New ultimaker -> already problems

[Sammael 1]

Hi all

I just bought an Ultimaker 2, i've printed about 3 small objects, 2 maker bots, 1 little rose for mothers day. and already problems... You can all probably understand me that i dont want any problems after 2 days after paying about 2500 euro for the total package...

I started with silver PLA and now changed to white ABS. My spool was stuck at first, i had to open the entire print head to retract the PLA spool manually, after about 3 houres off googling and watching video's and dissassembling my machine i got it out.

I inserted my white ABS, let it run through and a tiny bit came out of the head ( before some of yellow like burned plastic came out ). So after in totall 4 - 5 houres of tinkering i thought i was finished.

I tried printing a small makerbot and no plastic is coming out. Although i see that the motor is running and i see the spool going in. Its weird because the plastic exitted the head and when i try to print, nothing comes out of the nozzle.

I'm gonna try the atomic method tonight because i'm thinking my nozzle might be clogged.

Any tips on how to solve or what else to try ? And above all, how I can avoid all this trouble because really... Paying 2500 euro and having problems after 2 days... I'm not a fan of this at all...

I hope ultimaker gives me good support because i'm really afraid of doing something wrong and having the chance that ultimaker says you tinkered with it yourself, gone is your standard garantie of 1 year and gone is my 2500 euro...

[neotko 1,417]

Well that would happen on practicaly any fdm printer. When changing from x material to y (being different plastics) the atomic it's just a must. Also check filament sizes (anything bigger than 3mm will stuck since ultimaker uses 2.85mm filament).

Edit. The Pla literally burns at 240C and goes brown (it's sugar based). The traces of PLA that stay on the nozzle will burn and go brown at ABS temperature (but you can use 240C for pla if you print at very high speeds but it's not recommended). The think that propably jam your brand new nozzle was that. If you go from any material to other kind, sometimes even changing brands, the best think to do always it's atomic pulls.

There's also some cleaning filaments that can be used to 'capture' any residue and leave a clean nozzle, but they are expensive compared to a simple atomic pull.

For my cleanings if I use my 3mm extruder (2.85 filament) I just use a ptfe 3mm and push it though, then lower the heat and pull to get all. This way I don't waste filament.

Edited May 12, 2015 by Guest

[Sammael 1]

Well that would happen on practicaly any fdm printer. When changing from x material to y (being different plastics) the atomic it's just a must. Also check filament sizes (anything bigger than 3mm will stuck since ultimaker uses 2.85mm filament).

Edit. The Pla literally burns at 240C and goes brown (it's sugar based). The traces of PLA that stay on the nozzle will burn and go brown at ABS temperature (but you can use 240C for pla if you print at very high speeds but it's not recommended). The think that propably jam your brand new nozzle was that. If you go from any material to other kind, sometimes even changing brands, the best think to do always it's atomic pulls.

There's also some cleaning filaments that can be used to 'capture' any residue and leave a clean nozzle, but they are expensive compared to a simple atomic pull.

For my cleanings if I use my 3mm extruder (2.85 filament) I just use a ptfe 3mm and push it though, then lower the heat and pull to get all. This way I don't waste filament.

Thank you for the fast response! I'm gonna try the atomic method as soon as i get home i'll post feedback here

[IRobertI 516]

How did you go about changing the plastic? You say that your spool was stuck?

Did you change material profiles to ABS so that the printer is using the correct temperature?

"Its weird because the plastic exitted the head and when i try to print, nothing comes out of the nozzle." - I'm confused, you say that plastic is coming out of the head but nothing comes out of the nozzle?

You see that the plastic is moving into the printer as well but not plastic is coming out? That's just not possible, it either moves or it doesn't. Is the feeder grinding your plastic?

When you loaded your ABS you say you saw a tiny amount of plastic coming out. Are you sure it was actually plastic being pushed out, or was it old plastic simply dripping out?

Sorry, but your post is a bit confusing since it's contradicting itself a bit.

[nallath 1,117]

I very much doubt that we're going to void your warranty because you used it. Provided that you dont cut anything up or weld new stuff to it, I believe we're pretty flexible.

Every time you switch material you should 'spool' the printer a bit by letting it extrude for a while. Like neotko already mentioned, it can take a while for all the old material to be pushed out of the nozzle.

[Sammael 1]

How did you go about changing the plastic? You say that your spool was stuck?

Did you change material profiles to ABS so that the printer is using the correct temperature?

"Its weird because the plastic exitted the head and when i try to print, nothing comes out of the nozzle." - I'm confused, you say that plastic is coming out of the head but nothing comes out of the nozzle?

You see that the plastic is moving into the printer as well but not plastic is coming out? That's just not possible, it either moves or it doesn't. Is the feeder grinding your plastic?

When you loaded your ABS you say you saw a tiny amount of plastic coming out. Are you sure it was actually plastic being pushed out, or was it old plastic simply dripping out?

Sorry, but your post is a bit confusing since it's contradicting itself a bit.

Yes it might be a bit confusing, let me explain a bit further. So i received my ultimaker a week ago. I loaded the standard silver PLA. I printed some maker bots, a rose and it all went pretty well quality wise i was very happy. So i decided to try and move on to something more serious, i tried changing the PLA spool to white ABS but when it reversed the motor to retract the spool it did not move at all. The silver PLA spool was stuck. So i had to dissassemble the head and loosen the white cable so i got manually retract the spool. After this i say change material -> ABS -> load material -> I insert material. After waiting untill the spool reaches the head some brown sugary PLA left overs dripped out of the head. Some burned plastic in other words. Then the new white spool reached the nozzle and white plastic came out. At this moment i clicked Continue since the plastic was exiting the nozzle. Then i tried printing a makerbot and several things happened. 1) It starts to prints and i see little white dot on the nozzle and some plastic comes out, the nozzle is also correctly heated so there's no problem there, but when it starts printing the plastic is just not coming out fast enough? Not even sticking to the platform, there like 2 mm at the nozzle but thats about it and nothing more happens, I think their might be PLA leftovers in the nozzle or something --> i will try atomic method in 1 houre when i reach my home.

I hope this clarifies a bit

[Sammael 1]

I very much doubt that we're going to void your warranty because you used it. Provided that you dont cut anything up or weld new stuff to it, I believe we're pretty flexible.

Every time you switch material you should 'spool' the printer a bit by letting it extrude for a while. Like neotko already mentioned, it can take a while for all the old material to be pushed out of the nozzle.

Maybe i didnt spool it long enough, when about 2 cm's came out i was like . Ok this looks white instead of silver, this looks ok ... And i tried a test print.

[nallath 1,117]

If you would use the same type of material (but different color) the 2cm would be enough. ABS takes quite a while to get out.

Also ABS is a lot harder to print. It doesnt stick to the platform as well as PLA and it tends to warp way more.

Edited May 12, 2015 by Guest

[skinny-kid 64]

It will also benefit you to read and read and read some more. There are numerous threads here that deal with a host of problems that can and will arise.

Read everything on this site to start with http://support.3dverkstan.se/

Go through the forums religiously. Education goes a long way.

[Sammael 1]

Hi

I've been reading non stop the last weeks about ultimaker, found most problem solving strategies already, just did the atomic method, and loaded new spool of PLA again to start with the simpler stuff instead of ABS, trying to make a print now

[Sammael 1]

Its printing again! hip hurray!! I guess i should keep ABS for later time to start tinkering with PLA again and start on that prostetic finger for one of my friends, Thank you all for the fast responses and guidance in what i already knew sorry.

[cloakfiend 994]

Stay away from ABS, it prints cleaner and better in my opinion, but the warping is just too random and may ruin a print if your not very careful. It also tends to snap easier than PLA.

BTW!

The whole printing nothing after plastic coming out when you've just loaded it, is due to the cooling of the filament next to the head and the problem arises from the filament cooling down and melting into the nozzle creating a gap between the filament in the nozzle and the filament going into the nozzle so that by the time the heat bed has heated up to 60 Degrees or whatever, the filament is no longer connected to the nozzle, as the bit you loaded has melted. To avoid this, either, a. heat up the bed before hand so that when you press print, it print immediately, as the nozzle is hot and the bed too! or you manually move material after heating up both nozzle and bed and then as fast as you can go to print and hope you did it quick enough.

if the nozzle is melted with filament in it, and you click change material it often gets stuck and just grinds the hell out of the material by the feeder, so that it has none left to grip on therefore leaving it stuck. Just get some plier and pull it out.

You will generally not need to unscrew ANYTHING unless you want to give the feeder a bit of a clean inside, but blowing into it is usually enough for me.

i recommend two atomic pulls before every print to ensure you don't get jams later. and remember with pla heat it up to 260 and then start pushing, but as you dial it down to 70 , keep pushing it so that by the time it cools its still filling up the nozzle so that when you pull it out around 85-89 degrees, you clean all the inside of the nozzle, not just the bottom bit.

below 85 degrees will just snap the pla in the nozzle BTW and you'll have to start the process again, and do it when the head is in one of the corners so you don't bend the bars.

I do it so much i don't even bother taking out the blue thing anymore that connects the bowden tube! lol.

Edited May 16, 2015 by Guest