Ender 3 V3 SE - Head crash during auto-level

Hi Community.

After 2 months of awesomeness in 3D printing and me really enjoing it as a new hobby, now my Ender 3 V3 SE makes some trouble:
During Auto-leveling the print head heats up, and then keeps smacking the nozzle into the bed, already burned + pushed some wholes in the bed…

Sadly not an april-fools joke…

See video:

And now i’m waiting support to get back to me.

There goes my easter weekend without any printing :frowning:

Already did a factory reset, which makes me stuck now totally.
After selecting the language after factory reset, first thing is of course a bed-level process automatically starting, which ends up, as you can see in the video… :frowning:

Anyone any ideas or suggestions?

Hi
From that video the pressure sensor on the bed is NOT functioning.
I suggest you unscrew the 4 bed screws under the bed plate, gently lift it up and check the connections from the sensor to the circuit board and from the circuit board to the printer. it is possible one of the connectors has become detached.
You will see the pressure sensor at the front left of the steel bed support plate.
Have you recently removed the bed or removed the base plate under the printer?
If you have a multimeter and know how to use it you can check the load sensor to make sure it is working.
When you put the bed back there are 4 standoffs, 3 the same and 1 shorter. the short standoff goes at the back left

Hi Kevin,

thanks for the fast reply and the suggestion.
Yes you could be right.
No i have not removed the bed or the base plate.
I would assume when I do that, that I would void my warrenty, no?
As far as I can see from looking “below the bed and the base” from the side, the connectors to the (i assume it is) the pressure sensor look fine.
Seems also they are glued with hot glue, so would be hard to get loose by itself.


They might be hot melt glued in but they can still get dislodged. I don’t see how lifting the bed to check will void the warranty. I can’t think of any screws on the machine that have a void if removed sticker. Like most FDM machines there is a fair amount of DIY to using one. i would also check the CR touch sensor connections, they have been known to come loose despite the hot melt glue.

Thanks for the fast feedback, guys!

Cables and connectors look all fine and firmly attached as far as i can judge.
Nothing loose, nothing obviously broken or so.

I do not have anything like a multimeter to do some more detailed checks, so hope that support will get back to me soon.
(with something more than asking for the serial number and the proof of purchase that I’d send them twice so far…)

I’m kinda relieved already, that you guys had some suggestions to check some things, and nothing too obvious that I might have done wrong as a 3D-printing newbie!

1 Like

Has cambiado el nozzle?. Puede ser que no este muy apretado, a mi me sucedio, se solto de nuevo recien comprado y se me soluciono al apretar el nozzle. Pruebe a ver si…

Does the CR touch look like it is popping the probe out like it should? I know the BL touch on my Ender 5 plus has been known to get stuck, I presume the CR touch can also get stuck.

The Nozzle is tightly screwed into the heat block.

It looks to work ok when the printer does the first “touchdown” in the mid of the print-bed before moving to the left front of the bed, starting to heat up in preparation of the auto-bed level process => see video

You should be instantly shutting down power when you hear the stepper motor noise! Jamming the stepper motor can damage your belts, etc…

As Kevin_Eames mentioned it is your strain gauge sensor not operating or a component on the main board not being able to process the the strain gauge’s signal and thus the Z axis stepper motor just keeps on pushing down.

Your probe behaving like a limit switch is working because the nozzle isn’t touching the bed at the centre of the bed. Then the head moves over above the strain gauge to determine the difference in height between the nozzle that just kisses the bed and the probe that touched the bed earlier.

Exactly what i did…since this does not sound “healthy” at all.

Just had to “force” it again to be able to create the video for the support case…

Since then the printer is OFF and stays OFF until the issue is resolved.

Hi! Were you able to figure out what was causing this? My daughter’s Ender 3 v3 SE is doing the same thing! I’m in the same boat of doing the reset and getting nowhere once I turn it on because it wants to destroy itself!

Hello, I had the same problem.

After dismantling the table and cleaning the lower part with a brush, the problem was resolved and it worked normally again,

I also tightened the connections in case there was a wire that was not properly fitted.

in my case it was actually dirt.

I am having a similar problem. I had to replace my heating block and nozzle. Now the cr touch says the head is down but it is significantly higher. If i try to unscrew the block or nozzle far enough that the nozzle tip is low enough, then one or the other or both are to loose to be effective.

Is there a way to tell the cr touch how far up the nozzle is or can i reposition the touch?
And if i cant do either of those, do i just put in a z-offset of over +15?

Thank you.

@Christian @owensstef have you guys discovered what’s going on? facing the same problem since day 0. waiting contact from support now. I left it collecting dust for over 2 months because it never worked

@kevinka999 Yes! They sent me new strain gauges and a new adapter plates under warranty… with help of some vodeos I figured out how to install them. I replaced the nozel as well and now it’s working.

I’m having the same issue. I’ve already tried removing the bed and checking the connections, and I can’t see anything.

For the record:

  1. First calibration goes well
  2. Trying to level from the menu causes the first issue
  3. Factory reset resolves the issue and calibration goes well
  4. Trying to level from the menu causes the second issue
  5. Factory reset for the second time resolves the issue and calibration goes well
  6. After some use, tries to calibrate and it fails
  7. Factory reset doesn’t resolve the issue. Now it always crashes.
  8. Unplug and plug everything resolves the issue and calibrations works
  9. Factory reset and auto-level fails
  10. Now it fails again over and over

The same problem, from the very first launch! :frowning: very sad.
Tech support is silent. :frowning:
Maybe someone can show me which new working sensors?

The levelling is gauged using the CRtouch sensor and the strain gauge in the front left corner. Check they are all connected properly. On the printhead double check that the ribbon cable is connected properly with no bent pins.

Both the CRtouch and the strain gauge are available from Aliexpress if they need replacing.

What do you say he must buy new ? Are you creazy ? Return printer to shop !!! You can return and buy something else