Filament Sensor
Not received my MK4 kit yet but I'm sure I read somewhere that the filament sensor seems to have issues at the moment - not detecting when the filament spool has finished so that a new spool can be loaded, etc?
Is this a widespread issue among those who already have their assembled units?
RE: Filament Sensor
Just received MK4 last Friday. I've had this issue since Wednesday, now on hold with support who have told me to recalibrate the filament sensor, which I have already done with no resolution.
RE:
tldr; it's probably something in the firmware or interference in the daughterboard.
Background: was trying to use up some spare filament and thus tried to print the Prusa-supplied Robo Alpaca on the Prusa-supplied USB stick. 6.5 hours went by, filament ran out, asked my nephew to swap to the new spool. He runs a MK3S+ every day so I trust him with the task. He says the UI is stuck on "change filament" despite the filament having been unloaded. He is unable to proceed because the screen is hung. Clicking the wheel makes an audible beep but there's nothing else happening, despite pushing the filament in and out of the printer. So I had to abandon the print.
I come back, remove the failed print, load new PLA into it, cut it near the extruder to simulate a runout. Reprint. It seems to work. I leave it running. Another 7 hours go past, but this time the nozzle is a good 2mm above the print. Filament sensor failed to detect that filament had run out.
Support says to calibrate the filament sensor. I do it.
Third attempt, now with a full spool. Robo Alpaca completes so it's definitely not the Gcode or the USB stick. Remove the print, cut the filament again. Again, MK4 continues to behave like nothing's wrong when clearly filament has run out and there's nothing coming out of the nozzle.
Reset the printer, and try again. Again, MK4 behaves like there's filament when there isn't any. I go into Sensor info>Filament sensor. I open the idler door. I see that no matter what I do, it says "INS/[some large number]". Once in a while, it will flash "NINS/[some small number]"
Reset the printer once more, calibrate the filament sensor. I go into Sensor info>Filament sensor. With the idler door open, I insert filament. Now, I see it says "INS", and when I remove it, it says "NINS".
So there it is. The current workaround I suppose is to just turn off the filament sensor and make sure you have a full spool.
RE: Filament Sensor
Before the filament sensor can do its job properly,
you need to do a few steps.
Which can be found in the MK4's manual starting on page 22.
RE: Filament Sensor
Any of you guys using the Beta PrusaSlicer software by any chance?
Dont think it should matter, but still…..
RE: Filament Sensor
Please, read the post. It is the pre-sliced Robo Alpaca Gcode from Prusa Research, on the Prusa Research-supplied USB stick. The print completed successfully on a full spool, so that pretty much rules out any slicer problems.
RE: Filament Sensor
I generally always slice myself rather then use any pre-sliced files that come from factory.