Bizarre Extruder Offset???

[DatDrunkDude 0]

Hello community!

 

Ultimaker S5 (bought in 2022)

Firmware 8.3.1

Cura 5.8.1

 

I have a bizarre issue that has seemingly sprung into existence and I have no idea what it is or how it even came to be. As you can hopefully see from the picture, the printer seems to have "lost zero" (if that's what it's called) when it comes to the position of extruder 1 in relation to extruder 2. I have had a successful print a few weeks ago and the only thing about the machine I have changed is swapping out print core 1 and loading in a different material. 

 

I have run the XY Calibration wizard (which prints everything correctly) and applied the appropriate offset when prompted. However, I still get this problem which leads me to think there is something in Cura that is instructing the printer to shift extruder 1 into the -x direction. As this is something I wasn't even aware was possible, I have no idea what setting could be causing this or where that setting would be.  I have also attached the sliced model incase that help.

 

Thanks in advance to anyone trying to help!

UMS5_rear_fork.ufp

[GregValiant 1,364]

Well, it's definitely wrong.

The Ultimaker folks will be along to advise but in the meantime you can try going to "Settings | Printer | Manage Printers" and then "Machine Settings".

Under "Print Head Settings" is a check box "Apply extruder offsets to Gcode" and that should be checked.

On the tabs for each extruder are the offset numbers.  For Extruder 2 the "Nozzle offset X" (on a newly installed S5) is 22.0.  The other 3 offsets are 0.0.

 

[DatDrunkDude 0]

Hello Greg and thanks for the help. I went into the machine setting like you said and the x-offset for extruder 2 was 0.0 (the Apply Extruder offsets to Gcode was/is checked). I changed it to the 22.0 and resliced the file (attached), however a new problem is now preventing me from trying it out. When I load the file into the printer it as a red exclamation point  and says it "does not fit the print volume.UMS5_rear_fork.ufp

Edited Wednesday at 10:34 PM by DatDrunkDude

[GregValiant 1,364]

That second UFP file you posted looks good in preview.

Load the model and use the "File | Save Project" command and post the 3mf file here.  Most of the UM folks are in Europe so they can catch up tomorrow.  Maybe @gr5 has some time to take a look.

 

That "Nozzle Offset" setting might not have been the only thing that changed.  We are getting close to Halloween so I suppose it could be ghosts or gremlins making random changes just to drive you insane.

[DatDrunkDude 0]

Well here's hoping it's only ghosts 🤣

In the meantime here is the 3mf file. Thanks again!

 

UMS5_rear_fork.3mf

[gr5 2,243]

I looked at your 3mf file. 

 

Are you really printing ultrafuse?  Wow - at $400 per spool, that's expensive filament.  I know people who have had great luck with ultrafuse. So it looks just like what you said - it's putting the PVA in the right place but the ultrafuse in the wrong place.  And you have prime tower enabled and it looks like it is printing the ultrafuse correctly for the tower but not the print!!??!!  Very strange!

 

Also I see you overrode the vertical scale factor shrinkage compensation.  That worries me a lot.  Why did you do that.  This part will shrink greatly in the sintering oven afterwards.  If you don't print it 12% large it will come out the wrong size.

 

So I feel like a year or two ago there were several bugs related to ultrafuse.  I can't remember if it was in cura, or the material profile, or what.  I think maybe you have to use a specific version of cura?  An older version?  And that newer versions of cura are not compatible with the ultrafuse profile.  I have a friend who is an ultrafuse expert.  I'll see if he can chime in: @SteveCox3D  Or maybe ultrafuse website talks about this?

[DatDrunkDude 0]

Hey gr5! Thanks for pointing out the material because that is most certainly NOT what it's supposed to be 😂😂😂 

 

I want to print this in PLA and distinctly remember changing the settings to the AA core with PLA (the white filament in the above pick is PLA), so I am not sure how this reverted to settings from a completely different print job (I guess I do have a ghost or poltergeist). 

 

I'll set those back to what they're supposed to be, re-slice and see if Greg's fix works now.

Although this brings up an issue I've been trying to figure out. The printer is a work printer, but since I stepped up to the plate to deal with it, they're allowing me to use it every so often for personal project. The ultrafuse is for a prototype part and oddly enough THAT is where I first encountered the "file does not fit in build volume" error. The really weird thing is it would only do that if I enabled "generate support". If I deactivated that setting and instead inserted a fixture and told cura to print it with extruder two, no problem.

Very weird. As for the shrink factor, I don't recall changing those, but I do remember that there is a difference in the default settings from a machine that is running Cura 5.3.1 vs the one I'm on now that has 5.8. I just figured Ultimaker made the change based off of research/experience. 

[Slashee_the_Cow 450]

This seems like something you should definitely contact UltiMaker support about. Official support isn't offered via the forums so if you seek wisdom from the higher powers, that's the place to go.

[SteveCox3D 87]

Hi @DatDrunkDude

 

As @gr5 mentioned I have had a lot of experience with printing the Ultrafuse metal filaments.  Unfortunately there was a Cura issue a while back and the last stable release that didn't have any bugs for metal FFF printing was Cura 5.3.0. Users of these materials then started reporting strange issues especially related to depositing the layer support material. 

I was told that these issues were all resolved with the release of 5.7.2, however it makes me wonder if some bugs have crept back in to cause your issue.

If possible I would recommend trying your print using Cura 5.3.0 and ensure that you have the latest material profiles installed for both the metal filament and the support layer material. If this resolves the problem we will know if there is an issue with Cura that needs reporting to UltiMaker.

 

Because I know it works I always use Cura 5.3.0 for metal FFF printing because the material is too expensive to waste on printing errors like the one that you have seen.    

Edited 17 hours ago by SteveCox3D

[DatDrunkDude 0]

Thanks for the help everyone! I have a new run going and it looks like @GregValiant identified the correct issue, the extruder 2 x-offset being incorrect in the printer machine settings.

 

Given that this appears to be two instances where non-trivial settings got changed without my expressed input, I'll reach out to Ultimaker to see if we can find out what the cause is and get it fixed.

 

Thanks again!

[gr5 2,243]

Well you had overrides.  I think the material thing was user error - I've also done that - thought I changed the material but hadn't.  It's slightly confusing.  And the other settings were marked as overrides.  You can click on the star near your profile and look through all the overrides from the default profile settings.  It's good to do that so you can see what settings are default and what settings it thinks you told it to override.

[gr5 2,243]

You might want to nuke all your cura config settings back to default.  uninstalling cura won't help.  You have to exit cura and delete the whole cura configuration folder and then restart cura and cura will rebuild those folders.  If you contact UM support that's probably the first thing they will want you to do.

 

Where is the folder?  In cura do "help" "show configuration folder".  Go up a level and delete all the folders you see (e.g. 5.3, 5.2, etc).

 

You will lose any custom profiles you created but I recommend you don't use profiles and instead use project files for the same purpose that some people use custom profiles.