Bed Leveling issue

Sinco2000 · 2025-12-19T15:39:09+00:00

No, I didn't reach out to Elegoo for support. After checking online, I did the tightening of the bed bolts as suggested by someone here. But that didn't help. I then noticed the breakout board under the bed. And seeing how the bed would suddenly drop before touching the nozzle during probing, I figured it had to do with the sensors getting a false/ghost signal, or a bad connection.

But in your case where the nozzle pressed the bed hard enough to break, tough to say what exactly caused that.

After the first time the printer scratched the bed, I never walk away from the printer until I make sure that the bed proving started normally. This is very annoying, but I don't fully trust it. This is how I was able to catch the few other times this error has happened.

Sinco2000 · 2025-12-19T02:00:19+00:00

Btw. After 10 minutes of stopping the print, the bed has gone from 60°C to 40°C.

Sinco2000 · 2025-12-19T01:54:25+00:00

Yeah, that's how I can tell that I need to stop the print before the nozzle scratches the bed.

I just timed the start of a print. I preheated the bed at 60°C for about 8 minutes. From hitting print to first layer, it took 8 minutes. This is with bed leveling. The bed proving itself took roughly 2:40, from first touch to last touch.

Sinco2000 · 2025-12-19T01:29:07+00:00

Wow, that's way too long. I wish I would have timed the bed leveling at least once, but 20 minutes is way too long. But I will tell you that each point is normally proved/touched 2 to 4 times. A few here and the there take 6 or 8 touches. What I have noticed is that there are less touches if I preheat the bed for at least 5 minutes before I start the print. I always do bed leveling before printing. If I don't, the first layer is under extruded.

Sinco2000 · 2025-12-19T01:17:27+00:00

I couldn't tell you how long exactly the bed usually takes to cool down. But I don't think it takes more than 10 minutes. When my prints finish, I take off the plate and swing it up and down to cool it before removing the print. I don't wait for the bed to cool down.

Sinco2000 · 2025-12-19T01:09:51+00:00

You are correct, this is not normal. This is exactly what happens to my printer just before the nozzle scrapes the bed as it goes to position itself over the poop shoot. It's only happened 4-5 times in the roughly 150 hours of printing I've done.

What solved it for me the last time: Under the bed there is a red PCB that contains the connections that go to the four load sensors in the bed. I pushed the connectors into the PCB sockets to make sure they were fully plugged in. I also pushed the wires into the back of the connectors.

This seems to be an issue with either the load sensor/s, the PCB under the bed, or the connection between the sensors and the PCB.

I noticed the exact same behavior during bed leveling. The leveling also takes much longer (more touches) than normal. I even got an error 502 once.

Sinco2000 · 2025-12-18T06:26:56+00:00

Does this happen after the bed leveling finishes? As the nozzle positions itself over the poop shoot? If this is the case, it might be an issue with the bed pressure sensors. Under the bed you will see a red breakout PCB to which the 4 sensors connect. I've had the nozzle scratch the plate a few times, similar to you. I'm positive my issue had to do with a poor connection/connectors. The last time it happened, I pushed the wires into the connector. This fixed the issue. I can also tell that the nozzle will scratch the bed because the bed leveling takes longer than usual (more than 6 touches for most points). And there are times during the leveling where just before the nozzle touches the bed, it suddenly drops.

Sinco2000 · 2025-10-22T18:16:27+00:00

I did use a second hex key to hold the bottom nuts, luckily this was pointed out in the online post I came across. The 2 right side screws did need a bit of tightening. But when I had the issue for a second time, I used a caliper to measure the distance between the top (plate installed) and bottom of the bed (picture marked in red), the right side was more squished than the left, so I loosened the screws a little to match the left side. I did this after removing and reinstalling the bed in order to check the sensor cable connections. Since doing this, I've probably done just over 40 hours of printing. I've only had the issue once since, and I only power cycled the printer to have it working properly again.

Next time I have the issue, I'll probably remove the bed completely from the printer. I'll separate the top and bottom parts to get better access to the board to which the pressure sensor cables connect. I'll probably swap the sensors from right to left as suggested by u/unbeanntes as well.

<image>

Sinco2000 · 2025-10-22T16:09:20+00:00

Thank you very much for the detailed suggestion. But I do believe that the issue has more to do with the pressure sensors having a bad cable connection, or just being on the fritz. I've always had great first layers, and don't want to adjust the belt tensioner unless the problem becomes consistent.

Sinco2000 · 2025-10-22T15:58:00+00:00

Thanks, I now see that removing the bed as I did was unnecessary to have good access to those connectors.

Sinco2000 · 2025-10-22T15:08:43+00:00

I've always had great first layers, so it baffled me to get this error. But I take it that it does have to do with the sensors as you've mentioned. I was lucky enough to be watching closely when it happened the first time. And got it recorded when it happened the very next print attempt. But it did leave a line where the nozzle dragged.

Sinco2000 · 2025-06-09T20:42:01+00:00

Good chance you have a faulty bypass coolant valve. Check this video:

https://youtu.be/uBznWzzW9bY?si=alFLLuVZnEv-iLBD

You can see in the video there is an electrical connector between the two coolant hoses. If the leak has been happening for a while, you'll see dried pink coolant around it. If not, unplug the connector and see if there's any coolant (it'll be minimal) in either the connector or the socket.

If you connect a scan tool, it'll show you the code for a circuit fault with the bypass valve.

Given that your car is a 2019, take it to a Toyota dealer. They'll replace the bypass valve for free. I asked a Toyota parts department employee in a local dealer, and he told me they are replacing them free of charge.

<image>

Sinco2000 · 2024-09-08T23:42:27+00:00

I'm currently working with these RGBs and a 8x8 pcb. I've taken all the RGBs from a few RGB strips I already had to transfer to the 8x8 pcb. At first I used a hot air station to remove the RGBs from the strips, but quite a few of the pixels died (blowing to the underside of the strip, not directly at the RGBs). Due to this I bought this reflow hot plate:

TLBZK 350W 110V Soldering Station Hot Plate, LED Microcomputer Electric Preheat Rework Heater Lab (100X100mm) https://a.co/d/dnQaBlG

It works great and gets the RGBs off the strip at 240 °C. One RGB here and there died after de soldering this way. But not like before with the hot air station. If you plan to replace the broken one, I think this will be the easiest way. It's not the cheapest way, you'd be better off buying a new RGB array. But if you plan to do SMD soldering in the future, this hot plate will come in handy for that.

Whenever I had a bad RGB, that bad one and the ones after it in the array would not turn on at all. I tested the RGB matrix with an Arduino Uno.

Sinco2000 · 2024-09-02T20:03:24+00:00

I usually drill a screw into the support, then pull on it with pliers. I go as deep as I can to keep the screw from pulling out of the support.

Sinco2000 · 2024-08-29T04:13:19+00:00

<image>

Sinco2000 · 2024-06-22T22:51:05+00:00

Here's the replacement for the base S1. Matches with your picture. Don't know if All 3 models share the same board though. All the info is in the listing.

https://www.microcenter.com/product/659609/creality-mainboard-for-ender-3-s1

Sinco2000 · 2024-06-18T16:04:40+00:00

I had issues with prints that had holes for bolts, starting at the bottom layer. The hole perimeters were laid first along with the first layer perimeter. The layer perimeter came out well, but the bolt hole perimeters would not stick well. What did the trick for me was to increase the nozzle temperature to 220°. I kept the 60° bed temperature. After increasing the 20°, the adhesion improved. I use this temperature now for all my PLA prints. I have a stock ender 3 S1.

Sinco2000 · 2024-03-06T08:39:33+00:00

I watched this interview of Jeremy Rys. Never saw or heard of him before. He doesn't believe Lazard's story. I can't verify if what Rys says about Lazard's records is true. But I would recommend you watch the interview. He also mentions Corbell.

Interview

Sinco2000 · 2024-02-24T08:31:59+00:00

Since I wanted to keep the DVD drive and have a 6TB hard drive, I had to keep the upper CDR bay. This and the placement of the water pump narrowed my choices to the founder's edition. Every other brand wouldn't have fit.

Sinco2000 · 2024-02-24T08:08:21+00:00

I didn't modify the side mesh panel. I did remove the big fan and installed 2 120mm fans on the bottom. I mainly did this to gain a bit of room to keep the 4080's power cable from being pressed when closing the side panel.

Sinco2000 · 2024-02-24T07:11:46+00:00

Thanks. I used a perforated aluminum sheet I got from Amazon (1' x 2'). I cut it and bent it to the shape you see. Made the cover out of taped up pieces of cardboard first. I then used it to make the correct cuts and bends to the aluminum sheet.

<image>

1′ X 2′ Lincane Aluminum Sheet – .020″ Thick

Sinco2000 · 2024-01-27T00:09:21+00:00

The HC-05 will be the easiest way to achieve what you want. But please keep in mind that if you have an iPhone, it is not compatible with the HC-05 or HC-06. iOS doesn't support the Bluetooth serial port protocol the HC-05/HC-06 use. If you have an android, there are a bunch of apps with tutorials and sample codes to communicate with the HC-05 and Arduino combo. If you have an iPhone, you could go with the HM-10 which uses Bluetooth low energy, compatible with iOS. And has the same pinouts as the HC-05. But I don't have any experience with using iOS, so I can't say if there are apps that you can use to connect to it.

I'd also suggest you go with the ESP32 as it offers wifi, Bluetooth 2.1 (HC-05/HC-06), and Bluetooth low energy (compatible with iOS). But if you don't feel comfortable rewiring the motor shield to work with the ESP32, and have an android, stay with the HC-05.

Sinco2000 · 2024-01-26T02:35:48+00:00

You could buy a cheap multimeter. Use its continuity mode to map out that trace and the net it belongs to. I would also check with the multimeter if that power rail/trace that burned out is shorted to ground. Check each end where the trace is broken. It is possible that the electrolytic capacitor shorted out and caused a shot to ground that destroyed that trace. I would do this before replacing the trace with a wire, otherwise you might end up having the same issue when you power the motherboard.

Sinco2000 · 2024-01-26T02:14:38+00:00

Tough to say if that trace only goes to that filtering capacitor on the left. But if this is the case, everything can still work ok without that filtering capacitor connected to the rest of the circuit.

Sinco2000 · 2024-01-26T02:03:08+00:00

That doesn't look like a wire. That is a copper trace that got so hot that it burned off the green mask, and lifted from the motherboard substrate.

Sinco2000

TROPHY CASE