GregValiant 1,342
What I've done is to set the stepper time out to 4 hours instead of the default 2 minutes when the app is started. I'm not real happy with that as keeping the steppers energized and holding position does involve wear and tear. I haven't found (and I'm 95% sure it doesn't exist) a way to query the machine to find out if the steppers are enabled or disabled. If they are disabled then sending an M114 is useless since as you say - the machine would send back "where it thought it was". If however the steppers are still enabled, then the M114 returns good information on the print head and extruder locations. I am most concerned with a user asking for a movement and because the steppers are disabled the print head crashes into the end stops or a print. It would be much better to query the printer and then IF the steppers are disabled to inform the user that it needs a homing move before making the requested movement.
Recommended Posts
Longtoke 25
The problem is, without positional feedback from the steppers themselves, or a system incorporated in the design of the printer to track the stepper movements, there is no way to get that feedback from the firmware and the G-code. There are some after market modules you can buy that can record and monitor stepper motors, some even have an error correction function included, but as far as I'm aware they don't integrate with you printer on the G-code level you need.
All Creality do on some of their printers is route the G-code currently being executed to the display, giving the illusion it's displaying the current positional information live accurately. Think of it as a blind man being told to walk ten paces forward and 3 paces left. If you then ask him where he is standing, he would say ten paces forward and three left, without actually knowing where he is standing.
Without positional feedback from stepper motors, this is what we're stuck with. Once you've powered up and done a home position routine you shouldn't need to home again unless you've lost power.
Link to post
Share on other sites