Leveling the bed...
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I'm not surprised it's wavy. I asked before, but maybe you missed it, have you tried only using 3 of the 6 bed fasteners? Is the bed plate stiff enough to allow for that? Those 6 bolts are torque the plate every which way. Only 3 points are needed to define a flat plane.
With the bolt pattern like this
1......2......3 . . . 4......5......6I would remove bolts 2, 4, and 6. Then use bolt 1 to set the reference height of Z0 with the nozzle, and then adjust bolts 3 and 5 to meet the nozzle.
This may not be feasible if the plate flexes too much under its own weight, or if the plate itself is truly warped even when not under competing tension from the bolts.
You can verify the repeatability of your probe by redoing the G30 S-1 test several times, manually resetting the probe to just touch the bed and resetting Z0 between each attempt. 0.013 is a lot worse variability than you should be getting with the BLtouch obviously, but I'd still like to know what actual trigger height values you get. Is there any pattern or consistency to it at all? If not, then possibly a bunk probe or something else mechanical going on that's interfering.
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@phaedrux said in Leveling the bed...:
I'm not surprised it's wavy. I asked before, but maybe you missed it, have you tried only using 3 of the 6 bed fasteners? Is the bed plate stiff enough to allow for that? Those 6 bolts are torque the plate every which way. Only 3 points are needed to define a flat plane.
With the bolt pattern like this
1......2......3 . . . 4......5......6I would remove bolts 2, 4, and 6. Then use bolt 1 to set the reference height of Z0 with the nozzle, and then adjust bolts 3 and 5 to meet the nozzle.
This may not be feasible if the plate flexes too much under its own weight, or if the plate itself is truly warped even when not under competing tension from the bolts.
You can verify the repeatability of your probe by redoing the G30 S-1 test several times, manually resetting the probe to just touch the bed and resetting Z0 between each attempt. 0.013 is a lot worse variability than you should be getting with the BLtouch obviously, but I'd still like to know what actual trigger height values you get. Is there any pattern or consistency to it at all? If not, then possibly a bunk probe or something else mechanical going on that's interfering.
I tried changing the screw layout but the bed had quit a bit of flex in it when I did that.
I have no problem running the G30 S-1 repeatedly but I am not certain how to reset Z0 between each attempt. For some reason my search abilities seem to be lacking today...
Also, although I am not certain, I think the Bltouch issue could be being influenced by a wiring issue, I noticed that when I moved some wires above my hot end the Bltouch went into an error state. I'm going to order some JST SM connectors to see if that helps. I've wanted to do quick connects on the hot end anyway so this may help.
Thanks again for all of your help!
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@tletourneau to reset between the g30 s-1 you can move the nozzle down to touch the bed. If you can't get it low enough you can use G92 Z5 to trick the firmware ii bro thinking it's actually higher than it is, allowing you to move it down more. Then when it's just touching the bed, send G92 Z0 to tell the firmware you're at z0 and then do g30 s-1 again.
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@phaedrux I don't know how but I think my bed may lift up a bit (.30) on a power cycle.
The process I used is: power on the machine, input the G92 X20 Y20 Z20 so I can leave the head in the same spot, set the bed to have a light drag on a piece of 20lb paper and run the G92 Z0 and then the G30 S-1. Once I do that it gives me the reading and puts the Bltouch in an error state that I can't seem to recover from regardless of the M280 I try (I've tried M280 P7 S160 and M280 H7 S160 to no avail, my sensor is on heater 7). So I take down the reading, set the Z to 0 (when I run the G30 S-1 it adds the value to Z) and move the bed down 5mm. I then power cycle input the G92 X20 Y20 Z20 and move Z -5 which should put the bed in the same position it was in previously however when I do that the paper no longer slips between the nozzle and bed. I have to lower the bed .3mm for the paper to slide between the nozzle and bed again. If I could get the Bltouch to reset it would be less of an issue but as it is I have doubt about the accuracy of the data set gathered. That being said, here are the iterations I got running the tests.
-.580
-.608
-.615
-.605
-.615As mentioned given my inability to ensure that Z was physically the same distance from the bed for each iteration I am not certain of the value of the data.
I am open to any other suggestions regarding testing the sensor and ensuring that my bed is not somehow changing position on its own. I am starting to get a bit frustrated but I realized this is one of the pitfalls to an inexpensive DIY 3D printer.
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It wouldn't be unheard of for the bed to change shape during a heating cycle, but I don't know why it would change just from power up.
Are you starting with a G31 Z0 value?
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@phaedrux said in Leveling the bed...:
G31 Z0
I am fairly certain that I had set the Z offset to 0, I will verify the G31 entry when I get home from work. While I can not change the bed at this time I would like to see if I can at least stiffen the bed, perhaps using 1/2" or 1" aluminum angle stock along the beds perimeter. I did order anti-backlash nuts for the lead screws and have found an improved mount that is supposed to help with Z wobble on the Tronxy X5S. I may look at swapping out the linear flange bearings also, the ones that came with the printer are plastic and I am wondering if a higher quality bearing may help.
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Have you done any research on Tronxy specific places about how others have improved the bed situation?
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Yes, I have found a bracket that people have said help with Z wobble that I will try to print out and install. There are a few other things that people have tried that they have indicated resolve the issue(s) with the Z axis on the X5S. I am planning on doing those methodically over the next few days so if I do resolve it I can post to perhaps help others that may have similar issues.
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@tletourneau said in Leveling the bed...:
Just an update, I think I figured out my issue resetting the BLTouch. I was doing a M280 P7 S160 and I needed to do a M280 P7 S160 I1 because I am using the heater 7 connection without an expansion board connected. My readings are still odd, here is what I am doing: The process I used is: power on the machine, input the G92 X20 Y20 Z20 so I can leave the head in the same spot, set the bed to have a light drag on a piece of 20lb paper and run the G92 Z0 and then the G30 S-1. The G30 S-1 command seems to raise the bed at the end, should it? That might make it hard to achieve repeatable results.I've installed anti-backlash nuts on the bed and a 330x330x3mm borosilicate glass plate with an interface between the glass and the bed of a sheet of 0.5mm high temp silicone rubber.
Here are the results:
BLTouch on glass:
-0.598
-0.610
-0.587
-0.645
-0.582BLTouch with blue painters tape on glass:
-0.585
-0.605
-0.600
-0.600
-0.587
-0.600I entered the following commands between each iteration:
G92 Z0
G30 S-1
M280 P7 S160 I1Again, I noticed the bed raising after the probe took it's reading whenever the G30 S-1 was executed.
I am including my config file in case that helps:
; Configuration file for Duet WiFi (firmware version 1.21) ; executed by the firmware on start-up ; ; generated by RepRapFirmware Configuration Tool v2 on Fri Nov 16 2018 15:16:22 GMT-0600 (Central Standard Time) ; General preferences G90 ; Send absolute coordinates... M83 ; ...but relative extruder moves M667 S1 ; Select CoreXY mode ; Network M550 P"Tronxy X5S" ; Set machine name M552 P192.168.0.95 S1 ; Enable network and set IP address M553 P255.255.255.0 ; Set netmask M554 P192.168.0.1 ; Set gateway M586 P0 S1 ; Enable HTTP M586 P1 S0 ; Disable FTP M586 P2 S0 ; Disable Telnet ; Drives M569 P0 S1 ; Drive 0 goes forwards M569 P1 S1 ; Drive 1 goes forwards M569 P2 S0 ; Drive 2 goes backwards M569 P3 S0 ; Drive 3 goes backwards M350 X16 Y16 Z16 E16 I1 ; Configure microstepping with interpolation M92 X80.00 Y80.00 Z400.00 E98.00 ; Set steps per mm M566 X600.00 Y600.00 Z12.00 E120.00 ; Set maximum instantaneous speed changes (mm/min) M203 X18000.00 Y18000.00 Z180.00 E1500.00 ; Set maximum speeds (mm/min) M201 X3000.00 Y3000.00 Z100.00 E10000.00 ; Set accelerations (mm/s^2) M906 X1100.00 Y1100.00 Z1100.00 E1100.00 I30 ; 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 X330 Y330 Z400 S0 ; Set axis maxima ; Endstops M574 X1 Y1 S0 ; Set active low endstops ; Z-Probe M574 Z1 S2 ; Set endstops controlled by probe M307 H7 A-1 C-1 D-1 ; Disable heater on PWM channel for BLTouch M558 P9 H5 F100 T6000 A5 R0.3 S0.005 B1 ; Set Z probe type to bltouch and the dive height + speeds G31 P25 X-42 Y-4 Z0 ; Set Z probe trigger value, offset and trigger height M557 X15:315 Y20:315 S20 ; Define mesh grid ; Heaters M307 H0 B0 S1.00 ; Disable bang-bang mode for the bed heater and set PWM limit M305 P0 T100000 B4138 R4700 ; Set thermistor + ADC parameters for heater 0 M143 H0 S120 ; Set temperature limit for heater 0 to 120C M305 P1 T100000 B4138 R4700 ; Set thermistor + ADC parameters for heater 1 M143 H1 S280 ; Set temperature limit for heater 1 to 280C ; Fans M106 P0 S0.3 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 T45 ; Set fan 2 value, PWM signal inversion and frequency. Thermostatic control is turned on ; Tools M563 P0 D0 H1 ; 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 ; Automatic power saving M911 S10 R11 P"M913 X0 Y0 G91 M83 G1 Z3 E-5 F1000" ; Set voltage thresholds and actions to run on power loss ; Custom settings M591 D0 P1 C3 S0I'm going to run a mesh grid and see what I get, I've set the sensitivity back to 0.005.
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I don't suppose you could post a video showing the behaviour of the probe?
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Well, it's better and running with a sensitivity of 0.005 again. I'll try to fine tune it tomorrow and run a 240 point mesh and see how it goes.
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@phaedrux I'll make one tomorrow and post it.
