S5 constant autolevel fail on second print - sensor says it's OK

[Cymon 4]

Hello community,

 

we recently got a brand new UM S5 in our company which now begins to show weird behavior...

After firing up the first time it updated to 5.2.11 and printed its first 70 print jobs without problems.

But now it constantly produces auto leveling errors, but beginning with the second print of the day.

So, first print of the day works great every time, then auto level error every time.

There are three different behaviors causing the error:

- glass plate not touching printcore 2 (stopping like 10 mm underneath it), but touching the first PC: error

- glass plate touching PC2, but stops 10 mm underneath PC1: error

- glass plate not touching PC2 and PC1, but starting auto level anyways, just to cancel after 2 points: then error

EDIT: The automatic print job restart, that the printer is doing by itself after an error is also failing every time.

When I shut off and restart the printer completely, the first job prints flawlessly. But then the errors above start again...

 

Even more weird is, that the sensor test in the maintenance menu says the sensor works totally fine.

But when I start a print job right after that, the errors still happen. 

 

What I tried already:

- changing out the printcores, no effect

- changing the material, no effect

- check for loose cables of the sensor (red and white one), they are tight, no effect

- moving every piece of electronics like computer and cellphones away from the printer, no effect

 

Do you have any more ideas?

Is the sensor broken, even though the test says it's fine?

Is it a software bug?

 

Thank you in advance!

 

Greetings,

Cymon

Edited August 19, 2019 by Cymon

[Smithy 1,141]

It is not normal, AL works for fine on my S5 without any issues.

But I have one idea, check if the height of your bed is round about 14mm. This was often a problem/fix with the UM3 and I guess this could also be a problem with your S5.

 

Here some more details and pictures what I mean:

https://ultimakernasupport.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/115005705806-Why-Isn-t-My-Active-Leveling-Working-

 

[Cymon 4]

Hello Smithy!

Thank you for your answer.

 

I read about this topic before and then proceeded to manually level the build plate so that the bed screws are tightened as much as possible. Unfortunately, the tool from your link can't be used on the S5, because the carrier is not open to the sides as the one in the pictures. It's curved upwards like in the front also on the sides. 

Anyways, our build plate height looks exactly like on the "how it should be" picture in your link. But what I noticed when controlling this a moment ago is that the glass plate is closer to the carrier on the right than on the left side. Manual leveling turns out fine, but the difference is still there, though it is only like 0.2 mm, but it's there.

[Smithy 1,141]

The link was for the UM3 and it may also be that the tool does not fit. But the main point is that the distance is about 14mm. With this distance you can be sure that the capacitive sensor works properly. I don't think it's important that it's exactly 14mm, but approximately. 

 

If this does not solve your problem, please contact your reseller, because this behaviour is not normal and should be solved by the local support without problems.

 

[Smithy 1,141]

I see you are in Germany, so contact iGo3D, they are the official reseller and support for Germany and I am sure they can help you. 

 

Grüße aus Österreich 😀

[Cymon 4]

Hello Smithy!

Yes, I'm from Germany. I like to post problems like this in English, so the possible solutions will be available international.

 

As I said, the 14 mm distance in the link is not measurable with the S5 carrier.

He measures from the top of the bottom carrier plate to the underside of the heatplate underneath the glass plate.

I can only measure the overall thickness of the whole thing, which is exactly 30 mm from the underside of the carrier to the top of the glass plate.

 

 

We purchased the printer from myprintoo, another official reseller. I already contacted their technician, of course. But he also has not really a clue.

Next step mentioned by the technician will be re-installing the firmware via USB flash drive, but for that I have to fight myself through the instances of the IT-department, which has a deep grown fear of USB flash drives.....

If that doesn't help, I will make them replace the whole printer.

[Smithy 1,141]

I don't think it is related to the firmware, but who knows. 

You can also update the USB stick without IT. Download the firmware to the stick at home and then plug the stick into the printer. Or has your IT sealed the USB port on the printer? 🙂

 

You can also contact iGo3D if you didn't buy the printer there. iGo3D would have the advantage of sitting right at the source. All other resellers in the DACH region will hang "under" iGo3D.

 

 

[SandervG 1,519]

Hi @Cymon, you can still reach out to iGo3D even if you bought your Ultimaker with a different reseller like Smithy says. They have trained technical support engineers. 

[Cymon 4]

1 hour ago, Smithy said:

Or has your IT sealed the USB port on the printer? 🙂

 

You can also contact iGo3D if you didn't buy the printer there.

 

54 minutes ago, SandervG said:

Hi @Cymon, you can still reach out to iGo3D even if you bought your Ultimaker with a different reseller[...]

Ok, I did not know that. Thank you!

I will contact them and see, if they have any idea.

 

 

@Smithy No, they did not. But I don't want to risk my just started job here by bringing a private flash drive and connecting it to company hardware.... I will reconsider that in a night of sleep. 😉

[Smithy 1,141]

10 minutes ago, Cymon said:

No, they did not. But I don't want to risk my just started job here by bringing a private flash drive and connecting it to company hardware.... I will reconsider that in a night of sleep. 😉

 

Didn't want to tempt you into something. Take the correct official way, it's safer and nobody can hold anything against you if the firmware update goes wrong.

[johnse 31]

8 hours ago, Cymon said:

I read about this topic before and then proceeded to manually level the build plate so that the bed screws are tightened as much as possible.

I could be wrong, but I think you need some flex in the springs rather than being tightened all the way.

[Smithy 1,141]

No, you are right, fully tightened is not good and will not work.

[Cymon 4]

14 hours ago, johnse said:

I could be wrong, but I think you need some flex in the springs rather than being tightened all the way.

 

9 hours ago, Smithy said:

No, you are right, fully tightened is not good and will not work.

Yes, you are right. They are not tightened all the way and still have more than enough flex. I am not new to 3D-printing. ;)

I should have mentioned, tight as possible means as possible as my big fingers are able to turn those tiny flat screw heads before they are erasing my fingerprints. :D
As I said, the link from Smithy and others state to turn the bed down a lot, so the bed doesn't push the nozzle in and only touches them. This is the case now.

 

 

18 hours ago, Smithy said:

Take the correct official way, it's safer and nobody can hold anything against you if the firmware update goes wrong.

Ok, I couldn't wait anymore and brought a flash drive with FW 5.2.11 on it with me today.

Long story short: it didn't work because printer says the FW can't be verified.

I downloaded it directly from the Ultimaker Website with a Ubuntu Linux computer and put the file directly onto the flash drive.

After that, I did a factory reset of the printer, but it showed the same error after that.

 

A quick search here in the community brings up a possible issue with the timestamps, could this be the error?

[johnse 31]

1 hour ago, Cymon said:

possible issue with the timestamps

Quite likely.

 

This probably means your printer does not have access to the internet and thus hasn’t been able to reach a time server.

 

This thread has a couple of pointers on how to set the time. The simplest is probably to connect to the printer with Cura and Cura will set the time.

 

 

1 hour ago, Cymon said:

I should have mentioned, tight as possible means as possible as my big fingers are able to turn those tiny flat screw heads before they are erasing my fingerprints. 😄

Good to know 🙂 Got to keep the fingerprints intact!

[Cymon 4]

17 minutes ago, johnse said:

This probably means your printer does not have access to the internet and thus hasn’t been able to reach a time server.

 

This thread has a couple of pointers on how to set the time. The simplest is probably to connect to the printer with Cura and Cura will set the time.

I just checked this. The printer has wired network connection and is connected with Cura. The printer must have a internet connection, because it connects successfully to the Ultimaker Cloud and shows the correct print job dates in the history on Cura Connect.

Also it updated its firmware by himself on first startup over the internet when we got it.

Or is there any other possibility to check which time and date the printer finds himself in? Can't find anything in the touchscreen menus.

 

Also, the release notes of 5.2.11 state they fixed the timestamp issue when updating FW via usb flash drive. Well, obviously this is not the case as our printer has 5.2.11 installed and I just want to reinstall it.

[Cymon 4]

UPDATE:

Printer will be sent to the experts of iGo3d for repair. No further details given on what they plan to do.

I will keep you updated.

[Cymon 4]

UPDATE:

Technician says the print head board was broken.

Trying to get some information about what was broken and whether I broke it by accident or not. 

[Cymon 4]

UPDATE:

Printer is now back and working perfectly. No issues so far anymore.

Apparently, they also reset the printer or reinstalled the firmware, which makes sense when changing boards.

Couldn't get any more details on the failure of the print head board sadly.

 

So, I guess this is solved now.

But, should every user with failing auto levels check for a broken board now?

 

 

Final question:

Is the frame light of the S5 always pulsating when a print is finished? I noticed it after the first print, but couldn't remember it doing that before I sent it to repair. 😄 

[Smithy 1,141]

1 minute ago, Cymon said:

Is the frame light of the S5 always pulsating when a print is finished? I noticed it after the first print, but couldn't remember it doing that before I sent it to repair.

It is configurable and I guess the default is not to glow when the print is finished. 

You can setup the lights, to always on, or only on when printing and pulsating when finished.

[Cymon 4]

Oh okay. I set the printer language to German and there you have only two settings which translate directly to "light only on when printing" and "lights on after print finished" (Beleuchtung nach Fertigstellung des Drucks).
The second option is on so I guess that means pulsating lights...

 

 

[Smithy 1,141]

 

1 hour ago, Cymon said:

Beleuchtung nach Fertigstellung des Drucks

 

Nein das passt schon....

 

ups, wrong forum, I mean yes that is the option.

[Cymon 4]

😄 

 

Yes, just wondered about the German translation not mentioning the pulsating function. Or is this the same case in English?