MakerGear Forum

3dPrintingMD wrote: For what its worth I elected to not deal with the endstop at the current point in time.

The endstop & software stack is part of what you're supposed to be testing, not just the new hardware

Are the rubber pads still apart of this "simplified" bed leveling? I hated those for the longest time until I chipped the corners off the glass and made new corner pieces to only hold down the heat plate. If I couldnt get the bed leveled with the 3 screws I figured out I could simply loosen/squeeze down the Lower rubber pad in the off corner to fix it. Now I can remove the glass to rapidly cool a part or change it out then stick it back on with out releveling... its made life much easier. Can someone post photos of this new system? I need pictures to follow what some of you are talking about! Somewhat curious to know what the change in lifespan of the stepper motors will be by adding the extra 6oz.


Another change I considered is changing the rubber pads to something like silicone that will handle the heat long term without worry of getting hard and brittle.

Rick specifically asked us not to post pictures, but I'll try and explain the changes ...

The new spider bolts directly to the carriage. It's heavier simply because it's lacking the cutouts in the middle that the stock spider has. Whether this was a conscious design decision or done simply to prepare cheaper test samples I don't know -- and I can't say it's really mattered either way. The M2 had no problem throwing the platform around at 3000 accel, 100mm/sec print speeds. My cheap IKEA table did NOT like it (my production print surface is a 200lb solid oak workbench bolted to the wall -- my surgical table is a cheap IKEA desk). There were no skipped steps.

The aluminum heat spreader is snuggled in place by rubber bushings, but it doesn't sit on them anymore. The heat spreader sits directly on screws protruding up from the very corners of the spider. Thanks to the location of the screws, you have orders more control over the levelness of the bed. The levelling screws are also locked in place with set screws. I can now reliably print 0.1mm starting layers with the full size of the bed, something I've never been able to do before.

The new homing procedure homes to the bottom. It's a bit more natural because of the way the table falls at the end of the print, but I don't see a clear advantage over the ednisley "sense the bed" method, which I still think is the most flexible -- especially when paired with the v4's mounting mechanism where it can be slid up and down in the holder. It is much nicer than the old Z screw.

Everybody's got their own startup sequence, here's mine:

insta wrote:

3dPrintingMD wrote: For what its worth I elected to not deal with the endstop at the current point in time.

The endstop & software stack is part of what you're supposed to be testing, not just the new hardware

Full kit installed tonight. Endstop fits nice in that spot. Software is easy to follow.

Now, I'm just trying to think how/if this is beneficial, to have the endstop at the bottom.

Maybe I'm missing something, it is late, but here is the situation>:
I set endstop using software(if I remember correctly that setup procedure is done without heat, which I don't agree with). I try to print say a calibration square.
Square is off from expected size. My only option really is to use the Z Offset to correct. Once you go back into software you can't adjust that difference, it can only start the process over.
What would be good is if that didn't happen like that. Whereas, you could go back in the software and adjust for exactly how much you want to move the previously set endstop. Then you can print again, and check.

Benefit then would be you could use whatever print surface you wanted, toss it up, do height setup to the best possible. Find your adjustment based on a calibration square, run that adjustment thru the software to modify the previously set endstop.

I am guessing the setup software is just making use of a gcode like M206 to set the z home offset: http://reprap.org/wiki/G-code#M206_Marl ... ome_offset

Try this:

Read out the EEPROM parameters (M501) and search for M206. If it is set, then you can adjust it using
M206 Z[new value]
M500 to save

The value is the offset of the homing switch trip location to your desired Z=0. If you want to the nozzle gap to be lower (moving the bed up), you would add the desired change to the old value. If you want more nozzle gap, moving the bed lower, you would subtract the desired change.

This is all guesswork; I'm not a tester.

@jsc, I follow, going to check it out once a print stops in about an hour. I'm guessing that is what it does, makes sense.

That would make it beneficial.

@jsc - As you suspected: Recv: echo: M206 X0.00 Y0.00 Z6.89

Going to give it a try.

That works great, MG should somehow incorporate that into their program. I can now say with knowing that, I can now easily change between print surfaces, and can quickly get back to the right nozzle gap.

I've run a number of prints now with the new system and am a huge fan. Presently I've got a very large flat part printing, and the leveling is spot on. The new Z-endstop location is great and eliminates the weakest point of the original setup. Further, it doesn't look like the leveling has changed in the smallest after multiple prints.

It was a bit of a hassle getting the firmware working with my old 12V/19V setup. It might be a good idea to have a few different flavors of firmware available on the website for people purchasing an upgrade kit (assuming this will be purchase-able as such).

For folks just getting started, the quick-start application will be a huge leg up and will likely save a lot of frustration. I vividly recall wishing for that exact software while trying to setup and debug a first gen Cupcake.