I am having several cracks in some plastic parts

[pitmaster40 0]

As an image worth more than a thousand words, my problem is explained with these pictures. Is this normal? Why is it happening and what could I do in order to fix this?

 

Any help would be appreciated :-P .

 

Thanks!!

 

[IRobertI 521]

The crack in the top piece of the print head was a problem a while back when they were tightening the four thumbscrews way too hard. I've replaced a few of those. If you don't mind the look of it, I wouldn't bother doing anything about it (it's a bit of a pain to replace). It will not affect the performance of the printer in any way.

The crack in the sliding block is something I haven't seen before though. That one is slightly more worrying as it could theoretically lead to the cross rod coming loose. I don't think it's likely, but it's possible if the crack gets big enough (I can't really see the crack in the picture).

If you're willing to replace it yourself I would request new parts from Ultimaker or your reseller. I've only replaced those parts once but it took me a while and you only have one chance as you can get the pieces apart once you squeeze them together. It was probably more of a pain for me as I tried to do it while most of the rods were still in place.

If you're not willing to do that I would consider contacting Ultimaker/the store you bought it from and see if you can send it in for repair.

Again, I think it's unlikely that it will fail catastrophically, but you never know.

 

[pitmaster40 0]

@IRobertI thanks for your reply, I found it very useful. I would like to ask you what about printing these parts in 3D? with ABS? As I could notice, those 3d models are available for printing in YouMagine.

 

[nmeulemans 0]

I had the same problem. I reported it to the shop where I bought the printer and I will get new ones for free. Forgot to ask whether the problem is solved in the meantime. I guess so, otherwise they would not be that easy. I will let you know.