When it does an auto home it sends the nozzle to the back-right corner and activates the end stops. Isn't the home position on an Ender 5 supposed to be at the front left? I'm using the Unified Firmware version 1 from TH3D in the printer.
Thanks for the help!
Steve Hurd
Home position is where the switches are. It is the only place that the machine actually knows where the print head is.
If your switches get hit when the print head is in the right rear then that's fine. Consider that if you stand behind the printer then it becomes left front. If you load the 3dbenchy boat in Cura with the bow facing to the right towards X=235 then when you print it and stand in front of your printer the bow will be facing left but towards the printer's X=235.
If you set the home offset correctly so your Relative 0,0 is just at the back edge and just at the right edge of the build plate you'll be good to go. I leave a 5mm border all the way around and if I need that extra bit I make changes in the Home Offset and the build plate size in Cura. FYI your Home Offset X and Y will be negative numbers.
I found the issue. The version of the TH3D firmware I was using had the bed dimensions for the Ender 5 hard coded at 220 by 220. The same section had the E3 at 235 by 235, which is also incorrect. My guess is they just edited the wrong section when setting up the code for the E5. I fixed those settings and now I get the full 235 by 235.
On a related note, now that the bed dimensions are correct I need a way to keep the print head ABOVE X=15 and Y=12. If those numbers are lower the print head hits the structure of the frame. I'm manually doing that now but it would be nice if I could set those numbers as a hard limit in Cura. Is there a setting for this?
Thanks for your help!
Steve Hurd
Somebody who knows more about this will have to answer. I think you can set up an area that is non-printable Cura will then add gray areas to the build plate in it's main window and if a model (or skirt/brim) intrudes into that gray area then Cura will refuse to slice it. That area may be defined in your ".json" machine definition file.
This is from the Ender 3 .json file:
"overrides": {
"machine_name": { "default_value": "Creality Ender-3" },
"machine_width": { "default_value": 235 },
"machine_depth": { "default_value": 235 },
"machine_height": { "default_value": 250 },
"machine_disallowed_areas": {
"default_value": [
[[-117.5, 117.5], [-117.5, 108], [117.5, 108], [117.5, 117.5]], Rectangle 235 x 9.5 in the back
[[-117.5, -108], [-117.5, -117.5], [117.5, -117.5], [117.5, -108]] Rectangle 235 x 9.5 in the front
]},
I don't understand the X15, Y12 thing. When you Home the print head it goes to the machine X0, Y0, Z0 and is up against the 3 endstop switches - is that correct?. Or are you saying it comes into contact (crashes) with itself before it gets there.
Correct, the Ender 5 homes X & Y to the back right - meaning X=Y=235. The end stop switches are at the max values for X&Y. 0,0 is then derived from that. That's what was initially throwing me off.
If X is less than 15 or Y is less than 12 it crashes. I verified this with the "paper" technique used for manual bed leveling.
Steve Hurd
With the print head at X15, Y12 select Set Home Offsets on the LCD (on mine its under "prepare"). That will move your local 0,0 to the new position.
You may have to make your build plate smaller in Cura since effectively it will be X220, Y223. This might be why the build plate size was hard coded at 220 x 220.
I'm using a custom firmware that doesn't have that option (to save memory on the 1284P chip for other features.) There is a similar setting in the Arduino code for it, but changing the values doesn't seem to have any effect. I'm eventually going to look into updating to a newer release of the FW but wanted to see if Cura had something in the meantime. It's usually not a problem as the models I print are much smaller than 235x235. I was just hoping for a quick setting in Cura until I have to go through the hassle of configuring a new firmware. I'll try your .json suggestion.
Thanks!
Steve Hurd
Funnily enough, here's the default E5 .json file (found in C:\Program Files\Ultimaker Cura 4.7\resources\definitions.)
It has a build area of 220x220 as well!
"name": "Creality Ender-5",
"version": 2,
"inherits": "creality_base",
"overrides": {
"machine_name": { "default_value": "Creality Ender-5" },
"machine_end_gcode": { "default_value": "G91 ;Relative positioning\nG1 E-2 F2700 ;Retract a bit\nG1 E-2 Z0.2 F2400 ;Retract and raise Z\nG1 X5 Y5 F3000 ;Wipe out\nG1 Z10 ;Raise Z more\nG90 ;Absolute positionning\n\nG1 X0 Y0 ;Present print\nM106 S0 ;Turn-off fan\nM104 S0 ;Turn-off hotend\nM140 S0 ;Turn-off bed\n\nM84 X Y E ;Disable all steppers but Z\n" },
"machine_width": { "default_value": 220 },
"machine_depth": { "default_value": 220 },
"machine_height": { "default_value": 300 },
"machine_head_with_fans_polygon": { "default_value": [
[-26, 34],
[-26, -32],
[32, -32],
[32, 34]
]
},
"gantry_height": { "value": 25 },
"speed_print": { "value": 80.0 }
},
"metadata": {
"quality_definition": "creality_base",
"visible": true
}
}
Steve Hurd
This is going back to square one. That machine definition was developed by another member here and submitted to the Cura team. The Cura team doesn't have every 3d printer on the planet to check for accuracy but in this case, it looks like the submitter got it right.
Physically my Ender 3Pro build plate is 235 x 235. In reality the X0 isn't far enough to the left for the nozzle to get to the edge of the build plate. In Cura I have it set to 230 x 235. In the firmware (Marlin 1.1.8) the max endstops are at X235, Y231, Z250.
For a test I designed a plate 230 X 235 X 3 and stuck it in Cura. It wouldn't slice until I scaled it back to 99.5%. I did a dry run print and the nozzle stayed right at the edge of the build plate on all 4 sides.
A previous test I did was a simple X. Cura put it in the middle of it's build area. I printed it and adjusted the Home Offset until it was in the center of my build plate. I can see that it isn't an option for you because even if you changed the Home Offset (M206) you couldn't move the origin lower than X15 so that side of the plate can't be used anyways.
This has been kind of interesting. Questions about getting the center of the plate to agree with Cura come up all the time. It's another thing about these machines that seems so simple - but it isn't simple at all.
1
Actually, the M206 command is one of the commands TH3D disabled in the FW. I was able to get your json editing technique to work though! Check it out:
This gives enough clearance for my mini EZABL probe mount on the X axis and the wheels hitting the front of the frame in the Y axis.
For those playing along at home with your own Ender 5 (or other printer), here's what I did (obviously, make sure Cura is closed before doing this):
The file you need is C:\Program Files\Ultimaker Cura 4.7\resources\definitions\creality_ender5.def.json. (edit the file appropriate for your printer)
Make a backup of the file so you can revert. If you make a mistake editing the file and cause a syntax error the Ender 5 will NOT show up in Cura! If it's your only printer defined you'll get the "Initial Printer Setup" dialog. Close Cura and re-edit the file.
Add the following section just below the "machine_height": { "default_value": 300 }, line:
"machine_disallowed_areas": {
"default_value": [
[[-117.5, 117.5], [-117.5, -117.5], [-102.5, -117.5], [-102.5, 117.5]],
[[-117.5, 117.5], [-117.5, 105.5], [117.5, 105.5], [117.5, 117.5]]
]},
This will give you what I have in the pic; 2 rectangles starting at the front left and going right and back. For other values, please note that Cura references these coordinates from the center of the build area. That spot is 0,0. positive X values are to the right of center, Positive Y values are toward the front of the build plate. The values shouldn't be more than +/- half of the dimension (x or y). For example, the E5 has a square build plate, so my values wont be larger than +/- 117.5 in either direction. This means the front left will be [-117.5, 117.5] and the back right will be [117.5, -117.5].
In my case I needed X to be no less than 15 and Y to be no less than 12. this gave me my values of -102.5 and 105.5, respectively.
Hope this helps someone else having this same issue!
Steve Hurd
Edited by beatlemaniac
1
TAAA-DAAA. Nice job!
1
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GregValiant 1,245
It's a printer setting - you need to alter your Home Offsets. Your X and Y are going to end up near zero (Z will be zero).
After sending the print head Home, jog the X until the nozzle is just inside the left edge of the build surface. Then jog the Y until the nozzle is just inside the front edge of the build surface. On the LCD hit Set Home Offsets (or whatever it's called).
The center of the build plate will end up real close to X117.5 and Y117.5
Is that a skirt? If it is then change the "Skirt Distance" to 1 and you will pick up a little room.
Edited by GregValiantLink to post
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