Custom heater block to fit E3D nozzle on Ultimaker 2 ("The Olsson Block")

[swordriff 119]

 

@paban: Paul, you can ohm it without disconnecting it but you have to remove the cover of course. A good opportunity to tighten the screws of heaters and make sure sensors are in place.!

[gr5 2,167]

I had the exact same problem but it turned out my olsson block was touching the metal fan shroud. Now it works fine. But it sounds like you have a different problem.

Double check that the heater cable is connected solidly and screws are tight underneath the printer. A loose connection means some heat will end up there at the connection and you can possibly see black soot in that area of the circuit board which indicates you have some heat loss to the circuit board instead of the heater.

[fuzzhao 0]

I placed a order on 3dsolex for a Olsson block kit on April 18 2015, it did not ship yet, no status update whatsoever, and my emails are not being replied to. Does anybody know what's going on?

Frank, your order shipped from Norway on the 19th you where notified the same day, on the 24th after you asked, and now too.  

I understand you are keen to get it, and hopefully you will have it next week.

Maybe the emails are in the spam folder?

Please stay in touch.

NO, In fact I am refunding you. Please pay me when you have it.

Thank you.

Thanks, you really didn't have to go that far. I know PayPal is unfair.

May I suggest doing some SEO for the NA store? The EU store is like the 5th result on Google, I probably just click straight through checkout without reading a word.

[gr5 2,167]

Sure - even though I've only sold 4 blocks through the NA store, lol, I will do a little SEO.  I'm better at SEO than you might think - I bet I can get it above 3dsolex, he he.  Give me a few weeks though... google is slow to respond.  Oh here this will help, lol:

3d solex - great place to get ultimaker2 parts including the olsson block and ability to change nozzles. Isolators. Teflon. USA. North America. United States. .8mm .25mm .6mm nozzles. Steel nozzles. heaters and temp sensors.

Edited May 2, 2015 by Guest

[Anders Olsson 136]

I found that I had a video of the (original) heater response on my printer with the "Olsson Block", so I put it on youtube as a reference for you who have problems:

 

[gr5 2,167]

Done! If you search for "olsson block usa" my store is now the second link in search results. "3dsolex usa" I'm 5th link. "olsson block united states" I'm the first link.

[paban 4]

Hello again,

Thanks a lot to everybody who gave me feedback to my questions. This forum is extremly helpful und many people do a fantastic job here, even a the weekend. I did my homework today and made some further checks und measurements at the printer.

Here the results:

1. There were no loose connections at the mainboard (and it didn’t produce smoke or carbonisation so far…). By the way: There are no fixing screws anymore. For the heater cables there are clips (nasty ones, you should have 3 hands to attach/detach the cables); for the Pt100 sensor, there is a female Dupont plug. I attached a picture of my mainboard.

2. I measured the resistance of the original equipped heating element: 27 Ohm (so it delivers 21 W, which seems a bit low)

3. The voltage at the heater terminal is 24 V (and remains constant during heating up, until the error message occurs).

4. I measured the resistance oft he Pt100 sensor too and got 110 Ohm at 25°C (which is OK).

I’ve added a temperature compilation of my two heater elements compared to the values out of Anders video (Thanks Anders !) Anders seems to have the best part of the three (and he deserves it !)

If my spare heater is not at the low end oft he usual power range, it should be able to deliver the necessary heat (IMHO).

So I hope to receive a comment from an Ultimaker electronics specialist , what might be wrong here, and if it’s possible to connect the heating element to the unused heater terminal 2 and what arrangements are necessary to do that (is it necessary to modify the firmware ? I think, the temperature sensor has to be moved to the terminal „TEMP 2“ in this case ).

Kind regards

Paul

[media=1240][media=1239]

[paban 4]

Seems, my pictures didn't find the way, so I try again

[/media]

[paban 4]

[izzy 33]

Hi Paban,

I got the heater error message when I switched over too, but I am running with modified fan ducts. My error occurs when the temperature drops to 10'C below the required nozzle temperature. My error is caused when the fans came on as the heater was unable to keep up with the temperature change on the block caused by the fans switching on when only a few layers built.

I now have my fans dialled down to 50% and have not had any problems with the building. (my fans had been reduced to 75% due to the changed ducts so now running at 50%)

[paban 4]

Hi Paban,

I got the heater error message when I switched over too, but I am running with modified fan ducts. My error occurs when the temperature drops to 10'C below the required nozzle temperature. My error is caused when the fans came on as the heater was unable to keep up with the temperature change on the block caused by the fans switching on when only a few layers built.

I now have my fans dialled down to 50% and have not had any problems with the building. (my fans had been reduced to 75% due to the changed ducts so now running at 50%)

Hi izzy

Thank you for your comment. My situation is quite different: All this heating tests, which I posted above were WITHOUT the two product cooling fans running (NO extrusion too) made. The only fan running was the small hotend cooling fan. Even heating test with the double fan bracket removed (this to make changes on the hotend easier and to make sure, that there is no heat transfer to the bracket.

As far as I see it at this moment, I have a problem whithin the motherboard, maybe a deteriorated electronic component in the heater power supply.

Kind regards

Paban

Edited May 3, 2015 by gr5

[gr5 2,167]

Okay well I have many things to say. First of all:

Holy Crap! You have a very very new board. You have the new software controllable 3rd fan (you need newer firmware though I assume). You also have a new green connector for your nozzle block. That new connector could be the problem - does it get hot as hell? I really doubt it but if that's the problem it will be getting very hot when you have the nozzle heated up.

#2

Looking at the data in your table (confusing as hell by the way - nowhere do you mention that some of the data is in seconds - and the first column is labelled as room temp but does your room get to 210C? I figured it out eventually after looking at Anders post) it really looks like your block is touching the fan shroud.

I know you said it wasn't. You said it wasn't in 2 posts. But It think it's touching.

What version exactly of the firmware do you have. Here is some information about the heater error in the firmware - note that it doesn't care that you are 10C below goal.

heater error

You get an error if the heater can't move a certain amount in a certain time while driving full power (when it is close to goal temp it typically runs well below full power):

Firmware

Version

14.09 - does not have the feature

14.12 oct 16, 2014 - feature introduced. 20C in 20 Seconds

14.12.1 dec 15, 2014 - from 20C to 10C (still in 20 seconds)

15.01 jan 14, 2015 - from 20 secs to 30 secs (now 10C in 30 seconds)

[swordriff 119]

@fuzzhao

Hi! Frank is soon the latest addition to our "family"! Hope you get the kit soon!

Please check his very interesting web site: www.eleccelerator.com

Versatile and non-standard DIY items and ideas, open source, lot of

fun!

[paban 4]

Hi gr5

Thank you for the feedback. I'm sorry for the poor labeling of my table and wasting your time. My first idea was, to produce a graph and do the proper labeling there, but the multiline graph function in the actual Excel is quite fussy when you are not used to it. So I stopped and presented that „quick and dirty“ table.

To your questions:

- I've just heated the nozzle again (during 3 min up to the "error point" (218°C). The green terminal block for the heater had 31°C (measured with an IR-Thermometer) at the end of heating. When touching with a finger it didn’t feel hot.

I’m not surprised, when some folks have a problem there. When Ultimaker assembled my machine, they were just pushing the heater cables in the clamps, without any cable end sleeves. I’m not an electronics specialist, but I think this should be good manufacturing practise (even for a hobbyist). It’s quite difficult to attach it in this state anyway. It’s hard to see, if there are loose tiny wires whithin the loose isolating fibres. On my picture oft he mainboard, you can see, how it looked in the beginning !  I have changed that when I detached the cables the second time.

- My installed firmware version is 15.02.1

- Yes, you were quite right in your insistency about an existing heat loss to the fan bracket (very good coaching, Sir !)

I ran yesterdayday in the beginning a nozzle heat up without the bracket, which gave samewhat better values than I had last week (!?). I checked then the hotend / bracket geometry very careful. When I touched the bottom oft he bracket at a nozzle temperature of 200°C, it wasn’t very hot (about 40°C). I’ve no idea how it looks like on an unmodified UM2 (I obeyed the warning sign ;-D ). The distance between the bottom of the Olsson block and the surface of the bracket is ca. 1.5 mm. The smaller Allen wrench which Ultimaker supplied (1.5 mm) just got underneath.

But on the side wall, between the nozzle and the left side fan it was non touchable hot ! It turned out, that there was very little or almost no space between the block and the bracket. I didn’t recognise so far, that Anders block is not only higher, but 1.4 mm wider than the UM2 nozzleblock. Since the bottom of the bracket has a slight „V shape“ (reduction from 35 to 31 mm wide) things became very thight.

When I widened the hole for the nozzle to a diameter of 10 mm. I left the center oft he bore unchanged, just to prevent contact of the nozzle with the bracket. So, when I centered the nozzle, I had moved it even a bit closer to the metal wall. So, that was my mistake.

Today I widened the hole ca. 1.5 mm towards the other (unused) nozzle hole. With some bending  of the two bracket connectors  it was possible to create ca. 2 mm distance at this critical place. This helps quite something as the new heating table shows. The „old“ heating element (which was checked in these measurements) is still not able to reach a block temperature of 250°C, so an exchange oft this part seems to be mandatory. I would like to see, how the heating curves look like on other UM2 printers (modified/unmodified. The easiest way is doing that by recording a video (good idea from Anders).

I’ll install the 35W heater from 3dsolex as soon as it will arrive, test it and post the results. My goal is to print with higher melting filaments like ABS, Nylon and PC. The E3D nozzle assortment provides new opportunities with viscous polymers.

Many thanks to you and everybody who gave me valuable information and advice. Frankly, I think the UM forum is the best thing Ultimaker has to offer ! It’s a great source of information. I’ll try to contribute useful information too.

Kind regards

Paul

Edited May 5, 2015 by Guest
Just saw (too late..) your post from March 8, 2015 with its good illustration. But own experience is the best lesson to learn something ;-D

[mechamecha 64]

Sorry if this has been asked before, but what's the difference between the JET nozzles and the JET RSB nozzles? I tried searching for the answer, but couldn't find an explanation. (I know there's a very brief description on the 3dSolex site, but nothing that explains why someone would choose one over the other.)

Edited May 5, 2015 by Guest

[mont 4]

Hello: I have a problem with nozzle 0.8 e3d with olson block. From 5 mm or so of printing, the layers begin to rub against each other, deforming printing. Especially in vases ?. What could be the problem?

[mont 4]

I,m trying to print at layer height 0.27, 0.3 and 0.4, in my Ultimaker 2 at normal speeds, 50mm / s, 30 mm / s. Wall thickness 0.8 and 1.6.

Edited May 5, 2015 by Guest

[swordriff 119]

@mechamecha:

Good question! JET's are classical design with a 118deg steep lead-in to the nozzle exit.

The RSB (Brass) and RSS (Steel) have a totally different inside geometry ,possibly helping faster printing. They are both very slick on the inside. There outside of RS-series also makes modifications more possible. I can now supply 1mm on request. This is for effects. It will not print "faster", but thicker. I already shipped to a designer in Norway.

Edited May 5, 2015 by Guest

[gr5 2,167]

Wall thickness 1.6 is going to be kind of crazy if you are using spiralize mode - instead of making 2 passes it will output at 200% flow. Are you using spiralize mode for the vase?

Please show a photo - I've never heard of "layers rubbing against each other". I reall don't know what you mean. Maybe you mean they are sticking up? On overhangs sometimes the top layer rises up a bit and the nozzle can hit it and knock the part off the bed. Is that what you mean? I think you should post a photo or a video or something.

[paban 4]

Sorry, there is an error in my last posting:

The comment 1) in the table should read "It takes ca. 10 seconds until the Pt100 senses that the heater is on"

[personal-drones 44]

Definitely interested in the RSS and RSB. 1 mm VERY interesting. Is it available at 3dsolex yet?

[Anders Olsson 136]

I made a new, more extensive, video of how the heater on my printer performs during various stress tests:

 

00:10 Ramping to 300°C, logging power consumption (about 23W for the heater)

03:20 Temperature closing in at 300°C

04:25 Heater block position (gap between block and fan cap)

04:50 Testing fans at 100% with at 260°C

06:05 Feeding ABS at 255°C

06:50 Testing internal nozzle temperature with thermometer

07:55 Nozzle vs. Block temperature at 260°C (internal=265°C)

10:10 Nozzle vs. Block temperature at 220°C (internal= 226°C)

10:20 Switching fans on

11:30 Nozzle vs. Block temperature at 220°C with fans on (internal = 214°C)

As you can see my stock heater consumes about 23 Watts (depending a bit on how the efficiency of the Ultimaker 2 power supply varies with the load)

I measured the heater resistance to 27.5 Ohm and the voltage to the heater terminals (when heating) to 24.0 Volts, which means it outputs 21 Watts on the heater.

So, as you can see you should easily be able to reach normal printing temperatures with stock components and "the Olsson Block".

I hope the video can help people troubleshooting somehow.

Edited May 6, 2015 by Guest

[mechamecha 64]

@mechamecha:

Good question! JET's are classical design with a 118deg steep lead-in to the nozzle exit.

The RSB (Brass) and RSS (Steel) have a totally different inside geometry ,possibly helping faster printing. They are both very slick on the inside. There outside of RS-series also makes modifications more possible. I can now supply 1mm on request. This is for effects. It will not print "faster", but thicker. I already shipped to a designer in Norway.

Thanks, swordriff! I just placed an order with gr5 and can't wait to get my new heater block and nozzles! And thank you for providing the UM community with this really great option!

[meduza 191]

I have been using the new RSB nozzles for a few weeks now, and i have to say that they seem to perform even better than the classic 118 degree ones, even if it will need more testning.

I can highly reccomend anyone with a Ultimaker 2 to buy a Olsson Block and the JET RSB nozzles.

[paban 4]

@anders olsson

Hi Anders

Many thanks for your excellent video. You have a fine technique of measurements. I know, mine has to be improved and is at the moment below scientific standards.

There are a lot of interesting informations in your video (e.g. the effective temperature in the nozzle ant the effect of the fans).

The critical point seems to be (and is in my case) the small distance between the left corner of the "Olsson block" and the heater bracket. If i got it right (at 4'43" in your video), you rounded your block at this corner somewhat. I'm thinking about this too; it shoudn't make a problem. I would like to find your comment about that.

I'm going to modify the mount of the bracket to lower the whole thing ca. 2 millimeters. My bracket is damn tight and since the screw holes are already on the edge, I have to elongate the attachment. The bracket is looking nice, but i think it's suboptimal in fulfilling it's purpose.

I received the 35W heating element from 3Dsolex and run some quick tests yesterday. It seems to perform quite good. The temperature overrun when approaching the set temperature is below 5°C which is acceptable. The temperature controller does quite a good job.

I'm planning to post some results, when I have made the planned modifications.

Kind regards from paban