gregh
1
Hi, I posted this on UM Forum, but no responses, so hoping one of the many UM2 users on 3D Hubs might have had some experience of a similar problem to this. I am starting to see (very generally) some quirky behaviour which makes me think that my main board is failing.
1. Z increment too large. I end up with something that resembles the part, but more like a birds nest because each layer is too far above the previous. This starts happening part way through a print (not always the same layer), and the same GCode sometimes works, and sometimes fails.
tried:
a. I have also swapped SD cards with the same result.
b. I updated the firmware (it was one minor revision behind) -same result.
c. I have sliced usiong Cura and S3D with the same result.
2. See the screen. It froze like this - in a corrupted state. The print continued, I just couldn’t interact with the printer in any way.
3. The actual printing froze. Stopped moving and extruding but the heated bed was still hot and I think the hot end was too but not sure…this is the most worrying. If the controller loses control in some unpredictable way this could cause a fire.
So any thoughts please…anyone else seen this? Where do I start? To my mind the root cause could be anything… connections, a failing board / corrupt memory, could even be a power glitch I guess…
@KorneelB Could you maybe help this Hub out as you are one of the UM Legends 
Cheers,
Dom
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How old is your printer? Can you not contact the person you bought it from? Is it still within its 12 months warranty.
i suspect you have a faulty board.
SEND IT TO ULTIMAKER GB MATE. GREAT GUYS THEY ARE BASED IN CHORLEY LANCS
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ouch! looks like a nasty one to me! could the main ultimaker board be over heating? causing a slightly dodgy solder joint to fail/short causing the freeze out? are you able to run the printer with an addition fan blowing across the board?
Either way, sounds like a new main board may be required.
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Contact
d.abram@ultimaker.com
Remember ultimaker is community driven so they will help anyway they can.
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Hi,
I had a problem like this, decreasing Z-motor current to 1200 solved it. If it’s already 1200, try decreasing by 50 and see if the problem persists.
But there’s a high chance that it’s the board. Try using some cooling maybe… But better contact support as well
Cheers
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Hey Greg,
Where did you post it on the UM2 forum? I am pretty active there and I didn’t see your post.
As you said, it could be anything. I’d start with the easy stuff, then advance to harder to test/fix areas.
Replace the power cable from the power brick and/or switch the power outlet. Then reset the printer to factory settings (Menu -> Advanced).
If you have the possibility, connect the UM2 to a computer and use Printerface (also called Printrun) to monitor the output from the printer. Error messages should appear there. If you run OctoPrint - even better. Connect to the printer and switch to the “Terminal” tab and check the output.
Next, open the cover at the bottom of the printer (two screws beneath the heated bed on the bottom) and check for obvious loose connections or half inserted connectors.
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A few ideas from my site.
1) add new printer in Cura and use defaults
2) set z-hop to 0.075
3) do not go to wild on retraction length… I go no further 4.5 else I got that same experience where filament drops out to early especially icw high z-hop
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gregh
11
gregh
12
Thanks, I have spoken to Daniel before, both by email and at the 3D Printshow London :). Good guy. I was approaching the community first though. So far I am gathering some great responses here…not sure why my UMForum post went unnoticed.
Thanks.
There are replies now. So let’s continue there.
gregh
14
Thanks, these seem like good ideas. Not sure yet how to decrease the current, but I have definitely seen something about this before -possibly a post of yours, so I’m sure that won’t be difficult to find.
Thanks!
gregh
15
Thanks for the link. Possibly unrelated to the major issue I guess.
gregh
16
Thanks - and thank you for the rest of your earlier reply -I didn’t respond about that before but I now have several things to try.
Cheers,
Greg
Hi Greg,
It definitely looks like a malfunction of your electronics. I would suggest to try and print over USB, rather than using the SD card slot. You can print over USB by changing this settings in Cura: Dropbox - File Deleted - Simplify your life If you then connect the printer via the USB cable, the “save to sd card” button in Cura will change to a “print over usb” button.
I don’t think the board or steppers are overheating, like numerous people are saying. If that would be the case you’d see shifted layers, rather than a complete crash of the printer. Of course it’s possible you’re experiencing multiple issues at the same time.
If you do decide to replace the electronics, I’ve got a spare electronics board which I’m willing to sell for a reasonable price 
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gregh
18
This is the younger of my 2 printers. I bought it second hand, but it was only 2 months old and had less than 200 hours on it at the time. That was a few month ago. It has been working fine since then, and would theoretically still be in warranty but I don’t have a proof of purchase.
Raise a support ticket with Ultimaker. Which country are you based?
My original ultimaker2 board broke after a year and a half, the Ultimaker price for a new board was about 300€.
I got this Chinese one for around 100€, its been working fine for over a year now. I could have got 3 for the price of the Ultimaker one.
http://fr.aliexpress.com/item/3D-printer-accessories-Ultimaker-v2-1-1-Dashboard-Ultimaker-2-generation-motherboard-for-3D-printers/2024214319.html
Best
Alexandre
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