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how to rotate the buildplate


merph

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Posted · how to rotate the buildplate

By default the origin on cura is at the front left corner, and the pieces print facing backward on the printer. I can't find the setting to change the default view 

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    Posted · how to rotate the buildplate

    So your printer should have a mesh associated with it that describes things other than the print bed.  Like clips on the print bed and maybe the back of the printer.  It's probably an STL file?  You could take the file, rotate everything 180 degrees and then replace that mesh file.  What kind of printer do you have (or what is the printer called in Cura?)

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    Posted (edited) · how to rotate the buildplate

    Yes, I can rotate the STL, but I don't want to do that every time. I use an ender 5. I would like to open cura and that the view of the printer is facing me and not backwards. By default the axis is on the front left corner, but in reality, my nozzle is on the back right corner, so the prints come facing the back side of the printer.cura.thumb.png.bf40ffa111810522912e3f831aefadd9.png

    Edited by merph
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    Posted · how to rotate the buildplate

    @GregValiant - do you know how to rotate the build plate around 180 so that Cura puts the origin symbol in the back right corner?  We talked about this about a month ago but I forget what the conclusion was.  Is there some way to modify his ender5 machine configuration by editing the json file or something?

     

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    Posted · how to rotate the buildplate

    @merph you misunderstand - most printers have an STL file that describes the printer itself.  I can see from your screenshot that you don't have this.

     

    Basically you can just rotate the bed so that origin symbol is in the far right corner.  Then start placing your parts down.  Maybe GregValiant has some better ideas.  He has an Ender.

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    Posted · how to rotate the buildplate

    The Ender 5 is the only printer I know of that is orientated that way.  Creality put the motors and switches in the right rear corner.  I think it was for part removal (and part visibility during a print), they wanted the mechanics out of the way and then there was no room for the user to get their hands in and so they put the LCD on the "back side" which made it the logical "front side".  It is possible that the placement and rotation of the Origin could be altered in the firmware.  I have no idea how to do that.

    • The easiest thing is to pick up the machine and rotate it 180° but that puts the LCD screen in the back and the Z rods in the front which then severely limits access to the build area, so that is unacceptable.
    • You can rotate the part 180° in Cura so it faces the back.  You've already said you don't want to do that every time.  This is something that needs to be done on a lot of models anyway.  Doing it on a few more would not be an onerous task.
    • You can possibly get Cura to start with it's virtual build plate rotated 180°.  That would orient it to the users actual viewpoint and 0,0,0 would be the right rear.  The "plan view" button (and side and front views) would still snap it around backwards.
    • The STL cartoons that Gr5 refers to (and that a lot of printers have on their base plate in Cura) is just a mesh that Cura brings in at whatever orientation it is.  You could copy the Ender 3 file (in "resources\meshes") and rename it, then define it in the printer definition file in the Metadata section as "platform": "creality_ender5.3mf". 

    Ghostkeeper, Ahoeben, or another main contributor might know what files in Cura could possibly be altered to achieve the effect of rotating the virtual build plate 180°.  Since the Ender 5 is possibly the only printer model in this arm of the galaxy that has the issue, coupled with the fact that it isn't an Ultimaker printer, the chances of getting someone to make adjustments to the program to accommodate the Ender 5 point-of-view are not good.  In addition, the people at MarlinFW.org are truly unhappy with Creality (for taking the firmware and making it proprietary) and so the chances of getting someone there to explain how to alter the firmware is effectively nil.

     

    So we are back to rotating the parts.  Sorry.

     

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    Posted · how to rotate the buildplate

    I have to rotate pretty much every part anyway.  When I'm in CAD I usually have many parts in one assembly but each part prints best at a different rotation.

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    Posted · how to rotate the buildplate

    Thank you all for your answers. It seems to be a small problem with some solutions, some are more complex than others, and I think I will stick with the idea of rotating the files or just print them as is. I thought that it was a configuration problem that could be solved by just changing a setting like "invert Y axis".

    Thank you very much again!

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    Posted · how to rotate the buildplate

    Sort of on this subject...it always drove me nuts that moving a part around the Cura build surface was clumsy.  The numbers were not intuitive.  I didn't give it a lot of thought until one day when perusing Github and Cura bug reports there was a post that caught me.  The poster pointed out that the part origin was mirrored about the X axis in relation to the build plate origin.  On the build plate +Y was up, but when moving a part, +Y was down.  It is wrong.  So the original poster (with some direction from Ghostkeeper) altered two files and now my origins match.  The files are "TranslateTool.Py" and "TranslateToolHandle.Py".

    Somewhere in Cura there must be a file that creates the build plate origin and puts it in the left front corner.  Maybe that file could be altered to put it in the right rear corner and rotate it so it is correct for your printer.  I don't know how to do that, I'm just sayin'.

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    Posted · how to rotate the buildplate

    I was thinking something similar but I'm not familiar with these translate things nor machine settings that are in python or json files.

     

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    Posted · how to rotate the buildplate

    @merph, when you print an object is it rotated or mirrored? There's a difference. Eg if you print a piece of text laying on the buildplate, does it come out readable or in mirrored image? I think you have your firmware misconfigured or a stepper motor plugged in the wrong way around. I have not heard of an Ender 5 user with your issue before, and AFAIK the origin of your Ender 5 should be at the front, not at the back.

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    Posted · how to rotate the buildplate

    "...Since the Ender 5 is possibly the only printer model in this arm of the galaxy that has the issue..."

     

    I was wrong.  The Ender 6 is built the same way (it appears to be an enclosed Ender 5).  AHoeben, it's rotated on both printers.  0,0,0 is the right rear with +X +Y quadrant being the print area.  I viewed the assembly videos and that's how they work.  I suppose it does make the wiring harnesses simpler (and cheaper).

     

    @merph Here is a poor mans workaround...

    There are two files in the attached ZIP file.  Copy "creality_ender5.stl" to "....\Ultimaker Cura 4.X.X\resources\meshes".  If you have not customized your Ender 5 definition file then overwrite your current "...\Ultimaker Cura 4.X.X\resources\definitions\creality_ender5.def.json" file with the included "creality_ender5.def.json" file.

    If you HAVE customized your definition file then you need to customize it some more.  Add this line to the end of the Metadata section.

            "platform": "creality_ender5.stl"

     

    When you re-start Cura you will get this.  It's still rotated but at least it has the Z rods and indicates which way you are looking at your machine.

     

    2002574371_E5Platform.thumb.png.979721aeb91aca8c54b587c7a3e97812.png

    When you spin it around, it looks correct with the Z rods in the back as you look at the printer.

    1414173380_E5Platform2.thumb.png.45a0108df8c16bf8dce4e9eafbd698ab.png

     

     

    creality_ender5 files.zip

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    Posted · how to rotate the buildplate

    @GregValiant Thank you for your work. It is more intuitive now. Thank you very much.

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    Posted (edited) · how to rotate the buildplate

    You're welcome.

     

    For Christmas I want a Bugatti Veyron.  Red.

    Edited by GregValiant
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    Posted · how to rotate the buildplate

    @GregValiant - maybe you can do a github pull request?

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    Posted (edited) · how to rotate the buildplate

    What!!!  Sticking me with another learning curve on a beautiful Sunday morning!  There are fish to catch you know.  Besides, the platform is a rough cartoon.  I'd want to clean it up a bit and etch a "5" into the surface.

     

    Maybe I can just pass this along to @fvrmr and let her do it.  If not, then maybe I'll get into that.

     

    This STL has the 5 added.

    creality_ender5.stl

    Edited by GregValiant
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    Posted (edited) · how to rotate the buildplate

    @GregValiant Thanks!

     

    Your stl is awesome.  I'm new to this and the hotend went to the wrong corner.

     

    Edited by digitally_equivalent
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    Posted · how to rotate the buildplate

    "... the hotend went to the wrong corner."

    Wrong.  The hot end went to the correct corner.  You are standing on the wrong side of the machine because the LCD is on the wrong side of the machine, and the switches are on the wrong side of the machine, and the control rods are on the wrong side of the machine.

     

    Other than those few small things it's all good.

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