23 days of print time.. stopped working suddenly  

Re: 23 days of print time.. stopped working suddenly

Without looking at any of the videos, what you describe has been discussed here many times and that is a broken probe cable.

The movement of the X axis can cause intermittent break in the cable just behind the extruder where the cable goes through 90 degrees into the cable bundle.

Look at the probe from above when doing the 9-point calibration; you will see the red light on except for when the points are "seen"; the right hand side you will most likely see the light go off permanently.

Peter

Re: 23 days of print time.. stopped working suddenly

Hi Peter,

Thanks for your response. It's actually the opposite of what you said. When the sensor is on the right hand side of the board, the light never goes out.

Re: 23 days of print time.. stopped working suddenly

OK, that's unusual.

On the right hand side of the board, with the light on, if you place a metallic object (coin, screwdriver etc.) under the probe does the light go off?

Peter

Re: 23 days of print time.. stopped working suddenly

Hey Peter,

Yup, when a metal object is placed under the probe, the light goes off. Demonstrated that in the video. I moved it all along the x axis(started at the right hand side) and tested it with a metal object along the way. The light went out and back in everytime.

Re: 23 days of print time.. stopped working suddenly

OK, try this.

Move Z axis to the top end-stops, then select "AutoHome".

Let the printer home the nozzle and turn off the printer. Ensure that from this point the Z axis does not move.

Slide a couple of sheets of copy paper under the nozzle; should be a good fit. If not add another sheet (until the gap is filled, but the sheets can move with resistance). Align the paper across the front of the bed and manually move the extruder to the right. If everything is level, there should be similar resistance when moving the paper on both sides.

Peter

Re: 23 days of print time.. stopped working suddenly

Just did the Z axis to the top and auto home thing, added some paper and started with the nozzle on the left. As I moved the nozzle across the bed to the right, the paper got a little tighter but was still able to move it. This was performed at the bottom of the bed. I moved the bed so the nozzle was halfway up the y axis and did the same thing, this time, it was a little tighter right in the middle of the bed. Performing this on the top of the bed was the same as the previous, a little tighter in the middle. Still, was able to move the paper at all points, didn't have to take out any pieces or add any.

This is why they have the mesh bed leveling, to accommodate for this right?

And thanks again for your help so far.

Re: 23 days of print time.. stopped working suddenly

Yeah, sorry a little busy at the moment, hence delays...

What you have shown is that the bed is level with the X axis; I needed to make sure that the right hand side was "in bounds" as it were.

OK, next step. With the printer turned on this time. Auto-home again and then select the menu option to turn off the motors. This will enable you to move X and Y by hand.

Position the X and Y by hand so the probe is in the front left circle. Make sure the probe light is out. Move the extruder slowly to the right. The probe light may turn back on but should be off at the centre and right probe points.

When you find the right-hand probe point go into settings/move axis and raise Z by 1 click until the light turns on. Then go back down again to make sure it turns off. You could make a note of the heights where it turns on.

You could also try this at the rear (start with Z at 0.15mm and manually move the probe to the circle at rear left).

What I am trying to ensure here is that the probe can "see" the relevant points.

Peter

Re: 23 days of print time.. stopped working suddenly

Hey Peter,

You don't need to apologize for any delay. I really appreciate you trying to help with this.

I did as you described, took the z all the way up, auto homed, and moved the sensor manually. I checked each point a few times just to make sure. When I got to each point, it just took one click up to have the light turn on and then one click back down brought the light back on.

I made a video, I need to start adding music to these. At least make it slightly entertaining for ya!

Re: 23 days of print time.. stopped working suddenly

OK that's brilliant, thanks.

Basically, we now know that all the probing points can be seen at the same Z height.

I think on click on the rotary encoder moves Z by 1mm, so we now need to lower the probe a little.

Before we start this, can you please go to Calibration/Bed Level Correction and select the "Reset" option - do this even if everything is already zero.

What I suggest initially is to set the probe at the same height as the nozzle. So Auto Home, and put paper under the nozzle until there is a little resistance and then lower the probe to touch the paper. Lock probe and then do the 9-point calibration. It should be OK.

Then we need to set the probe to a correct height. A standard credit card is about 0.75mm thick. With paper under the nozzle as before, set the height of the probe so that you can just slide the corner of a credit card between paper and probe. Then repeat the 9-point calibration. Again, it should be OK, but if not, you will have to lower the probe until it is OK. As long as the probe is higher than the nozzle by 0.4mm then you should be OK.

Peter

Re: 23 days of print time.. stopped working suddenly

I reset the calibration and bed level as suggested and lowered the PINDA probe to the same height as the nozzle. This gave us the same results as before, when the PINDA probe was slightly higher than the nozzle.

I've attached a picture showing the probe being lowered to the same height as the nozzle.

Here is a video of the first part of the XYZ calibration after the adjustment. The video shows the probe skipping point 2 of 4, as it did in the previous calibration.

This video shows the probe never getting close enough to point 3 of 9 and 4 of 9 to register. It just hunts and then moves on.

Re: 23 days of print time.. stopped working suddenly

Hi Ryan

Well I had chance to look at your videos while I was out.

It looks very much as though the Z axis is not lowering when calibrating the right hand side.

Just wondering if you can confirm this? Maybe put a price of tape on both Z rods to see if it's just one or both.

Peter

Re: 23 days of print time.. stopped working suddenly

I put the tape on both rods and watched, it never moves on those right side points. Although, it doesn't move for the other points either. For the other points, it drops right down to the correct distance then does the bed improvement. For the right side points, it doesn't drop down to the Autohome height and just sits there. If it dropped down to the correct height, it would be fine but for some reason its not.

It shows just one rod in the video, but both displayed the same characteristics.

Re: 23 days of print time.. stopped working suddenly

OK, I am not aware of a firmware problem that causes this behaviour. I may be worthwhile reloading the stock 3.0.11 firmware, just to see if that fixes the problem.

Peter

Re: 23 days of print time.. stopped working suddenly

I had tried new firmware a few days ago. I was on 3.0.0.10 so updated to 3.0.0.11. No change.

Just did the firmware update again, got a successful message. Still will not calibrate those right side points.

Could it be something with the control board?

Re: 23 days of print time.. stopped working suddenly

No I really don't think it the RAMBo causing the problem.

On both my printers, the probe is less responsive on the right hand side and something in your printer is preventing "normal" operation.

Really sorry, but I don't think this is something I will be able to solve. Maybe a replacement probe is needed. Or maybe just check the connections on the controller for both Z motors and probe; ensure the individual connections in the probe connector are properly seated.

Actually, I do suspect the probe cable; it may be that the signal cable is intermittent, but the symptoms are not what I recall being described here before - it's usually the +ve or ground wire or multiple wires that break internally in use due to flexing just behind the extruder or a cable tie causing the damage. If it is only the signal wire that goes open circuit on the right, it would explain everything (I think). It would also explain why the probe light stays on...

If you have a DMM then you could test the voltage on the centre wire while moving the extruder to the right. Would be quite difficult, but doable with care.

Other than the above, I will have to suggest that you go back to support...

Peter

Re: 23 days of print time.. stopped working suddenly

Ryan

I had a thought last evening which kept me awake for some time... You can check the condition of the end-stops at the controller board using the Calibration/Show End Stops menu option.

So I would suggest that you do what I suggested previously:

Auto-Home
Disable Motors
Line up the first calibration point with the probe
Select "Show End Stops"
Move the extruder across the bed to the calibration points, check the probe light and the LCD. The light should be on when the Z end stop shows a Zero and vv. I think that on the right , the light will be off and the display will show a Zero. That means a broken cable.

Peter

Re: 23 days of print time.. stopped working suddenly

Hey Peter,

Thanks for all your help! I got an email from the tech support that they are sending me out a new probe. Obviously not happy that its not working but couldn't be happier with this company. I'll post after I get the probe if it worked or not. Fingers crossed!

Thanks again!

-Ryan

Re: 23 days of print time.. stopped working suddenly

Ryan

I guess that if you have a soldering iron and some 3-core cable, you could just replace the section of cable around the extruder body.

Peter