How To: Use Any Material with the Ultimaker S5 Material Station
Using the Ultimaker S5 Material Station, along with this helpful article, you can navigate your way to successful and repeatable fabrication with any filament.
Congratulations on being the proud owner of an Ultimaker S5 and Materials Station! This powerful machine is able to print a wide variety of engineering-grade materials, and this article will provide the tips and tricks you need to unlock the full printing potential of your 3D printer.
Overview
The Ultimaker S5 3D printer and Materials Station can handle most third-party 2.85mm filaments. If you stumble upon a material that is not listed in the Ultimaker Marketplace or are experiencing errors, this article will provide step-by-step instructions to help you navigate your way to successful and repeatable fabrication.
The process for enabling third-party materials will be demonstrated through examples using MatterHackers materials. Even though MatterHackers materials are used in this case, the process will be the same for all third-party filaments.
Preparation
- Review the information and manuals for the installation and use of the Ultimaker S5 Pro Bundle. These include the Ultimaker S5 Material Station Manual, the Ultimaker S5 Pro Bundle User Manual, and the Ultimaker Marketplace for Third Party Materials.
- Login to your Ultimaker account either through Ultimaker Cura, Ultimaker Cura Connect, or through the Ultimaker Cloud. If you do not have an account, create one through Ultimaker Account Setup.
- Remember that NylonX and NylonG are abrasive materials. You will need to use the Print Core CC 0.60mm Red to print these materials. The Ionic material will use a regular Print Core BB 0.40mm.
- Currently, the use and loading of the NylonX and NylonG materials in the Material Station are enabled. At the time of publishing, the Ionic profile has not been enabled in the Material Station but is expected to be enabled on the next firmware release.
- In the interim, to load Ionic into the Material Station and designate it in Cura, use a general CPE (PETG) profile and load the Ionic filament. When getting ready to print from the USB drive, if the printer displays a warning message on the LCD screen which states that there is a material conflict, override the warning message and continue to print.
- If sending the print from Cura via WifI or Ethernet, you will need to override the warning message in Cura Connect or through the Ultimaker Cloud. Once you override this warning, the printer will begin the operation.
- Figures 10-17 give examples of some of the errors/conflicts that may appear. If it is a core conflict, then that can be corrected by placing the correct core in the correct slot in the printer or by selecting the correct core in Cura. In this example, the printer had the wrong cores installed. If it is a material conflict, you may choose to override the warning.
Process
1. After Login, access the Marketplace through the tab highlighted in Figure 1. If your material is not listed under the Marketplace tab, go to Step 10.
Figure 1: Marketplace Tab
2. Select the Materials tab as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Materials Tab
3. Select the manufacturer of the material that you want to use. If your material is not listed, go to Step 10.
Figure 3: MatterHackers Listing in the Ultimaker Marketplace
4. In Figure 4, Ionic is already installed. If not, click on the Install button.
Figure 4: Ionic Material Selection
5. In Figure 5, NylonX is already installed. If not, click on the Install button.
Figure 5: NylonX Material Selection
6. In Figure 6, NylonG is already installed. If not, click on the Install button.
Figure 6: NylonG Material Selection
7. Figure 7 demonstrates how to select the material that is desired for Print Core Number 1. The current selection is Ultimaker Blue PLA. This material will be replaced with a MatterHackers brand material.
Figure 7: Material Selection for Print Core Number 1
8. Figure 8 highlights the Ionic Material Selection. Even though Print Core 1 is highlighted, I ended up placing this as the material selection for Print Core Number 2.
Figure 8: Material Selection for Print Core Number 29. I selected NylonG for Print Core Number 1 and Ionic for Print Core Number 2. Since NylonG is an abrasive material, I selected the use of the Print Core CC 0.60mm Red. I selected Ionic for Print Core Number 2 to act as support material. This takes a standard Print Core AA 0.40mm. I then proceeded to slice the model. (See Figure 9 for the correct material and Print Core selections.)
Figure 9: Material and Print Core Selections for the Print
10. The slice resulted in an error (see Figure 10). In this case, even though Ionic is listed as an Ultimaker Supported Material, the settings for the Ultimaker Cura slicer, the Ultimaker S5 Printer, and the Material Station are not yet enabled. The material is scheduled to be operational with the next Ultimaker Cura and firmware update. If your material is not enabled or not listed in the Ultimaker Marketplace, then you will need to make a substitute adjustment on the material selection. In this case, we will substitute a like material profile for Ionic.
Figure 10: Material Error for Print Core Number 2
11. As a replacement for Ionic, I decided to use a Generic CPE (PETG) profile. The printing temperature for Ionic is in the 255C range, so a CPE profile or even Nylon profile will work as a stand-in. Once the material selection in Print Core Number 2 is finalized, then the model is sliced with no resulting error.
12. Once sliced, one can preview the sliced model by clicking on the Preview tab (see Figure 12).
Figure 12: Getting Ready for the Slice and Print Preview
13. The Preview tab offers a chance to review the sliced model with supports to include a filament tower. Once ready, then one can either print over the network or save the print job to a USB thumb drive for local printing directly from the Ultimaker S5. In Figure 13, I decided to print over the network.
Figure 13: Sliced File Ready for Printing Over the Network
14. After sending the print job to the Ultimaker S5 via Wi-Fi, I can monitor the progress of the print job by clicking on the Monitor tab (see Figure 14).
Figure 14: Monitor the Print Job by Clicking on the Monitor Tab
15. Under the Monitor tab, one can see that the print job is being placed on hold due to an error (see Figure 15). This error usually means that the sliced file has a different material and print core set-up than what is loaded in the Material Station and/or the Ultimaker S5 3D printer. Before the error can be corrected, the materials and the print cores in the Material Station and/or the Ultimaker S5 3D printer need to align with the materials and print core settings in the sliced print job.
Figure 15: Error Due to Print Cores and Materials Not Being Aligned Between the Ultimaker S5 Bundle and Cura16. Figure 16 highlights the incompatibility error between Cura and the Ultimaker S5 on the S5 LCD screen.
Figure 16: Incompatibility Error Message on the Ultimaker S5 LCD Screen
17. Figure 17 displays information on the error message and the reasons why the print job cannot continue.
Figure 17: Error Message Explanation
Conclusion
The materials and print cores selected in the Ultimaker S5, the Material Station, and Cura must always align before a print job can be executed. If your material is not enabled or listed in either the Ultimaker Marketplace or on the Ultimaker S5 Pro Bundle hardware, then you will have to substitute an equal generic material profile that matches the material that one desires to use. Once the substitution has been made, then you will be ready to leverage the full capabilities of the Ultimaker S5 3D printer Pro Bundle.