BL Touch Installation what is Servo Pin?

SignPostMan

@fcwilt yes BL Touch brand

SignPostMan

I have the Z Endstop still mounted to the z axis. and the BL Touch is wired but setting on the bench. If I ask the machine to Home Z, The Z axis will lower and touch, triggering the endstop, then stop moving. if I then trigger the BL Touch, the Z Axis will descend again and trigger the Z Endstop again.

Does this give any clues of the issue?

; homez.g
; called to home the Z axis
;
; generated by RepRapFirmware Configuration Tool v3.3.0 on Sat Aug 21 2021 12:06:11 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)
G91               ; relative positioning
G1 H2 Z10 F6000   ; lift Z relative to current position
G1 H1 Z-309 F2500 ; move Z down until the endstop is triggered
G1 H2 Z5 F6000    ; go back a few mm
G1 H1 Z-20Y F180  ; move slowly to Z axis endstops once more (second pass)

;G92 Z0            ; set Z position to axis minimum (you may want to adjust this)

G30 ; probe bed

; Uncomment the following lines to lift Z after probing
G91              ; relative positioning
G1 Z20 F2500      ; lift Z relative to current position
G90              ; absolute positioning

fcwilt

@signpostman said in BL Touch Installation what is Servo Pin?:

I have the Z Endstop still mounted to the z axis. and the BL Touch is wired but setting on the bench. If I ask the machine to Home Z, The Z axis will lower and touch, triggering the endstop, then stop moving. if I then trigger the BL Touch, the Z Axis will descend again and trigger the Z Endstop again.

To be sure we are on the same page what do you mean by trigger the BL Touch?

Frederick

SignPostMan

@fcwilt Probe is extended, I touch it and it retracts. It does however extend again

fcwilt

@signpostman said in BL Touch Installation what is Servo Pin?:

@fcwilt Probe is extended, I touch it and it retracts. It does however extend again

The typical settings for the M558 parameters A and S cause the probe to take multiple readings until two consecutive readings are within the range specified by the S parameter.

M558 Documentation

Triggering it by hand like that is very unlikely to obtain two consecutive readings so it will stop trying after the number of readings specified by the A parameter and average the readings it obtained.

I don't know what your current A and S parameters are but let's say they were A=5 and S=0.05.

Touching it like you are would likely take 5 readings before it stopped trying.

Frederick

fcwilt

@signpostman

If you set the A parameter to 1 it will stop after taking just 1 reading.

Frederick

SignPostMan

I dont see S or A on the 558?

M950 S0 C"io7.out"                      ; create servo pin 0 for BLTouch
M558 P9 C"io7.in" H5 F120 T6000        ; set Z probe type to bltouch and the dive height + speeds
G31 P500 X0 Y0 Z2.5                     ; set Z probe trigger value, offset and trigger height
M557 X15:215 Y15:195 S20                ; define mesh grid

fcwilt

@signpostman said in BL Touch Installation what is Servo Pin?:

I dont see S or A on the 558?

M950 S0 C"io7.out"                      ; create servo pin 0 for BLTouch
M558 P9 C"io7.in" H5 F120 T6000        ; set Z probe type to bltouch and the dive height + speeds
G31 P500 X0 Y0 Z2.5                     ; set Z probe trigger value, offset and trigger height
M557 X15:215 Y15:195 S20                ; define mesh grid

Well that is curious. The default value for A is 1 - so 1 touch of the deployed pin on the BLTouch should have been enough to end the probing.

So that suggests that the firmware is not seeing the signal from the BLTouch.

Can you verify there is continuity on the white wire from the BL Touch to io7.in?

Frederick

SignPostMan

@fcwilt I verified the continuity, but just to eliminate the wire length I put a short wire on the white. What is now happening is when homing the probe (on my desk) can be triggered over and over, eventually it stops. Could I insert the S parameter to see if it has any effect? where does it go?

fcwilt

@signpostman said in BL Touch Installation what is Servo Pin?:

@fcwilt I verified the continuity, but just to eliminate the wire length I put a short wire on the white. What is now happening is when homing the probe (on my desk) can be triggered over and over, eventually it stops. Could I insert the S parameter to see if it has any effect? where does it go?

The S parameter by default is 0.03.

From the DWC Console you can execute M558 by itself and it will report the current settings.

For example from my printer:

M558 Report.jpg

Notice the last two value:

max taps - that is the A parameter value
max diff - that is the S parameter value

You can add the A and/or S parameter(s) to your current M558 command and set them as desired.

Frederick

SignPostMan

@fcwilt Mine is set at Max Taps 1, also my Z Probe is set at io7, yours is at zprobe.in (are you on a duet 2?)
My recovery is set at 0 sec. could this be a problem?

SignPostMan

@signpostman

fcwilt

@signpostman said in BL Touch Installation what is Servo Pin?:

@fcwilt Mine is set at Max Taps 1, also my Z Probe is set at io7, yours is at zprobe.in (are you on a duet 2?)

On that printer, yes, it is using a Duet 2 WiFi board but I also have two others printers using a Duet 3 Mini.

My recovery is set at 0 sec. could this be a problem?

I don't know for sure - I think it was @Phaedrux that suggested I use 0.2.

Nothing to be lost by changing the setting.

Frederick

SignPostMan

@fcwilt How do I input that command?

fcwilt

@signpostman said in BL Touch Installation what is Servo Pin?:

@fcwilt How do I input that command?

I'm guessing that command is in your config.g file.

If it is you just edit the file, make the change, save the file and let the DWC reboot the printer when it asks to.

Frederick

SignPostMan

@fcwilt will try in the morning, thanks for your help

Phaedrux

@signpostman said in BL Touch Installation what is Servo Pin?:

I have the Z Endstop still mounted to the z axis. and the BL Touch is wired but setting on the bench. If I ask the machine to Home Z, The Z axis will lower and touch, triggering the endstop, then stop moving. if I then trigger the BL Touch, the Z Axis will descend again and trigger the Z Endstop again.

Does this give any clues of the issue?
; homez.g
; called to home the Z axis
;
; generated by RepRapFirmware Configuration Tool v3.3.0 on Sat Aug 21 2021 12:06:11 GMT-0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)
G91               ; relative positioning
G1 H2 Z10 F6000   ; lift Z relative to current position
G1 H1 Z-309 F2500 ; move Z down until the endstop is triggered
G1 H2 Z5 F6000    ; go back a few mm
G1 H1 Z-20Y F180  ; move slowly to Z axis endstops once more (second pass)

;G92 Z0            ; set Z position to axis minimum (you may want to adjust this)

G30 ; probe bed

; Uncomment the following lines to lift Z after probing
G91              ; relative positioning
G1 Z20 F2500      ; lift Z relative to current position
G90              ; absolute positioning

G1 H1 Z-309 F2500 ; move Z down until the endstop is triggered
G1 H2 Z5 F6000 ; go back a few mm
G1 H1 Z-20Y F180 ; move slowly to Z axis endstops once more (second pass)

;G92 Z0 ; set Z position to axis minimum (you may want to adjust this)
{1}
G30 ; probe bed

It's homing using the endstop with G1 H1 Z moves, and then it's got a G30 command at the end to use the probe.

There are a few ways that you could handle using both the endstop and the probe.

One way would be to use the Z endstop as the Z max as mentioned bofore. To do that you'd have to change M574 Z2 S1 P"whatever it is". Then you would need a macro to actually do the homing move. You could call it homezmax.g and in it you'd need a G1 H1 Z move in the positive direction to move to the endstop.

You could also make your homez.g macro (called by G28 Z) do that and use the homeall.g macro (called by G28) to use the probe instead.

Or leave the endstop as it is at z min, and have G28/homeall.g use just the endstops and then dedicated homez.g to using the probe.

The BLTouch will need to be mounted to actually be used and tested. Having it on the bench is going to lead to a crash.

SignPostMan

@phaedrux I now have the BL Touch on the printer. I am testing by Homing the X&Y independently. I then move to the middle of the bed and send a G30 command to isolate the issue. The Z will lower until the probe touches. It will the inconsistently retract and my probe display console will read 0, but most of the time the Z it will continue down and the probe attempts to extend hitting the bed before it fully extends. I will either E Stop or the Z probe will get a 1000 in the display console.

fcwilt

@signpostman said in BL Touch Installation what is Servo Pin?:

I'm having trouble understanding what you are describing.

Keep in mind that when a M401 command extends the probe tip, the retraction of the probe tip, when touched, is handled by the probe and the probe tip immediately extends again.

When executing a G30 command there follows a M401 command which extends the probe tip. When the probe tip is touched it retracts sending a signal to the firmware. If the signal is seen by the firmware there follows a M402 command which retracts the probe tip, it stays retracted and then movement stops. If the signal is NOT seen by the firmware the probe tip will extend again but the movement will not stop.

I would like you to do this:

change the A parameter in the M558 command to A1
move the bed well clear of the probe so you can easily reach in and touch the probe tip. Move the probe to the front of the bed if needed
execute a G30 command
determine if bed movement starts
touch the probe tip
determine if bed movement stops
if it does not stop and the probe tip has extended touch it again
determine if bed movement stops

I'm guessing here but I think the firmware is not consistently seeing the signal from the probe. The above is to try and determine is that is the case.

Repeat the test several times starting with step 2 where you move the bed well clear of the probe.

Frederick

Phaedrux

Can you post your full config.g as it is now along with your current homing files so we can see what your settings are?