Replacing P.I.N.D.A. Probe  

Re: Replacing P.I.N.D.A. Probe

Just wanted to revive this thread and see if anyone was able to locate a PINDA replacement in the US. I can get it off of the PRUSA site - but the shipping is 3x the cost of the part! Just trying to figure out if there is a seller in the USA that has these sensors.

Re: Replacing P.I.N.D.A. Probe

I found a replacement on Amazon

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00NIAQLK2/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A2OCOGC9B25845

Rather than tearing the printer apart to install I ended up cutting the existing PINDA probe wire (right at the top of the PINDA sensor) and splicing the Amazon sensor into the existing wire. Brown to brown blue to blue and black to black. At first there was no led so I thought it didn't work. But then I ran XYZ claibration and to my surprise it worked. After finding the first 4 heated points the LED kicked on and worked exactly like the PINDA probe. I was pretty happy this worked out. Works directly off the existing 5 v wiring. Good luck to everyone!

Re: Replacing P.I.N.D.A. Probe

Ok... after a few prints - I am sadly realizing this probe is no where near as good as the PINDA. Each time a kick of a print, the z height needs to be adjusted. I believe the bed leveling is getting a different reading every time I run a job and its resulting in some frustrating calibration. I just sucked it up and ordered the PINDA from PRUSA... sigh - frustrated but the printer doesn't work well without it!

Re: Replacing P.I.N.D.A. Probe

Ok... after a few prints - I am sadly realizing this probe is no where near as good as the PINDA. Each time a kick of a print, the z height needs to be adjusted. I believe the bed leveling is getting a different reading every time I run a job and its resulting in some frustrating calibration. I just sucked it up and ordered the PINDA from PRUSA... sigh - frustrated but the printer doesn't work well without it!

Thank you for the update. Are you in the US? If so, how much was shipping?

Re: Replacing P.I.N.D.A. Probe

Are you raising the print head to z=100? The pinda will get different readings if it is heated to much by the print bed.

Re: Replacing P.I.N.D.A. Probe

Hey sorry just realized there was a reply to what i wrote earlier... So i ordered the PINDA on the 6th and it still hasn't shipped. I now see that its out of stock (it was in stock when i ordered). I am fairly certain they are allocating all of their "parts" for their large backlog of printer orders so I don't have much hope of receiving the part any time soon. Frustrating to say the least. I contacted customer service last weekend and they told me it would ship Monday... well that didn't happen.

Shipping cost were 23$ which makes me want to Puke, but I feel like i am stuck right now.

The probe i am using won't even get through calibration now - i think i am going to tear the printer down this weekend and rebuild the head assembly as well as the x/y frames just to make sure everything is level.

I am sure that my issues have something to do with the fact that i am trying to run this probe off of 5v power. Its technically a 6-30v probe. On top of all of this, a few weeks ago, when the printer was somewhat working, my son tried to remove a PET-G print from the printbed using needle nose pliers. He got the print off the bed, but unfortunate, he took a 3x3in portion of the PEI film with it. So now i have a nice bare heat bed right in the middle of the plate... what a fun hobby this is turning out to be!

Re: Replacing P.I.N.D.A. Probe

Forgot to mention - i am in the US (Chicago)...

Also - i had read about the temperature impact on the PINDA but i hadn't really thought about that in relation to my issues. Perhaps that was part of the issue.

That said, i never really had that problem with the Original PINDA - print after print didn't require any tweaks to the z height... but then again i mostly just printed in PLA with lower bed temps.

Re: Replacing P.I.N.D.A. Probe

Hi All!

Just a quick reply - I'm still a bit of a n00b here, but ran into this thread researching inductive auto leveling for my (non Prusa) printer.

Going back to the earlier part of the thread, the discussion of voltage was important in considering these probes. 5v won't cut it for most.

If it works at all, it will be highly erratic and could even cause the z axis to slam into the bed (randomly at that! LOL!).

An amazingly complete coverage of the subject is available on YouTube but 3D printing guru Thomas Sanladerer where he tests and "myth busts" a whole slew of sensors.

1st Post here, not sure if I can post links .. but here goes:

BTW: Haven't even finished the video {Grin - a little knowledge and all ...) but the P.I.N.D.A. probe looks to be a leader in almost all the tests, so Prusa picked well (big surprise, eh?).

All the Best, PuterPro

Re: Replacing P.I.N.D.A. Probe

Before giving up on your higher-voltage probe you should try a 12V<-->5V level shifter:

https://goo.gl/ikPHeE

You wire one side of the level shifter to 12V and attach your probe to that side (also power it from the same 12V source) then on the other side you wire it to the RAMBO board like you would the standard PINDA probe. Just make sure you use the same pin on either side of the board (e.g. IN1->OU1) for the signal wire.

For $5 it's probably worth a try.

Re: Replacing P.I.N.D.A. Probe

The question that needs answering is more what probe would others suggest and copied from the first actual post still unanswered is "what kind do I need? Is it a NPN NO, NPN NC, PNP NO or PNP NC? And what are other factors I have to take into consideration?"

I just measured the PINDA on my Mk2.

NPN, NC, 5V. The thread is M8 and the sensor is about 32mm long.

Re: Replacing P.I.N.D.A. Probe

Are you raising the print head to z=100? The pinda will get different readings if it is heated to much by the print bed.

Really? Do you have a source/link for that? If so, then how are you supposed to adjust to the correct z-height when printing with ABS?

Re: Replacing P.I.N.D.A. Probe

...NPN, NC, 5V. The thread is M8 and the sensor is about 32mm long.

💡 yes M8, but ISO metric fine thread [Tech.] with a lead of 1mm (while the metric coarse thread has a lead of 1.25mm).

Re: Replacing P.I.N.D.A. Probe

Really? Do you have a source/link for that? If so, then how are you supposed to adjust to the correct z-height when printing with ABS?

Yes, really. You can print fine with ABS, just don't let the probe get hot before the calibration, or you can as long as you always do the calibration with the probe at the same temperature. I prefer to just keep it cold by keeping the probe away from the bed while it's preheating.

Re: Replacing P.I.N.D.A. Probe

Hello,

I walked away from a large print (ABS) and 2 hours later came back to find a disaster after one of the corners lifted off half an inch. I don't think anything got damaged aside from the PINDA probe. A large part of the plastic covering the sensor's head has worn off and now I get inconsistent z readings so I can't print at the moment. Costumer service helped me get access to the part of the shop where I can order a replacement but sadly they are out of stock. I have a bad feeling I will be waiting for a long time for more stock, does anyone know of any confirmed solutions to replacing the probe? My printer is useless without it.

Re: Replacing P.I.N.D.A. Probe

Max,

It is highly unlikely that Prusa has absolutely no PINDAs sitting around or that it'll take a long time if they're really out. It's a matter of convincing Prusa support of the urgency that you really need a new PINDA as soon as possible. Maybe talk to chat again or send in an eMail.

Re: Replacing P.I.N.D.A. Probe

Really? Do you have a source/link for that? If so, then how are you supposed to adjust to the correct z-height when printing with ABS?

Yes, really. You can print fine with ABS, just don't let the probe get hot before the calibration, or you can as long as you always do the calibration with the probe at the same temperature. I prefer to just keep it cold by keeping the probe away from the bed while it's preheating.

My printer was down for a while, but I've got it working again. I think I believe you about heat messing up the PINDA calibration. It works totally fine when printing with PLA, but when I switch to ABS (and have the bed at 105C) all those height problems return. So since I'm using an enclosure for my printer, how do I print with the bed at 105C without it messing up the PINDA probe? In an enclosure the entire enclosure is going to be close to that of the bed temperature.

Re: Replacing P.I.N.D.A. Probe

... I think I believe you about heat messing up the PINDA calibration. It works totally fine when printing with PLA, but when I switch to ABS (and have the bed at 105C) all those height problems return. So since I'm using an enclosure for my printer, how do I print with the bed at 105C without it messing up the PINDA probe? In an enclosure the entire enclosure is going to be close to that of the bed temperature.

➡ seems that prusa is well aware of the problem. inside the actual "beta" firmware, that you can find at github (3.0.10-11), there is a temperature calibration for the pinda implemented. it heats up the printbed in 10° steps from 50°C to 100°C, locates the pinda as close as possible above the bed and waits for a few minutes. then it measures the height of the first calibration point.
you'll get something like this (via serial port) as a result (when you've set the required verbosity level first):Temperature: 60 Z shift (mm):0.03
Temperature: 70 Z shift (mm):0.05
Temperature: 80 Z shift (mm):0.13
Temperature: 90 Z shift (mm):0.34
Temperature: 100 Z shift (mm):0.57
furthermore you can turn the temperature compensation inside this calibration sub-menu on or off [default].

💡 don't know if it's really working (it's all beta-stuff), but at least you can see that prusa is targeting the problem. i would highly recommend to wait for the final release before relying at this option.

Re: Replacing P.I.N.D.A. Probe

... I think I believe you about heat messing up the PINDA calibration. It works totally fine when printing with PLA, but when I switch to ABS (and have the bed at 105C) all those height problems return. So since I'm using an enclosure for my printer, how do I print with the bed at 105C without it messing up the PINDA probe? In an enclosure the entire enclosure is going to be close to that of the bed temperature.

➡ seems that prusa is well aware of the problem. inside the actual "beta" firmware, that you can find at github (3.0.10-11), there is a temperature calibration for the pinda implemented. it heats up the printbed in 10° steps from 50°C to 100°C, locates the pinda as close as possible above the bed and waits for a few minutes. then it measures the height of the first calibration point.
you'll get something like this (via serial port) as a result (when you've set the required verbosity level first):Temperature: 60 Z shift (mm):0.03
Temperature: 70 Z shift (mm):0.05
Temperature: 80 Z shift (mm):0.13
Temperature: 90 Z shift (mm):0.34
Temperature: 100 Z shift (mm):0.57
furthermore you can turn the temperature compensation inside this calibration sub-menu on or off [default].

💡 don't know if it's really working (it's all beta-stuff), but at least you can see that prusa is targeting the problem. i would highly recommend to wait for the final release before relying at this option.

So in the meantime, should I just forego printing with ABS? Or do I need to have a 1-layer thick area added tot he upper-left corner of my print area that allows me to dial in the height with Adjust Z every time I print with ABS? Or something else entirely?

Re: Replacing P.I.N.D.A. Probe

I doubt that there is a compatible probe that will fit, offer better sensitivity. Whilst still providibg the required accuracy and sensitivity.

It is likely that the sofftware would have difficulty doing the calibration to the same degree as the current probe. Admittedly you could revise the height and assembly checking algorythms as well. But this would require you to modify any newsoftware releases to match your revisions.

Is it worth the effort?

The only time i have had issues with sensor clearance, have been when my prints lift due to poor adhesionn.

For me, Resolving adhesion removes the need for greater clearance.

Are you looking at the correct issue?.

The pinda cap helps some folk address their issues with reduced clearance.

Tom Sanlader on youtube. Did some investigation which may help you identify a better probe.

Best wishes. Joan.

Re: Replacing P.I.N.D.A. Probe

Hello,

I walked away from a large print (ABS) and 2 hours later came back to find a disaster after one of the corners lifted off half an inch. I don't think anything got damaged aside from the PINDA probe. A large part of the plastic covering the sensor's head has worn off and now I get inconsistent z readings so I can't print at the moment. Costumer service helped me get access to the part of the shop where I can order a replacement but sadly they are out of stock. I have a bad feeling I will be waiting for a long time for more stock, does anyone know of any confirmed solutions to replacing the probe? My printer is useless without it.

I'm in the same boat as you. My PINDA broke over the weekend when an overnight print failed and the nozzle/hot end area got encased in a golf ball sized tomb of PLA. They replied to my email <30min, gave me access to spare parts area, but PINDA out of stock. Got an email this morning that they were available, but sold out within 3hrs -- the soonest I was able to try and order. I'm quite sad as I was really enjoying the printer...