Calibrating a large delta

paboman

endstop are fixed on the top, optical type, but yes they can be triggered not at equal height

dc42

@paboman said in Calibrating a large delta:

endstop are fixed on the top, optical type, but yes they can be triggered not at equal height

That doesn't matter, calibration will correct the offsets. The main issue with the height map that you published is that one or more of the M665 rod length, the M665 delta radius and the M92 tower steps/mm is out by a large amount.

paboman

I will be able to measure steps/mm with a dial gauge but getting the rods length is quite problematic as they are theoretically long 1155mm, I measured them with a steel ruler...but I was unable to find a caliper that big

Do you think changing the calibration factor to 7 can get the rod length correct ?

paboman

I have corrected the R Radius manually to get the nozzle at the same height from the bed in the center as on the circumference of the printable area, then I run the Mesh Grid and get better result then my previous:

Why the probed mesh is lower than the reference plane ?

Now I will measure if steps/mm are dialed in precisely

thanks again

dc42

That looks a lot better!

The probed mesh may be lower than the reference plane if your H parameter is not correct in the M665 command, or if you home the printer when mesh bed compensation is already applied (this is fixed in firmware 2.0RC5).

You should run delta calibration and mesh bed compensation at the same bed and hot end temperatures, in case thermal expansion has an effect.

BenDiesel

If like to see bigger pic of the whole thing

paboman

@dc42

I have upgraded to the last RC5
Corrected my 640 step/mm as I was getting a real Z travel shorter by 3%
Done the automatic delta calibration and copied the values in the config.g, then run the Grid Mesh and now I am getting this mesh....something is wrong i will try to calibrate the radius by hand because before the result was more comfortable.
what do you think?

dc42

Are you sure that you have the correct rod length, measured between bearing centres, in the M665 L parameter?

paboman

@dc42 I am pretty sure is right within half a millimeter
I am using magnetic rods articulated on 10mm steel spheres.

From one end of the sphere to the other end of the sphere is 1155mm - 10mm = 1145 (I am subtracting 5mm from each sphere as the centre of rotation is given by the radius of the 10mm sphere which is 5)

I am getting better result, or maybe its just an illusion, with the Radius manually adjusted instead of using the R values proposed by the automatic probing, why ?

dc42

Automatic calibration minimises the sums of the squares of the height errors. So for good results the probe points should cover all areas of the bed. How many probe points did you use, and how were they distributed?

paboman

the probing points are generated by the wizard using radius 500mm as input (for 1000mm printable area)

Danal

@paboman said in Calibrating a large delta:

I am using magnetic rods articulated on 10mm steel spheres.

From one end of the sphere to the other end of the sphere is 1155mm - 10mm = 1145 (I am subtracting 5mm from each sphere as the centre of rotation is given by the radius of the 10mm sphere which is 5)

1145 sounds correct if YOU MEASURED 1155 to the "outer" part of the spheres.

If you obtained a measurement from the manufacturer of your rods, they are NORMALLY labeled "joint center to joint center" and the subtraction would be incorrect.

paboman

@danal they are manufactured by myself and yes 1155 mm is the distance between the outer part of the spheres

Danal

@paboman said in Calibrating a large delta:

@danal they are manufactured by myself and yes 1155 mm is the distance between the outer part of the spheres

Excellent!!

When it is convenient, it would be really cool to see some pictures. There's a few pics of my 600 Dia x 600 Z Delta if you scroll down on this blog:

http://danalspub.com/

paboman

@dc42 To use the saved mesh grid I understand that I need to add G92 S1 in the config.g, is that right ?

dc42

@paboman said in Calibrating a large delta:

@dc42 To use the saved mesh grid I understand that I need to add G92 S1 in the config.g, is that right ?

It's better to include it at the end of your homeall.g file, or in your slicer start GCode.

paboman

@dc42

do you mean Homedelta.g ?

I am not sure the height map is loaded properly as I still get the nozzle too high where the heightmap is showing more distance.

Config.g

; Z-Probe
M558 P5 H10 F600 T6000 I1                                               ; Set Z probe type to switch and the dive height + speeds (was P5)
G31 P600 X0 Y0 Z12.20                                                   ; Set Z probe trigger value, offset and trigger height
M557 R500 S50                                                           ; Define mesh grid R= probe Radius S= Mesh Spacing

Homedelta.g

; homedelta.g
; called to home all towers on a delta printer
;
; generated by RepRapFirmware Configuration Tool on Sun Feb 25 2018 16:19:34 GMT+0100 (ora solare Europa occidentale)
G91                        ; relative positioning
G1 S1 X2500 Y2500 Z2500 F6000 ; move all towers to the high end stopping at the endstops (first pass)
G1 X-5 Y-5 Z-5 F1800 S2    ; go down a few mm
G1 S1 X10 Y10 Z10 F360     ; move all towers up once more (second pass)
G1 Z-5 F1000               ; move down a few mm so that the nozzle can be centred
G90                        ; absolute positioning
G1 X0 Y0 F1000             ; move X+Y to the centre

G92 S1			; Load Heightmap

Bed.g

; bed.g
; called to perform automatic delta calibration via G32

M561 ; clear any bed transform

; bed.g file for RepRapFirmware, generated by Escher3D calculator
; 16 points, 6 factors, probing radius: 500, probe offset (0, 0)
;The value of each H parameter should be (probe trigger height at that XY position) - (probe trigger height at centre of bed).

G28
G30 P0 X0.00 Y500.00 Z-99999 H0
G30 P1 X321.39 Y383.02 Z-99999 H0
G30 P2 X492.40 Y86.82 Z-99999 H0
G30 P3 X433.01 Y-250.00 Z-99999 H0
G30 P4 X171.01 Y-469.85 Z-99999 H0
G30 P5 X-171.01 Y-469.85 Z-99999 H0
G30 P6 X-433.01 Y-250.00 Z-99999 H0
G30 P7 X-492.40 Y86.82 Z-99999 H0
G30 P8 X-321.39 Y383.02 Z-99999 H0
G30 P9 X0.00 Y250.00 Z-99999 H0
G30 P10 X216.51 Y125.00 Z-99999 H0
G30 P11 X216.51 Y-125.00 Z-99999 H0
G30 P12 X0.00 Y-250.00 Z-99999 H0
G30 P13 X-216.51 Y-125.00 Z-99999 H0
G30 P14 X-216.51 Y125.00 Z-99999 H0
G30 P15 X0 Y0 Z-99999 S6

dc42

Yes, for a delta you would put it in homedelta.g, or possibly at the end of bed.g instead if you normally auto calibrate before printing.

paboman

@dc42

I have noticed only now a typo! that is why it wasn't working for me
I Was using G92 S1 instead of G29 S1