GregValiant
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Posts posted by GregValiant
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This must have to do with the Gcode flavor that your printer uses. Have you figured out what it is? Cura needs to match the Gcode flavor to the machine the Gcode is intended for and there is a drop down list in Machine Settings.
Here is a list of the Marlin Gcode commands at Marlin.org and here is the listing for RepRap commands.
M106 is layer cooling fan speed. M566 is supported by RepRap as a jerk setting. M204 is an acceleration setting. All three are normal things you should expect to see.
Within the gcode files do the G1 lines look similar? Usually "E" means extrude but some machines used "A" instead. There is also the issue of "volumetric" extrude vs. extrusion by mm. That has to match as well as the language.
The LCD on my printer has a menu command for "About Printer" and states the version of the firmware (but not the flavor). When I open the printer port with my host software the printer response includes the flavor and version number:
start
echo:Marlin 1.1.8echo: Last Updated: 2019-01-11 | Author: (Ender-3 Pro)
echo:Compiled: May 30 2019
echo: Free Memory: 9448 PlannerBufferBytes: 1232
echo:SD card ok
Init power off infomation.
size:
585
You could send M115 to the printer as well.-
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There should be many more on that list. First below Ultimaker BV is "Custom" and below that are a lot of different manufacturers. I wonder if they somehow got missed during the installation.
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When you add a non-networked printer BIBO is listed in the drop down box.
You have the correct software. It's very good.
When saving the file select Gcode from the "Save as Type" box.
Well, that should cover this mornings problems.
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An option would be to set the printing temperature in Cura to 205. In your Gcode file at the start of the second layer (layer:1) manually add M104 S195. Layer 0 would print at 205, the M104 line would be read, and printing would be uninterrupted as the temp fell to 195 for the rest of the layers.
There is the "Insert at Layer Change" plugin. You could use that set to "After" and Gcode to M104 S195. The M104 line would be inserted after every layer. Layer 0 would print at 205 and the rest would print at 195. However, if you needed to tune the temperature for some reason it would revert to 195 at the end of every layer.
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Thanks for the explanation. Once again I get confirmation that Everything effects Everything.
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Here is the plan view of the Gcode file in Nail's second post (read into autocad as a wireframe). It looks square from any direction.
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This is a trick I just learned here. It might work for you.
Multiply the model 10 times.
Export the model as a binary STL file. All 10 instances will be exported as a single entity.
Clear the build plate.
Open the new STL file.
Multiply the new file 10 times.
You get 100 pieces on the plate and hopefully you won't run out of resources.
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If that is part of a host-side thermal runaway precaution it would probably be hard to get rid of (lawyers being as they are).
While poking around the various cited threads I went back to Marlin and noticed this under M105
Some hosts may hide the reply from
M105.A better way for hosts to get regular temperature updates is to use
M155(requiresAUTO_REPORT_TEMPERATURESandEXTENDED_CAPABILITIES_REPORT). Hosts then no longer need to run an extra process or use up slots in the command buffer to receive temperatures.It would seem that the printer would have to be queried to check if those options are enabled before M155 could be used successfully. Since Cura (and other hosts) must work with multiple flavors of firmware running on numerous models of printers I'm guessing that even if it were possible it would get really clumsy really fast.
I find this interesting because I use my own host program to run the printer (just VBA macros from within MSExcel). I tried to add USB printing and it worked...for specific models like a calibration cube. If the model had large meshes and/or any round features. I was unable to coordinate the data flow to account for how fast or slow the data was being processed by the printer. I put a lot of thought into the code and it all ended up in the toilet.
The SD card works well. I control SD printing from the host program rather than sending the Gcode line-by-line via USB. I understand that isn't an option for Cura, and some folk will always want to print via USB.
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I do some things with fine relieved text on the bottom. So far there haven't been any problems with loosing definition of the letters. I usually hand code speed changes into the Gcode file so the first few layers are slow and then after the lettering I speed things up.
My inconsistencies with leveling have pretty much gone away since I started using parchment paper. At .04 thickness it gives me more control over first layer thickness. Theoretically, when I tell it to make the first layer .2 and I've leveled with a piece of printer paper at .1, the nozzle should be .3 above the surface. At any rate, somewhat more than .2mm. I think that was where my first layer under-extrusion was coming from I'd be loose on the leveling and the first layer may have been closer to .35 or .4. Not enough squish. I'm much better at adjusting the bed while the skirt / brim is printing, but at first, I was worried about dragging the nozzle so I just pushed more plastic to fill the large gap (instead of closing the gap).
I once tried using a feeler gauge of .1mm with the nozzle at Z=.1 hoping for an exact zero on the Z axis. That didn't work out I think because I was trying to cut things too fine.
There is no BLTouch in my future.
All in all I'm pleased. The $220 Chinese POS printer is accurate if not terribly dependable. It now has near 500hrs on it at the cost of a hot end, and 2 fans (1 was my fault). I've had to take it apart probably 6 or 8 times to fix various problems. It's a learning curve.
Some of the pieces on the motorbike were my first attempts at printing and I think there are about 60 separate pieces on it now. I was a machine tool designer in a former life. I've been running AutoCad for decades and have some experience with Gcode. What I don't know about 3d printing fills libraries, but I've been involved with Gcode CNC machines since the late 60's and used to market my own software for monitoring lab equipment and racing timers via serial ports using MSExcel and VBA.
I'll close here with some compliments. Cura dazzles me. The support here is excellent even though there are numerous non-Ultimaker products being discussed. I also appreciate the fact that there is very little "look at my mini" or "see how fast I can print" stuff here. It's a nuts and bolts kind of site.
Now go back to work. I'm tired from hi-jacking this thread. I think I'll have a nap.
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Yes sir, but you have 8 years experience. Those of us starting out need to build confidence and getting consistent good first layers does that. Pushing the flow seemed an easy way to get good plate adhesion and good bonding between the lines of mesh. Compensating for the over-extruded first layer by under-extruding a couple of layers seemed a small price to pay for getting some kind of system that worked. As I get better at this I've reduced the initial layer flow to only 5% over and the subsequent layers run at 100%. That has helped get rid of the elephants foot too. It comes together. Troubleshooting is still a pain when things all of a sudden go south on me. It seemed like it was always something different, but when all was said and done - I'd be back rebuilding and cleaning the hot end and everything would be OK. I think that these are both the simplest and most complicated machines I've dealt with. Tuning a set of Weber carbs is a piece of cake next to these.
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When printing via USB does Cura poll the printer for temperature with M105?
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Hi Geneo. Are we having fun yet? Did you let the smoke out of your motherboard? Because there used to be a supplier for Lucas Electric stuff that had canned smoke you could put back into a Lucas flicker switch and Chinese quality is only a step or two below Lucas. Unfortunately it was Whitworth smoke and you might need Metric smoke.
I went with the Creality machine because it was cheap. I decided on the Ender 3 Pro because it fit in the space I had to put it. The cooling fan died after only a couple of weeks and I contacted Creality support. They wanted to argue about everything even after I sent videos three times of the fan bearings screaming in agony. They eventually offered to replace the $9 fan but they wanted $15 to ship it. I passed and bought a bigger better one from Mouser for $12. All of that being said, it prints well, I just have to stay on top of maintenance and put the hot end back together correctly when required.
If you right click on the web page there should be a option to translate the page. It will probably be translated into Swahili but it's worth a try.
Your alternative might be an aftermarket board. The machines themselves are just aluminum parts, some fans, the stepper motors, and of course your new heated bed. The main board does have to talk to the LCD though and it would be nice if the bolt holes lined up and the connectors were the same. I found this image of the main board. Maybe someone can point to one that will bolt right up (Hah!) although this is an Ultimaker site.
From my personal rule book are Rule #2: Never upgrade an operating system. and Rule #9: Everything is a POS.
Your motherboard is part B1 (主板) in the parts PDF file. The Chinese characters helpfully translated to "motherboard".
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I read the Gcode file into AutoCad and it looks exactly the same as Burtoogle's image. A single move to the right front corner before starting on the raft. There are no moves (G0 or G1) in the Gcode to account for the behavior in the video. This leaves the firmware as the culprit and (I think) something is causing it to do a G162 X Y at the end of every layer. The G162 X Y tells the machine to home the X and Y axis to maximum (which I assume is the right rear of your machine). If that is true then it kinda has the feel to what was said about camera position. I don't know that your older firmware would have supported that but it is what would happen to move the head out of the way and allow a photo to be taken after every layer.
Going through the Gcode line-by-line (I'm retired) there are a few lines of code in the beginning that are odd. In particular is the M158 line. M158 doesn't appear to be supported by any printer firmware. Also, the hot end temperature seems to be bounced up and down. I'm not sure what's going on there. It appears that the hot end settles down at 100 degrees. That is below cold extrusion temperature and isn't making sense to me.
My suggestion is that you go through all the menus in the firmware and look for things that might cause the machine to move to Xmax and Ymax every time the layer changes.
From the Gcode file:
T0 ;Select extruder 0
M104 S208 ;Set temp to 208
M109 S208 ;Wait for hot end to get to 208
M82 ;absolute extrusion mode
M73 P0 ; Set build percentage to 0
M158 ; This is "turn mist coolant on" and isn't supported by printer firmware (I found it on a CNC site)
G21 ; Set to metric
G90 ; XYZ to absolute positioning
M104 S220 T0 ;Turn extruder 0 up to 220
M109 S100 T0 ;Turn extruder 0 down to 100. Don't wait for it to cool down.
G162 X Y F2500 ;Home X and Y axis to maximum
G161 Z F1100 'Home Z axis to minimum
G92 Z-5 ;Set Z location to -5
G1 Z0.0
G161 Z F100
M132 X Y Z A B ;Loads the axis offset of the current home position from the EEPROM and waits for the buffer to empty.
G1 X230.0 Y5.0 Z10.0 F3300.0
M6 T0 ; Tool change to extruder 0
M6 T0 ; Tool change to extruder 0
M108 R3.0 T0
G1 X230 Y5 F3300.0
G1 Z0.6 F1100
M108 R4.0 ;Not sure about this. Either "exit hot end wait period" or "Set extruder speed". I didn't find parameter R.
G4 P1500 ;Wait for 1500 mille-seconds.
M105 ; report temperature
G1 X210.0 Y5.0 Z0.6 F3300.0
G92 E0
G92 E0
G1 F1500 E-6.5 -
As Carla said, the best option is to set the initial layer height. You can also push the "Material / Initial Layer Flow" up to 110% or 120% BUT that would mean more plastic in the way for the subsequent layers and you would still have over-extrusion symptoms unless you back the flow off to 95% for layers 2 to 5 or so. I've gotten very consistent at leveling the bed and I run Initial Layer Height at .20 and Initial Layer Flow at 105%.
Those layers just above layer#1 generally get covered right up by infill or another layer. I like to concentrate on the first layer because it is so important to a good print. A little over-extrusion on inside layers is a good thing. Under-extrusion can lead to weakened parts.
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I swapped the magnetic bed for a glass bed on my 3 Pro. I use the same Cura settings as I did with the magnetic bed. The machine has loosened up over the months I've had it and I can print faster now but slowing down the outer wall speed makes for nicer looking prints.
I have printed ABS a bit. The bed struggles to get to 110C but at 109C it runs fine. I throw a Hefty leaf bag over the top for a hood and it prints ABS fairly well.
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The "Union overlapping volumes" settings is enabled. I think I did that when I was searching for a fix. The current model printed very well.
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Perfect. Thank You.
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Occasionally I'll get an STL file from someplace like Thingiverse and I will want to add printed text to it. I import the model into Cura and then bring my text in and embed it in the first model with some of the text object a few layers higher than the model. Cura prints the text and the model as two entities as if they were separated on the build plate. As the image shows - the infill prints and then the letters print in the area where the infill already exists. Once the print head is above the first model the problem goes away. But the over-extrusion in the areas that the two models overlap causes missed steps and/or blobbing. What I want is for Cura to see them as a single model and slice it accordingly. This isn't a problem if I design everything because I can create a union in ACad and Cura will see a single model.
I have played with commands that include the word "overlap" but there are still double lines on each layer and I've tried a couple of things with "per model" settings but they didn't work.
Is there a way to fool Cura into seeing a single model?
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I'm not exactly sure by what you mean "the wider layer printed before the object". Do you mean a brim?
It looks like you are just too far above the bed on the first layer and that causes the nozzle to not squish the plastic down enough. You will get better and more consistent leveling the more you practice it. If you use parchment paper (.05mm) for leveling instead of printer paper (.10mm) you will be closer, and nothing sticks to parchment paper.
One of the settings in Cura is "Quality / Initial Layer Height" and I think the default is .28mm. I would suggest that you make it .2mm. That should help as well but it's usually a leveling issue.
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The physical aspects of your machine need to be known by Cura. In Cura, go to Monitor and pick your machine. Pick Manage Printers and Machine Settings. Make sure the build surface and height are correct. The most popular error is having "Origin at Center" selected when it isn't true. I don't know your machine but the left front corner is the most popular Origin location. While you are there make sure that the correct "G-code Flavor" is selected. Hopefully that's all there is to it.
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The hot end fan runs 100% and continuously so there aren't any settings for that one. The layer cooling blower is adjustable and if you have a beastly blower installed and it blows on the nozzle too much it can cause hot end problems. The stock one shouldn't be causing issues.
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15 hours ago, dadinfinitum said:
...and when I connect the Bowden tube, I keep the nozzle unscrewed about 1-2 turns, push it as far as I can, and then screw in the nozzle.
I think that's too far. Try 1/4 - 1/2 turn instead. With 1-2mm of the Bowden tube sticking out and getting squished when you tighten the nozzle, the inside diameter of the bowden tube will get squished smaller. Prints with a lot of long retractions will move soft material into that necked down area and cause a blockage. Prints without a lot of retractions don't seem to notice near as much.
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Could be syntax. The Power Spec website says it uses Replicator firmware. Checking the Replicator site might give more info. There was a hint there that they want you to use their slicing software. It could be a proprietary thing.
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I'm running win10 and I recall that it was a simple installation so no help there. Python is a programming language. I believe both Pronterface and Cura are written in Python.
If you will attach a problem Gcode file here I can take a look tonight.
If you open a Gcode file in Cura and go to the Monitor pane, one of the boxes on the right is "Send Gcode". If you send "M117 Hello" then Hello should show up on the LCD screen. M106 S255 turns the fan on 100%. M107 turns it off. If that stuff works then coms are good.
I know you have been in there but double check all the machine settings to insure they are what your machine requires. In particular check the "G-code flavor".
I just re-read your first post. The "blinking BLTouch" has me wondering if the Auto-Level command is causing a problem. What I don't know about auto-leveling fills libraries but you might try hand leveling and then disabling the Auto-Level command in the Gcode file by putting a semi-colon in front of the G29 line. MAKE SURE your bed is below Z=0 or the nozzle can scrape when you try to print.
finding the center of the ender 5 plus
in UltiMaker Cura
Posted
As Smithy says, the settings in Cura need to match your printer. It appears that the build volume of your machine is 350 x 350 x 400. The origin should be left front corner (not the center).
The Home Offset settings in the printer firmware will have an effect on the virtual center of the build plate. Explaining that goes beyond your question but IF your build surface is 350 x 350 and you use the LCD controls to send the print head to X=175 Y=175 it should be at the center of the build surface. If it isn't then you need to adjust the X Y Home Offsets. Home Offset Z should be zero.