Display Filename and layer on LCD Not Working

[Stoty 0]

I have an Ender 3 V2. I have put this Post Processing Script in my slicer code.  An example of what I see this in the Gcode is:

 

;layer2
M117 Layer 2 of 844 CE3_SmartTemperatureTower_PLA_180-225

 

The actual file name is PLA 185-225.gcode and that is what is showing on the LCD screen. Layer number never shows.

 

Fighting frustration because I can't get a decent print after two weeks of having this printer outside of the little dog that was the first thing I printed. Was trying this tower to see if I could figure out why.

 

Appreciate the help.

[ahoeben 1,948]

If you are not getting a decent print out of a new Ender, I would suggest finding a Creality or Ender specific usergroup somewhere. I don't have a Creality printer, so I don't know the specifics of why M117 would not work on your printer.

[GregValiant 1,251]

I have an Ender 3 Pro and M117 works fine on my 1.1.5 board with stock LCD.  The caveat is that it only displays the first 21 characters of a text string (and a bit of character 22).  Anything beyond that doesn't display, but it might in fact be there but the display isn't long enough to show it.  It is possible that your board is only displaying the middle of the string.

The original Creality printers with 8 bit boards did not understand file names beyond 16 characters.  I don't know if your 32 bit board has the same restriction (that Creality never told anyone about).  I always truncate the names on the SD card to something simple.  Internally, your mainboard may be using the DOS 8.3 file name.

 

Regarding print quality - The basics are always true and getting a first layer down is the most important thing.

Slice with .2 layer height and .4 line width.  If you are using PLA then print at 210 with the bed at 60.  Print speed at 35mm/sec.  Travel speed at 120.  If you have calibrated your E-steps and have your bed is nicely leveled a calibration cube should print well.  After that tune ONE thing at a time.  The printers are pretty good and when calibrated both mechanically and in the firmware, they can produce excellent results.

 

 

[Stoty 0]

Thank you for the info. I have been spending alot of time leveling the bed. I got so far as to get might dial indicators out and mount them near the extruder. I need to check again - I think the bed is level. The number of choices in Cura and listening to the many Youtube vidoes have likely clouded my thinking. I have read about combing, and numerous other parameters to no avail. I am suspecting its something simple. Attached are pictures of the temp tower I just printed. It looks like 185 to 200 is a good temp range, but the general quality at each level isn't that great. Thoughts?

[Stoty 0]

Also, what did you mean by "....calibrated your E-steps"?

[GregValiant 1,251]

On the printer mainboard are the "drivers" for the stepper motors.  The processor tells each driver how many steps to send to turn each motor, and the timing, so that each motor reaches it's destination at the same time.  How many steps are sent per mm of movement varies from motor to motor and from printer to printer.  When a gcode command tells the extruder to push 100mm of filament and only 90 get pushed, then the print will be under-extruded.

Pull out the filament and take the bowden tube out of the extruder, then put the filament back in until it just appears at the end of the fitting.  Use the LCD and tell the extruder to move 100mm of filament and measure how much actually came out.  Check the LCD for your current E steps/mm.  The formula is (How much we asked for) / (How much we got) X Current E steps.  Enter that in the LCD as the new e-steps and do the experiment again.  When you are satisfied that the extruder pushes 100 when asked to push 100, it is calibrated.  On the LCD select "Save Settings".  The XYZ steps are similar and effect the dimensional accuracy of a print.  When you tell the X axis to move 100mm it should move 100 and not 103.5 or 98.  Same formula applies.  (Expected Movement) / (Measured Movement) X Current steps/mm.

[Stoty 0]

Got it. I did do an extruder check and it is at almost exactly 100 mm. I haven't checked the x, y, and z axis. I'll do that.

I have also found, with many different initial layer parameters, that I need to put a layer of glue stick on the bed. I've leveled the bed with a feeler gauge rather than a piece of paper. Its very similar to setting the valve lash in an engine. I am at about 0.002-in. (.05 mm). I did find the center of the bed was about 0.001-in lower, so I leveled the bed in about a 4-in circle. Cleaned the bed, and restarted the temp tower with your parameters noted above. The first layer didn't stick. Cleaned the bed again, added a layer of glue stick and its now printing fine.

 

I also shorted the file name and the layer number still isn't showing. I'll fight that problem later.

 

[GregValiant 1,251]

Congrats on getting it working.  I tried with a feeler gauge but I didn't care for it.  I have to use hairspray for PETG and I just got in the habit of using it for PLA as well.  PETG pops off when the glass cools.  PLA can be tough to get off.  I'm not opposed to using my little Harley tool on the putty knife and giving a print some tough love.

The steps/mm as set up from the factory will be pretty close.  They will change some as the machine wears in.  I changed to an aluminum extruder top and it came with it's own gear so that necessitated a re-calibration.

As for the Layer number not showing up, what plugin are you using?

[Stoty 0]

Plugin? You mean firmware? I updated the Marlin firmware when I got the the printer to Ver 1.0.2. I haven't updated anything on the LCD panel as I haven't figured out how to do that or if it needed done.

[GregValiant 1,251]

Not the printer.  You mentioned a "post processing script".  There are several available in Cura and I was wondering which one you were using.  Cura by itself does not add an M117 line.

Next to the slice button is an icon with a crossed hammer and wrench.  It brings up the Post Processing dialog.  There is one called "Display filename and layer on LCD" but it puts the line together like this:

M117 Printing My Model - Layer 0 of 49

"My Model" would be the name of the STL file that was sliced to create the gcode file.

[Mari 36]

Like @GregValiant said, for the info on the display you have to activate post-processing script...  In the following example the remaining time to print is presented on the display

 

 

When a post-processing script is active you can see that on your Cura screen (icon of the crossed hammer and wrench, when more then 1 script is activated you can see that also...)

 

 

If you scroll down the Gcode, you will see that a M117-command is added...

 

M117 Time Left 0h36m03s
;TIME_ELAPSED:115.887366

Edited January 1, 2021 by Mari

[Stoty 0]

Sorry. I haven't gotten all the terminology down yet.

Running Cura 4.8. I took whatever was the latest when I started a couple of weeks ago. I do see the icon next to the slicer button (had to download a plugin for that as I recall).

 

I attached what I ran for the temp tower (I modified after reading some of the posts here) and what I just ran for the cube test I ran.  I had changed the file names to something short, but still only saw the filename.

 

I have always seen time spent and time remaining on the LCD. I attached a picture of what the LCD screen looks like during a print.

 

Cube.gcode PLA 185-225.gcode

[GregValiant 1,251]

It appears that your printer doesn't support M117 at all.  I would have expected an M117 message to show up where your image shows "Printing".  Below that line is the filename.  The printer just pulled that up because you told it the file to print.  The printer doesn't read the time from a file.  It knows how large a file is and it knows how many bytes per second it is eating so it calculates the remaining time based on bytes remaining and bytes/second that it is going through as it reads the file.

At any rate, a quick trip over to Reddit revealed that the 4.x.x boards don't support M117.  I wonder what else Creality isn't telling anyone?

Edited January 1, 2021 by GregValiant

[Stoty 0]

I have a question into Creality. I'll add this and see what they say.

It is the Marlin Firmware update that isn't reading the M117 code that Cura is listing in the script? I think I have done the correct firmware updates.

 

Did the Cube check. The X and Y axis are at about 19.9 mm. Z is at about 19.65 mm Looks like Z needs a tweak.

Thanks

 

[GregValiant 1,251]

I found this in a Marlin file "gcode.cpp" in Marlin 2.0:

 

case 117: M117(); break; //M117: Set LCD message text, if possible

 

Elsewhere in Marlin files it specifically states LCD or TFT as the screen type.  I'm wondering if the TFT screens just aren't configured to pass a message.  I think the Ender 3 v2 has a TFT screen and I was looking at it as a printer for my son.

I always use a plugin to put the layer on the screen.  It would be annoying not to have that to inform me when a Pause is coming up for a color change.

[Stoty 0]

I'll have to read up on this M117 stuff.

 

Above on calibration your said "Enter that in the LCD as the new e-steps and do the experiment again.". Is this the transmission ratio? I see a Transmission ratio of 400 for the Z and 80 for the X and Y. I don't see any other location that changes the "e-steps".

 

[GregValiant 1,251]

Transmission ratio sounds like it.  As delivered mine was x80, y80, z400 and e93.  For your reference, mine is now:

M92 X80.34 Y80.56 Z398.59 E97.89

So they didn't change much, but they did change.  I measured XYZ with a digital caliper and then verified with a calibration cube.  I'm quite proud of the fact that the cube is now 25.00 x 25.00 x 25.00.

 

I wrote this application for windows.  It allows me to run all the SD card stuff, printer calibration, leveling, and tuning during a print, from my laptop rather than using the LCD.  There is a readme file and instructions.  You might have to talk your anti-virus into letting it install because it is an unsigned app.  Happy New Year.

 

 

Edited January 15, 2021 by GregValiant

[Stoty 0]

Thank you. I will see how I can get the printer to talk to my computer.