If the Hot end of your printer ever pushes into the bed hard the very first thing you should do is check the bed’s FSR’s. The Altair uses these for its auto bed calibration and to automatically set the bed height when you start a print. To make sure they are working follow these simple steps.


TESTING FSR'S:


1. Take off the heated bed by pressing back on the top of the bed clip holding the print bed in place and set the bed aside.



Note: The FSR looks like this and there are three of them. One in front of each of the rods.




2. Go to the panel and press the button to bring up the main menu.




3. Scroll down to the bottom and select the option that says “Probe”.


4. Scroll and select the option that says “Status”.





5. It should bring up a screen that looks like this.


NOTE: All the numbers should be reading zero. 



6. Press each one of the FSR’s one at a time and watch the screen. The zero next to the word “Probe” should change to a 1. This means that the sensor is working.



7. If all of the FSR sensors work it means your bed clips may be a little too tight. Fix this by pressing the flaps of the bed clips backwards a little bit to flex them out. Be careful to not bend them too far so just do a little at a time.



*If one of the FSR’s doesn’t work go to our customer support site and fill out a ticket and we will get back to you shortly.

 

8. Put the bed back in by setting the bed back into the front clips and then pushing the flap of the bed clip back and slide the heated bed into place.


9. Power cycle the Altair by turning it off, wait 15 seconds, and then turn it back on again.


10. Now make sure that the FSR's will work with the bed in place by repeating steps 2-6 and making sure that each sensor is working. You shouldn't have to press very hard to get the sensor to trigger and the same amount of force should be required to trigger all three sensors. 


11. Now verify that the X, Y, Z limit switches at the top of each column are triggering properly. The Display will again change from 0 to 1 for the appropriate axis. Looking at the Altair, the X axis is on the Left, The Y axis is on the Right, and the Z axis is at the Back.


Please also verify that the micro limit switches are not "sticky" and that they press and depress reliably.


If all your FSR's and Top Limit Switches are working try a print and see if the problem persists. 




CHECKING SETTINGS:


If the problem keeps happening we will look into your printer settings to make sure nothing got changed that could cause the problem. 


1. Jog the printer head down a ways by pressing the button and bringing up the main menu. 

2. Scroll down to the "Jog" option and select it. 

3. Scroll down to "Move 10.0mm" and select it. 

4. Scroll down to "Move Z" and select it. 

5. Turn the wheel counter clockwise to move the printer head down. 

6. Move the Extruder is about 2 inches above the bed. 

7. Go to the custom menu and scroll down to setting that says "Set Offset". 

8. Back out and go to "Prepare" and "Home All Axes".

9. Test your print again to see if that fixed the problem. 


If you continue to have problems go ahead and fill out a ticket and we will get it all sorted out for you!