Frustrated with Ultimaker S5

[dfaulkner85 0]

I've been very disappointed and frustrated with my Ultimaker S5.  Every time I go to print there is always an error from bed level sensor, offset probe failure, to height of print cores.  Can someone explain why I am experiencing all of these issues and how to fix it or is it better to throw this printer out and buy a different brand?

 

 

[ahoeben 1,955]

You may need to check if the connectors for the electronics-cable that goes into the printhead are seated properly.

 

https://fbrc8.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360039883811-Print-Head

[dfaulkner85 0]

Thank you for the response.  I checked the level sensor cable and noticed the wire had a slight "pinch".  I replaced the sensor and it worked immediately.  The noise level went from 30-80 down to 6.   

 

    Now after 2 prints it is acting up again without making any adjustments, changing cores, or touching the printer other than removing the two prints.  The noise level is 30-40.  The front axial fan is making a high pitched noise so I am going to replace that now. 

 

Is this unreliability normal? 

 

  

[Bennett_D 2]

Unfortunately it seems to be. I had to send my UM5 in for service after a few weeks to have a board replaced because of the issues you describe. Then the material station ripped itself apart on the inside and now I can't even use UM PVA because the boden system just isn't conducive for using PVA (which was the main reason I bought a UM5).

[arj3090 2]

I dealt with this quite a bit. At first, I found the spring above print core 2 had slipped out and wouldn't let the print core go in correctly. After I dissembled the print head assembly and fixed the spring, the problem went away for a while, but then randomly came back. I had a hard crash on my machine that destroyed the print head assembly. I replaced the complete print head assembly and ever since I have not seen any more errors related to bed leveling or detected heights.

[RogueWave 15]

On my S5 noticed on at least 3 different print leveling operation the print head assembly makes it fist attempts to touch the glass bed with nozzle #2, the nozzle is about 20mm "above" the glass bed, then bed leveling warning. Or oozing  too much  from nozzle number 1. Yah, it's a frequent issue, failure rate about 60 percent.

[Dadkitess 19]

UMS5 is so really not reliable, that's a shame, I don't even get why UM does not make some official statement.

The machine is really poorly designed, reliability wise. So much hassle on many points. Really regret our purchase so far.

 

Regarding the issue, check the height difference between cores : we have a BB 0.4 that is way too low and trigger this message. Did not figure it out immediately because it went okay for some prints after tries and retries, and then the message re-appears. So in addition of poor designs, there is some build and / or Q-check issues.

[ahoeben 1,955]

3 hours ago, Dadkitess said:

UMS5 is so really not reliable

Mine is. It is a beta/pre-production unit, but it is very reliable. In the 4.5 years I have used it, I had the bad connection issue in the print-head once. I understand that I should not jump to the conclusion that because mine is reliable that they are all reliable. Obviously some have issues, and those issues should be fixed.

 

The thing with forums is that you are more likely to see people complain; people who are happy are mostly just using the printer instead of posting how great it is.

 

3 hours ago, Dadkitess said:

The machine is really poorly designed, reliability wise.

Perhaps if you could share what the poor design decisions are, this could be acted upon for future models.

[dfaulkner85 0]

I found damage on the printer head circuit board.  I am going to replace this and hopefully this will solve some of the issues.  It looks like the screw was not aligned properly with the hole when they attempted to insert it.   I highly agree that it is easy to damage all of the parts due to the S5's construction..  Some designs are great like removing the cross rods and others are very poor such as this part.

 

Do anyone know where I can purchase just the circuit board?

 

[Dadkitess 19]

35 minutes ago, ahoeben said:

Mine is. It is a beta/pre-production unit, but it is very reliable. In the 4.5 years I have used it, I had the bad connection issue in the print-head once. I understand that I should not jump to the conclusion that because mine is reliable that they are all reliable. Obviously some have issues, and those issues should be fixed.

 

The thing with forums is that you are more likely to see people complain; people who are happy are mostly just using the printer instead of posting how great it is.

 

Perhaps if you could share what the poor design decisions are, this could be acted upon for future models.

Sure, as you said, forums and posts anywhere in general will be more about complaints, so you can't get proper statistics about it and that's not my point. My feedback is all about ALL (all...) the issues i've got so far with, in only a year, and when looking for similar problems, it tends to show how bad some part of machine are. In addition, i'm talking a lot with a local Ultimaler reseller, and it's really not a good feedback from them, regarding customer supply, issues at they workshop, etc.

 

I've already listed everything I could in a 4 page document, sent to Ultimaker. Actually, they barely said that would send it to the engineers / designers. There is really too much to say about it, it's not... Good. It's not worth the money. Indeed, during a good day where all stars are aligned, it does wonder, i've some really proud prints that I could not do without its functionnality, and by the time i've purchased it, there were no plenty options.

 

But still, it really does not fit the price, to me, and the leitmotiv of this machine (realiability, ease of use for professionnal, plug and play, ecosystem with materials) is completely missed, completely. I'm frankly frustrated about it, i've lost so much time fighting against all the errors, the bad firmware, the poorly design printcore / print head, the picky feeders, the bad PVA, the Qcheck (axis not aligned by centimeters, printcore height differences), etc etc etc.

 

Edit : and it's so slooooooooow for such a rigid body conception, any printer can provide good quality when the global recommandation is "30 mm/s and you should be fine". 6000€ guys, not the random open air 250€ one... God, this is really not good value 😞

 

Edit 2 : well, sorry for the rant, it's not the place for this and it's off-topic, my bad.

Edited January 12, 2023 by Dadkitess

[Dustin 144]

On 1/12/2023 at 6:44 AM, dfaulkner85 said:

I found damage on the printer head circuit board.  I am going to replace this and hopefully this will solve some of the issues.  It looks like the screw was not aligned properly with the hole when they attempted to insert it.   I highly agree that it is easy to damage all of the parts due to the S5's construction..  Some designs are great like removing the cross rods and others are very poor such as this part.

 

Do anyone know where I can purchase just the circuit board?

 

@dfaulkner85 you can buy these boards direct from any Ultimaker Reseller 🙂
But have you reached out to Support about this issue by chance?