M2 Auto-Leveling Kit (Beta)

The place to discuss your hardware and software/firmware modifications...
Post Reply
User avatar
rpollack
Posts: 494
Joined: Wed Apr 09, 2014 9:01 pm
Location: Beachwood, OH
Contact:

Re: M2 Auto-Leveling Kit (Beta)

Post by rpollack » Tue Jul 28, 2015 9:57 pm

Jules - if there is demand we can put more up so no need to be concerned about what is currently available. We are just looking for user feedback so that we can determine next steps.

Thank you,
Rick

User avatar
insta
Posts: 2007
Joined: Tue Sep 16, 2014 3:59 am

Re: M2 Auto-Leveling Kit (Beta)

Post by insta » Tue Jul 28, 2015 10:03 pm

a good step would be to get one in my hands so you can see how the inductive sensor can leak coolant all over the M2 or the printed parts can corrode or whatever stupid problem I'll manage to invent
Custom 3D printing for you or your business -- quote [at] pingring.org

User avatar
Jules
Posts: 3144
Joined: Wed Jan 21, 2015 1:36 am

Re: M2 Auto-Leveling Kit (Beta)

Post by Jules » Tue Jul 28, 2015 10:59 pm

insta wrote:a good step would be to get one in my hands so you can see how the inductive sensor can leak coolant all over the M2 or the printed parts can corrode or whatever stupid problem I'll manage to invent
For God's sake insta, you know what you're doing, go get the last one for heaven's sake! :lol:

User avatar
insta
Posts: 2007
Joined: Tue Sep 16, 2014 3:59 am

Re: M2 Auto-Leveling Kit (Beta)

Post by insta » Tue Jul 28, 2015 11:58 pm

nah I level my beds the old fashioned way -- fatty rafts and wasted prints
Custom 3D printing for you or your business -- quote [at] pingring.org

User avatar
Tim
Posts: 1205
Joined: Thu Apr 10, 2014 2:19 pm
Location: Poolesville, Maryland
Contact:

Re: M2 Auto-Leveling Kit (Beta)

Post by Tim » Wed Jul 29, 2015 12:00 am

rpollack wrote:Tim - we still have at least one kit available.
I think that I am likely to be a less-than-helpful beta tester because I see myself scratching my head and coming up with no good solutions for putting this thing onto the dual extruder assembly. So I'll let someone with a more standard setup take the last one or ones available, and I'll try my luck with what I can find on Amazon or eBay. Since I have the Smoothieboard attached to my M2 now, even the firmware instructions are going to be different for me. . . Of course, if you absolutely can't get rid of that last kit, I'll take it off your hands, but I don't think you're really going to have that problem.

N5QM
Posts: 13
Joined: Sun Feb 22, 2015 7:59 pm
Location: Little Rock, AR

Re: M2 Auto-Leveling Kit (Beta)

Post by N5QM » Wed Jul 29, 2015 12:41 am

All,

Given that the sensor is good for 3-4mm, will it not detect the heat spreader through the glass? I ordered one of the sensors from Amazon since the site shows as being out of them, so I guess I will find out.. :D
Robert
MakerGear M2 (24v) - v4 Hotend - PEI Build Surface

Bratag
Posts: 438
Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2015 5:33 am

Re: M2 Auto-Leveling Kit (Beta)

Post by Bratag » Wed Jul 29, 2015 6:51 am

PCS - I think I am basically there but I am looking for the starting GCode you are using - obviously you want to add a G29 after the G28 but was that the only change you made?

Never mind I got a workable solution.

Ok Lessons learned.

1) G28 is not always your friend - scratch one extruder motor mount.

2) Before this goes mainstream you REALLY need to get a set of instructions in place. If not for the video of Tom that was linked here I would have had zero clue

3) I came up with a mount for the E3D which essentially piggy backson the right most mounting screws for the extruder fan without obscuring them. This is good in that it lets you use the auto level and bad because it puts the level in front and to the right side of the hotend.
What does that mean. Well it means when you are doing the auto tune the points its tuning are not in line with the hotend and so you cant get all the way to the left tuned, you will always be tuning about 40mm in. I am redesigning the mount to cover the fan completely but have a cutout to allow air flow (I hope, it kind of depends on pulling air around the sensor and it might not be enough). The advantage of that is that even though we will lose some front sensing everything else will be inline.

4) Its pretty cool to watch your Z knob moving slowly as the print pans. I got my bed to what I considered relatively level but the auto level knew better and produced calibration cubes of the same height on all sides.

5) This is the future of 3d printing. While I never found leveling the bed much of a chore this is easier and less hassle. If we want 3d printing to go mainstream we have to appeal to the Lowest Common Denominator - and thats people who dont want to tinker but click and go (I can hear the purists crying from here)

6) I am kind of a little bit in love with Thomas Sanladerer

User avatar
PcS
Posts: 667
Joined: Mon Mar 09, 2015 12:19 pm
Location: Michigan

Re: M2 Auto-Leveling Kit (Beta)

Post by PcS » Wed Jul 29, 2015 12:00 pm

I'm glad you got it worked out. I cannot say how much this improves the whole printing process. I at times stuggled with leveling and other times did not have an issue. This is just a huge piece of mind. I would not worry about missing the left side of the bed. Mine is the same way. I think the best way would be to move the bed cooling fan to right side and put it out front. The grid this makes takes total bed size into it calculations. So even if you can't probe the last 40mm it still know where that should be for level. A flat plane is a flat plane so if you know all the dimensions it is easy to get level. That being said I will probably try to find a spot to reach the extents of the bed.

User avatar
Tim
Posts: 1205
Joined: Thu Apr 10, 2014 2:19 pm
Location: Poolesville, Maryland
Contact:

Re: M2 Auto-Leveling Kit (Beta)

Post by Tim » Wed Jul 29, 2015 1:31 pm

I have a question. If the bed is not flat---say it's bowed up in the middle, which is common---and the z-probe records this bow in the middle and tracks it, then if you print a large object that extends over much of the plate, isn't the object going to end up bowed in the middle as well?

Bratag
Posts: 438
Joined: Wed Jan 14, 2015 5:33 am

Re: M2 Auto-Leveling Kit (Beta)

Post by Bratag » Wed Jul 29, 2015 2:57 pm

Tim wrote:I have a question. If the bed is not flat---say it's bowed up in the middle, which is common---and the z-probe records this bow in the middle and tracks it, then if you print a large object that extends over much of the plate, isn't the object going to end up bowed in the middle as well?
I don't know about this one. Its possible that the probe would read it as an unlevel bed and try adjust accordingly to keep your piece even the whole way. My bed is pretty much perfectly flat (or as close as it doesn't matter) so I cant test. What I can tell you is that even over a small distance (calibration square size) the print is being adjusted as the print head moves left to right, front to back, for me this resulted in very uniform measurements over the whole square, I was not expecting it to be so granular.

I will look at relocating the fan but I suspect that may be tricky with the current setup. What I may have to to is move the cooling fan out front and rotate the extruder fan to the right side.

Lesson learned adendum
7) Don't run G28 again after you have run the G29, unless you have dropped the Z to the bottom. The printer gets confused and instead of homing Z into the middle of the print bed it tries moving X/Y while the Z is at the top. Since there is a line in the config that says raise the bed before homing, that's how you get head collisions.

Post Reply