3D Printing - Abruptly stops before finished

@hoodel @JekBear
What’s the indoor temperature when the 3D printing problem happened?

The temperature in the room is variable: 70 - 80F ( 21 - 27C). It was on the warmer side when initially reporting. It is cooler now, and the problem persists.

[20170811 addendum - I just recalibrated, which improved Z-position accuracy.
Print still failed early in the first layer. Ambient air is about 78F (25C). I just posted clean log files.]

Maybe the cause is not temperature [in all cases]. The experiment I’m running suggests a different root cause.

The machine I was using had 4GB of RAM. I have hooked up a different machine with the same OS, but 16GB or RAM. The ambient temperature is 81F (~27C), and after 2 hours, the print has not halted.

I suspect the culprit might have been Garbage Collection kicking in on the small machine, interrupting communications. I’ll provide an addendum when the print completes, successfully or not.

[ 2017-08-13T12:15:-- Addendum: 20 hours into an 81 hour (est) job, and it is still printing. It is looking like there was something about the smaller (memory) computer that the uArm didn’t like. ]

[ 2017-08-15T12:08:-- Addendum: My print ran to completion, and I have started another one without mishap.
Pass: OS X 10.10.5, 2.5 GHz Intel Core i5, 16 GB
Fail: OS X 10.12.6, 2.66 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4 GB ]

I too, also have this problem with 3.1.16 firmware version. It just barely printed out the build plate adhesion and it stops.

I would also like to suggest to send a one last command upon failure or completion. Which is to set the arm back to a resting position ( not the rest position you can do on Blockly ). But a position in which the arm won’t drop and slam on the table when power is off or all the programs shutdowns.

@Tobiasgeek @hoodel when the arm stopped before finish, did you hear any beep like power on the arm? Would you please give your serial number of robot which is located in the bottom of robot. Thanks

My uArm’s serial number is UARM05051706EB
When it stopped before completion, sometimes there would be a click; sometimes it would just stop and freeze; sometimes it would just drop on the platform; sometimes it would act like it was going to the zero point calibration, and mash the nozzle into the work piece. There was never a beep that I recall.

In cases where it just freezes… it would get to the commanded destination, and then act like it was waiting for the next command. I don’t know if the command was ever sent, but the uArm apparently didn’t hear it, and the computer never got the word that it was time to send another one.

@tony

My uArm serial number is C8FD19405637.

No beeps. It just stopped moving, fan was still running so the plastic cools down and gets stuck to the build plate. Cura received no issues, and continues as normal on screen.

I just start testing my uArm again toby, and it hasn’t stopped. It’s been running for about an hour. Printing something small. And it seems to be running ok now. I’ll beginning printing larger ones with support structure and build plate adhesion.

@hoodel @Tobiasgeek thanks for your kindly response. Since we can’t recur the problem in our office, could you please give us your gcode source file of failure printing?
For windows it should be located in : C:\Users\ufactory\uarm\Temp\temp.gcode and temp_convert.gcode
For Linux : MACOS\user\ufactory\uarm\Temp\temp.gcode and temp_convert.gcode
[ufactory is the name of your computer]
Thanks and appreciate it!

Since it doesn’t seem to matter what model I am running when this happens, I’ll send you the gcode from one of the smaller models.

In the mean time. I’m going to run another experiment. This time I will try running Cura on the smaller machine without uArm Studio running in the background. Perhaps there is a threading issue … or contention for the USB resource.

So I printed out some small stuff and it worked out fine. But if I am printing a bigger model it stopped halfway.

I was printing a small version of the statue Michaelango’s David.

GCode is in the Google Shared Folder link below.

@tony, I just posted my ~/uarm/Temp/<gcode> files to mikecrm.com with a reference to this list.

This is a small model (Wonder Woman Keychain) that was almost completed on my 4GB machine before it failed, dropping the hot nozzle into the workpiece. I was not present to listen for a beep.

I was running 1.1.13-p3. I just discovered and updated both machines to 1.1.13-p4. In both versions of the software the behavior of the machines is different when I start uArmStudio. With the uArm off (or unplugged):

  • the 4GB machine goes to the uArm Studio main page with the navigation buttons along the bottom and the uArm status on the right;
  • the 16GB machine goes to a white screen with a diagram of the uArm base showing where to plug in power and USB. "Please plug in the power cable and connect the computer via USB." It goes to the main Studio page after the uArm is connected and powered.
I don't know if this is helpful, but it might give a clue. The 4GB machine has had several versions of the software installed (Studio and CuraForuArm). Until just now, the 16GB machine had only seen Studio 1.1.13-p3 and CuraForuArm 1.0.4.

[Addendum: Just ran 1.1.13-p4 with a very small model the 4GB machine. Just as it was finishing the raft, it died. It did click, and then it beeped (as if powering up). I’m thinking it would be nice if CuraForuArm/monitor could run independently of Studio. Perhaps there are just too many threads? I’ll save the gcode, in case you want it.]

Thanks for your detail report! We would test the same file immediately to see if we could find out the issue you are facing. Will let you know when get something to share. Thanks

@Tobiasgeek @hoodel Got something new about the 3D print issue. We have found out the issue of stops, the main reason is the power adaptor. The output voltage of the adaptor waves during 3D print or any other high power consumption situations randomly. The standard output should be 12V, but we got 7-8V for several times during printing. When the voltage drops off a lot, it makes the MCU dead, and that’s also the reason that makes the action of arm unpredictable (like hoodel said different actions in different times).
If anyone else get this issue please PM me (click my name and give me your detail information about the order) and I will send new version of adapter to you. Thanks for the patient.

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@tony This may be very good news. I hope this solves the problem. I just had another 60 hour job quit at 80%.

Sorry for that, and will send the new version of adapter for you. BTW, does the 3D printing stop everytime? Or just randomly

It fails pretty much randomly. I need 8 of these parts. I have successfully printed 6. I’ve had 3 quit well into the print (at different % completion). Many quit early, or I stopped, because of bad 1st layer adhesion & etc. I’ve been testing variations on the calibration procedure (elevating the uArm to reach down to ‘B’ is working best, so far).

I don’t know why I would have such a high % failure with the 4G machine versus my laptop. I still think there might be something going on with the handshake. Sometimes I would like a resume button, to issue the last command again, and then continue.

Should I still be expecting a new power adapter?

Let me check the shipment for you. Let you know as soon as possible.

Same with me, i also am still waiting to receive the new power adapter