One Reason for "Crash Detected" during MESH Bed Leveling - Lack of Lubrication
I've had my MK3s+ for 11 months and I've been doing a fair amount of printing during that period. I recently updated the firmware in my printer and I began getting failed prints due to poor bed adhesion. I watched the printer closely during a starting print. It seemed that during MESH bed leveling I would get a "Crash Detected" at MESH point 9 or 8, and sometimes 7. Other times it would pass the leveling without a crash detected. Even though a Crash was detected the printer would go ahead and start the print, only to eventually fail. I didn't think the head was actually crashing so I watched the MESH bed leveling closely and did not see anything that looked like a print head crash.
While thinking about the issues and not seeing the head crash I wondered if the print head travel in the X axis was getting interrupted. The linear rods did appear a little "dry" like they needed lubrication. Sure enough, the printer manual has a lubrication procedure.
As the manual instructed, I cleaned the X and Y axis rods with isopropyl alcohol and lubricated them with the stuff that came with the printer. I had long forgotten about this lubricant. Sure enough, my "CRASH Detected" warning and failed prints stopped occurring and I am now getting great prints once again.
RE: One Reason for "Crash Detected" during MESH Bed Leveling - Lack of Lubrication
Thanks for sharing your experience here. Excellent that you were able to diagnose and correct the issue on your own!
There is much discussion and controversy over bearing lubrication on the forums.
Did you purchase your printer assembled from the factory, or did you build it from the kit? Curious minds and all that…
Cheers
RE: One Reason for "Crash Detected" during MESH Bed Leveling - Lack of Lubrication
RandyM9,
Thank you. This is my first 3D printer and I built if from a kit 11 months ago. When I was having the "crash" issue I happened to notice the x-axis rails looked drier than I remember them being when new. I searched the Prusa3D forums and could not find that anyone had the same problem I was having. I decided cleaning and lubrication couldn't hurt, especially after I found the procedure in the online printer manual. After lubricating the rails, solving my problem, I thought I should post my success so that someone else my find their solution quicker than I did.
As for the lubrication controversy, I did pick up on that in my research. I'm not sure how I lean on the bearing lubrication, but the rails definitely need lubrication for the printer to function correctly.
Bob
RE: One Reason for "Crash Detected" during MESH Bed Leveling - Lack of Lubrication
Hi @btrout -
Did you receive a tube of grease and and orange printed nozzle in your kit, like this:
When you did the lubrication, did you remove the linear bearings from the printer, soak them in IPA to clean and degrease, dry them thoroughly and inject the supplied lubricant into the bearings?
Or did you just put some lube on the rods and spread it around like the Prusa manual says to do? I’m curious because this is part of the controversy and confusion surrounding the lube question.
Thank you for your time.
Cheers
RE: One Reason for "Crash Detected" during MESH Bed Leveling - Lack of Lubrication
I just cleaned the rods and lubricated them. I did not touch the bearings. I read the general maintenance section on lubrication and it does not mention removing the bearings, degreasing them, and repacking them. I doubt the enclosed nozzle would adequately lubricate the bearings after a good degreasing anyway.
Bob
RE: One Reason for "Crash Detected" during MESH Bed Leveling - Lack of Lubrication
Okay thanks, just curious. The included nozzle actually does a good job injecting grease into the bearings. Just a bit messy to do.
Keep an eye on the rods that they don’t dry out. If you do a local search or a google search for Prusa bearing lubrication you’ll find a bunch of links come back here with lively discussions on the topic.
Everyone seems to have an opinion on best practices. Good luck, enjoy your printer.
Cheers
RE: One Reason for "Crash Detected" during MESH Bed Leveling - Lack of Lubrication
A lot of older Youtube videos and forum posts even tell you to pull all of the balls out of the linear bearings, but if you look many of these have been updated to say that the quality has gone up significantly and you're probably risking loosing a ball.
You can clean with IPA or something like WD40 (yes it works wonders as a solvent, it's a terrible lube) and then re-lube with a grease of choice. I've tried stock, QC Robot and Superlube but haven't found one that blows me a way. The main thing is not to overdue it as this just attracts dust and dirt and will cause even more issues down the line.