Pretty much at my wit's end

Kweakui

Hey guys, I've been having a hard time getting my Ender 3 to work with the Duet WiFi. I've been troubleshooting on and off for the last year and a half or so and I can't seem to get this thing to print properly.

;TLDR (More details below): Replaced Ender 3 mainboard with Duet WiFi + BLtouch, nothing sticks to the bed or nozzle too close to bed.

Machine:
Ender 3 (Ordered Jan 2019)
Creality Glass Bed (Ordered Jan 2019)
Duet 2 Wifi (Ordered March 2019)
BLtouch V3.1 (Ordered Nov 2019)

Config.g:

; Configuration file for Duet WiFi (firmware version 2.03)
; executed by the firmware on start-up
;
; generated by RepRapFirmware Configuration Tool v2.1.8 on Sat Apr 04 2020 11:36:08 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)

; General preferences
G90                                     ; send absolute coordinates...
M83                                     ; ...but relative extruder moves
M550 P"Ender 3"                         ; set printer name
M918 P1 E4 F2000000                     ; configure direct-connect display

; Network
M552 S1                                 ; enable network
M586 P0 S1                              ; enable HTTP
M586 P1 S0                              ; disable FTP
M586 P2 S0                              ; disable Telnet

; Drives
M569 P0 S0                              ; physical drive 0 goes backwards
M569 P1 S0                              ; physical drive 1 goes backwards
M569 P2 S1                              ; physical drive 2 goes forwards
M569 P3 S0                              ; physical drive 3 goes backwards
M584 X0 Y1 Z2 E3                        ; set drive mapping
M350 X16 Y16 Z16 E16 I1                 ; configure microstepping with interpolation
M92 X80.00 Y80.00 Z400.00 E93.00        ; set steps per mm
M566 X1200.00 Y1200.00 Z24.00 E300.00   ; set maximum instantaneous speed changes (mm/min)
M203 X9000.00 Y9000.00 Z180.00 E6000.00 ; set maximum speeds (mm/min)
M201 X500.00 Y500.00 Z100.00 E5000.00   ; set accelerations (mm/s^2)
M906 X800 Y800 Z800 E1000 I50           ; set motor currents (mA) and motor idle factor in per cent
M84 S30                                 ; Set idle timeout

; Axis Limits
M208 X0 Y0 Z0 S1                        ; set axis minima
M208 X235 Y235 Z260 S0                  ; set axis maxima

; Endstops
;M574 Z0 S0                              ; set active low and disabled endstops
M574 X1 Y1 S1                           ; set active high endstops
M574 Z1 S2 ; Define Z to use Probe. Home to Min
; Z-Probe
M307 H4 A-1 C-1 D-1                     ; disable heater on PWM channel for BLTouch
M558 P9 H5 F500 T2000                   ; set Z probe type to bltouch and the dive height + speeds
G31 X-42 Y-10 Z3.3 P25                        ; set Z probe trigger value, offset and trigger height
M557 X15:220 Y20:220 S40                ; define mesh grid

; Heaters
M305 P0 T100000 B4092 R4700             ; set thermistor + ADC parameters for heater 0
M143 H0 S150                            ; set temperature limit for heater 0 to 150C
M305 P1 T100000 B4092 R4700             ; set thermistor + ADC parameters for heater 1
M143 H1 S275                            ; set temperature limit for heater 1 to 275C

; Fans
M106 P0 S0 I0 F500 H-1                  ; set fan 0 value, PWM signal inversion and frequency. Thermostatic control is turned off
M106 P1 S1 I0 F500 H1 T45               ; set fan 1 value, PWM signal inversion and frequency. Thermostatic control is turned on
M106 P2 S1 I0 F500 H1:0 T45             ; set fan 2 value, PWM signal inversion and frequency. Thermostatic control is turned on

; Tools
M563 P0 D0 H1 F0                        ; define tool 0
G10 P0 X0 Y0 Z0                         ; set tool 0 axis offsets
G10 P0 R0 S0                            ; set initial tool 0 active and standby temperatures to 0C

; Custom settings are not defined

The story so far:
I changed out the mainboard for a duet WiFi since I somehow broke the original board (I was trying to install a bootloader on it to run Marlin from it), up to that point it was working fine. Anyway, I installed the board and got a BLtouch at the same time, since then, I haven't been able to get anything to stick to the bed, I've tried everything that I can think of, I replaced the BLtouch with a newer one since it somehow started giving errors (I probably did something wrong), I followed every guide that I could find. Right now, it's setup, the new BLtouch is working, but when I print, it looks like it's ignoring the offset for the BLtouch and the nozzle seems to be too close to the bed (first layer is squished right into the texture of the bed), I've changed the offset and it's still too close.
Any help would be really appreciated.

Thanks!

zapta

Have you tried lifting the head using the Duet UI's baby-steps function or setting a positive Z offset in your slicer?

droftarts

@Kweakui said in Pretty much at my wit's end:

M558 P9 H5 F500 T2000

See M558. I'd guess this is mostly about the accuracy and repeatability of your probe:

F500 (8.3 mm/s) is pretty fast for the probing speed. Try F100 or F50
Set a recovery time to let the probe settle (R parameter)
Do multiple probes of the same point (A parameter), until within a tolerance (S parameter)
Turn off heaters when probing, as they can cause interference (B parameter)

So try: M558 P9 H5 F100 T2000 R0.5 A4 S0.03 B1

Then set the Z offset; see https://duet3d.dozuki.com/Wiki/Test_and_calibrate_the_Z_probe

Edit: Then we need to look at your homeall.g and homez.g, so please post them.

Ian

baird1fa

@Kweakui How did you determine the Probe offset of 3.3mm? I know I've been having some trouble too with getting a good probe offset, but one of the issues I was having is that when you do a G30 there is a little pull back aftwards which was throwing me off. Another issue I have is that my bed not very level and there is not adjustment for it, so when you probe the nozzle at the middle of the bed (X117.5 and Y117.5) then run the probe without accounting for you X-42 and Y-10 it could give some variation in the Z offset between the two locations of the probes.

I also agree with @droftarts that your probing speed seems a bit fast and you may want to lower that to 200 or less. but I would also increase my T2000 to a normal travel speed for that printer of up to 4200 (70mm/s). See if that helps.

Kweakui

@droftarts Thanks! I'll try this and post the homing files tomorrow.

Kweakui

@zapta To be honest, I can't remember. I was following the steps on https://duet3d.dozuki.com/Wiki/Connecting_a_Z_probe and https://betrue3d.dk/bltouch-on-duet-wifi-configuratio-and-usage/ . I haven't touched the thing in about 6 months due to other things taking precedence, but trying to get it up and running again now.

Kweakui

@baird1fa I was following the steps on https://betrue3d.dk/bltouch-on-duet-wifi-configuratio-and-usage/ and https://duet3d.dozuki.com/Wiki/Connecting_a_Z_probe (among other sites I was able to find 6 months ago).

Phaedrux

There's this whole guide series too.

https://duet3d.dozuki.com/Guide/Ender+3+Pro+and+Duet+Maestro+Guide+Part+1:+Wiring/37

Part 5 gets into the BLtouch

Kweakui

@droftarts

I made the changes to M558 and redid the Z offset, last time I added to the offset to try and get the nozzle to stop grinding into the bed, that was probably the wrong way to go about it.

homeall.g:

; homeall.g
; called to home all axes
;
; generated by RepRapFirmware Configuration Tool v2.1.8 on Sat Apr 04 2020 11:36:08 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)
G91                     ; relative positioning
G1 H2 Z5 F6000          ; lift Z relative to current position
G1 H1 X-240 Y-240 F3000 ; move quickly to X and Y axis endstops and stop there (first pass)
G1 H2 X5 Y5 F6000       ; go back a few mm
G1 H1 X-240 Y-240 F240  ; move slowly to X and Y axis endstops once more (second pass)
G1 H1 Z-265 F240        ; move Z down stopping at the endstop
G90                     ; absolute positioning
G92 Z0                  ; set Z position to axis minimum (you may want to adjust this)

; Uncomment the following lines to lift Z after probing
;G91                    ; relative positioning
;G1 Z5 F100             ; lift Z relative to current position
;G90                    ; absolute positioning

Homez.g

G1 X112.5 Y112.5 F4000 ; Move probe to middle of bed
G1 S2 Z10 ;Move Z up 10 mm
G30 ;Home using probe

I manually modified the HomeZ.g based on what I could understand at the time, but I didn't make any modifications to the homeall.g, so I think it'll need some adjustment. I use CURA as a slicer Here are the start and end Gcodes (Also, if someone can help me out with a good profile for the Ender3 with a duet board, that would be great too. I'm using basically the default Ender3 profile for it. ).

Start Gcode:

; Ender 3 Custom Start G-code
G92 E0 ; Reset Extruder
G28 XY ;Home XY
M561 ; Clear any bed transform that might be in place
G1 X104.5 Y130 ; Move Probe to middle of bed
G30 ; Do a single probe
G29 S1 ; Load my heightmap. Otherwise use G29 S1
G1 Z20.0 F6000 ; Move Z to 20
G1 X0.1 Y20 Z0.3 F5000.0 ; Move to start position
G1 X0.1 Y200.0 Z0.3 F1500.0 E15 ; Draw the first line
G1 X0.4 Y200.0 Z0.3 F5000.0 ; Move to side a little
G1 X0.4 Y20 Z0.3 F1500.0 E30 ; Draw the second line
G92 E0 ; Reset Extruder
G1 Z2.0 F3000 ; Move Z Axis up little to prevent scratching of Heat Bed
G1 X5 Y20 Z0.3 F5000.0 ; Move over to prevent blob squish

End Gcode:

G91 ;Relative positioning
G1 E-2 F2700 ;Retract a bit
G1 E-2 Z0.2 F2400 ;Retract and raise Z
G1 X5 Y5 F3000 ;Wipe out
G1 Z10 ;Raise Z more
G90 ;Absolute positionning

G1 X0 Y{machine_depth} ;Present print
M106 S0 ;Turn-off fan
M104 S0 ;Turn-off hotend
M140 S0 ;Turn-off bed

M84 X Y E ;Disable all steppers but Z

Phaedrux

@Kweakui said in Pretty much at my wit's end:

G1 H1 Z-265 F240 ; move Z down stopping at the endstop G90 ; absolute positioning G92 Z0 ; set Z position to axis minimum (you may want to adjust this)

This part of homeall will need to be changed to match what you've changed in homez. It's currently setup to use an endstop rather than the probe. So you'll need to position the probe and then call G30. And remove the G92 Z0.

@Kweakui said in Pretty much at my wit's end:

G28 XY ;Home XY M561 ; Clear any bed transform that might be in place G1 X104.5 Y130 ; Move Probe to middle of bed G30 ; Do a single probe G29 S1 ; Load my heightmap. Otherwise use G29 S1

Your start gcode looks ok since you're working around calling G28 there so you're still using the probe to home the Z axis. If you cleaned up the homeall file you could simplify the start gcode by just calling G28 to home everything and then G29 S1 to load the heightmap.

What does your heightmap actually look like? When did you last re-create it? This could be part of your problem, since if the heightmap was created with a bad Z0 position it could be way off. I suggest you start fresh. Fix your homeall. Relevel the bed manually. Remeasure your probe offsets. Then create a new G29 heightmap. If your first layer is still too close or too far away use baby stepping to adjust and then apply that offset to the G31 offset in config.g.

The guides I linked to above go over a lot of this stuff for calibration and also has a ender 3 profile for cura you can try.

Kweakui

Thanks a lot guys, I'm going through re-calibrating the printer. I have 2 rolls of PLA, but they're pretty brittle (probably because I just let them out in the open for the last year or so), so I'm going to figure out if I can fix it, if not, I'll have to order some more. Either way, I'll update this when I have a chance.

Thanks again!

dc42

@Kweakui said in Pretty much at my wit's end:

Thanks a lot guys, I'm going through re-calibrating the printer. I have 2 rolls of PLA, but they're pretty brittle (probably because I just let them out in the open for the last year or so), so I'm going to figure out if I can fix it, if not, I'll have to order some more. Either way, I'll update this when I have a chance.

Thanks again!

I find that if I throw away the first few metres of filament, after that it stops being brittle and can be used.

deckingman

@dc42 said in Pretty much at my wit's end:

@Kweakui said in Pretty much at my wit's end:

Thanks a lot guys, I'm going through re-calibrating the printer. I have 2 rolls of PLA, but they're pretty brittle (probably because I just let them out in the open for the last year or so), so I'm going to figure out if I can fix it, if not, I'll have to order some more. Either way, I'll update this when I have a chance.

Thanks again!

I find that if I throw away the first few metres of filament, after that it stops being brittle and can be used.

I read somewhere that it's exposure to sunlight (probably UV) that causes that to happen. I've noticed that transparent PLA is much more prone to becoming brittle than solid colour. And since I've moved my printer out of my study which has a window, into my garage which does not have windows, I haven't noticed any brittle PLA, despite it being left on the machine for months. So maybe there is something in that theory about UV light.

Kweakui

It appears that putting the filament in a freezer bag with a couple of silica gel packs for a few days fixed the brittleness.

So I went through the calibration steps at https://duet3d.dozuki.com/Guide/Ender+3+Pro+and+Duet+Maestro+Guide+Part+4:+Calibration/40 and the BLtouch part. I got to the part of printing the test cube, the first layer still isn't sticking properly and I'm not sure the compensation is working, if I look at the first layer it's trying to put down, some of the areas are laying down ok but others look like the nozzle is too close to the bed. I don't see the Z axis screw moving at all when printing, it gets most of the way through the layer, but then a part of it either doesn't stick or comes unstuck and gets pulled by the nozzle and takes the rest of the layer with it.

I ran the mesh bed compensation to generate the height map and it looks ok I think, I did all the flow rate and esteps calibrations, the bed is as level as I can get it.

I tried Baby steps and it doesn't seem to be helping, I'll keep messing around with it, but some help would be good. Let me know if you need me to post settings or anything.

I'm prinintg PLA at 210 with a bed temp of 60 at the moment, the first lines that get printed on the side from Cura seem to go down fine, but when it starts printing on the bed is when things start to degrade, this is on the creality glass bed as well.

Phaedrux

Clean your bed with warm water and then IPA and try again.

Are you running G29 before the print or loading a saved heightmap before the print with G29 S1? What does the height map look like?

Kweakui

I'm calling G29 S1 in the start code of the slicer

I ran G29 to generate the heightmap manually just before starting the print.

Here's a screengrab of the heightmap, that back corner looks a bit high, the back corner of the print is where the nozzle looks too close to the bed, Maybe a re-levelling is in order? But the printer should be compensating for that unless I don't have enough data points?

Kweakui

@Kweakui @Phaedrux Ok, cleaning definitely helped (should have tried that first), it still doesn't look like it's trying to compensate though as the part close to that back corner is definitely too close to the bed.

Kweakui

I'm a heck of a lot farther now thanks to your help guys, it printed out the test cube, there's still some dialing in for me to do I think, I'm still not convinced it's properly compensating, but I'm going to re-level the bed again and get that back corner in line as much as I can.

In the 21 mm of the test cube (box?) that it printed, the front looks pretty great but the sides have a bit of wobble to them and the back has these weird artifacts, here's a picture.

I think those might be down to Slicer settings, it looks like it does some sort of wipe at those points.

I'm going to try printing a few other things and see how to dial in all the settings.

If you guys have any suggestions, I'd welcome them.

Thanks for all your help!

Phaedrux

Thin prints like that with short layer times are going to have artifacts like that, so don't worry about it too much.

It looks like you could level the bed a bit more, but it could also be some skew in the axis itself, which you can't really level out. You can try upping the number of points to get some more detail.

You can also reduce the first layer speed and increase the bed and nozzle temp a bit to help adhesion. Your extruder should be well calibrated as well.

Kweakui

I'll try lowering the speed of the first layer, I tried printing a benchy, the brim seemed to print fine, but the actual benchy wouldn't stick in the middle of the bed. I'll also try upping the bed temp and nozzle a bit.

I did go through the bed and nozzle calibration while doing the rest, I think they're well calibrated now.

I'll get this eventually...