Stuck at the top of the Z Axis  

Re: Stuck at the top of the Z Axis

Hi, and thx, this explains a lot.

I also did contact the support, and he did let me put the extruder arround mid of Z height, and then switch to the endstop in calibration menu.

Then I had to move X from left to the right, and indeed Z did switch from 1 to 0, and back if i did put the extruder back on the left.

New PINDA is also on the way to me, so I had the same problem like karl.

Re: Stuck at the top of the Z Axis

Pleased to hear that.

I patched out, all 4 pinda wires between the X axis rear mounting and the einsy board as a temporary fix, and it's still working months later! ( I have the new pinda in reserve!, used insulation to make the joints safe)

regards Joan

Re: Stuck at the top of the Z Axis

Hi, just wantet to give a short feedback:

The PINDA Probe was send out on the next day after the chat, and I had it 24h later. Unfortunatelly I had to go to a buisness trip, and could not replace it until today.

After the replacement of the PINDA everything does run great again.

Thid did happen to quite some people, is there a lifetime problem with the actual probe, or can it be the way the cable is guided to the board?

Re: Stuck at the top of the Z Axis

I believe it's cable management!

Joan

Re: Stuck at the top of the Z Axis

This was a tough fix. Prusa first sent a filament sensor, then sent a PINDA. Received the replacement today and the printer is working, well almost. I now can not get the first layer to stick to the heatbed.

Ramon, Not all PINDA failures are a broken wire, mine was the unit it self. I ohm the cabling and had continuity in all four wires. For me the sensor failed. Sensor failure, from what I have read, can be reduced by moving the printhead 50 to 80 mm above the heatbed, to reduce heating the PINDA.

Karl

Re: Stuck at the top of the Z Axis

My cable failed a while ago and I repaired it. Failed again yesterday and I would like a replacement. Support won't believe me and insist I send a video. First time I've been called a liar by any support group. 😳

Re: Stuck at the top of the Z Axis

I made a written complaint about the support insistence on Video evidence for the Pinda probe, and they supplied a replacement...

whilst working with support doing what they asked, which included taking the cable ties off the extruder cable bundle, the fault went from intermittent to permanent,

I couldn't understand what benefit a video showing an LED Not illuminated, could add to the fault location process.
there was no obvious wire damage to the Pinda cable, the (Black) in my case, outer insulation, was undamaged, and there was no obvious 'Limp' section of the cable...

short of putting the Printer on My car bonnet, and videoing it with the Dash Cam, I have no other video capability...
and I flat refuse to put a 3D printer, on My car bonnet...

regards Joan

RE: Stuck at the top of the Z Axis

I suspect the Endstops menu you guys are talking about is now LCD / Support / Sensor Info

(Now I realize it's probably useless to post this since this is a 7 year old discussion but oh well)

RE: Stuck at the top of the Z Axis

Hi, 
there are still some old fogeys on this forum... 

I suspect that your Pinda Probe is Faulty the Pinda probe acts as a Z Min, endstop
If memory serves me correctly, repeated XY movement causes fatigue in the Pinda Wires, Mk3 printers usually have a 4 wire pinda Mk3S may have a 3 wire Supa Pinda. 
If the negative wire goes open circuit the pinda sort of panics, and moves the extruder away from the build plate, until it gets to the top of the frame, or until the user presses reset or turns the printer off. 

I did a repair like this on an early Mk3 printer using a sacrificial USB cable as the donor cable

but I have slept a few times since then...   🙂

RE:

How I got to this thread: I was having an issue incredibly similar to either the OP or one of the other people asking for help in here.

Explanation of my issues:

• I believe it's failing to correctly stop at the Z max-stop somehow, whether a software or hardware issue (it is possible that there's an issue with the physical Z axis stuff).
• It seems that most things are unaffected, except for one routine which goes to the top: "Calibrate Z."
• My end-goal: have it not fail during the Calibrate XYZ (which includes Calibrate Z) test during the Calibration Self-test ( LCD / Calibration / Wizard ).
• I was desperate enough to try the cut and rejoin method on the PINDA wires, but all the same things seem to be happening. Possibly I cut too far out? I cut about 4" out from where the cable wrapper goes into the assembly with the extruder. (Another after-note: Atleast the soldering was fun 🙂 )
• After-note: about the possible Z hardware issue: the printer seems to know where it is in the Z axis perfectly fine, as long as it has a good Z home value.
• Some other things: I've flashed the firmware many times and factory reset many more times. (Firmware source: https://www.prusa3d.com/downloads/firmware/prusa3d_fw_3_14_1_MK3S.zip )

I might dive into the handbook more later if I'm feeling motivated enough.