beadster

yes indeed, and thank for all the help on the forum

A cautionary tale and an embarrassing error. I am posting the answerto help others even though the mechs in our workshop are having a real fun time with the solution to this issue. I mixed up the fan and capacitive sensor plugs, but the diag on the cap sensor still gave realistic readings through the coil of the fan 😞 which masked the error. I won't excuse myself with justification but we all can mess up but... In the rush to fit the new fan I forgot to take a picture of the connections in the rear, the capacitive sensor plug didn't want to go back into the housing I knew it came from easily and I didn't want to push it, the fan connector easily fitted and the cap sensor plug easily went in the other, I didn't notice they are all JST connectors and could be fitted wrong. 3DGBIRE did also mention the routing of the fan cable can affect the sensor performance. The moral of this fix is it was always the front fan on this machine. the original slowly died and I cleaned it and got another month of work but the issue was slowly returning, the new fan fitted would have fixed it. 3DGBIRE did a service and a great quick turn around, I can't fault them on their service and a decent price. I will now go and avoid all my co-workers and hang my head in shame. bd

Just had a nice chat with the service dept at 3DGBIRE and a very helpful lady gave me some more tips, along the lines you just suggested, they have had breaks in the sensor wires internally, the diag test will read OK but the self-levelling doesn't work. yes, I am good with electronics, I build all sorts of race car electronics stuff from scratch. and we suffer similar issues on the race cars to solve it we use very high spec wire and very careful with routing going to do as she and you suggest and test continuity on all wires. then if I have no joy and due to time constraints (jobs stacking up) I will drop it off with them, and because it's out of warranty pay the 225£ for a fix it which isn't so bad.

Tried two new print cores today, no change , still the same problem. sensor test gives 1.68. which is roughly the same as before with the other cores it now has 1 x new fan 1 x new glass plate 2 x new print cores 1 x new silicon guard all OE ultimaker Ultimaker support replied today to say I must take it into be fixed by their UK authorized service company 😞

the noise isn't from the servos working, they run nice and quiet, it is when the system gives up and the full load on the servo is released. here is a video of the fault.

Thanks for the help I did only install an OE fan, the sticker/part number was backup in case the delay continued. I have contacted Support. I will check the wire routing again, are there any images of official routing? bd

How does the system know it has touched the nozzle? Is the capacitive sensor that sensitive? it appears it doesn't detect the touching and carries on up until the Z axis stalls. bd

reading through the link you referenced (again 🙂 ), the only true thing I haven't fully tested is brand new cores although two of mine are very low hours. I have ordered a new AA and BB to test tomorrow I will update you on the results. bd

Looking at how dirty beadsters printhead is inside.. and the fact that the fan sticker is some reason on the outside of the printhead makes me think the fan is too dirty or even damaged.. If that fan is not running at spec it can cause issues with active leveling. A new fan is fitted ( the sticker is to remind me of the part number because I couldn't get an OE one, which eventually arrived), and I have tried that plugged in and un-plugged, the picture is of cores that have been flooded and cleared and worked perfectly after for a long time before this fault I have new cores and still have the same problem.

Hi, so the diagnostic test is low and doesn't change with core changes, fan plugged in or not, it's always between 1.4 and 2.6. on the initial z test the extruder two is lower than extruder 1, the OP describes fault description is exactly the same as mine. the build plate climbs slowly into the nozzle compressing it into the print head, when it reaches nozzle 1 it stops and the Z motor unloads with a load buzz. I have video but i cant upload it to here thanks for the help mike

Did you find a fix? I have exactly the same issue and can't get a fix, the same as you I have tried all online solutions again and again, also fitted new front fan new glass printing base reverted to older firmware cleaned and checked everything. thanks bd