Preventing & Recovering From A Head Crash

Preventing & Recovering From A Head Crash




Why would my head crash? Well, there are many possible scenarios. We will go through a few here:


Design and/or Operational Errors

If certain conditions are met in the settings, design and workflow of the project the z axis could react unexpectedly. It's best not to enable Z Axis control in the software until you have a good grasp of the operations of this feature.

 

The bed, blade system, honeycomb, etc... is not seated correctly or is out of calibration

If the bed components are not placed or seated correctly, or if they are out of calibration or adjustment, this can cause a variety of issues and possibly a head crash.


The head was not in the correct position or too low

To utilize the auto-focus, the nozzle distance is determined by the stop ring around the lens tube. Here is how to re-calibrate this ring:





Auto focus was used with other heads besides the stock 2" head

The auto-focus system was primarily designed for the stock 2" head. The 4" head, for instance, is much longer and the focal gap is 10mm. It is recommended to only auto-focus with the stock 2" head and manually focus other optics arrangements.


Electro-mechanical Malfunction or External Force

There are rare instances where a system failure or other anomaly can cause a crash. For instance ,If you were using your longer 4" head and you had a brownout, when the systems cycle and come to ready the bed could move to a position that is safe for the stock lens but causes the 4" head to drag through the honeycomb while homing x,y, and z on start-up.



Here is how to recover if it does crash:


You may be able to release the tension at the lens tube as shown in the video below




You can also manually articulate the z axis belt by powering off the machine, locating an exposed section of belt, and gently moving right or left to move the bed manually:



Things to check after a crash:

-Check Head and Y axis bearing tension
-Check that the laser tube receiver is tight and in the right position. It is held on with three bolts
-Check the Y Axis Verticality
-For the 2" head, check that the stop ring is still in place for an auto focus
-Check your laser Alignment
laser lens tube receiver is tight and in the right position


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