Firmware 1.18 provisional change list
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Thanks, Chris! Looks like you are getting about 8C temperature drop when you start extruding, and 8C or 6C overshoot when you stop depending on whether the fan is off or on. Definitely worth adding a feedforward term if any one wants to print at those sort f speeds with a Volcano.
Your temperature indication looks rather jittery. Are you using a thermistor, thermocouple, or PT100?
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You're welcome, I'm using a PT100. I've noticed the same thing that it jumps around a lot. The temp reading does stabilize eventually.
Full disclosure - I suspect I have a 5 voltage issue on the board or my power supply though, as my screen backlight has been flashing constantly now for days. Will address that separately if needed after I find my multimeter… Anyhow, if the PT100 is driven by the same 5v rail, it might account for the jitter.
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The PT100 daughter board runs from the 3.3V rail.
I have heard of another user seeing the PT100 readings jump around when the PT100 wires followed the extruder wires over some distance, so perhaps you have a similar interference issue in the cabling. The other possibility if you are using a 2-wire PT100 connection is that you have a connection in your PT100 circuit that isn't perfect.
I use a 4-wire PT100 connection and the wires follow the extruder wiring for about 300mm and the hot end wiring for 1m. Despite this, my temperature readings are rock steady.
I suggest you try monitoring the temperature readings under the following conditions:
1. With the extruder motor off (send M84 E0) and the hot end off.
2. With the extruder motor off and the hot end heater active.
3. With the extruder motor on (e.g. after extruding, with the M906 idle current factor set to 100%) and the hot end heater off.
That will tell you whether the extruder motor current and/or hot end heater current is interfering with the PT100 reading.
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Trying out this new firmware now, I still sometimes swear bed comp doesn't do what I expect it to. I'm thinking it's just caused by my Z axis motor and 2mm pitch lead screw just not having enough torque to hit any decent microsteps, more like 1/4 stepping.
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Right wrong or otherwise on my part I just had a heater fault with 1.18 trying to print some PETG. I had the first layer set to 240C without cooling and then 245 for the second layer with cooling. I got a heater fault pretty much the instant it tried to switch to layer two saying the temp wasn't rising the 0.3 deg C;/s that was expected. My logic was I wanted the print to stick on the first layer and then bond to itself on subsequent layers. Trying the same print with flat 240C which I'm sure will work.
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Sorry for the post flood, is bed comp set by default to tapper off ? Doing a test print now with a piece of tape on the lead screw so I can see any movement. The first layer it was waving around, now it's doing nothing at all running the same span.
Thanks,
Jeff
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@(In)Sanity:
Right wrong or otherwise on my part I just had a heater fault with 1.18 trying to print some PETG. I had the first layer set to 240C without cooling and then 245 for the second layer with cooling. I got a heater fault pretty much the instant it tried to switch to layer two saying the temp wasn't rising the 0.3 deg C;/s that was expected. My logic was I wanted the print to stick on the first layer and then bond to itself on subsequent layers. Trying the same print with flat 240C which I'm sure will work.
Currently the heater gain is only measured during auto tuning with the print cooling fan off. With the fan on it is likely to be lower. That would explain why it is expecting 0.3C/sec but you don't get that. Reducing the gain in the M307 command by 20% or 30% should fix it, but you may then get some overshoot during initial heating.
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David, thanks for that. I also just ordered a new Z-Axis stepper and lead screw (one part) as I really think the 450 ma stepper is just not micro stepping at all well. It's the only remaining part of the printer. I've replaced all the electronics, motors, belts, shafts, rods, carriages, etc. Ohh and it would have been much cheaper to just buy a new printer..but not as much fun.
Edit: What I've noticed is sometimes the Z-Axis moves for bed comp as expected and sometimes it doesn't. I'll assume it's the motor.
Jeff
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@(In)Sanity:
Sorry for the post flood, is bed comp set by default to tapper off ? Doing a test print now with a piece of tape on the lead screw so I can see any movement. The first layer it was waving around, now it's doing nothing at all running the same span.
Thanks,
Jeff
By default the bed comp does not taper. You can check the setting by running M376 with no parameters.
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Hey I have another perhaps stupid question. Is the idle down percentage applied via the stepper driver chip or is this the firmware applying the settings ? The reason I ask is if the Z-Axis driver wasn't receiving any step commands is it possible it would idle down if say it took over 30 seconds to get the next step command ?
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Currently the current is reduced to the idle value only when no stepper motor has moved for the idle time.
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Currently the current is reduced to the idle value only when no stepper motor has moved for the idle time.
Ok, so it's the firmware telling them to idle down and not the chips themselves ?
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Yes it's the firmware.
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Please keep in mind the 4 motor Z axis upgrade DC….thanks.
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quick question for ya:
just updated to latest beta 1.18 firmware, eager to test the baby-stepping feature. only thing is don't know how to adjust the newly added function. please advise.
thanks, in advance, and hope everyone is having a nice day!!
–jonathan
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Currently you send G92 R1 Z# where # is the amount you want to step in mm, in the range -1 to +1mm. I have created two macro files, containing commands G92 R1 Z0.05 and G92 R1 Z-0.05 to test with. In the final release I hope to have the machine react faster to babystepping commands than it does in current alpha2 release.
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Thanks for the prompt reply…gonna give it a try in the morning.
--Jonathan
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Installed the new 1.2A motor for the Z-Axis up from the 450ma motor. Bed comp now works much more predictably. Running out of stuff that's original on the printer outside of the shell.
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David, a couple of quick babystep questions…
Are your macro files in the Git? or should I just create them myself?
Also, are you working with Christian to add buttons for the baby stepping right on the Print Status tab? That would be excellent.
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@mhackney I looked at the code and seems that G92 R1 Z#.## is all you need, so you can make the macro files yourself.
