2 months in, Still no good first layer
I’m truly At a loss with this vcore 4. I have had it for 2 months and I still cannot get a good first layer. I’ve tried what seems like everything.
The first layer offset has to be changed every single print. Regardless of how long I’ve heat soaked. I’ve heat soaked for 2 full hours now and I’m still having the same issues as if I heat soaked for 25 minutes. I have been printing a 490x490mm single layer sheet on the bed to get a good idea of how the offset changes throughout a print. The most recent print, I heatsoacked for 2 hours at 80C, then started the 490x490 single layer. It started in the front right corner, I set the x offset, and let it print fully. About 1/4 of the way through its print across the plate, the Z offset seemingly changed and the entire rest of the print was WAY too close to the bed. So much so that I cannot remove the layer that it printed.
I have read the other posts about similar issues but nothing that worked for other people seems to work for me. I have to be missing something. The first
I have read the other posts about similar issues but nothing that worked for other people seems to work for me. I have to be missing something. The first
194 Replies
First thing I tried was heatsoaking the bed, loosening and re torquing the steel gantry rail that the toolhead rides on while the printer was hot. That changed my mesh from .5mm deviation to .3. I then recalibration the beacon adaptive bed meshing. No change in first layer, still moving towards the bed during every print.
Then, I tried completely removing the compensation values in my print.cfg and Ratos Variables, and re calibrating again.
I’ve saved Z offset in literally every way that every post has mentioned. Saving it during the print using “SAVE_Z_OFFSET”, print finishes, then save to config. I’ve tried doing the same but save to config DURING the print. I’ve tried recreating the baby step value while not printing and then saving. Nothing works.
I’ve tried correcting my bed mesh as much as possible but no matter what I do I cannot get the mesh to be anywhere close to flat and the best deviation I’ve had is .3. Which shouldn’t be too bad from what I’ve read in other posts. But it seems the adaptive bed mesh isn’t working properly. I can see the Z screws moving during it print so I can confirm that the bed is slightly moving during the first layer to account for the lack of a flat bed, but it’s definitely not enough.
I’ve even gone all the way back to the basics. Started the commissioning guide over from the beginning and re doing all the steps. Nothing is working. I think I have a couple of problems and I’ve been chasing my tail trying to fix 1 when they are all causing my issues. Any help is GREATLY appreciated. I was super stoked when this printer came in, and now I’m regretting even buying it.
Here’s a photo of the print. You can see where it started and I dialed in the z offset, but then about 1/4 of the way in it started to get closer and closer. By the time it got to the top left corner it was so low to the bed I couldn’t get the layer off the bed. I ended up having to do another full layer on top of it in order to remove the previous one.
Get a thermocouple and compare it against the temp measured on the beacon probe. If there is a difference then you have a bad beacon. If the temp delta is large then the prob is not compensating for thermal drift and getting bad reading.
I checked the temps and they’re accurate. Mind you I used an infrared thermometer but I used the bed as a control. Bed is reading 78 on the infrared, 80 in RatOS. Then I moved it to the beacon. RatOS says 39, im getting 37 so I think I’m good? Or is a 2 degree change enough to cause this issue?
A delta of 2 degrees is fine, Have you tried doing a bed mesh with only beacon contact? The reason I ask is because contact mode uses the onboard accelerometer instead of the inductive probe. It seams like you have done the work to rule out human error I believe it may be a hardware problem. I'm just trying to isolate possibilities.
I appreciate any and all help I can get. Don’t all bed meshes use the beacon contact though? I’m not sure I know how do a mesh with and without the beacon.
You can set it to use proximity (inductive) or contact (accelerometer)
https://docs.beacon3d.com/contact/#122-bed_mesh_calibrate
under the Beacon section of your Klipper config set "home_method_when_homed: contact"
Read the Beacon docs from the link and modify your Bed_mesh_calibrate to Probe_Method=Contact
What slicer are you using?
Orca Slicer 2.3.0
Give prusa slicer a try just to try and isolate the issue. I had the exact same problem the other day which only happened when using orca slicer.
I'm having the same issue on prusa slicer, got a print running rn that I have to bump up the z offset for throughout the first layer to get it to print
did changing the offset method fix the issue for you?
Every method of changing offset has not had an effect for me. It seems like the offset is drifting during a print. But if the printer is heat soaked, then it shouldn’t be the bowing effect that the bigger printers get. A new slicer is something I haven’t tried. I will try Prusa slicer today and see if I have any luck.
Tried with Prusa Slicer and I’m still not getting enough adjustment in the Z while it’s printing. You can see at the bottom is way higher than at the top. I expect a little difference of course but there is only a .065mm in height difference between those two points which I would think the printer is capable of compensating for. Attached is also a photo of my bed mesh heat soaked 30 mins with the top cover off. Since I don’t print abs or anything with this printer. Only PETG or PLA.
I’m realizing now that the “contact” mesh is .457 but the last heat soaked bed mesh I did is only .172. Maybe I forgot to redo the beacon calibration after adjusting last time😬. I’ll try that next.
I haven’t tried using the accelerometer yet. I am going to attempt that next after the beacon calibration.
I looked through my beacon.cfg and it looks like it’s already set to contact. Do I want need to set it to proximity instead?
not sure tbh. i've read that doing proximity can help, i'll be trying that myself over the next couple days to see if it helps.
i've been running prusa slicer exclusively for a while now, and still had the issues.
such an odd thing to attribute just to thermals, like a lot of folks have been saying. .5mm beam bending due to such a small thermal increase would be kind of nuts....
Additional note:
Currently running a print with multiple separate parts, and the drift appears in all of them even if I correct for it. The part in the front (bottom of picture) printed first, then the part in the back, and then the middle part. after bumping up Z for the back part, I still had this drift issue in the middle part.
Just so odd and frustruating
UPDATE: Re doing the bed mesh didn’t do anything. I enabled the contact method instead of using the beacon probe, it is making the bed mesh by tapping the print plate in several locations before it starts the print. I will see if this gives better results. I take it if it does, then I have a bad beacon.
Side note: I see why the beacon is recommended. These little pokes on the bed take forever FOREVER with a 500mm machine
Yeah I’ve got a tap probe running on a Voron 2.4, that’s only 350mm and it still takes an endless amount of time lmao
Adaptive meshing is super necessary with probes like that
I think you have the same problem i have had
It looks like your first layer is getting worse the longer you print on the first layer
I have found that the gantry really struggles from different thermal expansion from the aluminum and the steel
For example for PETG i need to heatsoak the gantry for 30 to 60 minutes 20 degrees higher then initial bed temp
When i do this i have a perfect first layers across the whole 500 bed
When I don’t I see the same problems. For short print I don’t really heatsoak but for most of them I do to get the best results
So what I do (it is all done with macros) is let the printer home itself, Y in the middle, park the toolhead(s) and then place the bed 5mm from the gantry in Z. For PETG bring the bed to 100C and when it reaches it let it soak for 30 to 60min. After that I home and z tilt again and call the start print macro
You can also test it by doing a manual mesh with beacon every 15min and soak the gantry you will see the longer it soaks the more pronounced the bend is going to be,
interesting. Appreciate the information my friend.
It really is tough to imagine such an effect from heatsoak, but your description does definitely track. would love to see an FEM model done to visualize it and see if it all tracks.
I'll give all that a shot and report back
Feel like copying and pasting your macro setup to share with the class?😅 I’ll try anything at this point
I first couldn’t believe it either that it would do so much so I began to experiment and yea all my tests lead to one thing and that is the thermal expansion of the gantry but would love to see a more in depth analysis on this
Sure i will drop it tomorrow when i am back at the machine, the macro still needs some work for idex
Right now the macro forces the machine in idex_single mode but you can easily call idex copy or mirror after the macro if needed
for real.
I work in the composites industry, and know that the CTE for our steel molds compared to the composite itself is a big consideration, but to think that the difference in CTE between the steel and aluminum can cause like a mm of deflection is fricken nuts lol
I believe it, but nuts
Yea, i have done some basic calculations to just check my sanity but it checks out. But if this is the problem then all machines would suffer from this and it is sad that ratrig doesn’t mention any of this in there docs. From the looks of there printing quality i even question i they would care
Also the macro originated from a klipper form post that i have just modified to get it to work with the ratos klipper setup
https://discord.com/channels/582187371529764864/949426783894245446/1359881461263503400
This is a version of the macro
I have changed some more things but you can have a look at it
it's also odd that more people aren't experienceing this....
I think it gets more pronounced the longer the gantry ( i have a 500 ) and also how long your first layer time is
And if you use the printer enclosed or open
Apparently it is a common issue
https://discord.com/channels/582187371529764864/1293322335545196655 same problem i think
It’s very much a common problem. One I wish I knew of before I spent almost 3k on this machine😂
I think all machines of this type have this problem it is all dependent on the size
Do you have a 500?
Yep. I come from a tiny little Bambu so I didn’t really think about things like the different thermal expansion between aluminum and steel. Sounds like most people have just swapped to the Toro Titanium tube and all their problems went away. Hopefully I’ll snag one before they sell out this time. I’m just worried that isn’t my only issue but it’s too hard to tell with the bowing being the most common thing. Hopefully I’m wrong.
There are more issues but if it is build correctly then i think the torro tube can fixes the bowing
But also if you don’t use idex copy or mirror give the heatsoak a try
Im using it a couple of days now and everything print has perfect first layers and it is all automated
I have tried heat soaking for up to two hours with no luck unfortunately. I haven’t tried at two different temps though.
UPDATE: I tried doing the bed mesh with contact instead of using the inductive probe. After 1.5 hours of it tapping the bed, it faulted with an MCU timeout and the print stopped.
Seems like my last hope is the perfect heatsoak time and temperature and the titanium gantry.
How do you do the heatsoak?
It is important to home and z tilt again after the heatsoak
I’ll be damned
It’s not perfect, but it’s much better. Bed mesh difference is nutty (forgot to get pics, sorry)
I manually soaked by homing, keeping the head in center just a bit above the bed, and bringing the nozzle to 150 and bed to 100. Did so for probably 30 minutes
Thing is let it heatsoak enough and then you can redo the z offset to dail it in
If you don’t have an idex you don’t need the ti tube
Ti tube?
Titanium tube for the gantry
I’ll give this a shot
You can use that to mitigate the bending
Problem is that the thermal expansion of aluminum is to high and also the aluminum of the gantry is pressed not poured
Causes more internal stresses that act when heating up
Noted, will be doing IDEX over the summer I think so that’ll be on my list.
Anybody thought about hollowed out milled steel? Would love to give that a shot too
Could also help but don’t have experience in that. From what I see is that most love the @Mike-Toro3D ti tube for vc4 idex
I have idex right now and the z offset between the nozzles is a journey on it own
If it is to much it is not usable, and if the gantry warps you can forget to use idex copy mode
I can only imagine…
A whole other can of worms added
I am also working or more trying to use the VAOC camera with opencv to do a auto alignment of the offset of the nozzles
But my machine is running non stop job after job so don’t have a lot of time to develop this
And also if you go idex make sure your hotends are exactly the same
I have two different ones, one with a screw in pt1000 and one that is the updated one and the temperatures between them where all over the place
I have found that the screw in doesn’t report the highest temp in the melt zone so i tested it by heating it up to 280C and the hottest point inside was 330C
That is one worm 🪱 of the can
@San_Holo
This is the latest version of the macro
I struggled a lot with inconsistant Z-Height... Did you read through this thread: https://discord.com/channels/582187371529764864/1292556582336335904/1292556582336335904
You’re a lifesaver. Thank you so much. I’ll give this a shot today.
I was heatsoaking using the parameters here.
https://os.ratrig.com/docs/configuration/beacon_contact/
Im trying to remember now but I believe it did not do the z tilt again after the heat soak.
Beacon Contact | RatOS
- Prerequisites
Forgive my ignorance but how are you using the macro? I’m new to Klipper. For reference, I usually just upload and start the print from orca slicer. Do you have the macros in your startup gcode or do you just call the macro while the printer is doing its usual startup stuff? Z-tilt, homing, etc.
I ran the macro for 100 degrees for 30 mins. Did a z tilt. Then I started my print from orca slicer. I’m still having the same issues. The adaptive mesh doesn’t seem to be adapting. Parts of the first layer look good, but the others look terrible. See photo.
Is it a 500?
Yes
I need to soak mine for 60min
To use the whole bed
Also is it enclosed?
Enclosed yes, but top cover removed. Trying to not clog the extruder with petg
You can enclose it
I do the same
Mine is fully enclosed and prints +20hour jobs with no problem
What you can try to do is measure the temp of the gantry
Most of these problems if your machine is correctly build is due to gantry warping
But by the looks of it, it looks way better then before
Yes it is definitely better than before. I’ll try 60 mins next time. I’ll keep going up and up until it’s acceptable I suppose. Maybe it’ll be better with the enclosure. Less heat escaping
Appreciate all your help
What temp do you use for this petg?
I’m also working on a adaptive heatsoak that calculates the soak time with some data of the first layer but isn’t finished yet
Also how did you call the macro?
Using 265 for overture PETG.
What i do is place it in the start gcode as the first line
Same as me so i don’t experience clogs but i also limit the flow to 20mm3/s
But from the looks of it your mesh is applied
Can you share a picture of the loaded mesh?
But just let it print if the texture becomes to course then just cancel
Yes I can tell the mesh is applied. I can see the z screws moving ever so slightly. But it seems like it’s not compensating enough.
It is but the problem is that your gantry is still expanding slowly downward
And that is not compensated
I see. Hence the longer heatsoak.
Yes the longer the first layer time the longer it needs to soan
Soak
Here’s my mesh. I have a low back left corner I can’t seem to get rid of. But everything I see on here says the mesh will compensate so I haven’t bothered fixing it.
If you want you can do a experiment by soaking it for 30min do a manual bed mesh and then soak for another 30min and mesh again you will see the difference
Is this soaked at 100C for 30min?
Correct
Strange
I take it that it should be more flat?
Can you try and just feel the underside of the gantry
Does it feel really hot?
Mine mesh is more bowed but i also enclose it fully so maybe that is the reason
But what you want is that the gantry is fully soaked for the setup you print so it could be that you need to soak longer
Yes when I have heat soaked enclosed I’ve noticed that mine is much more bowed
I did also loosen and re torque the top steel rail after a 2 hour heat soak to try and reduce the bowing. That may have helped too.
Can confirm the gantry is pretty damn hot. Can only keep my hand on it for a few seconds.
I’m heat soaking for an hour now. Enclosed. I’ll post my results when it’s done.
Could also be it but then you allways need to fully soak it but is a great idea maybe going to give it a try
I think you only need to soak longer, no need to fully enclose
Unfortunately, same issue. Still way too low at the front and low at the right corner. I’m going to try again to raise that left back corner up and see if that helps. Maybe my mesh is just too out of wack? This is what it looks like after 1 hour heat soak.
Well looks like the heightmap/bedmesh isn’t actually being saved to either the “contact” or “ratos” height map because I just did a manual mesh after stopping the print about 2 minutes ago. (The 1 hour preheat one) figuring it’s still nice and heat soaked. This is what the mesh looked like this time. It should have updated when it re did the mesh right before the print started.
Okay. For the sake of redundancy I did a little test.
1. I heat soaked for 30 minutes at 100C with the full enclosure.
2. Home and Z tilt
3. Created a new heightmap. The result was a .710 range.
4. Started a new print using the whole bed. 1 layer, 450x450x0.20mm.
5. Initial print startup stuff happened, z tilt again, home, etc. then it re did the bed mesh again. After the bed mesh the console says “Bed Mesh state has been saved to profile [ratos] for the current session. The SAVE_CONFIG command will update the printer config file and restart the printer.
6. Start printing and it seems like the mesh is WAY off.
I dug into it and looked at the height maps while printing. The mesh saved to “ratos” was .228 instead of .710 like it was before. I know it’s not going to be exactly the same i took photos of the ratos mesh before and after I started the print. They were identical.
In conclusion, when the printer is re doing the bed mesh during the print startup process, the bed mesh is not updating.
I am reazling something after typing this. I have the adaptive bed mesh turned on. It’s using the adaptive mesh not the new mesh it created before the print. I am going to re run this test with the adaptive mesh turned off to see if I have different results
Weird i use adaptive mesh and for me it all checks out, the start print macro creates the ratos mesh but you don’t need to do the save config are you using the newest version of all software?
This looks more like my mesh
Have you followed all the steps in the ratos docs for commissioning the printer?
I have. I’ve looked back at it numerous times looking through to see if I’ve forgotten anything. Everything checks out. I have the most recent ratos as well.
Could you share your printer config?
Sure thing
Okay. So same test, but turned off adaptive mesh so it doesn’t use the “contact” bed mesh profile. It printed way better finally. Still not perfect though. Going to heat soak for 60 mins now and see if it’s better. My nozzle did clog though. Likely because it got so hot. Going to try 60 minutes, top cover off and see how it does.
What type of extruder do you use? The one with the screw in pt1000 or the newer one?
The newer one I believe. It came with it pre installed. Phaetus Rapido 2 Plus
Just check to be sure because the screw in one has clogging problems
why do you have
variable_beacon_scan_compensation_enable: False
variable_beacon_scan_compensation_profile: "Contact"
in your config
I don't have these in my config
can you look what the name is of the loaded mesh ? @San_Holo
I saw that there was a malformed command with the echo of ratos
This is what I was referring to earlier that was preventing the “ratos” from being the loaded mesh. When I started having issues with meshing earlier when I got the machine, I read on some post on here somewhere that turning those two things on can help. Theory was you heat soak then run the beacon calibration while heat soaked and that would fix everything. But yesterday I realized that’s what was preventing me from using the mesh that the printer was making new every time. Hence the “false” setting now. I realzied that basically having that enabled meant that the printer uses the “contact” profile all the time instead of the “ratos” profile that it creates before every print. When I disabled it, I saw some progress.
When I was reading through the beacon page on the RatRig site, it said if you have a twisted gantry to enable scan compensation and create the mesh. I’ve been fighting the machine ever since
Okay I understand but have you done the twisted gantry test? Because twisted gantry is something else then this problem with bowed gantry
I did test it when I first got the printer. And it was twisted. Thinking back on it now, I never re tested after I spent a day re leveling the feet and back bars.
I think it is sound to redo the parts of commisioning just to be sure nothing else is acting up
Maybe so. I have done all of it over again throughout this process but never all at once. It’s tricky keeping track of everything. I use it for work but it’s not the only thing I do so getting a couple hours undivided time with it is tricky. I’ve been kind of using this discord post as a notepad because of that lol
I understand I also use mine for work but really to produce parts in volume
I have just installed my new rapido 2 so first time idex whole bed
Side note, before I begin today’s testing, how are you putting the macro into the start print process. For reference I use orca slicer
This is my start gocde
but this is for the IDEX_MIRROR mode
so just remove the IDEX_MIRROR for normal printing
they new version of the macro has also HEATSOAK_SKIP command if you want to skip heatsoak and continue the print
I got it uploaded. Thank you.
Also I looked at the printer this morning after my “jam” yesterday. Wasn’t a jam after all. The filament got stuck in the ptfe tube and couldn’t be pulled by the extruder.
That is possitive news that it isn't a jam
I put in your start gcode and I get a fault for start_print not found before the first move or tool change instruction. I just plugged it in exactly how you wrote it into my machine water gcode in orca slicer
Have you used the newest version of the macro?
Yes I deleted the old one and uploaded the new
And it is included in the printer config?
Yessir. I can still call it via the console but for some reason won’t work via start gcode
Can you post the error from the console
Nevermind
Ignore me. I just copied and pasted from discord. I must’ve typed something wrong before hand😅
is it now working?
Yes it’s heat soaking now. Thank you
Sweet, let me know how it goes
I'm going to create a repo for all the macro's that i use but with a moonraker updater support so you can update to newer versions from mainsail then
I’m going to pin your macro and start gcode to the top of this post so other people can use it too. It has really been helpful.
Also you said that you use the machine for work, what is it that you print or do with the machine?
I work in food manufacturing. So just a lot of prototypes. From stuff to improve our processes to replacement parts for our equipment. A lot of the times I’ll 3D print my design before getting it cnc’d or laser cut or whatever. The Bambu just kept running out of space or I could only make one at a time. Now I can make several😁
Nice, and also IDEX?
Negative. Just hybrid for now. I was going to do IDEX but I’ve seen so many problems with it on this discord I’m hesitant until some more of the bugs have been worked out.
Do remember that you're not seeing all the people who got it working with little or no help. The bias confirmation of mostly seeing the people with problems is real 🙂
That’s fair. I suppose in a troubleshooting server it’s less common to find people who have no issues 😂
@NULL got an error after the heat soak completed. I tried clicking the unpause button manually and it didn’t do anything. Any ideas?
Can you show more of the log?
just try to home the machine and then resume the print
Everything else went as planned prior to that. I just used start_print in the console to move past the error.
but PAUSE_state isn't used by me
Strange. I’ll have to look in the config to find out where it’s coming from
Could be orca slicer doing it
that isn't it
can you share the gcode?
or just the first part of it
The start gcode?
yes the first couple of lines
It should be identical to the one you sent this morning.
can you remove the MAYBE_HOME
I’m also getting a weird command on the console waiting for the extruder to be between 0 and 5 degrees. Which obviously isn’t going to happen.
it shouldn't effect it
Yes
I’ll restart and skip the heat soak this time and see if I have the same issue?
what you can do is just try the heatsoak command with 1 minute duration then you can check if all works
Got it. I’ll try it.
Still having same issue. Here’s photos of the console.
could you try one thing, open the macro and rename PAUSE_BASE to PAUSE
from the looks of it the problems is in your RESUME state
Yep I’ll change it now
Trying it now.
That did it. It’s working now.
Now I’ll let the machine cool back down to room temp, heatsoak for an hour and try again.
🤞🏻
Maybe there are some differences in the macros because mine is a idex setup
But good to know that it works now
Lets pray that the first layer is better now
It must be. Trying the 1 hour heat soak now that the machine is back to room temp. I’ll report back in an hour🫡
I needed to cancel my print because my beacon cable was scratching the layers 250g wasted
Yeah that is the unfortunate thing about a 500mm bed. Big prints mean big mistakes lol
Yea but going to start a fresh batch tomorrow I can’t wait to use 2kg of petg a day 😅
No kidding. Especially with IDEX.
Yea the only reason i bought the damn thing
About halfway through and this is the best first layer this machine has ever put down. It is still low in some points and higher in others but not too drastic. It’s acceptable for the first time ever. Thank you so much @NULL
Super happy for you dude!
I still see a ti gantry in my future to reduce the need for such long heat soaking. But at least I can finally use the damn thing!
Same boat here
Same boat here, also going to do the ti tube upgrade but need something to get the machine working
Today i was thinking to just heatsoak at the bed temps and not at 100C
I am also going the cpap route but with flap control
How are the first layers with your setup now?
What’s the flap control for? So that the fan can be always on and not have spin up time or something?
Much much better!
Now I’m fighting some cura issues (the fact that it just won’t work at all lol) but that’s separate
Yes for real quick control when going fast
Balcony workshop
YouTube
Flap controlled CPAP. First prototype test.
Controlling the airflow with a flap allows for more precise cooling of overhangs. This enables the printing of more durable parts, as there is no overcooling caused by the prestart of the blower fan. Overcooling is also eliminated due to the lack of impact from the rotor’s inertia.
The WS7040 fan begins rotating at 18-21% power, which may be e...
Sweeeeeeet
Can’t wait to have some time to do those mods myself
It almost brings a tear to my eye
Note on your build sheet: if it starts to wear down (the PEI peels off) ask for a replacement. That’s an older version that the coating didn’t work properly on.
I ran into that a while back
Good to know. Thank you
Looks like a good first layer to me 👌
It was just a little high in a few spots but much more consistent overall.
What i also do is check if the nozzle has any buildup when is see something i just increase the offset with a tiny amount
Perfect first layer every time is hard to get but good enough is the best to hit. Any inconsistencies will be corrected with the second layer
That was my thought too. I’ve been spoiled by the Bambu. But the fact that a machine twice its size can still put down a layer like this is pretty impressive I must say
Yea but now i am thinking if the gantry cools down a tiny bit because of the bed going from 100 to 80 in my setup this can result in a tint change in the gantry expansion
So I am going to try to heatsoak at bed temps and see what it does
Could be yeah. Let us know your results
Things is all of this is dependent on so many factors that can influence it
But i am happy that my macro and idea is helping you to get better prints
Me too man. Now I don’t have to hide the printer from my boss. He keeps asking me to bring him to the shop when it’s printing😂
Haha you mean bring your boss to the printer ?
Or printer to the boss?
Boss to the printer. He wants to see it in action. I’ve been having to tell him I’m too busy😬
Because the frame design of the printer isn’t build to move alot
Well I hope he will be awazed
Thing is I’m getting used to the size of the 500 and for me it is a becoming a “normal” printer
And every time I have guests they can’t believe what they see 🙈
I soaked at 80 for 1h30 and isn't working
Ah nuts. Well 100c it is then. I guess on the bright side if you are doing a big abs print you don’t have to change the temps
Been running into the same issue with my 500. First layers are inconsistent…going to give this a try. So I just upload the heatsoak.cfg with the rest of the config files and add the gcode to orca?
Yes add the heatsoak.cfg to your config files. Then in orca, here’s what my startup gcode looks like.
Cool thanks, yes I saw @NULL posted it little ways up...
;;heatsoak the system and gantry
HEAT_SOAK TARGET=100 DURATION=60
MAYBE_HOME
IDEX_MIRROR
START_PRINT EXTRUDER_TEMP={first_layer_temperature[0]},{first_layer_temperature[1]} EXTRUDER_OTHER_LAYER_TEMP={temperature[0]},{temperature[1]} BED_TEMP=[first_layer_bed_temperature] INITIAL_TOOL={initial_tool} TOTAL_LAYER_COUNT={total_layer_count} X0={first_layer_print_min[0]} Y0={first_layer_print_min[1]} X1={first_layer_print_max[0]} Y1={first_layer_print_max[1]}
going to try it with a 400x400x1mm cubeBe a aware of the IDEX MIRROR in my start code
Ah yes, I will take that part out
I do have an IDEX machine, buyt just trying to get some decent prints first before I tackle that one...lol
Sure is it also a 500?
What i do is set my first layer to 0.5mm with 0.8 to 0.85 width for it
This will help to catch inconsistencies because only T0 is compensated
.8 line with for a .4mm nozzle?
Yes it is. 😁
@San_Holo how have your first layers been, has this done the trick for you?
It hasn’t entirely fixed it but I can finally print with the damn thing so that’s a good step. I don’t think it’ll ever go away completely until my Ti tube comes in. Just the nature of such a large machine I’m learning
No i use that for 0.6 sorry
Okay just got home, trying this now. Doing it manually first before adding the gcode. Heat soaked the bed with the gantry as close as I could get it. Did a quick mesh and my back corners were low, so loosed and smacked them down a bit.
Went from .345 to .194. I have had better, .127, but that was before I added the heat pad.
The mesh is going to suck after the heat soak. Try not to get too, caught up on it. The whole point of the beacon is too compensate for the high and low points in the mesh.
It took me a long time to learn that lesson
Yeah, I've been obsessing of every part of the build I must have spent a week on the frame, bought engineering squares...the whole bit. At least I did not have any issues with the electronics portion, everything worked great out the gate. Now just trying to get all these mechanical issues sorted. Shaper graphs, random vibrations, etc. In retrospect, I prob should have stayed away from IDEX. I will barely use it..lol.
Okay, attempting the first layer print now....fingers crossed!
So far so good!
🙌🏻
Success!
I'll try out the gcode tomorrow, see if I can get it all working automatically now.
I have a new version of the macro that is a bit better and more friendly to use
You can change it settings from your printer config file
Oh nice, is there a link to it?
You will need to setup the park location for the gantry
I set my Z to -7, just note that you really need to be carefull if you place your Z at 0 or negative
This is also the reason that i disable the motors because then you need to home the machine and it will place the Z in a safe position
So tried to get this macro up and running, I used the start g-code in orca. However, in the console I get "Unknown command: "heat_soak"
;;heatsoak the system gantry
HEAT_SOAK TARGET=100 DURATION=30
IDEX_SINGLE
START_PRINT EXTRUDER_TEMP={first_layer_temperature[0]},{first_layer_temperature[1]} EXTRUDER_OTHER_LAYER_TEMP={temperature[0]},{temperature[1]} BED_TEMP=[first_layer_bed_temperature] INITIAL_TOOL={initial_tool} TOTAL_LAYER_COUNT={total_layer_count} X0={first_layer_print_min[0]} Y0={first_layer_print_min[1]} X1={first_layer_print_max[0]} Y1={first_layer_print_max[1]}
Do i just add [include heatsoak.cfg] to my printer.cfg file?Yes you need to add [include heatsoak.cfg]
My cfg file is posted In this thread further up
Cool, I'll take a look, thanks!
Please be careful using macros if you don’t have experience
Before running please share your printer.cfg file i will have a look if used correctly
Also what model do you have, IDEX, 300,400,500 ?
With the new version you will need to set the two vars in your config file
IDEX 500
Thanks man, really appreciate it. Yeah, I have no experience with them yet. I have a busy few days, but I’ll post as soon as I can.
Just wanted to reach back out and say my issuse for the most part have been solved by:
Moving spool from the bottom to the top of the printer shortening the length of the PTFE tubing.
Replacing the belts and adjusting the belt tension.
Also using Rat Rigs Beta profile on Prusa slicer.
Changing the extrusion multiplier from .95 to .915.
Was able to have my first successful print where the quality is good enough for now. Still have a little issue with over extruding on some parts. But that's for another day.
Here is my printer.cfg file. I have not added the [include heatsoak.cfg] in yet, figured I would add it to the bottom. I did upload the heatsoak.cfg file you sent though to the config folder.