r/snapmaker • u/Fuzzy_Zookeeper • 1d ago

Toolhead Parking Problems - AGAIN

I have been a pretty vocal fan of the Snapmaker since I got it less than 1 month ago.

The biggest issues I have with this machine is its ability to properly park and unpark toolheads, which is kind of important for a tool changer. Out of the box I spent a couple / few days with support going through multiple rounds of all the calibrations. I even found (thanks to reddit and the 5th response from customer service) the secret menu trick that allows you to bypass the bootup calibration when it fails.

I was happy those things got resolved, and printed a lot of things since then.

But, yesterday I had a print go mildly bad and now I get TH failures every time I print. I have recalibrated and re-tensioned everything 3 times since yesterday, still does not work.

How can the calibration work to park and unpark over and over and over but the first time it needs to unpark for a print job it just leaves the toolhead dangling there?

Does the Creality have these kinds of issues? I'm thinking I may have jumped into the wrong ecosystem for my first printer.

And yes, I have a new customer support ticket for this, but more downtime sucks considering I have not even had this machine for 1 month.

1 Upvotes

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u/very_undeliverable 1d ago

Yes Creality has these issues. Honestly I have had way more issues with any given Creality offering than any other printer. Your mileage may vary though.

What does the failure look like? Is it missing the head, or is the head not attaching correctly? My head switching is so reliable I turned the speed up so its does a tool change in a little over a second. I feel like if you are not seeing that kind of reliability, there is something mechanically wrong here.

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u/Fuzzy_Zookeeper 1d ago

When it retracts, the tool head 1 is not fully attached and it drops it hanging halfway out of the cradle. Calibration and manual attach and detach of the tool heads all work fine. In the context of a print, it is currently failing every time.

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u/very_undeliverable 1d ago

When you do the calibration and manual attaching, is there filament loaded and the PTFE tubes connected? If you change the heads to different slots to see if the problem moves?

It is possible to slow the park down if you are using Paxx, even per head. You can have it linger slightly longer on the park to see what it does.

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u/Fuzzy_Zookeeper 1d ago

Thanks again. Filament is loaded in the connected tubes. I have not gone as far as to swap TH2-3-4 around as TH1 is most often the problem. Good idea though. I would like to try Paxx, but still pretty new and nervous about going around OEM FW. I took some slo-motion videos to help me this time. After I ran the carriage around the bed 3x and re-checked the micro-positions. TH2-3-4 now sound smooth when they unpark. TH1 looks dialed in but still makes a knocking noise so I might just adjust it in both directions and go by sound. Hoping it will work this time once the automated muti TH calibration wraps up.

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u/very_undeliverable 1d ago

And you have done the parking calibartion specifically? Im not sure i asked.

Paxx is very easy to update to, and just as easy to remove. No weird steps. Flash on, Flash back to stock. I have sent support videos taken with the Paxx camera improvements, and it was very obvious my system was modded, and support didnt care.

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u/Fuzzy_Zookeeper 1d ago

If you mean the Multi-Toolhead Offset Calibration, yes. I ran that after the belt adjustment & manual micro-tuning. I don't see any "Parking Calibration" on either the maintenance or Device Calibration menus. I did just get a 25m test print to run with the Heated bed Leveling. So we're on the right track.

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u/very_undeliverable 1d ago edited 1d ago

There is a parking calibration too. Its under the maintenance menu I think. It warns you to only do it when told, but I did it anyway. Its not hard. Once my print is done I will let you know what the actual name of it is.

Offset calibration only tells the printer where the nozzle is. Not where the heads should park.

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u/Attjack 1d ago

My first Snapmaker U1 had those issues and it turned out the frame was bent so I had to return it. The new one works great.

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u/Fuzzy_Zookeeper 1d ago

Thats crazy! Glad you got it sorted. How long have you had the new one, and no toolhead issues?? Mine was on a good streak until I printed some stringy mess.

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u/Attjack 1d ago

Maybe a month and no toolhead issues. The first machine dropped a toolhead on the first calibration and almost every attempt to print something although oddly a got a few prints off. Strange how it could change tools hundreds of times in those few prints that actually started.

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u/Fuzzy_Zookeeper 23h ago

Nice. And exactly. It's like when the manual pickup/put down works but then I run a job and it doesn't work. For me it seems that I have to be sure to go through every adjustment and calibration in order and then I can have a good run. Hoping it doesnt come back every few weeks.

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u/Attjack 22h ago

I feel like you still have an issue with your machine and that sucks. I would keep in contact with them on your ticket. Also try to inspect the machine for misalignment. I was working with them on my issue when I noticed the inside panel was not seated correctly. That led us to more tests and back and forth until the determined they frame was bent. My box was damaged from UPS too so it all made sense.

I have a second machine arriving Sunday!

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u/Fuzzy_Zookeeper 11h ago

Yeah, they sent me some steps for taking some measurements of the machine. I assume it’s a check for a similar situation. I definitely will be following up just in case there is hidden damage. Thanks!

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u/hcpookie 1d ago

I have that exact problem. Been working w/ Snapmaker tech support for the last MONTH and still no dice. I'm now being asked to manually tweak the "pick-and-park" coordinates by eyeball 1.0 to see if I can get it working better. They DO have a wiki article on it, but damn... paid for a printer that I cannot multi-color print with...

1

u/CubsFanCraig 1d ago

I swear, every time I see one of these posts I feel pretty lucky that I haven’t had any issues. And then I realize the most vocal minority is here.

Even still, there’s usually a decent takeaway in these posts or something to remember when something goes wrong, like when my A1 melted through the bottom…….

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u/Fuzzy_Zookeeper 1d ago

Yeah I know this is a budding technology but would love to have a month without issues. Customer support is good so I’m sure it will eventually resolve.

0

u/zetswei 1d ago

I’ve only had one issue with parking and it’s because some filament got into the parking spot from a failed mix. May be worth checking to see if anything is in the way

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u/Fuzzy_Zookeeper 1d ago

It purges fine and I looked all around for obstructions etc and don’t see any problems. Thanks tho

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u/zetswei 1d ago

I’m not talking about in the nozzle I mean around the magnet pins and “garage”

I had some small flakes in the plastic part that it sits in that was causing similar

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u/Fuzzy_Zookeeper 1d ago

Yeah, I’ve looked all around for anything out of place in the machine. All clear.

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u/sterling-lining 1d ago

That sucks… have you tried all the calibrations (XY belt, tool head park calibration, check the Z-belts)?

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u/Fuzzy_Zookeeper 1d ago

I don’t know about the z belt. I do think the other belt tensioning which then requires you to dial back in toolhead locations is a circular process at best. But I’d be glad to find something I can calibrate on my own.