Just had to check, looks like that is on the better end of the BLTouch capabilities, so I think the Z resolution is fine. Anyone think of anything I should test to prove that better?
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The bed calibration patterns I’ve seen print single layer crosshairs in a few places. The theory is that you should be able to get good first layer adhesion anywhere. No places with super smooshed first layers or printing over the bed. That would be a good start for accepting 0.03mm Z accuracy.
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Like this, PrusaPrinters, I will give it a shot. So far all the first layers have been great. The amplification setting is not proving easy to calibrate, it is guess and check and each iteration takes a while. Flash, reboot, home, level (up to 5 times). You get to watch the numbers, but I don’t see any meaningful patterns yet. While I was mowing the lawn I got an idea to try so maybe first thing in the morning.
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The printer seems great, and absolutely works better than the last MP3DP, including cooling. It seems that cooling is by far the largest issue. 45mm/s is pretty good (.38mm layers 0.5mm nozzle). That is putting down a lot of plastic. Tried a benchy at 50mm/s (.38mm layers 0.5mm nozzle) needs more cooling. Larger real parts seem pretty good at that speed.
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Yeah, something like that.
This is all pretty great progress. It is weird the kind of things experiments will teach us. I need to spend more time tuning my printer.
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Tuning it was fun, when I saw progress. This bed leveling thing, not so much. The accel and JD was awesome, even the max flow. You were completely right the hemera with the v6 heatblock is capable of more and that proved it (not too much more though). Watching the temp graph and dumping filament as fast as possible is neat. You can see the temp dip, and either recover fast or slow, or not at all and skip.
The bed stuff is out in the weeds and none of it is clearly explained and the code is very unclear to me. So I do enjoy poking around a bit but it does get old. If I figure any of it out for certain I will submit a PR just to make it more clear, this printer is an edge case but a very valid edge case. I am just not sure if I am doing it wrong, the limit of the BL, or the limit of the course Z axis…probably a little of all of it.
Shoot I just realized I am using a textured bed as well…I need to use a smooth one for this testing.
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Sorry I need to post some pics! I have been too busy nerding out on the details. I will show you all what I am working with and then start the final touch ups to building a pretty one! I am considering this an RC at this point and anything after this will just be aesthetics I think.
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After running the same printer for nearly half a decade, I think I might finally be ready to upgrade to something.
My poor clone doesn’t have any of this fancy auto-leveling stuff and the hotend only really works with PLA and sometimes ABS. I never could get PETG to work on it or any of the softer filaments.
It’s also slow.
The few things it does have going for it are the 200x200x180 volume size and reliability. A larger volume would be nice as I’ve occasionally had to break up prints.
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My a8 with an e3d has worked well for a long time… also no issues with petg, nylon, or even tpu. Maybe just upgrading your rig with an e3d would be enough to do what you need?
Ryan, have you tried the volcano yet? My wife brought home some $1 spools of 3mm filament a few weeks ago, and that made me think of getting one for my rig, for toothpaste tube prints lol. So far my particular part fan has had more than enough performance, but may need 2 of them with a volcano going full tilt.
I have not tried it yet since my cooling will not keep up. Watching MirageC’s video above looks like he has something similar to a berdair on his volcano, I can’t work with eight printers running something that loud all day, I’d go nuts.
I will do a few more test prints today for the bed leveling, and then start running some parts that I am extremely familiar with. I think the cooling is adequate for my normal work, just these tiny test prints do not lend well to a 0.5mm nozzle at high speeds. MPCNC trucks and Core’s are where the time savings comes in for me. I think to do the small test prints I would need a 0.4mm nozzle.
At some point if I can get some flow optimizations figured out I might try the volcano.
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Also, being ~95 in the shop all week during fan testing doesn’t help anything. I had one print that I thought I was making crazy progress with, then I figured out it was early in the morning when it was only 82 degrees. So, maybe under normal temps the fan is good enough.
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That’s possible. I’m still running an older M8 hotend. I tried putting an all-metal hotend on it but never got it to work right without jamming. Ended up going back to the stock setup.
It’s almost September, pretty soon those lower temperatures will be the norm.
Around here, it’s getting time to pack up the air conditioners and get the furnace tuned up.
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We’re still triple digit days in az. Keeps me from getting ANYTHING done in the garage.
This project is changing my plans, too. Especially since I started looking around at other buulds. Turns out the idea I had was really similar to the tronxy x5s, so it’ll be easier and faster for me to just make those parts and build it smaller. I spent a month on it already and haven’t gotten past xy motion, lol. My diy anet/evolution mashup is still running great, but there is a lot of wasted space in that build. It also took a month to figure out.
And this Ryan guy is like “yeah, i had an idea so I’m gonna spend an hour to knock it out…I should have usable parts by morning”. Psht. Who IS this dude, even?
So I’ll build this thing from whatever useful ender stuff I have left (yay 24V), then build the tronxy-ish printer for pla parts with whatever I can scavenge off my current printer.
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@vicious1
I am wondering about your Z axes. Are those geared down at all or is it just a direct drive 16 tooth? I have read in the past that it could cause some issues with inconsistent z positioning. But I don’t remember why. It may have even been someone on this forum that mentioned they had bad experiences when they tried to use it.
I assume the issue would have to do with holding power with micro-stepping. Or slipping during acceleration. Especially when there is a heavy load on the Z axes. But looking at your prototype you will probably not have an issue. Three motors holding up just the build plate and the weight of the print that’s not bad.
EDIT: I am curious if it would slip if the print warps or has a build up of filament like a booger. You know the kind that usually makes the nozzle grind and flex up. The kind that you only hope and pray that doesn’t ruin the entire print.
I know that the Voron 2.4 uses a gear down pulley about 3 to 1 I think. So I assume that they determined it was a good idea or a requirement. But then again they are hold up a LOT more weight by holding the entire CoreXY & Tool assembly.
I’m really learning that I want some of these newer cool controllers.
Years ago I upgraded my RAMPs board with a RADDs board. I apparently picked a bad route as development for it seemed to flatline a few months after I started using it. I love the RADDs board, but last time I looked in to it there was only 1 firmware working with it and it hasn’t been updated in ages.
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No gear reduction, just a 16t. Several people told me it would not work. So far…flawless. I just tested leveling for the last couple hours and I get under 0.03mm each time with 0.01 the most common. Prints look fantastic, as do spiral vases. Not sure what else I can do to figure out if a reduced Z is needed. Definitely not needed for a 0.5mm nozzle though, and I printed a few things at 0.2mm layers and they look great.
Suuuuper strong. No worries there.
I think I have the leveling worked out well enough. I am getting easily under 0.03mm more typically 0.01-0.02mm in about 4 iterations, with both large errors and small errors tested. Gunna call that done.
I have a leveling test print running now and it looks good edge to edge. I might be a smidge too high, easy fix.
P.S. this is all without mesh bed leveling, which can also be used after the bed is physically leveled.
Bottom line…loving this thing so far! Might look into power outage recovery and filament runout sensor after I build a pretty version. I think I want to route out the wire channels into a wood build and leave them exposed, yet clean.
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