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Troubles calibrating Z axis  

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whereishere
(@whereishere)
Active Member
Troubles calibrating Z axis

I successfully built my MK3S+ a couple days ago and got everything calibrated great. I ran a print while I was out, got the nozzle clogged, and thought I had cleared it just fine but some of my other prints were showing something was out of calibration so I tried rerunning the XYZ calibration.

For some reason the Z calibration fails with, "Bed leveling failed sensor didn't trigger. Debris on nozzle?" I've cleaned the nozzle pretty good and confirmed the PINDA sensor is working correctly with a metal object. It appears what's happening is the Z steppers move the extruder all the way up and on its way down it stops about an inch or so too high from detecting the steel plate. The PINDA sensor itself is at a good height. Any ideas what could be wrong? I'm wondering if the firmware update I did earlier today could be the culprit.

Best Answer by whereishere:

Problem solved. I'm still a noob and remembered that before calibration you're supposed to place the head in the upper-right of the printer. I did not. Removing the filament holder, manually moving the head to the top-right, and re-running things allowed me to pass calibration.

Posted : 01/11/2021 8:34 am
Robin
(@robin)
Prominent Member

I'd just start with a factory reset before doing any further trouble shooting: https://help.prusa3d.com/en/article/factory-reset-mk2s-mk2-5s-mk3s_2216

 

If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.

Posted : 01/11/2021 10:20 am
whereishere
(@whereishere)
Active Member
Topic starter answered:
RE: Troubles calibrating Z axis

Thanks. I did a factory reset of all data and hit the same problem.

Posted : 01/11/2021 4:07 pm
whereishere
(@whereishere)
Active Member
Topic starter answered:
RE: Troubles calibrating Z axis

I have no idea what happened but I picked the printer up by the area with the "PRUSA" text beneath the filament to move it onto my desk and it suddenly works? I wonder if the Z-axis screws or rods were misaligned or something.

Posted : 01/11/2021 4:33 pm
Diem
 Diem
(@diem)
Illustrious Member

You can expect to be tweaking minor niggles for the first few weeks.

Every user builds their printer slightly differently so during the first few weeks of use the printer will run-in and settle its parts together; then you will have to go over the basic maintenance checks, lubricate and recalibrate. Even if you got everything dialled in perfectly today, it would all need re-doing.

Cheerio,

Posted : 01/11/2021 5:34 pm
whereishere
(@whereishere)
Active Member
Topic starter answered:
RE: Troubles calibrating Z axis

Well it looks like I spoke too soon. The Z axis movement is fixed -- the nozzle can now naturally reach the bed, but it's failing XYZ calibration. It gets to the 4th point, looks like it completes, then just says XYZ calibration failed. On to the next problem I suppose.

Posted : 01/11/2021 5:49 pm
whereishere
(@whereishere)
Active Member
Topic starter answered:
RE: Troubles calibrating Z axis

So to continue this saga, I've gotten a partial debug log from the XYZ calibration that says "All 4 calibration points found" at the very end and yet the calibration still fails immediately after completing the 4th point. Here is the log: https://ghostbin.com/jdaUH

Posted : 01/11/2021 8:55 pm
Diem
 Diem
(@diem)
Illustrious Member

Try another factory reset.

Cheerio,

Posted : 01/11/2021 9:56 pm
whereishere
(@whereishere)
Active Member
Topic starter answered:
RE: Troubles calibrating Z axis

Problem solved. I'm still a noob and remembered that before calibration you're supposed to place the head in the upper-right of the printer. I did not. Removing the filament holder, manually moving the head to the top-right, and re-running things allowed me to pass calibration.

Posted : 01/11/2021 11:47 pm
whereishere
(@whereishere)
Active Member
Topic starter answered:
RE: Troubles calibrating Z axis

Man I wish I could edit my posts. Ok, so that wasn't actually the solution. As part of my troubleshooting process I must have accidentally moved the PINDA sensor down more. I did not realize that the PINDA sensor needs to be almost at the same level as the nozzle at this point. I think that even if it's detecting the bed it may not be strong enough to register. Doing this consistently passes XYZ calibration.

Posted : 02/11/2021 8:54 am
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