No Head warning

[Notewell @nigelberry]

I have had a couple of heads become useless when the printer believes there is no head attached.

Fine one moment and when I go to make the next print there is no head attached.

I have the filament recognition turned off and it does not seem to be a problem, can we have a switch to stop the software telling us there is no head when there is one. These heads were working fine until the printer decided they were not there!!

Nigel

[Omega64 @omega64 My Robox is a Blue Commercial Version]

Wouldn’t cleaning the contacts (pogo pins, etc..) be an even better option?

 

[Notewell @nigelberry]

Only when it works!

[BHudson @bhudson I have both RoboxDual and other Robox versions Arizona, USA]

@nigelberry The head not being detected means that the POGO pins aren’t making good contact. There are several issues that may contribute. Some Beta machines have a faulty head retaining screw. See my earlier post about “Don’t Try this at Home”. The POGO pins may be faulty, may be dirty, or may have oil in them. The contact plate on the head may be loose and not forcing contact with the POGO pins. There may be a loose connection to the head power cable or head data cable. All of these issues can be resolved with a support ticket, but no, you should absolutely not run the machine if the head is not sensed properly. This will destroy the head.

Running the machine with the filament sensor inactive only bypasses some non-essential functions. Bypassing the head connectivity sensing circuits also bypasses some very important safety features and bypassing these can cause a dangerous situation for you and your workspace. This is why the warning comes up.

I operate two Betas and four Production Robox.
I am the US/Canada Technical Support engineer for the Robox.
www.hudsondesignlabs.com

[Notewell @nigelberry]

OK so the machine needs to know it has a head in place.

My printer had a full back to base upgrade a couple of months ago, it included a new X carriage as the Bowden tube was stuck and it was a throw a way job. Wiring and boards were upgraded as required, 24v leads, extruder, head, the lot. The top rail is dry and lubricant has not got into the heads

Last month a customer wanted a job done, about 12 hours printing and a head went south. No work for Robox until now and during 6 hours printing the replacement head is no longer recognised. 2 heads in 18 hours printing??? I keep a spare head for black filament and seem to end up using that and having to print in black. It was fortunate that I had some black ABS for this job.

I am not happy to say the least. Now having got that out, let me thank you for taking the time to respond, it is much appreciated.

Clean the pogo pins and the matching contact faces, is that right?

Clean with a cotton tip dipped in alcohol?

Stand well back and give it a blast of electrical contact cleaner from a pressure can?

If you can give me some instructions I will do my best to carry them out. Then I will report back

Thanks again for your kind responses, some days I just feel like shrugging my shoulders and doing the teenage “whatever” Just gets a bit frustrating at times.

[Notewell @nigelberry]

Cleaned both heads using the alcohol swabs on a cotton bud cleaned the pogo pins the same way.

The dead heads did not come to life, but the working head still works. So they will need to be replaced.

So glad I spent the money on a spare head!

Thanks for your advice

[David @dmullerdesign My Robox is a Blue Commercial Version]

There appears to be many such complaints about the heads. It certainly warrants further investigation and improvements to the design as so many people seem to suffer with this now.

I’m on my fourth head, and touch wood, the problems with blown seals seem to be a thing of the past. This head is on around 580 hours so far.

Hopefully in time the team will address the remaining connectivity issues, as they have so many other niggles. They certainly are committed to improving the user experience.

I empathise with your frustrations though. It seems when you get a good head it can seem like it will go on forever.

Out of interest, why do you keep one head just for black? I only ask as I frequently switch between white and black XT and, provided that I fully purge the previous material and clean the nozzles, don’t get any problems with contamination between the two colours.

[BHudson @bhudson I have both RoboxDual and other Robox versions Arizona, USA]

@nigelberry I have not heard of heads going dead like that. Definitely open a ticket. I have removed heads with the power turned on and have yet to see a head go completely dead like that. I have had one head lose its electronics and that was one of the original beta unit heads. There is something else going on here and you should open a ticket and work through it. It may be that your machine has some phantom issue that has not yet been identified. If one head works and two others don’t, there is a difference in those heads. I have found that some heads have a loose contact PCB and that can cause issues, but you have to take the head apart to find and fix that, so you will need to have an open ticket to be able to look into that issue.

Are you using a Beta machine? I used to have issues with my Beta machines until I figured out that there is a ground wire missing and the ground path isn’t complete. Once I completed the ground path, they stopped having issues and have been rock solid since. This has been solved in the production units but Beta machines may need extra ground wires added.

I operate two Betas and four Production Robox.
I am the US/Canada Technical Support engineer for the Robox.
www.hudsondesignlabs.com

[poju @poju My Robox is a Blue Commercial Version Finland]

Hi, i got head EEPROM wiped, thread here: http://www.cel-robox.com/forums/topic/failed-mainboard/

My leaking head was working fine and i got new head from reseller and it works too, so it must be that one head that got wiped coz of one lose cable.

Anyway i got 1 tip from CEL support that came too late and i could not test it: “We have installed a reset to defaults button in Automaker 1.02. If your head’s EEPROM is still wiped, open the advanced tray int he status window and go to the head tab. pressing reset to defaults should fix the problem. This was a new feature added in version 1.02 to help with the problem you were experiencing.”

 

[Notewell @nigelberry]

Thank You

I tried this and with one head it did nothing at all and with the other it worked for one part and then went back to the no head attached message. At least I feel I have now tried to make them work and I am justified in saying that they are dead.

My printer is only 9 months old and recently went back to base and all the updated parts were fitted.

Thanks for your help

Nigel

[BHudson @bhudson I have both RoboxDual and other Robox versions Arizona, USA]

@nigelberry Have you opened a ticket regarding these heads? If you don’t open a ticket, you won’t get a resolution. I suspect that the contact PCB is loose or you have a damaged power cable. Even brand new power cables can become damaged if they weren’t assembled correctly at the factory.

Can you please tell me if you have a Beta machine or not? Sometimes the extra ground path is not fitted on Beta machines even after they have been back to CEL.

I operate two Betas and four Production Robox.
I am the US/Canada Technical Support engineer for the Robox.
www.hudsondesignlabs.com

[Notewell @nigelberry]

No Not a Beta machine, blue and about 9 months old. Certainly not from the first batch of imports.

Local distributor is replacing the heads and my extruder stopped today so that is being replaced also!

Thanks for your help

Nigel

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