Welcome to the SeeMeCNC Community

Hey folks

Have a problem

Was warming up my Rostock for a print, then a friend came over....3 hours later I remembered I had it on!

Now the left side of the bed ( I have the original Square bed ) is LOWER than the rest from roughly the top ( Z tower ) to the bottom of the X & Y towers.
At least that's how it seems although visually it looks perfectly straight.

When I bring the nozzle to 0mm off the bed and use G1 X70 and G1 X-70 commands, from the Center to the right it's fairly level But from Center to the Left X tower the Nozzle slowly moves higher off the bed.

I tried putting a washer in the 3 screws of the bed to raise that side slightly but didn't do alot maybe a bit but not enough.

It's a mm or 2 higher enough to not allow large print test to stick properly on that side.

Also on this topic is there a CUT OFF TIME that can be put in the code if the heat is on to turn off if no activity say after 10 minutes?
That would have saved me this problem...it might even be there for all I know unset.

Any idea's on how to go about getting the bed flat now?
thanks

It's possible that the heat melted one of the plastic bushings under the bed and it squished a little. You can take them out and measure their height with calipers to be sure. Sounds unnecessary though, you can see what's wrong, and fit extra washers in it...

These bushings should be easy to find at a hardware store. The seemecnc guys would probably have some on hand too if you asked them.

Why would leaving the heat bed on for 3hrs cause an issue? What was the bed temperature?

My understanding is that the bed stays heated for +20 hours on long prints with no issues. Could something else have caused this?

Hey Jim, Yes I actually thought of that before bed so I changed them all I had 4 extra's but it's still the same, 1 was a tad shorter though.
I also put washers on the 3 side holes, seems to raise a bit so it's more workable now but not perfect.
The right side close to Y is always more squashed though.
I have to get longer screws to put another washer in each spot.

Yes but I read somewhere though it's not a good idea to have it heated up and just sitting there mainly for the Hot End, I posted right after it happened but I measured with a Level yesterday and it seems pretty straight.

It was working fine then after leaving it on for 3 or more hours on full heat ( 230 nozzle / 55 bed ) the Nozzle just wasn't reaching the bed enough to lay down material the same thickness across the bed so somewhere the heat did something though I can't see where as the Hot End looks fine, it's still straight and tightened. I checked belts and pretty much every bolt and everything seems tight.

My Infrared thermometer shows the bed at almost 80 though but I'm not sure the tool is accurate.

I just measured the Rails from the base of the printer to the Top support plate and they are all within .5mm of the same height and still lined up with the markings.

Looks like I'll just get 3 longer screws and put more washers until it goes across straight as I'm stumped.

Why would leaving the heat bed on for 3hrs cause an issue? Did it over heat somehow? How were you heating it up?

Turns out the wood plate underneath the hot bed was slightly warped rising in the middle after a few months use.
Updated with a picture, around #5-6 on the ruler is the middle, up to 10 is the end of the wood board for the Hot Bed.
I just reversed it and it's pretty good now once screwed down and the hot bed on top it's pretty straight.

I posted right after I found out in a slight panic since I read somewhere that it should not be left on doing nothing especially the hot end.
I would imagine plastic could get dried out in the hot end not moving and get clogged for starters but that didn't seem to happen at all at least in 3 hours.

I put more washers on the side that seemed 1-2mm high and it's ok now.