S5 Active Level

[Link 34]

Received my S5 today, very impressed !

 

It would be nice to choose when the active level took place, as it stands it happens at the start of every print which adds to the overall print time, it would be nice to select when it happens, for example only run when a print core has been changed. Could this be added to the firmware ? @SandervG

Edited May 10, 2019 by Link

[SandervG 1,521]

Hi @Link, thank you for your question. We've had this question before. We realize it does add some additional time to the start of a 3D print but we've condemned it necessary for the success rate and reliability of an Ultimaker S5. Where on an Ultimaker 3 or other smaller sized 3D printer a marginal offset in bed leveling may not be much of a problem because it can be compensated by the thickness of the first layer, the build size with an Ultimaker S5 is significantly larger so a small deviation on one end of the build plate can result in a larger gap on the other side. 

 

Added to this is also the size of the manufactured build plates. While we strive for flatness, the larger a build plate gets the more difficult this also gets. Therefore we also considered it to be crucial for an Ultimaker S5 to always level the bed to compensate for any offset that might be there. Whether it might be visible or not. 

 

While not always the case, the build plate also allows for large prints which can take multiple hours. On such large prints, an additional minute is neglectable if it ensures a higher success rate. Hope this helps 🙂

[tomnagel 126]

In firmware release 5.2, Active leveling has become a lot faster because only a part of the build plate is measured (the part that is printed upon)!

 

Model-based active leveling. We've boosted the efficiency of active leveling on the Ultimaker S5. Instead of probing the entire build plate, only the footprint of the model is measured before a print starts. Disabled print cores are skipped to speed up the process. To make use of this feature, prints need to be prepared using Ultimaker Cura 4.0 or above.