Leveling sensor fails on UM S3

[pl_cooper 0]

Hello together,

 

I just went into troubles when trying on printing ASA instead of tough PLA on my kind of new S3. Auto Leveling failed so I tried manual leveling without any success. Diagnostics lead me to ER45 (https://support.ultimaker.com/hc/en-us/articles/360011576000) but nothing meantioned in this article was able/useful to solve my issue. I changed printcores, materials, bla bla bla - without any effect.

 

So, I am now asking you, the community. Do you have any idea about whats going on? The fact alone, that I bought a 4000€ machine and was not able to find a manufacturers support email address leaves me speechless right now.

 

Thanks

Michael

[Smithy 1,146]

Your reseller is responsible for support, but you can also open a support ticket here: https://support.ultimaker.com/hc/en-us/requests/new which will be forwarded to a reseller of your country.

 

There are several reasons why active leveling fails, here some hints:

• Build plate is too low or too high. Try to get something of 14mm between the two plates when you do a manual leveling.
• Check the white and red wires in the back when you open the front fan door. This is the sensor for the leveling.
• Electrical interferences. 
• The print core switch is not working correctly
• the tip of the nozzle is not clean
• You can also try to reconnect the sensor cable in the back of the print head

In the printer menu there is also a test routine to check the sensor.

 

[pl_cooper 0]

Thanks Smithy,

 

as I said I already tried everything mentioned in the according support document. I will relevel to 14mm and try a different place.

 

I highly doubt that it will change something because the printer run well for some 200 hours right now without any problems. And nothing changed. Not the environment (electrical interferences) nor the actual printer setup (build plate too low or too high).

 

Keep you posted.

 

Thanks

Michael

[pl_cooper 0]

After rechecking on videos from the ultimaker channel on youtube I realised that during the active leveling process the build plate should touch the nozzle. This is not the case here anymore. The buildplate stops like several millimeters (approx. 5-7) before it actually touches the nozzle.

 

 

[Smithy 1,146]

These leveling errors are annoying and really hard to solve. The problem is, that when you do something, it seems you have solved the problem, some jobs are working fine and then the failure comes back. On my S3 I tried nearly everything and gave up in the end. On my machine I guess there is a problem with the print head board or the print head cable, but I was not willing to replace these parts, I decided to disable the active leveling at all, because I don't really need it and so I was able to print again.

 

These 14mm came from the UM3, there is it is easy to measure the distance, the S3 is much harder to measure. And it is also not so important to get exactly the distance, but approximately around 14mm is fine.

 

Another reason could be that one of your fans are not working probably or that there is a damage on these wires. I heard that, even when the fan is working, a replacement could help to solve these leveling issues.

 

But I would contact your reseller to solve the problem. If there is a need to change the print head PCB or something else, it is much easier and cheaper not to buy everything which could be the problem. 

 

If you want also to disable the leveling, let me know, because you cannot do it via the printers menu.

[pl_cooper 0]

Hi Smithy,

 

already opened a ticket. But please let me know how to diable active leveling as a work around so I can still keep printing.

 

Thanks

Michael

[Smithy 1,146]

Ok, first you have to enable the developer mode on your printer via the menu.

 

Then you need to ssh into the printer from your computer, the IP address is shown in the printer display after enabling the dev mode. Username: root Password: ultimaker

 

Basically you have to change one file: 

/usr/share/griffin/griffin/printer/procedures/pre_and_post_print/auto_bed_level_adjust/alignZAxisProcedure.py

 

In line 49 change DETAILED to NEVER:

self.__probing_mode = ProbeMode.NEVER

#self.__probing_mode = ProbeMode.DETAILED

 

But here is a one-liner, to change the value and restart the printer service. Just copy and paste the whole thing as one line to your ssh terminal and hit enter.

 

sed -i 's/self.__probing_mode = ProbeMode.DETAILED/self.__probing_mode = ProbeMode.NEVER/g' /usr/share/griffin/griffin/printer/procedures/pre_and_post_print/auto_bed_level_adjust/alignZAxisProcedure.py && systemctl restart griffin.printer

 

That's it.

After a factory reset or after a firmware upgrade you need to do this step again.

 

And please be careful and do it at your own risk. It is always possible to brick your printer if you do something wrong.

[pl_cooper 0]

Works! Thanks.

 

But I just cannot accept inactivating one of the features I bought an expensive piece of technology like this. So, I will try to fix this asap.

 

Thanks

Michael

[Smithy 1,146]

Sure, but see it as a workaround until it is fixed.