Difficulty working through Manual and Active Leveling on Ultimaker 3

[odjassemi 1]

Hi,

 

I have been working on and off trying to fix my UM3 for about 10 days and have had no luck. The printer started not being able to active level correctly (worked thru some issues) but more issues came about. I printed the build plate leveling tool (with another printer) and went through that process but still had no luck. Something seems to wrong with my nozzle behavior during manual and active leveling but I can't get around the issue. I've attached a video as a google drive link of what occurs during manual leveling (nozzle buries into build plate prohibiting me to hone into  1 mm) and pictures of the capacitive sensor plate and print head umbilical. 

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1zjE0avYi6H46CTRXt1MY87CxNSadEJID/view?usp=sharing

 

 

Can somebody please point me in the right direction to get my printer back? Many Thanks... 

Edited March 7 by odjassemi
reupload video link

[odjassemi 1]

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Edited March 7 by odjassemi
remove link

[gr5 2,094]

The video is super short which I love.  So when it hits the glass in the front right corner - that's fine - at that point you want to turn the thumb screw clockwise (as seen looking from below into the screw) to pull the print bed down until it is no longer touching the glass and then back off until it is just barely kissing the glass. 

 

Or you can use the calibration card or you can just use a normal thickness piece of paper - like printer paper - as a spacer.  You slide the paper around while turning the screw until you get a certain amount of resistance (you decide) and repeat that for all 3 leveling points.

 

um3 support pages probably have a video.

[gr5 2,094]

It might be helpful to also see a video of the active leveling - as short as possible where it shows the nozzle coming down and touching the glass.

[gr5 2,094]

Note that in manual leveling when you do the leveling in the rear you are spinning the "computer knob" on the front of the printer - not the leveling screw.

[odjassemi 1]

In regards to your thumbscrew tightening, I tried tightening them all the way to lower the bed but was still having the same issue. I will try again. It just doesn't make sense because I used the leveling tool to level the the build plate so I ask why this is happening? 

 

I can post a video of the active leveling later tonight... 

 

Just wanna get to the bottom of this!!! Thanks for your reply... 

Edited March 7 by odjassemi

[gr5 2,094]

If you tightened them all the way and then do manual leveling and it hits the bed in the rear then you spin the white knob so that it is about 1mm above the glass.  As the instructions on the screen say to do.

 

If it is 1mm above the glass in the rear and it STILL hits the glass in the front right corner then start over and do 2mm or 3mm above the glass.

 

I actually always skip the "1mm over glass" step unless I have taken my bed apart and reassembled.  Maybe you got the habit of skipping the step or maybe you never read the instructions about the "1mm".  It doesn't have to be exactly 1mm.  It could be a half mm or 2mm but the whole point of that step is so that the nozzle doesn't hit the glass.

 

ALSO don't tighten the screws all the way down.  I would tighten about half way so that you have room to go up or down when you start the leveling procedure.

[Dustin 86]

might look closely at these wires too, that doesn't look like a very healthy connection

[odjassemi 1]

Please view this link for the active leveling process (it fails) and apologies its a bit longer 

 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CBLImmYTyGSK32A4wLQ7uJQ_m0xMKZx_/view?usp=share_link

[odjassemi 1]

How should I go about dealing with the sensor and shield wires? Should I replace them? Do you know of any videos of somebody doing this?

[gr5 2,094]

Tug very gently on the wires.  If they stay in their connectors they are probably fine.

[gr5 2,094]

I watched the video.  You need to have the bed pretty close to level before you can do active leveling. The sensor looks like it is working perfectly.  That video was very very helpful.

 

So active leveling compensates for a crooked bed only a little bit.  It compensates less and less on each layer as it prints your part.  and after about 1cm it stops correcting.  This means that your part will be slightly crooked by the amount the glass bed is crooked (versus the plane of the gantry).  Your bed is too crooked.  If it didn't abort and did the active leveling, and you printed a cube, it would be a cube with one very tilted bottom.

 

So you have to manual level pretty close first.

 

Please read what I wrote above about manual leveling - center the 3 screws better before you start - read the instructions - particulaly about the 1mm thing.  Follow that step this one time (you should be able to ignore the 1mm steps going forwards if you level again some day as long as you don't mess with the 3 leveling screws by more than 1mm).

 

Then do the final leveling nice and accurate.

 

 

[odjassemi 1]

Revisiting this because still can't solve... more to come...

[odjassemi 1]

Manual leveling - I've been following the procedure you outlined. 

 

It is 3 mM away from the plate in the rear (and much greater because I've tried so many things) AND it still hits the glass in the corners. I don't understand. Active leveling consistently fails afterwards.

On 3/7/2023 at 6:52 PM, gr5 said:

center the 3 screws better before you start

What exactly did you mean by centering the screws? Centering (evening) their height? 

 

I've been using the buildplate tool but it has been very difficult to figure out how to get through leveling.

 

I used to do manual leveling on a UM2+ and it worked fine? I don't know what's going on here. I bypass leveling and try to test print a cube after manual level and the nozzle gets smushed into the glass... 

 

Any ideas? Can happily send videos...

[gr5 2,094]

Oh sorry - I thought this thread was done.  I'll check it more often.

 

So for example you could tighten all 3 screws all the way down and then loosen them all the same amount.  Maybe 20 turns each?  I don't know.  By centering I mean half way between as tight as possible and so loose that it comes apart.  That's what I mean with half way.  You can do that with one of the front screws and then measure the distance in the gap that the springs sit in and make all 3 gaps close to the same.

 

*then* start manual leveling procedure.  When it says get it to 1mm, control on the front screen NOT THE THUMB SCREWS.  As it says in the instructions.  adjust until it's close to 1mm.  Then for the front 2 corners as the instructions say you can spin the thumb screws to get it close to 1mm.  This series of steps only need be done very very rarely.  Like once ever and maybe again if you ever have to take the bed apart.

 

Then you use the calibration card if you have it.  Follow the instructions - again DON'T USE THE THUMBSCREW ON THE REAR.  As the instructions say.  Use the arrows or spin the dial or whatever it says to do and get it so the paper just fits between glass and nozzle.

 

Then you repeat this for the front 2 with the paper but this time you use the thumb screws.  Get it so that the tension on the paper is the same for all 3.  You don't have to get it perfect.  Within 1/2 rotation should be fine.

 

Finally you do the other printcore  Again DON'T TOUCH THE THUMB SCREW - if you do you need to do it all over again.  Use the controls on the screen to move the bed up and down until you get the same exact paper friction as you did with the left printcore.

 

NOW you can finally run active leveling and it should't be so upset.  If it is take a picture of the exact error you see and post again even though you posted earlier.  Maybe it's a different error now.

 

Just pay attention to the instructions.  Sometimes you use the thumb screws and sometimes you must not.  As a general rule you rarely touch the rear thumbscrew.

[odjassemi 1]

I will work through this again and let you know... 

[Enigma_M4 105]

Hi,

just one note to the great and detailled instructions by @gr5 two posts above:

As the UM3 needs a distance between the platform and the print bed of about 14mm for active leveling to work, the first adjustment of the thumb screws (befor the leveling procedure) should be done respective. That's where the leveling tool comes into play.

If the distance is to far off the 14mm, active leveling won't work.

Regards

[gr5 2,094]

I don't know anything about that.  could you explain more @Enigma_M4?  14mm from the top of the lower plate to the bottom of the upper plate?  Or 14mm from teh top of the lower plate to the top of the upper plate?  Or something else?  I've never checked that distance.

[Enigma_M4 105]

12 hours ago, gr5 said:

I don't know anything about that.  could you explain more @Enigma_M4?  14mm from the top of the lower plate to the bottom of the upper plate?  Or 14mm from teh top of the lower plate to the top of the upper plate?  Or something else?  I've never checked that distance.

Of course I can 😉.

The factory set distance between the top of the aluminium base plate and the bottom of the heated bed is 14mm.

It is mentioned -at least- here:

https://support.makerbot.com/s/article/1667337928740

and here:

https://support.makerbot.com/s/article/1667417606244

 

For convenient measuring there's a special spacer tool by @IRobertI

https://www.youmagine.com/designs/um3-buildplate-distance-tool

which might be the leveling tool mentioned above,

or -as I learned now- a tool provided by Ultimaker itself (see links in the above articles), which is designed for the UM3 and the UM2+

 

Regards

[gr5 2,094]

Note that the 14mm is a good position for the rear screw (and initially the front screws) and you shouldn't ever have to touch the rear screw again for basic leveling.  For very advanced on-the-fly leveling, I adjust all 3 screws equal amounts quite often.  But only if you disable active leveling and only after you have done 100 prints.

[odjassemi 1]

OK! Finally seemed to have worked through the issue... I think the problem was that I wasn't turning the screws together if that makes sense ( 1 turn for all 3 screws at a time for example) so the rear screw was lopsided... 

 

Printer seems to not work as well when active leveling frequency is turned to Never to save time... oh well I guess can investigate that issue but atleast I'm printing again.

 

Thanks all for your prolonged help really appreciate it!