S5 Printer/limit switch failure?

[Travis7s 26]

Ultimaker S5 on 7.1.3 F/W

 

Had a major malfunction the other day. Had just started to print the 1st layer (it did print down a few cm of material) when it aborted/crashed through the Y-Axis switch for some reason. A different employee noticed so I don't have a really good idea on what happened. It seemed to be stuck repeatedly crashing trying to get back home when power was turned off. When I got there and turned it back on nothing seemed apparently wrong except for the bent limit switch arm. It was able to home on its own and the limit switch works as expected however it keeps failing the auto level check before each print so I need to do some more digging into that. For now I'm just waiting to get a replacement switch but any insight into what happened here? 

logs-ultimakersystem-0030d622a0ed-7.1.3-20230224143950.zip

[Dustin 175]

Its possible is some situations to cause damage to the limit switch during a print failure.. 
Though it really depends on the nature of the failure.

Additionally its possible for someone to damage this switch overtime by aggressively pushing the print head to the back of the machine each time they do something like change print cores or doing cold pulls etc.. 

Your likely having active leveling issues because of this broken limit switch.
As the limit switch is broken.. when it its triggered the Y location is much further back than expected. 
This results in alignment issues when the print head goes to flip the switch to toggle the print cores up and down.
This further results in active leveling issues as high found is unexpected due to not properly toggling the switch.

I wouldn't attempt using the machine until the limit switch is fixed.
After that I would recommend calibrating the lift switch before attempting anything else to verify the position is accurate.
Guide here: https://support.makerbot.com/s/article/1667411295760

[Travis7s 26]

Thanks @Dustin, I had thought the same thing about the lift switch and calibrated it already, the bent arm doesn't seem bent enough to affect the lift switch from what I can tell.

 

It seems like I have some kind of deeper issue because I tried another test print and this time carefully watched the auto level procedure. It seemed to start out fine and the first nozzle took all of its measurements. Then it switched to the other nozzle and starting to take a measurement but then stopped, the Z-axis motor seemingly powered off and the build plate "freefell" all the way down. The display messaged that auto level had failed and the print head went and very slowly crashed and stalled itself into the camera corner so I had to kill power.

Edited March 3, 2023 by Travis7s

[Travis7s 26]

Troubleshooting getting harder because I keep getting a lot of ER34 errors and other weird stepper behaviour, I'll try to reseat that connector but I think I may have some kind of faulty PCB. Any recommendations on what parts I might need to order?

 

I also have a not so great clip of the original failure where I think its trying to go home after self aborting. It sounds like you can hear it thumping into something repeatedly but also triggering the limit switch quite a bit?

 

 

[Dustin 175]

When the limit switch is damaged like yours.. the Y position is not always repeatable or reliable..

Your root cause as far as I can tell is still related to that switch.. The triggering is not happening within the expected movements and the firmware is not happy about it.

The thumping of the printhead against the back of the frame is also a sign that the switch can not be trusted.

I very much don't recommend further troubleshooting until the limit switch is replaced you risk very real damage to the machine by allowing it to do this further.

Your current issue is putting a lot of stress on the motion system right now.
You will likely need to check your XY alignment and adjust your pulleys as well once the switch is replaced.
Guide here: https://support.makerbot.com/s/article/1667412443401

 

[Travis7s 26]

Update: I did install a new Y-Axis switch and did the axle alignment procedure, nothing noteworthy there.

 

Ran some tests such as send printhead home, check limit switch status, calibrate lift switch, and the level noise test. After it finished the noise check it went go home but just stopped halfway on the way to the X switch. Peculiar, so I used the menu to send it home again only it just immediately went to crash into the right corner (where the Y switch is)

 

I tried to replicate this again but could not, so I ran a small print and that worked without any issues. So I guess thats good but still pretty apprehensive about using this printer.

[Travis7s 26]

So everything was looking good until about 2 weeks ago when I started getting some sporadic ER35 i2c errors. After rebooting the printer it started doing the erratic behaviour. (stopping half way to home, then trying to crash into the Y-axis switch corner). I inspected the print head cable and this time noticed that the shield wire had partially pulled out of the connector. I did my best to reseat and lock it back into place and it seems to be working normally. Not 100% sure this is the cause of all the issues but definitely notable.

[BrettSneider1 0]

Sounds more like a alignment; stepper type of issue. Making that clicking noise sounds like a mechanical fallacy more than electrical. Do update us here