Fitting and configuring BLTouch

[jmp49]

some last thoughts,
is the z axis home switch disconnected (as per the install instructions from creality for a bltouch)
have you tried it with a creality bltouch firmware for that printer?, they have them for download at the above links, and I think they're a bit different to stock marlin in places. And at least then the firmware you follow will match their instructions I hope.

You can disable the software limits for endstops with the gcode M211 S0 that will let it go past some software defined max or min limit , but your literally disabling the safety system from crashing it at that point, so you would have to be careful using it. And you shouldn't have to. On sending gcode manually, cura lets you do this, but apparently it doesnt return you any error messages or output from the printer, so I'd use pronterface if I was on windows.

 

[jmp49]

If you should need another bltouch mount for some reason or other, its one of these I think https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4760571

he's posted the offsets on its thingiverse page.

x: +47
y: -8
z: ~ -2.75 (but obviously will depend on each printer)

 

[ukracer]

some last thoughts,
is the z axis home switch disconnected (as per the install instructions from creality for a bltouch)
have you tried it with a creality bltouch firmware for that printer?, they have them for download at the above links, and I think they're a bit different to stock marlin in places. And at least then the firmware you follow will match their instructions I hope.

No but that's what I plan to try next.

 

[ukracer]

Very interesting. Most if not all of the things I thought might be wrong seem to be.
I installed creality firmware and whilst it did not go exactly as per the instructions/manual I got it going doing the same steps as I was trying with the TH3D firmware.

It was however not sticking and generally printing crap.
So just to prove a point to myself I upped the nozzle to 220 the bed to 60 and quite why I don't know but flow to 140 and it's now printing.

The offset is set at 2.60 . How and why I don't know as it seemed to be as high when levelling.
Ironically it kept coming up with various error messages.

Dropbox

www.dropbox.com

 

[ukracer]

ROTFLMAO. Now they tell me.

Z Height After Homing #​

When you are using ANY ABL probe with our firmware after homing the Z axis will show 5mm. This is to reset the probe detection to the OFF state. This 5mm is NOT included in your Z offset. This 5mm also does not mean that your Z home location is Z5, it is still Z0. Before setting your offset make sure to move the Z down 5mm to bring the height to Z0.

You should NEVER follow any direction from other sources that tell you to move the nozzle to the bed and then issue a GCode command that “Zeroes out” the Z. If someone is telling you otherwise, they are wrong. Just move the nozzle down 5mm after homing to get to Z0, its that simple.




This is also very useful.

UF2 Guide - Stock ABL Sensors, EZABL, BLTouch, CRTouch - TH3D Studio Help Center

ABL Settings Overview Our Unified 2 Firmware has specific settings to make auto bed leveling (ABL) probes work properly and provide a good user experience. Many people who are new to our firmware or ABL, in general, are not familiar with how this all works (mainly BLTouch or CRTouch users). The...

support.th3dstudio.com

Bed now but we shall see how we go tomorrow.

 

[jmp49]

"When you are using ANY ABL probe with our firmware after homing the Z axis will show 5mm"
Odd design choice, smells like someone fudged something when writing the code to me... It changes the nozzle offset setting behaviour from original firmware and all the guides causing problems like this. Even my cnc milling machines display z properly after a probe event let alone the printrbot and ender5 both of which have abl working without the need to lie about the z position.
Think personally I'd leave the stock creality firmware on it, or marlin if you can get your head round the changes needed between the two, unless there's some amazing extra feature that firmware provides that you need in case there's other things stupid users might get wrong until they do things their ways...

 

[ukracer]

"When you are using ANY ABL probe with our firmware after homing the Z axis will show 5mm"
Odd design choice, smells like someone fudged something when writing the code to me... It changes the nozzle offset setting behaviour from original firmware and all the guides causing problems like this. Even my cnc milling machines display z properly after a probe event let alone the printrbot and ender5 both of which have abl working without the need to lie about the z position.
Think personally I'd leave the stock creality firmware on it, or marlin if you can get your head round the changes needed between the two, unless there's some amazing extra feature that firmware provides that you need in case there's other things stupid users might get wrong until they do things their ways...

Well I printed a grid out with creality firmware and it came out "OK" . It seems to have not quite bonded on the one side between layers very well..

I have just started another print and I did not alter height.
I upped the flow to 130 and the speed to 105 and nozzle temp to 120. I now know that if I set that in Cura it can print without my intervention.

I can't even do that on my smaller ender 3 as it's not enabled in the firmware that I can save baby steps.

I will throw some of my normal PLA as I know that prints well with my normal settings.


What I would like to find out is if its possible to get current settings from a 3D printer as I don't have a clue what settings are in my smaller ender 3. It just works but I always have to set baby steps manually.

 

[ajlelectronics]

What I would like to find out is if its possible to get current settings from a 3D printer as I don't have a clue what settings are in my smaller ender 3. It just works but I always have to set baby steps manually.

In the machine's control panel, you have the option to load and save current configuration (if using Creality firmware anyway).

 

[ukracer]

In the machine's control panel, you have the option to load and save current configuration (if using Creality firmware anyway).

My small ender 3 runs marlin. Its runs spot on..What I wanted to do is check what settings are in that printer.

Or are you saying that if I adjust baby steps and then save settings it should be saved?

If I ask on the marlin forums all replies are setting saving baby steps needs to be enabled in firmware.

 

[ajlelectronics]

My small ender 3 runs marlin. Its runs spot on..What I wanted to do is check what settings are in that printer.

Or are you saying that if I adjust baby steps and then save settings it should be saved?

If I ask on the marlin forums all replies are setting saving baby steps needs to be enabled in firmware.

If you can select the value on screen, it should save.

 

[jmp49]

Well I printed a grid out with creality firmware and it came out "OK" . It seems to have not quite bonded on the one side between layers very well..

I have just started another print and I did not alter height.
I upped the flow to 130 and the speed to 105 and nozzle temp to 120. I now know that if I set that in Cura it can print without my intervention.

Did you do the bed levelling bit with the bed at print temperature? because they warp like taco's when they get hot vs when they are cold. The map of mine is a different shape on the graphic if you do it at ambient say 20°C vs at 100°C for ABS.

180 to 220°C is normally the recommended nozzle temp for PLA, 120° seems quite low for good layer adhesion...

 

[ukracer]

Did you do the bed levelling bit with the bed at print temperature? because they warp like taco's when they get hot vs when they are cold. The map of mine is a different shape on the graphic if you do it at ambient say 20°C vs at 100°C for ABS.

180 to 220°C is normally the recommended nozzle temp for PLA, 120° seems quite low for good layer adhesion...

Yeah I level bed while it was hot.

And I actually meant 220.

I printed another but altered the temps flow etc.

Now I have set another one off with no alterations.

 

[ukracer]

Well the Ender 3 Max saga continues.

Last few days I have been laying blocks or fitting a shower but 3D printing being what it is I took the time to try a few things.

My Ender 3 uses a version of Marlin and prints next to perfect. The Ender 3 Max suffers with lack of layer adhesion. This was apparent with the original firmware and also with a pre sliced file for my Ender 3.
So mine was using a regularly used PLA brand so I decided to fit the Ender 3 Max with a proven PLA filament.

I printed with the Standard setting from my Pre sliced file and the firmware in the Ender 3 Max. Surprisingly I could just select print and it would produce what it was supposed to. With no intervention.

But layer adhesion was still not good. Bear in mind I am printing a gridfinity base so the grid needs to be rigid.

So I tried again. Upped the bed to 63 and nozzle to 220 and still got the same result.
I need to try lowering first layer height (squish) but my initial attempts seem to be only able to lower nozzle by 1mm at a time. I.e no baby steps available to use.

Bit frustrating but I need to use the larger bed to print larger gridfinity bases. They are available in 8 x 8 of 42mm boxes. Who has a hobby printer that large? Lol

I guess my next move is to find a decent temperature tower to print.

 

[jmp49]

Bit frustrating but I need to use the larger bed to print larger gridfinity bases. They are available in 8 x 8 of 42mm boxes. Who has a hobby printer that large? Lol

8x42 is 336mm so ender5 plus, elegoo neptune 4 max & anycubic kobra max. The neptune4 is the cheapest of the bunch but all less than 450e.

 

[ukracer]

8x42 is 336mm so ender5 plus, elegoo neptune 4 max & anycubic kobra max. The neptune4 is the cheapest of the bunch but all less than 450e.

I dont actually need 8 x 8 4 x 4 might be as easy to print. It was more to explain why I am messing with a printer I have never run before.
I am intrigued as to why its not bonding well. Its not actually printing that fast. I have tried increased nozzle temps. I dont feel its squish (but it could be still) .

I dont actually know what the size of the nozzle is to be honest so I need to check that. I suppose I will have to start adjusting the fan speed to see if its cooling the filament as its being extruded.

 

[ukracer]

Its a little strange that if you buy a 3D printer with working firmware there is no way of recovering the settings to know what its setup is.
its especially more galling when the installed firmware is working fine, but you need to add baby stepping for example.

 

[jmp49]

You can get a marlin printer to output its config which includes offsets and step values etc, unless its been disabled at compile time. Again the link to marlin's documentation. https://marlinfw.org/docs/gcode/M503.html
The reason it specifies it may or may not be the same as those stored in the EEPROM is because you can apply settings to test, then if you power cycle, the settings are lost unless you commit them with a m500.

Did you ever try connecting to the printer without octoprint and issuing a M503 gcode to it in a terminal window? pronterface, or similar (I think prusa is broken in that it sends the command, but it never shows you the return output)
Or do you means in terms of features hard compiled into the firmware?

 

[ukracer]

Did you ever try connecting to the printer without octoprint and issuing a M503 gcode to it in a terminal window? pronterface, or similar (I think prusa is broken in that it sends the command, but it never shows you the return output)
Or do you means in terms of features hard compiled into the firmware?

No but I downloaded pronterface and plan to give it a try tomorrow.

What I mean is a person has a perfectly working printer but wants to add baby stepping.

How do they find out what is already in the printer.....I appreciate most will have an uncoupled set of configs to start again.
But if it's purchased second hand the previous owner might not have the original files available.

 

[jmp49]

I have the babysteps feature in klipper, but when the print is done or cancelled, it pops up a dialog asking if I want to save it to permanent config too, that's how I dial my z offset in finally after getting it close with setups then just final tune it doing a few test prints. The marlin version is just for the duration of that print and never saved between firmware restarts so its more for saving a failing print than tuning the machine.

If your still using the creality stock firmware from earlier in the thread, you just have to go in and enable babysteps mid print to use it, from their instructions its in the firmware already:-

To use the babystep Z feature in your Ender 3, all you need to do is to start the printing process first, navigate to the Tune section through the LCD panel, and then activate the babystep Z option.

Following these steps will take you to the babystep Z menu, where you will be able to adjust the Z-axis offset value in real-time by turning the knob and see the changes you have made on the LCD panel, similar to how you would configure the Z offset value regularly with the probe offset wizard.

 

[ajlelectronics]

I have the babysteps feature in klipper, but when the print is done or cancelled, it pops up a dialog asking if I want to save it to permanent config too, that's how I dial my z offset in finally after getting it close with setups then just final tune it doing a few test prints. The marlin version is just for the duration of that print and never saved between firmware restarts so its more for saving a failing print than tuning the machine.

If your still using the creality stock firmware from earlier in the thread, you just have to go in and enable babysteps mid print to use it, from their instructions its in the firmware already:-

To use the babystep Z feature in your Ender 3, all you need to do is to start the printing process first, navigate to the Tune section through the LCD panel, and then activate the babystep Z option.

Following these steps will take you to the babystep Z menu, where you will be able to adjust the Z-axis offset value in real-time by turning the knob and see the changes you have made on the LCD panel, similar to how you would configure the Z offset value regularly with the probe offset wizard.

This exactly, so there must be something else going on.