PINDA probe light  

Re: PINDA probe light

Yes and yes. 🙂

Re: PINDA probe light

Ugh. Thanks. I guess mine is dead.

This wouldn't be quite so bad if it weren't for the level of disassembly needed to replace the thing.

If there's a poor MTBF on these things, maybe they shouldn't be on all the time, considering they're only used at probe-time.

And maybe not being downwind of the hotend would help too.

Re: PINDA probe light

Probably a cable fault behind the extruder.

Due to repeated flexing in opperation

Regards Joan

Re: PINDA probe light

@gz1: If your heatbed is flat enough (some of them are quite bent), you can make workaround using classic Z-endstop instead of inductive probe. I was using one of my MK2 printers this way for about one month without any issues. But this workaround requires some tuning, especially getting heatbed in level can be quite annoying since there are no adjustable screws by default.

Re: PINDA probe light

Yeah, I have super low confidence in my build surface being flat enough for that.

I have a spare probe ready to go, it's just a matter of finding the time to pull the printer from its safe space and doing the entire replacement procedure.

Wire stress is one of the possible causes failure, but I think there are some other factors to consider, especially considering:

1. The cable is retained with that annoying little hook in the carriage, etc.
2. Other probe failure reports.

I've have other inductive probes fail on a different printer, and that one was very clearly a wiring fatigue issue. This one seems different.

Re: PINDA probe light

Did you do the "S" upgrade? You only need to print the rear extruder body and cable support.

Peter

Re: PINDA probe light

Not yet. I'd need a working printer to do that. So I need to get my printer up and running as-is. I'm the guy that prints printer parts for other guys.

So you guys are going to love this.

I started the repair process today. (Actually, I started last night. I pulled the printer out, took a look at everything that needed to be done just to swap this little probe out and decided I would rather just drink a beer and go to sleep.)

Cut all the zip ties (for which I received no spares from PR; I'm using zipties provided by Printrbot), got the rats nest untangled and unwound and split the carriage body.

Removed the old probe.

Started preparing the new probe...

And noticed that the threads on the new probe are already damaged. Fresh out of the bag, the nuts won't thread all the way on.

It just never ends.

Re: PINDA probe light

Did you do the "S" upgrade? You only need to print the rear extruder body and cable support.

Peter, can one just print the rear extruder body and cable support without the rest of the "S" upgrade? I guess ABS is the material to use?

Thanks!

Re: PINDA probe light

Peter, can one just print the rear extruder body and cable support without the rest of the "S" upgrade? I guess ABS is the material to use?

Yes. I printed with PLA and used a spare long screw I found in my workshop. No problems - as long as you orient the rear cable support part correctly for printing.

Peter