When will UM3 auto bed leveling work again?

[gr5 2,167]

Try a cura connect reset.  It actually resets a whole tone of different things.

 

I'm most concerned about your manual leveling issue.

[gr5 2,167]

When you do the manual leveling, do you turn the knob on the front of the printer (not one of the 3 leveling screws) when you level the rear spot?  And do you turn the front leveling screws for the front two locations?  By the way, unless you change the 3 screws a *lot* you can just skip over the whole "1mm" steps.

 

Are you sure you don't have a Z offset plugin?  Can you post the first chunk of gcode?  About 50 lines - up until where it sets Z for the bottom layer (typically 0.27mm) and then starts printing the skirt or brim.

[jcaputo 0]

Thanks for the quick reply.  

I have not tried a cura connect reset yet, didn't think that would affect the bed level.

When I do a manual level I follow the onscreen instructions.  I do not have a z offset plug in.

If I try and do a manual bed level, the print is a good 4 to 5 mm off the bed and that's right after I did a new level.
When I do an auto bed level I need to adjust all the screws by about a quarter turn to pull the bed away.  If I don't, the nozzle is so close that nothing at all comes out of the nozzle, but the prime blob is working so I know the extruder works.
I print with a skirt, I rarely use a brim unless I have to for a large print.  I don't tend to have issues with adhesion.

I don't really know what I'm looking at when I look at the raw GCODE but here is the gcode for one of the most recent prints that I had to manually adjust the bed for.

 

;START_OF_HEADER
;HEADER_VERSION:0.1
;FLAVOR:Griffin
;GENERATOR.NAME:Cura_SteamEngine
;GENERATOR.VERSION:4.4.1
;GENERATOR.BUILD_DATE:2019-12-23
;TARGET_MACHINE.NAME:Ultimaker 3 Extended
;EXTRUDER_TRAIN.0.INITIAL_TEMPERATURE:220
;EXTRUDER_TRAIN.0.MATERIAL.VOLUME_USED:25627
;EXTRUDER_TRAIN.0.MATERIAL.GUID:506c9f0d-e3aa-4bd4-b2d2-23e2425b1aa9
;EXTRUDER_TRAIN.0.NOZZLE.DIAMETER:0.4
;EXTRUDER_TRAIN.0.NOZZLE.NAME:AA 0.4
;BUILD_PLATE.TYPE:glass
;BUILD_PLATE.INITIAL_TEMPERATURE:60
;PRINT.TIME:38301
;PRINT.GROUPS:1
;PRINT.SIZE.MIN.X:9
;PRINT.SIZE.MIN.Y:6
;PRINT.SIZE.MIN.Z:0.1
;PRINT.SIZE.MAX.X:170.206
;PRINT.SIZE.MAX.Y:161.075
;PRINT.SIZE.MAX.Z:4.5
;END_OF_HEADER
;Generated with Cura_SteamEngine 4.4.1
T0
M82 ;absolute extrusion mode

G92 E0
M109 S220
G0 F15000 X9 Y6 Z2
G280
G1 F2700 E-5.5
;LAYER_COUNT:56
;LAYER:0
M107
M204 S313
M205 X10 Y10
G0 F4333.3 X77.088 Y71.633 Z0.1
;TYPE:SKIRT
G1 F1800 E0
G1 F780 X78.057 Y70.618 E0.01056
G1 X78.152 Y70.523 E0.01157
G1 X79.165 Y69.546 E0.02216
G1 X79.206 Y69.507 E0.02258
G1 X79.657 Y69.087 E0.02722
G1 X79.761 Y68.994 E0.02827
G1 X81.055 Y67.889 E0.04107
G1 X81.067 Y67.879 E0.04119

 

I have checked all the wires in the back of the print head and the red wire for the bed level is working.  When I run a diagnostic on the bed level sensor it says it's working good.

[gr5 2,167]

Check the Z switch - sometimes something gets in there.  Lift the bed very high and look for a rectangular hole against the rear wall a little left of the Z screw.  That's where the Z switch is - if some bit of plastic gets in there then both manual and autoleveling will be off - it can easily be off a few mm.  Clean that all out - maybe turn your printer upside down or blow some compressed air in there.  it's hard to see in there but you can easily feel the metal switch lever with your finger and hear it click when you push down.  Look up under the bed and you can see the screw hanging down that clicks that switch - make sure it isn't all floppy and loose.

 

Try a cura connect reset - it only takes about 30 seconds.  It doesn't change any calibration values or anything like that.  It's kind of a be all end all "fix lots of bad things" feature.

 

What are you looking for?  Anything in the gcode with a Z.  But it's all good.  Except for one thing:

Your initial layer height is 0.1mm.

 

So the printer auto levels low on purpose because it's expecting the bottom layer to be 0.27mm thick so it levels about 0.1 low to have good squish so the bottom layer sticks well.  But if you are printing first layer at 0.1 then it will print the first layer touching the glass.

 

Which is fine if you had done a manual level but you are doing "active levelling".

 

Regarding the manual level - I just think maybe you are doing something wrong in the procedure.  Maybe you could video the procedure starting 

[jcaputo 0]

2 minutes ago, gr5 said:

Check the Z switch - sometimes something gets in there.  Lift the bed very high and look for a rectangular hole against the rear wall a little left of the Z screw.  That's where the Z switch is - if some bit of plastic gets in there then both manual and autoleveling will be off - it can easily be off a few mm.  Clean that all out - maybe turn your printer upside down or blow some compressed air in there.  it's hard to see in there but you can easily feel the metal switch lever with your finger and hear it click when you push down.  Look up under the bed and you can see the screw hanging down that clicks that switch - make sure it isn't all floppy and loose.

 

Try a cura connect reset - it only takes about 30 seconds.  It doesn't change any calibration values or anything like that.  It's kind of a be all end all "fix lots of bad things" feature.

 

What are you looking for?  Anything in the gcode with a Z.  But it's all good.  Except for one thing:

Your initial layer height is 0.1mm.

 

So the printer auto levels low on purpose because it's expecting the bottom layer to be 0.27mm thick so it levels about 0.1 low to have good squish so the bottom layer sticks well.  But if you are printing first layer at 0.1 then it will print the first layer touching the glass.

 

Which is fine if you had done a manual level but you are doing "active levelling".

 

Regarding the manual level - I just think maybe you are doing something wrong in the procedure.  Maybe you could video the procedure starting 

I have a print going right now but I will try all these when the print is done.  Should be able to check all the things and get back to you tomorrow.

 

In regards to the initial layer height, should I download a z addon for cura and change the z height?  Printing some large higher detail items that are too large for my resin printer.  If it's set as a default for .27 I can certainly adjust but I'd like to keep .1.

 

Thanks again for the quick reply.

[gr5 2,167]

You can either:

1) Make the bottom layer closer to 0.3

2) Make it 0.1 but use autolevel and adjust the 3 screws at the start of the print... EVERY TIME.  Make sure you unscrew the 3 screws before the next print because if you don't it will just get tighter and tighter with each print.

3) Go manual level and figure out why manual level isn't working.

 

That's it.  That's the only 3 choices as I see it.  #3 is the only possible bug at this point.

 

[Olgluk 1]

3 hours ago, gr5 said:

As far as I know the firmware is fine.

 

Did you do the things mentioned above?  Including:

1) Did you check those 2 wires?

2) Did you set spacing to 14mm (or looser - you need the bed springs looser than the core springs)?  Some core's have a stronger spring than others.  Strong is good.

3) Did you watch to see how far the core nozzle moves up during active leveling?  It should just be maybe 0.3mm (or less).

4) Did you run the sensor test?

 

I forget what else was mentioned above.

About the wires : for me it seemed right at first and had no captor error then noticed while a cable seemed ght, in fact it was at the right place front of the sensor but cut. So it might be necessary to check Twice !

[David Stewart 0]

Hi Everyone:

 

Mine is still working good.  try fixing the wires....

 

[jcaputo 0]

On 2/25/2020 at 6:20 PM, gr5 said:

You can either:

1) Make the bottom layer closer to 0.3

2) Make it 0.1 but use autolevel and adjust the 3 screws at the start of the print... EVERY TIME.  Make sure you unscrew the 3 screws before the next print because if you don't it will just get tighter and tighter with each print.

3) Go manual level and figure out why manual level isn't working.

 

That's it.  That's the only 3 choices as I see it.  #3 is the only possible bug at this point.

 

Thanks for all the help.  A reset of Cura connect seems to have reset the manual level height and that worked.  Also changing the initial layer height to .2 has helped a ton.  

Since you were so helpful with that, I have one more small issue that I haven't been able to solve.  I've had the UM3E for about 3 years.  When I first got the printer, the corners were tight and sharp.  Now, all my prints on the corners have a round bulge.  Best way to explain it.  It's hard to take a picture, but I've added them.  I had a much worse issue, brought my printer in and they said they adjusted one of the larger rods as it was loose and moving and that helped a little bit, but I'm still getting it and it's getting difficult to make items that need to fit together.

The first 2 pictures are a recent print and the wood filament one is the last print I got off the printer that didn't have rounded edges and I'm at a total loss of what it can be.  

I have tried to vary the following to see if it makes a difference and it does not.
Layer Height, print speed, retraction, acceleration settings (jerk etc), different temperatures, different filament brands, different filament types, cleaned all rods and re oiled/greased, different print cores to make sure it wasn't wear, different wall thickness, different line width and all have had no effect.

The only thing I can think of is that one of my linear rods has a small amount of play in the right hand side of the printer, but doesn't seem like enough to really do anything.  I can't find any videos or articles on how to tighten those rods so that they no long have any play so I'm not sure if that's the issue either.  Any advice or is this something I'll just have to put up with?

I can start a new thread if you prefer to using this one.

Thanks again for the huge help.

 

[gr5 2,167]

So the UM3 has a heavier print head (and the S5 even heavier) than the UM2 and it can have a lot of ringing.  A lot.  So all the print profiles for the UM3 try to reduce that by lowering acceleration and jerk.  But this slows down the print head a lot more on corners and so you get overextrusion (there is pressure in the nozzle and slowing down for the corners just means it's going to overextrude).

 

So if you don't mind ringing (many people absolutely hate ringing though) then you can just uncheck "acceleration control" and "jerk control" and that will improve the corners.  And it will print faster.  I also recommend making all the print speeds the same.

 

However if you *do* hate ringing then leave those alone and just print slower.  Try 25mm/sec for really good quality.  That's pretty slow so I recommend 0.2mm layers at the same time.  I think it's a good compromise for many.  Personally I don't care about ringing.

 

If you aren't already very familiar with ringing then look for google images of "ringing 3d prints".  The first result with the XYZ cube is good.  Some call it "ghosting".

[jcaputo 0]

6 minutes ago, gr5 said:

So the UM3 has a heavier print head (and the S5 even heavier) than the UM2 and it can have a lot of ringing.  A lot.  So all the print profiles for the UM3 try to reduce that by lowering acceleration and jerk.  But this slows down the print head a lot more on corners and so you get overextrusion (there is pressure in the nozzle and slowing down for the corners just means it's going to overextrude).

 

So if you don't mind ringing (many people absolutely hate ringing though) then you can just uncheck "acceleration control" and "jerk control" and that will improve the corners.  And it will print faster.  I also recommend making all the print speeds the same.

 

However if you *do* hate ringing then leave those alone and just print slower.  Try 25mm/sec for really good quality.  That's pretty slow so I recommend 0.2mm layers at the same time.  I think it's a good compromise for many.  Personally I don't care about ringing.

 

If you aren't already very familiar with ringing then look for google images of "ringing 3d prints".  The first result with the XYZ cube is good.  Some call it "ghosting".

Part of some of the trouble shooting I did involved changing the jerk and acceleration control.  Do these values look correct or should I just uncheck the boxes?  Ringing isn't something that bothers me either as most of my prints get sanded and primed anyway.   I'm more concerned with being able to glue a couple pieces together more than worrying about a little ringing.

I'm currently at 50 mm/sec for everything so I'm guessing that's too fast.

 

Thanks.