Bed not heating

Hi All,

I've got a bit of an issue starting to occur, and am worried it will turn into a "show stopper".

Occasionally when I initiate a print, the blue LED's under the plate don't flash and the plate doesn't heat up.

It says "platform heating" on the display, but the % value just drops.

It doesn't seem to be the connecters. I've checked them and they look fine.

I have to switch it on and off a couple of times to get it to start correctly.

I found one post that mentioned it being due to a faulty SD card, so I'd like to try that first.

I have 2 Sandisk 16GB Class 4 cards here, and would like to try them to see if it clears the problem.

Zortrax, if I'm not allowed to talk about using a different SD card could you please just delete this post and let me know?

If I am, however allowed to do so, can someone please tell me if this card is suitable and how I format it so my machine will read it.

I'm wondering if I have to load the Zortrax firmware/software onto it?

I would appreciate any help, as I've got a few orders in at the moment and just don't need it to shut down right now.

Other than that, this thing is awesome!

After struggling with another brand for 2 years, this machine has done 18 hour days or more, pretty much since the day I got it 4-5 weeks ago.

If I'm not mistaken, You can't use big SD cards with the M200.  I think 4GB is the highest that it will read.

Mine does this if I turn the printer on 20 minutes or so before I'm ready to print. It will show 90% heated then stay there.. When I cycle power off and on it will drop to around 80% and start heating to 100%. Not sure why this happens.. Kind of a pain though.. Try power off then on and see if yours is the same..

Yes it sometimes happen that temperature hang at 89-90% or drop, restarting the printer will help then.

About SD card you can use any card which you want no problem with this - format it to FAT32, just for firmware updates you should use not bigger than 4GB SD card.

Best Regards

Martin

Yep, that's similar to what's happening for me too Kyle.

As long as it's not going to shut me down, now's not the time...

Might get fixed with an update.

Anyone got a clear guide on setting up a new SD card?

I've got regular client prints that I'd like to put on a card for that client only.

As Martin and others said, max 4GB. I would stick with 2Gb, I had no luck with a Sandisk 4GB.

The most important is that you need an old SDSC and not an SDHC class of card. The old class of SDs, which bigger capacity is 2GB, sometimes 4GB. But 4 GB can be a SDHC like the one I had no luck.

Mine does the same sometimes if I wait too long with starting the print after turning on the power.

Safest way to not run into that issue is to start the print timely. Turn power on and then click the file within a couple minutes.

If the platform temp hangs, you should shut the printer off and wait at least 5 min before attempting it again…

It seems that the PID controller gets confused if it starts out above 70ish %.

Yes it sometimes happen that temperature hang at 89-90% or drop, restarting the printer will help then.

About SD card you can use any card which you want no problem with this - format it to FAT32, just for firmware updates you should use not bigger than 4GB SD card.

Best Regards

Martin

Thanks Martin,

I did format to FAT32, but it didn't read it.

Should I have installed the Zortrax software on it as well?

I changed it's name to "ZORTRAX" and the software did save the z files on it, but when I took it out to the printer no go.

They are 16GB, and SDHC/class 4

They are 16GB, and SDHC/class 4

Wrong type of SD card!

Must be SDSC.

2GB maximum is safer.

Is there a reason why the SD card needs to be 4GB? My original Zortrax SD card went south, and I just grabbed another that I had formatted it to Fat 32, copied some prints to it and it worked fine. It was a 32GB card by the way.

Is there a reason why the SD card needs to be 4GB? My original Zortrax SD card went south, and I just grabbed another that I had formatted it to Fat 32, copied some prints to it and it worked fine. It was a 32GB card by the way.

you only need a 4GB card or smaller for update bin files. Z-code files should work fine on larger  cards.

you only need a 4GB card or smaller for update bin files. Z-code files should work fine on larger  cards.

Thanks! Good to know when the next updates comes. I’m not sure what happens to my original Zortrax SD card, it just went out one day and refused to reformat.

Wrong type of SD card!

Must be SDSC.

2GB maximum is safer.

Thank you.

I'm struggling to find them, only SDHC seems available now.

This might be a time where it is good to be ripped off on a cheap ebay SD card??

I do notice that the Zortrax card is FAT32, but I just read that standard SD is FAT16?

Thank you.

I'm struggling to find them, only SDHC seems available now.

This might be a time where it is good to be ripped off on a cheap ebay SD card??

I do notice that the Zortrax card is FAT32, but I just read that standard SD is FAT16?

Hey!!! I love Ebay!!

Hey!!! I love Ebay!!

I've got a love hate relationship with ebay...it loves me and I hate it.

I've got a love hate relationship with ebay...it loves me and I hate it.

My wife hates me loving Ebay.. :blink:

lol, i love ebay, it loves me back, and my wife doesnt know it and when she does she approves it... who wins?

A small possible bug Drew found out was that having files in folders on the SD card (while the Zortrax does not see folders and brings everything to the root) may increase heating time. Drew's printer was stuck at 98% heated on the BP and the printer kept doing it every time he would restart. So he took everything off the SD card and used the same file on the root only (it was previously in a folder) and suddenly the printer heated up like nothing was ever wrong. I will have to test it more on my machine to see if that was the bug and fix.

-Michael