Z axis switch? Firmware? Broken wire? (Page 1 of 2)

Yes, It work okay before. I have adjusted the trim pots and am reading on wiring harness interference x switch... Could it interfer with z switch? I tried resetting the printer to the previous calibration, but it was still grinding extruded into glass. When I read the forums it sounded sort of like broken wire might be problem, but if I understand that problem correctly it is usually with the x axis not z axis. My problems sound similar to what selfless has been experiencing. I don'T know if I should be trying to find a broken wire first or trying to update firmware....

Anna

I have been reading more on the forum, and my problem sounds very familiar to this to this one from kido2015-03-11 04:39:39

Hello! My first post here.
I realy hope someone can help me out here.
Got my Press a week ago and had all the troubles that every one else got.
I managed to calibrate and do my first print and it went OK.
Now when i try to calibrate the bed goes DOWN instead of UP to trigger the switch.
I can no longer calibrate, its like Z is inverted.
I have tried to uninstall soliprint, didn't work.
I tried M502 and then M500 and then calibrate, didn't work.
Please help!

It was the switch on the extruder that was broken, it never closed the circuit.

When I tested the trimpots and tried to find a broken wire last night, the platform lowered when the z+ arrow was hit in R.H. Is there a way to test to see if the extruder switch/circuit is broken? How do I replace this? I have already contacted solidoodle... but is there anything else I can do?

I just tried to run a z calibration test and the probe is not extending. Can I manually try to extend probe or is this when I should start to look for broken circuits and wires? or should I start to disassemble the extruder?

I just manually extended the z probe and ran the m119 test. All three of the axes reported open.the z probe returned to the up position on it's own, but when running R.H. the z+ arrow sends the bed downward... Should I try the z-callibration again?

This might seem like a really stupid question - I tried the g-code tab and entered the m119 code  on the first line. I then selected the start code and got the following results
g21 set mm units
g90 set absolute coordinates
g28 home x and y axes
g29 probe bed
g92 eo reset extrusion distance....
That doesn't change when I end code.

If I hit run job. the with z probe down I get x y and z open... am I doing something wrong?

I tried the m119 command again and never got a triggered on x,y, or z. So I decided to try a print.

I manually extended the z probe and the machine started to print again, but it still acting weird the bed is now very uneven. The printer will only work in parts of bed . I printed a small print and I thought everything would be okay so I tried to print something bigger. The prints are shown below.
I tried different sizes etc. at one point the bed temperature reAd over 200 degrees. I turned it off, let it rest and tried again to the uneven again. Could this be related to z probe issue?

1. yes,  the printer went through the 9 point leveling process. Do I need to manually adjust bed? I am using glass from hardware store held on with 2 binder clips at front of bed only. Could this be causing it to be so uneven?

2. No I am not sure. The bed temp was stuck on 88.3 for 3-5 minutes so I opened soliprint or RH I don't remember which... it said 200 so I immediately turn off printer and let cool down. I printed again after and it seemed to work. I don't think it was the extruder temp because it was turned off... but I cant ever be sure.

no it doesn't... The glass I get from the hardware store is thicker than the solidoodle glass. So I try to keep it in place using binder clips. I couldn't find the right thickness of glass locally. I tried picture frames, but they broke after one printing. Ace's glass is cheap and usually lasts several months. Is there a better way to secure glass to print bed?

but today I was running a print in both soliprint and R.H. and I was watching the extruder while it stopped printing. The actual filament wasn't printing. The gear was rocking back and forth. I thought I had tightened it yesterday. It looks a lot like the video in this discussion. 
http://www.soliforum.com/topic/10965/di … extrusion/

What is the vref? Will tightening the gear drive help? The z-calibration I ran seem to work well... but you saw what happened when I tried to print something after that.

I have reversed the fan on the extruder, adjusted the trim pots, moved the wires over with a rubber band.. etc...

I am printing with Push ABS plastic at 235 and bed at 100... I didn't have any problems until z probe started to go wonky

Should I try to post a video of the gear drive doing this?

Just for information, I noticed you comment that clicking on "Z+" in RH made the bed move downwards. This is the CORRECT behaviour. I know it's not very intuitive, but by lowering the bed, you are "effectively" raising the extruder... Confused me for a bit as well.

@ annalenhartmurray,

I hope you are having success at printing; but a further thought:

If in fact your Z-probing is hit or miss, it may pay to closely inspect the wiring within the probe and switch and back to the controller for any loose or bad connections.  Since the probe moves, a connection problem could be likely.