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MC auto bed leveling problems

Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2016 12:30 pm
by Windshadow
I decided to move out from the center 3 to 4 inch diameter area of the build plate and work on refining my calibration
small items near the centre have been printing well but
I noticed that I was having adhesion problems at the 9 o'clock position
as I passed about 1 1/2 inches from the center and a bit of forum searching sent me to the auto bed leveling part of MC
http://www.matterhackers.com/articles/i ... ontrol-1.4
all was going well (I selected the 7 spot rather than the 13spot to start with)
[img]https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/4-_KE ... 6-igJHdlPA[/img]
at the 3 o'clock and 1 o'clock and 11 o'clock positions but when it got to 9 o'clock it put up the 'bed too low' error.

does this mean that I start over from the beginning to do the whole recalibration? tower limit switches at the beginning? or can i input a - Z hight to get the effector closer and then start the whole process over?

Re: MC auto bed leveling problems

Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2016 3:16 pm
by Eaglezsoar
Perhaps a shim under the glass at that location? Small piece of kapton tape?
Not necessarily the best way, but worthy of a trial.

Re: MC auto bed leveling problems

Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2016 4:39 pm
by Windshadow
I will give that a try Thanks Eaglezoar

I had problems with the X tower on initial setup when I ran out of left turns on the adjuster screw on that skate I ended up screwing all three all the way in and then backing them off 2 or 3 turns and redoing the three tower end stop adjustments so i expect it s due to something that I did there

is there any advantage to doing the 13 step version rather than the 7?

Re: MC auto bed leveling problems

Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2016 5:56 pm
by Eaglezsoar
Windshadow wrote:I will give that a try Thanks Eaglezoar

I had problems with the X tower on initial setup when I ran out of left turns on the adjuster screw on that skate I ended up screwing all three all the way in and then backing them off 2 or 3 turns and redoing the three tower end stop adjustments so i expect it s due to something that I did there

is there any advantage to doing the 13 step version rather than the 7?
I am not that familiar with MatterControl's implementation on bed leveling but my experience has taught me that the more points that are used will result in better results the limiting factor being the length of time you are willing to wait.
I don't know it Mattercontrol's implementation clears out the data points upon homing the printer but if so you will need to bed level before each print. I do hope that MatterControl keeps the data forever unless you run a new leveling process.

Re: MC auto bed leveling problems

Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2016 2:06 am
by blackrabt
Just tried the MC leveling feature myself. It is supposed to save the settings and apply to them to your gcode every time you slice. You only need to update if you make mechanical changes to the printer or hot end.

Also, as Eagle said, more zones will give you more accuracy. Downside is it makes the calibration 39 steps, and if you have a bad endstop setting on your X axis you will have to start over part way in.

Upon closer inspection, if you click the pencil next to configuration/ bed-leveling. it will show you the values it is saving. Looks like even with 13 points plus center it only saves it as 7 zones. So it probably averages them out.

Re: MC auto bed leveling problems

Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2016 10:52 am
by Windshadow
Well by the time I had read your reply to the OP I had already started the cocktail hour and as a mater of principle I do not drive of operate machinery (in which category i have placed my Rostock :D ) after I have opened the bar. so experiments will wait until the morrow 8-)
(This website needs to embrace the modern Emoji as provided by Microsoft and Apple)

if i could identify a singly weakness of the whole experience of building my Max it would be in the design of the Cheapskate end stop adjusters... they are the only thing I could point to on the whole design and say that is why they called them cheapskates

Re: MC auto bed leveling problems

Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2016 10:58 am
by thedoble
I haven't tried MC's bed levelling but it seems odd that you'd run out of turns on the cheapskate endstop screws. They're for making very fine adjustments. If you screw them all in to around half-depth and then re-calibrate your Z, do you still have one axis that is way out? If so I suspect there is something else going on, as they all should be within 1-2 turns of eachother.

Re: MC auto bed leveling problems

Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2016 12:33 pm
by Windshadow
I agree mate... and I am trying to figure out what went wrong.... the tower set macro looks good on the X Y Z but the printing of stuff in the 9 o'clock direction more than 2 inches from the center is problematic to put it nicely. Horizontal radius seems happy at 143.6

Re: MC auto bed leveling problems

Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2016 12:45 pm
by thedoble
Print this and see what your angles and distances are: http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:745523

Print the paper PDF sheet to compare

Re: MC auto bed leveling problems

Posted: Mon Jan 11, 2016 3:39 pm
by Windshadow
Thanks for the tip...
The text for that angle print seems to be focused on other control software but the print itself and its PDF should provide good starting points
I just finished taking apart the hot end and the effector to mount the layer fan and fix the wiring for the heating resistors I think I had solder run back into the wile where I soldered it into the connector and it fatigue snapped so I guess this is a good time to do over the calibration from the start with focus on the skate endstop adjustment I do wise they were designed with more plastic to grab onto than that tinny sliver.... I will try it this time with each one screwed all the way in and then backed out 2 full turns.... and if any have hints on other things to try I will give em a shot.