glad it worked for you. Loosening the head screws was the _only_ thing I didn't try on my printer... (and now it is gone and will be replaced).

And sir, you have some sexy spool reels there. Do they come with every colorfabb order?

 

[skint 61]

That's "Fabb"ulous news

I need to order some colorfabb, a company I deals with orders from Cutwel in the UK so I will steal some of them to test

 

[colorfabb 3]

And sir, you have some sexy spool reels there. Do they come with every colorfabb order?

 

Hi Nico, the transparent spools are used for all orders since the beginning of this year. If you're ordering from one of our resellers you might still get a black spool in some cases.

 

[mr.-waldorf 0]

Fabbulicious!!

I am glad that this thread could help someone. I will update the summary.

Hey guys don´t forget do see the summary on 1st page!!

Congratulations to mr. Fabbtastic, your printer rules!!! Oh well... the filament too.

 

[braddock 1]

Hi Colorfabb,

I recently posted a thread about an issue I'm having with one of your spools I bought from a reseller here in Aus, could you please give me your thoughts on this?

prod date of spool is Oct 11, 2013

http://umforum.ultimaker.com/index.php?/topic/4620-problem-printing-colorfabb-pla/

 

 

Hi guys,

Lately I've been having issues with one of our Ultimaker 2's and have been searching this forum for answers. So I decided to give this little test a go as well. Just before I started the test I loosened the four threads on the print head a little, I read a few posts back that this worked for another user. It seemed to have worked for us too! The Ultimaker that was having extrusion problems all the time, now is able to print these tests flawless. I used the advised settings, 230C and 100% speed.

 

[schafe 3]

We've all been thinking about this topic a lot. I came to a disappointing conclusion today. I have one of the "bad" printers.

I have been printing cylinders for a week or so and have 2 or maybe 3 that are 100% correct. The rest of my pile of cylinders are much shorter. I'll have to count tonight when I get home. (I will count/monitor my "comfort beer" consumption as well.) I've tried many different configurations for my machine with seemingly random results, always at 230C, 65C bed temp and 100% flow. Almost all prints used the Ultimaker PLA that came with my UM2. When I did get a perfect cylinder it was always the first print of the session when the printer had just been turned on. On subsequent prints I would get maybe an 8 then a 6 then a 4. I never got 2 perfects in a row.

I realized that although I have 200+ hours of print time I think all of that time was spent at 3mm3/sec or lower. I reviewed my posts on my C-130 project and discovered that the first print I talked about was at 75mm/sec and a .1 layer height which is 3mm3/sec. I don't remember the temp but I'm sure it was above 240, most likely 250. It was underextruded. Maybe from burned PLA, maybe not. People advised me that was too fast so I slowed down.

Thinking more about it, I think most of my prints were at 2mm3/sec or less. Other than the test cylinder, I have never made a print that had a layer height other than .1.

I simply have never tried to get my machine to print very fast. It was only when I started printing cylinders that I discovered I had a significant problem. I bet if I had tried to print the cylinder when my UM2 was new I would have the same poor results.

I now have a 3mm drill bit and will inspect the teflon piece tonight. It doesn't feel bad when I am cleaning the nozzle with the heat up, cool down, stuff in, pull out technique. I will also try a squirt of WD-40 in the tube. Thinking about the idea of loosening the 4 head screws, I have some O rings that fit nicely onto the screws. I will try putting the O rings on the screws then assembling the head. It might be that the O rings flex just enough to absorb extra pressure on the filament - doubt it. My final idea is to check the feeder motor. I think all of the motors are the same. If so I should be able to swap the feeder motor with another.

Beer. It helps things not suck.

 

[illuminarti 18]

Schafe - do me a favor, lower the bed, and take a picture of your hot end assembly as viewed from underneath, looking up...

[pikey 0]

I was dreading doing this test, here are my results from two tests.

I got the Ultimaker in the mail late last week. I replaced the stock filament guide with one designed by Geeks. I disassembled my feeder mechanism, re-mounted the feeder stepper (in its stock location) and reassembled the feeder without making any changes. I played with the feeder tension a little afterwards and left it a bit looser than when it arrived.

Print 1:

Ultimaker Blue PLA @ 210c

Bed @ 75c

Flow 100%

Print 2:

Before I started print two, I unwound my filament from the spool. Then I rewound it to make sure I got rid of any tangles. I was getting towards the last 1/4 of the spool so the filament was wound really tight.

Ultimaker Blue PLA @ 230c

Bed @75c

Flow 100%

As you can see, lighting makes a difference in spotting defects in the prints. The reason I did the second calibration print is because my print immediately prior to it at .25mm layer height and 100mm/s speed had constant under extrusion at 210c.

Should I print this material at 230c going forward?

 

[illuminarti 18]

As a rule. I print all PLA's at 230 all the time. Especially given how good the UM2's retraction is, I personally don't find much need to ever go lower than that. If there's a specific print with lots of overhangs, and/or not enough layer cooling time, then I might experiment with lower temps. But I think that many folks overthink the temperature part of things. :-)

 

[schafe 3]

Aaron, you liked my previous post? Really?

Was it

A - The fact that my printer is "bad"

B - My reference to "comfort beer"

C - The clever beer quote - already used by me once before.

or is it

D - The awesome detail of my reporting

Given your obvious scientific nature, I'm guessing "D." If "D" is the correct answer just wait, I'll have a picture soon that will blow your socks off.

"B" and "C" are also obvious choices.

If it was "A" then may the fleas from 1000 camels infest you and your cat. :cool:

 

[schafe 3]

Here is my collection of cylinders. My wife thinks I am nuts for keeping them. I couldn't prove my point if I didn't.

Here is the breakdown:

2 X 10 - perfection

2 X 9.5 - had a small error in the 10 ring

2 X 9

2 X 8

1 X 7

2 X 6

2 X 5.5 - a small error in the 6 ring

5 X 5

2 X 4.5

4 X 4

4 X 3.5

10 X 3

6 X 2.5 - errors started in the 3 ring

There are some silver cylinders in the picture. That filament came from Makershed. The best silver cylinder scored 3.5.

I'm tired of printing cylinders. So I tested a C-130 part. I printed a part at 4mm3/sec at 240C with the blue Ulitmaker filament used in the above picture. Over a 40 minute print there are 2 major underextrusions and several minor ones. I printed the same part again at 1.6mm3/sec and 240C with the same filament. That part came out perfect. Right now the same part is printing at 1.6mm3/sec at 230C. The first 25% looks good.

 

[pikey 0]

Have you ruled out that the under extrusions are coming from friction in the line causing the feeder to slip? Could be from the spool to the feeder, or from the feeder to the nozzle. Is the spool to tight?

 

[schafe 3]

 

Here are some pictures for you illuminarti. I hope you see something obviously wrong. I have only had the entire print head apart once. I did not separate the brass nozzle from the silver cylinder. I understand it unscrews but mine felt stiff and I did not want to force it.

I want to clarify something. I know that Iowa gets a bad rap when it comes to intelligence in the US. I'm from Missouri originally. I know, not much better. I started out studying mechanical engineering. I flunked out because at that point in my life I couldn't do the math. Now that I am older I can do the math, but I don't wanna. I work in the maintenance department for a major foor producer in a non-union shop. They trust me to keep their million dollar machines running. On any given night I may have to work with PLC code, reprogram a VFD, figure out network IP problems, troubleshoot an industrial servo, machine a new part, weld something that is broken, replace a 3 phase motor, or simply fix a leaky air hose. In my job there are certain operators we have to babysit. "Oh, that's Larry. He really doesn't understand what's going on. Just hold his hand for a few minutes." I'm not as good as a lot of the people here, but I am no Larry. I mention all of this just to clarify that I am convinced I have a problem with my UM2 and you do not need to babysit me.

 

[schafe 3]

 

 

Illuminarti, I just realized that I have a very nice picture of me standing in front of the Memphis Belle. Do you have any pictures of you standing in front of a famous Cedar Rapids tourist attraction? I bet not!

 

 

 

We've got . . . . well there's . . . . um . . . . well, we have this thing.

It's very nice and shiny.

And we have snow. Lots of snow. Actually we have more snow than most of the events at the recent winter olympics, and it's natural. And beer - of course, it is Iowa after all. All we have is stupid statues titled something fancy. "The Five Seasons Tree." We really need beer to compensate for a lack of interesting things to see and do.

I can say that our local pizza joint has the best pizza I have ever eaten, and I have sampled a lot of pizza.

Man, I just don't know if I can live without seeing the "Five Seasons Tree" in person. Luckily I have.

 

[schafe 3]

My recent C-130 part finished and scored 0/10 Blarps. A perfect score.