Brand new Ultimaker 2, can't stop clicking from E motor

[ex-parrot 0]

Hi all,

I purchased an Ultimaker 2 from MindKits here in New Zealand last week, and finally had time to set it up today. While I wait for MindKits to get back to me I thought I'd ask this question to the forum:

Try as I might I cannot seem to stop the E motor from "clicking" and slipping backwards while driving the filament in to the bowden tube.

Things I've tried:

- Plugged the printer in to a PC and let Cura upgrade the firmware to the

latest version.

- Unclipped the bowden tube at both ends, pulled out the filament and installed

fresh filament, and checked the bowden was aligned properly.

- Checked that the filament comes off the spool without friction.

- Did the usual reprap unclogging manoeuvre (heat up, cool down, pull out

filament at about the glass transition temp) and got a nice smooth clean plug,

which suggests no blockages.

- Turned the E current up to various different values.

- Factory reset the printer from the internal menu.

- Reduced the clamping pressure on the extruder motor.

- Increased the printing temp.

 

I tried printing the "underextrusion test" but the motor begins to skip while printing the priming skirt around the object, and attempting to print an Ultimaker robot scaled up 2.5 times on Cura's "fast, low quality" has the E motor clicking and slipping on the first layer.

 

If I use the "move material" jog wheel option in the built in menu, every jog of the wheel leads to a slip.

 

Any suggestions? Is something faulty with the unit?

 

Thanks,

-Michael

 

 

[Dim3nsioneer 359]

I would heat up the nozzle and push the filament through manually. Like this you may find the spot where the resistance begins. This will give you an idea what might be wrong.

Which E current values did you try?

 

[ex-parrot 0]

I would heat up the nozzle and push the filament through manually. Like this you may find the spot where the resistance begins. This will give you an idea what might be wrong.

 

Have done this, the whole bowden portion seems very smooth. The hot end doesn't seem especially difficult to push PLA through either, comparable to my Prusa i3 w/ j-head.

 

Which E current values did you try?

 

1250 (default), 1300, 1500, 1750. None seem to make a difference.

[Dim3nsioneer 359]

The printer is supposed to be new, right? Otherwise a look at the PTFE piece might reveal the problem... btw: what's the setting of the white pressure indicator on the feeder?

 

[ex-parrot 0]

The printer is supposed to be new, right? Otherwise a look at the PTFE piece might reveal the problem...

 

It's brand new, I unpacked it myself earlier in the week

 

btw: what's the setting of the white pressure indicator on the feeder?

 

I tried loosening it right off (right up to the top) as well as with a tiny bit of tension. It seems to need almost no tension to properly bite and feed (at least when the hot-end is disconnected so it can feed in to the bowden...)

[Dim3nsioneer 359]

Try setting the tension of the feeder so that the indicator is in the middle. This is the recommended position for UM2s since March this year. IIRC indicator on top means maximum tension (I replaced the feeder with Robert's design on my UM2).

 

[ex-parrot 0]

Try setting the tension of the feeder so that the indicator is in the middle. This is the recommended position for UM2s since March this year. IIRC indicator on top means maximum tension (I replaced the feeder with Robert's design on my UM2).

 

Thanks for the suggestion, unfortunately setting the tensioner to the "middle" position does not make any difference, the extruder still skips constantly even while printing the slowest portion of the underextrusion test piece (and very quickly begins to slip if I manually extrude 1mm at a time in OctoPrint).

[j3d 0]

Not sure if this will help but I'll share my experience with the same problem. In my case I changed FROM ABS TO PLA, and some of the ABS remained just below the teflon above the nozzle. Took me a few hours to figure it out. I basically removed the teflon piece and tried to pass a piece of PLA through it and found it was too small at the bottom. Since the ABS was white, I had no chance to see it stuck to the teflon.

Because of the partial obstruction, there was too much back pressure at the extruder. Once cleaned out, it worked like new again.