The Material Station is an add-on for UltiMaker S series printers (except the S3). In combination with a Material Station, the printers benefit from increased productivity, enhanced reliability, and a more hassle-free workflow for operators. This page explains briefly how the different features of the Material Station work and what the different components do to help you understand the product.
Tip: To learn more about the individual components, you can visit this page: Material Station main components
Loading material
- Drop a spool of material into any of the six material bays. All materials can be placed in all bays, even composite materials.
- Guide the material into entry port 1 or 2. This determines to which extruder the material can be forwarded for a print. Material can be loaded into either extruder, regardless of the currently installed print cores.
- The prefeeder detects and grabs the material. It is sufficient to only slightly push in the material.
- The Material Station reads the NFC tags in the spool. This automatic detection only works for UltiMaker and UltiMaker-certified materials. Third-party materials can be manually chosen from the list.
- The material will stay in the standby (preloaded) position. Because this does not interfere with any process in the printer, materials can be loaded at any moment, even during printing.
Learn more about loading materials here
General operation
- The dehumidifier controls the relative humidity in the Material Station chamber. The target RH is 25%, but the relative humidity is always kept below 40% to ensure optimal storage conditions for the materials. It is important to keep the door closed, except when loading materials.
- The dehumidifier is self-generating; this means it does not require any maintenance. It automatically detects when regeneration is necessary, based on the humidity level.
- If the dehumidifier is saturated with moisture, the Material Station will initiate a heating cycle to restore the silica beads. On average, this occurs once a day. This does not interrupt any processes and is very noticeable, except for some noise.
Learn more about humidity control here
Printing
- The Material Station does not have to be selected separately in UltiMaker Cura, but if a printer with a Material Station is connected via UltiMaker Digital Factory, Cura will automatically detect and show all available configurations.
- When starting a print (via Digital Factory or via USB), the Pro Bundle selects the compatible configuration from the settings in the print file. If the required materials and/or print cores are not available, the UI will show a configuration change request. Otherwise, the Pro Bundle proceeds automatically.
- The prefeeders forward the material through the system. These are located at the front of the Material Station, just behind the interface.
- The mergers guide the filament from any of the six material bays to the correct extruder. These guidance systems have 6 entries at the front (for each bay) and one at the back (towards the extruder).
- The decouplers let the printer know that the filament is approaching the feeder. The decouplers are the white 'blocks' at the back of the Material Station.
- The filament enters the printer's feeders, which now take over the feeding process.
- The nozzles are cleaned and prepared for printing in the prime procedure. This is important to ensure no other material remains in the nozzle and there is sufficient nozzle pressure for correct extrusion.
Learn more about printing with the Material Station here
End-of-filament
- If the filament runs out during printing, the end-of-filament process starts. This can be detected either by the prefeeder (if the material unhooks from the spool) or by the decoupler (if the material stays hooked on the spool).
- The deprime procedure ensures a correct filament tip. This is important to prevent filament strands attached to the end from getting stuck in the system.
- The material is retracted by the feeder and prefeeder, while the rewinder turns the spool to coil the material back on the spool.
- The Material Station selects the next spool with compatible material, loads it as described above, and the print continues. Ensure there is always a second spool of the same material loaded to benefit from this feature. If there are no compatible materials, the print will remain paused until a new spool is loaded.
Learn more about automatic filament switching here
End-of-print
- When the print is finished, the deprime procedure ensures a correct filament tip. This is important to prevent filament strands attached to the end from getting stuck in the system.
- The material stays parked above the print head for a certain time. For most materials, this is 2 hours. This helps to reduce the print preparation time if the next print job requires the same material(s). If another print is started that requires the same materials, the printer will only have to perform the prime procedure.
- If the parking timer runs out, or when the next print job requires different materials, the parked materials will rewind back into the Material Station.
Learn more about the prime/deprime procedure here
