Height sensor might be faulty - not sure though
i3 MK2/S
When I bring a metal ruler close to the sensor it detects it with about 2-3mm. But i have to touch the bed before it detects and sometimes it doesnt, the little light 'twitches' on and off telling me that its not quite detecting the bed.
So, why is it able to detect something metal with no problem but does not detect the bed?
RE: Height sensor might be faulty - not sure though
Just checking that you do have the steel print sheet on the bed ? As in normal use that is what it detects. There are specific spots on the bed itself it uses during initial calibration but those aren’t used during normal printing.
RE: Height sensor might be faulty - not sure though
I have the bed that the kit came with, I presume that's steel?
I didn't realise that it is only specific spots....that makes a lot of sense! The thing that is happening is that when I run an auto calibration, it moves the bed to the 1st corner and then just plunges the nozzle into the bed, obviously not detecting that anything is there.
However, I might be missing a step and will go through the instruction manual again.
Thank you for you help @Neophyl.
RE: Height sensor might be faulty - not sure though
The bed itself is a composite material with copper traces on top. Its then given a coloured electrical resist layer in black. Its basically one giant pcb. When power is applied the traces heat up causing the bed to heat. This part is called the bed and the pinda doesnt really detect it as its not steel. The print surface is a separate steel sheet held in place with magnets. That flexible steel sheet is coated with a pei layer that promotes adhesion (either smooth/Satin/textured). Its this sheet that the pinda probe detects.
I just wanted to confirm that you had the steel print sheet fitted before starting a print as you should under no circumstances print on the heated bed directly. It even has a screen printed warning not to print on it.