HEATER PROBLEM ?

[dazzan 0]

Hi bought my Ultimaker from the website & managed to get time to build it from the Alien instruction guide

I am working in windows 7 64 bit

I am a complete novice , but at the moment .......

I cannot get Ultimaker to connect at all in my paid for nettfab for Ultimaker even though it says its on com 3 no luck at all ? ( I dont think this controls the heater so ,I can worry about this later )

I got Replicater G installed 0033 and its telling me I have a ultimaker v 1.0 ( 5d firmware ) on com 3

and it says its ready .

So im trying to test but it moves ok in the Jog panel all fine and callibrated ( I hope )

So the instructions on the heater side are a little vague ! Ive tried to preheat Pla to 210 C ( with warning saying temp set to high are u sure - yes) but after 2 mins the heater is as cold as ice still ? and no fiddling around with the settings will get heat started ? I have a blue light on top of my extruder head and pla pushed all the way down as far as it goes.

ive checked the wireing yellow on the left , red on the right with the black wire to the left ,so it s right .

But no heat .

Ultimaker bought in March I think .

Ill step back and have another look ,but wanted to post in case someone could throw light on the subject

Im from London

I also bough the controller kit later as well .

Many thanks

Daz

[Daid 306]

First, does it report no heat, or does it not get hot? It should take about 30 seconds to get to warm to touch. If it doesn't get warm at all, check the connections of the heater element, not the temperature sensor. These connections go all the way from the heater element (big round thing you inserted into the square block) to the ultimaker PCB:

http://wiki.ultimaker.com/File:Heater1.png

Make sure you have connected it to the right heater output.

[dazzan 0]

When u say does it report no heat ...do you mean inside rep g ? is there a log saying no heat is detected . I waited 2 mins as it said and it does not get hot or output any heat at all as far as i can touch .

the big round thing ...check ...these are the 2 white wires coming out of said block down to the pcb .

I will check this ...thanks .. ,we put the x / z on the wrong way through tiredness & a bit of frustration and playing with the jog shuttle control in rep g .

the only problem it seemed in building the head part was getting the right precision screwdriver size to screw in those 2 wires yellow ,red and black . But that was solved and they were on tight .

Will try to get back asap .

many thanks .

DAZ

[dazzan 0]

sorry i thought it would take longer , the 2 white wires are in the Heater 1 slot ! as they are white it matters not which way they go in ? the look correctly placed in there .

Hmmmnnn does that mean I have to look inside the head where the wires come from ?

Im at a loss .

Thanks for the reply .

DAZ

[Daid 306]

Do you have a multimeter? (even a cheap one would do)

The heater wires (white ones) don't have polarity, so you don't have to swap them around. (Else they would have had 2 colors)

There could be 2 problems, the heater element could be broken (broken wire), or the Ultimaker PCB could be broken. With a multimeter you should be able to measure the resistance of the heater element. Put the multimeter on "resistance 100" (usually indicated with an Ohm sign) and measure between the 2 white wires after you disconnected those wires. It should give off only a few Ohm, as Heaters have little resistance. If it says "out of range" or "unlimited" (usually indicated with a "-") then there is something wrong with your heater.

[dazzan 0]

No I do not have a multi meter , so Ill have to buy one 2 morrow .

If its the heater or pcb board ,do you go back 2 ultimaker to get them supplied as im guessing having a broken part means with these u dont get it replaced .

Ive got a mate around hopefully this weekend so more eyes will help .

Thanks Ill reply when I can .

DAZ

[Daid 306]

Oh, yes, you should contact support if you have broken parts. They will help you with replacements. But it can save you both a lot of time if you already know which part is really broken.

[dazzan 0]

Thanks for the reply.

Im off to Maplin first thing to get my Multimeter .

Ive contacted Ultimaker directly to let them know of my problem .

We painted the ultimaker and its looks really cool ,if your a fan of JAWS you would really like it ,plus a matching stand . I bought it as we are a group of 3d artists working on a JAWS fan film ,which we have been doing for since 2009 . We have designed a 3d model housing for a Multicopter that lands on water , we were hoping to print out that and test them pretty soon because they were due to film in South Africa with real great whites on august 21st . So I dont have a lot of time to print and refine and then to practical test . We have other cool models as well to print .

I hope i get it up and running properly in the next couple of weeks .

Ill post as soon as I know

regards

DAZ

[dazzan 0]

Hi ,

Well I got my multi meter from Maplin , and a great email from Ultimaker Support .

The asked me to recheck Section 7 wireing again and sub section 5 heater wireing , which I did , I pulled out the two wires and replaced them & rechecked colours of all wires . All seemed to be placed as it should be .

The had a little bad luck when taking off the bottom board . The red fan wire snapped off .

So off to Maplin again for a solder kit I think I need one anyway with whats to come . (maybe)

Then tried to get a reading on the meter ...I admit I was a little hesitant at first at placing them in the holes (first time using one) , but a reading of 87 , then 127 came back ( digital ) .

I then thought , I should wait until Sunday , as the guy who helped put it together can refollow my steps again , and the Ultimaker email instructions .

Should not take to long to test again .

Ultimaker sounded very helpful , although a little frustrated I understand these things will happen & my artist friend understood when building it there might be these kind of problems .

So another go on Sunday and email off on Monday morning all going well . Honestly we were so happy to see the x , y axis move . Like kids in a candy store . Cant wait to see the first print .

Regards

DAZZ

[dazzan 0]

We have checked the heater wires with the multimeter and they are fine we think ( first time with a multimeter )

Soldered the wire on to the fan ....no probs ,thats working again

The next bit , the final bit has us stumped because of our electronics knowledge is slightly worse than none

This is what they want to do

I'd like to ask you whether you have a device to measure the current (amount of Voltage) that runs through the wiring on your thermocouple sensor board. As you mention, you are going to buy one.... I am sorry that you have to actually buy one. There is no 'nice' neighboor or friend that you can borrow a multimeter from? I have attached a picture with the thermocouple sensor board (without the plastic part for clarity). You should measure the voltage within the green circle, not in the red circle. Measure the voltage between all the wires, so between yellow and red, between red and black, and between black and yellow. Report the voltage that you have measured. Report as follows:

Red - Yellow = ... V

Red - Black = .... V

Black - Yellow = ... V

A simple thing to do , but we dont know which selection to turn our multimeter to ! to measure voltage , we are guessing we have to have the machine switched on

This is the meter we have:

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=sinometer+m830b&hl=en&sa=X&biw=1620&bih=909&tbm=isch&prmd=imvns&tbnid=5Q8Gn9bpqRqdYM:&imgrefurl=http://www.sinometer.com/products_digital%2520multimeter.htm&docid=kiCgkbNXPIC8ZM&imgurl=http://www.sinometer.com/jpg/M830B.jpg&w=1025&h=783&ei=jyDnT_vlJsTU8gO5wcCgCg&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=174&vpy=144&dur=59&hovh=196&hovw=257&tx=168&ty=100&sig=112333857230629818186&page=1&tbnh=126&tbnw=165&start=0&ndsp=46&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:72

any help to switch to the settings we need so we can send the results back would be of great help .

This was the next part of the mail , but im guessing that if we have either bad wires going to the heater head it can be sorted or parts changed ,but if thats ok also ,.Will that point to the pcb board and the heater switch there faulty ?

Please let me know how this all works out for you. Also I'd like to ask you to reinstall your software and use repG0035 for when we try to fix this problem. Just make sure to have it on the default settings. To make sure the software on your machine is installed properly I would like you to go through the steps of installing the software again as you find them here:

http://wiki.ultimaker.com/Software_setup_guide

Once you've done that to be sure all settings are proper I want you to reset your preferences, as follows:

Go to 'file',

then 'reset all preferences' and

select 'yes' when asked if you are sure.

We cannot get rep 35 to connect for love nor money , just to tell you .

But to check those wires first .

Regards

DAZZ

[Daid 306]

You want to measure voltage (not current, current is something else). The correct setting for this is the "V" with the line with dotted line beneath it. This means "DC voltage", the other V setting is AC voltage. (with the wobbly line)

In the photo it's on the correct setting, but I would put it on the 20 setting instead of 200, as you will never get more then 20V anywhere on the Ultimaker electronics.

[dazzan 0]

Thanks a lot , much appreciated , funny my wife suggested getting a electrician she knows to cover any mistakes we might have made and it should take him 2 seconds just in case and hes free.

It wont heat up and the fan wont go round ,and we know that it could be that board .wires have been triple checked and in the right place .

I will check 2 morrow and hopefully a answer from ultimaker * continue from there .

Thanks again ,will get it sorted . Will post again

DAZZ

[dazzan 0]

Heater Problem is fixed and working at the moment .

Went through the email software instructions sent to me this morning , as my electrician did not want to go near my printer And it heated up to 210 c .... Cool

Interesting thing is I am now at 99 % I think .

But the instructions say set up g code like this and press build and end result says says "ReplicatorG doesn't recognize GCode 'M113 S0.0' "

but the instructions as far as i can see dont tell me what to do, when just as it finishes the g code 2 windows pop up and im sure the are waiting for me to do something !

I close them both and press build , by this time my temperature is dropping .

Then i press build button and it goes through the whole thing again and the 2 windows pop up again , I dont know how to save the g code to start a print or is the error correct .(cant b)

I then get a pop up message saying a error has occured and u can go ahead or cancel .

Im nearly there

Support has been great from Ultimaker , who i will contact in the morning .

DAZZ

[Daid 306]

I think the general consensus from the Ultimaker community is that Cura solves most if not all software issues:

https://github.com/daid/Cura/wiki

But you won't get support from Ultimaker on Cura.

[dazzan 0]

Hi Diad ,

Thanks for the reply .Are you suggesting that when I press generate my code, whether Gcode or final build ,the 2 pop up windows ,you dont answer them and they should not popup ? So its a software error ? It should go all the way through to start the print off ?

I can put on cura no problem .You always test everything .

Just a bit upset that im stumbleing at the final hurdle ,and it seems to be ongoing .

Ultimaker did not reply today .Took time off work to get it sorted .

Thanks for you replys .

Much appreciated

DAZ

[Daid 306]

I have no experience with ReplicatorG (only the early versions). So I don't know if those popups are a problem or not.

But I found RepG so hard to work with that I created Cura.

[dazzan 0]

ok , no reply from Ultimaker .

So i though .Well just test it in Netfabb for ultimaker again .

This time for the first time it found the Ultimaker first time and connected .

Then much easier I loaded a vase and got it to toolpath .

Sorry , I missed a few steps as I was convinced it would not work .

and just pressed print .

Ok . It did a bit of the first layer ,dropped a few bits of plastic , but off it went.

It did tear up my blue tape(part of it ) Needs to be set up again for Nettfab as it was for Repg .

But no more layers came out , as i think the grip on the rear extruder was not correct .

Happy really .... Needs better user input but the interface seems clearer .

Just wanted to see if it worked now it turned on !

Now i can try to input , gcode , print . In one piece of software .

Ive seen a video on placing the rear pla in and grip round the back .

At the mo best to play !

Getting nearer . Only a stones throw away .

DAZZ

[rewolff 0]

FYI, I saw you get popups about unknown G-codes.

THis is just that the software in the computer doesn't know about them, the printer does. ANd if it doesn't it isn't that imporant. Don't worry about it. Just click continue.

(I at the moment I have to go, so sorry I might have missed something in your last post).

Anyway.... if you're having any trouble, try slic3r. The other one didn't work for me. It's all fixable, but not easy before you've got something printed.

[dazzan 0]

Hi rewolfF

Yes im still frustrated , now by net fab and RepG & Ultimaker Help

You know when those pop ups come up and u say click on continue !

The g code dialogue box wont let me , as it seems to be waiting for an answer , I must be blind so I cant see the continue button . I know it fails as press print and it goes through the gcode steps again , with the same results.

Anyway over on Nettfab , I get past the gcode part and it goes off and rips up my blue tape (again)

I find it difficult trying to look at 2 front ends of software for the same things ( like z callibration)

Also the print pla is not being pulled through I think as nothing is coming out the nozzel. (nettfabb) tried adjusting pla , but still nothing .

The Temp is ok now I set it to 210 C .

Im gonna leave my frustrations for a couple of days and come back into it again in a couple of days

Dazz

[rewolff 0]

Dazzan, the M113 g-code is not really important. The replicator program doesn't recognize it, but IIRC the firmware in the machine will.

On the other hand, I had big troubles with the slicers in replicatorg. They would generate extrusion parameter commands that did not correspond to what my machine wanted.

Experienced people can then go in and tweak a simple command in the startup-g-code. But this is too difficult for a "first time print".

Try cura. Once you have some experience you could go back to replicator. (but you won't).

Don't throw replicatorg from your computer just yet. You must be able to start it when you request help from ultimaker....

[dazzan 0]

I have finally got a print thanks to Cura

Not a bad 1st print.A whistle.

Cura also found a loose wire and the temp is working perfectly well .

The rear feeder was not gripping so we had to push by hand to do a first print ,so thats on the to do list ,and the wire , then the torn up bed problem .

I wont get rid of Nett fabb or Rep G .

Ill learn from this point .

Diad / reewolf many thanks

DAZZ

[jcosmo 5]

You managed a quality print whilst feeding by hand? Why do we bother with all the fancy hardware?

Nice progress. I moved to Cura very quickly after repg gave me problems and have not looked back. If only Daid had chosen something other than python I could help with coding.

[Daid 306]

You managed a quality print whilst feeding by hand? Why do we bother with all the fancy hardware?

So my printer can do it's job while I'm at work ;-)

 

If only Daid had chosen something other than python I could help with coding.

:lol: That's a silly argument. Because I actually never did any Python before Cura. So I also had to learn it. You should try it, I found it very pleasant to work with.

[jcosmo 5]

I intend to, never fear. I've done some python in the past, just never anything serious, and certainly nothing with a UI. I do have an active contributor to PyPy working with me though so he should be able to kick me in the right direction.