Solved Christmas Day Disaster - any ideas???? extruder way too high, bed not heating

I admit that I am a total beginner to 3d printing, but this has been a joke. I have attempted to follow all of the instructions I can find. Upon the first attempt at a print the extruder rose to 5 inches off of the bed and began extruding PLA. Each subsequent attempt it would move a little higher. I have tried updating firmware, restarting, going through the leveling process with not one consistent set of results. I have been reading the forum nearly all day trying anything I can find that sounds close. Now the bed is no longer heating. I realize this gives almost nothing specific to go on, but the machine has been operating so far from anywhere close to expected that I am not sure what information to provide.

 

Software - MatterControl 1.2
Firmware - RoBo3DR1AUTOV5 - currently. I have tried V2 also.

Setup - Followed each step of the unboxing video provided.

What have I done to the printer? No physical changes. I have tried different versions of the firmware and software. I have tried adjusting movement controls in MatterControl to adjust the extruder closer to the plate. I have tried configuring the leveling manually multiple times and tried auto leveling.

At this point I can't get past the plate not heating up.

 

If you are facing the printer, it first moves to the far left and then moves all the way to the front, meaning closest to you, then up about 6mm. If you immediately home it again it will raise about 6mm and continue to do so each time you home it.

When you begin to print it goes through what looks like the 9 position leveling check raising about 10-15mm at each stop and and then after all stops it lowers substantially and then moves to the center and starts printing 3-4 inches above the bed.

Thanks for any ideas.

 

My printer was being similar to yours when I got it, the homing feature did not work and it would either print high or grind into the bed. It turned out the wiring was faulty for the z and x axis button sensors. Once the bad connections were redone, the printer came back to life.

 

We're they just reversed or how did you get it resolved?

 

The wires had come loose in the spade connectors. I took them out and soldered them back on.

To verify that this was the problem, I used the continuity tester on a multimeter. I forget if the switches are normally open or closed, but after soldering it started working properly.

 

We have located one of the problems. The limit switch on the left threaded rod nut does not touch the carriage due to the nut fitting loosely on the threaded rod allowing the limit switch to tip forward at an angle putting it out of reach of the carriage bottom. With the limit switch not touching the printer thought it was hitting the print be and kept raising. Adding some tape to the bottom of the carriage has temporarily resolved the problem and the printer will print at the proper height avoiding all of the print height issues we have encountered so far.

Printer bed is still not heating.

 

Take off the heated bed and check the wires. See if they or the temperature sensor is pulled out.

If that doesn't work, try switching to repetier-host. I tried matter control (on a mac) and it wouldn't connect to the printer reliably , and when it did sometimes it wouldn't do things like heat or move

 

Wire was disconnected on D8. Bed now heating. Thanks for all of the input.