@fcwilt ok perhaps not super complex but mechanically a delta is almost as simple as it gets and I suspect as a result needs to be a far higher tollerance to ensure everything works. Kits from china are less likely to be as high a tollerance as needed and would make the setup challenging but once done or corrected its not got much to go wrong or out of allignment.

With everything at right angles I can see the box design being easier to get correct but there are a lot of moving parts all wearing differently so tweaking and maintenance may be a long term issue.

Again just thoughts that spring to mind not experience of the machines talking

update to 3.0 went fine and heaters showed up fine. update to 3.3 seems to be taking a long time on the prompt
"please wait while updates are installed"

will give it a short while then refesh the webpage - had to reboot but 3.3 loaded successfully

unfortunately caught myself out on X where direction was reversed - note to self update the comments to reflect changes!

Z probe not working so thats my next bit to research - all sorted and calibration awaits - thanks again

@rcarlyle 10Hz! oh wow yes thats slow. thank you that was one of the first things I was looking for and yes changes things a lot.

Isnt it strange how "High power" is so situation dependant

when I built a many KW 3 phase heater with PID and SSR I don't consider that very high power! while thought through the switching mechanism and was aware of the zero crossing the frequency never occured to me as these are quality industrial components and "just work" with less stress for the switch than a contactor at the load and the benefits of the PID algorithms.

in comparison when building "high power" LED lighting with PWM control (~50W per lamp) frequency was critical. most controllers were about 10-20KHz which while fine with the LED, when used with the cooling fans produced audible harmonics that were a nightmare.

for these, resolution is also a factor as at low levels the LED dimming "steps" are noticeable so I am about to experiment with some 12 bit controllers to see how well 4096 steps compares to the 8 bit resolution with arduino and driven from the ESP8266 development board(if that sounds familiar the ESP is used for the wifi module on the Duet but is also great for home automation projects)

now I know how slow the switching is there is no point asking about the resolution as it will be good enough for this slow switching

thank you again for this as while PWM in itself is a simple concept the application can change which properties become important

sorry for the newbie question but when the same settings are in both the config.g and slicer then which overrules the other?

I realise that in an ideal world there will be no conflict but as an ignorant newbie I can see myself making mistakes and also it would be nice not to have to reslice a print job any time I change the machine setting which at the moment is every print as I learn what the limitatons and best configuration are.

so I have noticed that items like acceleration, jerk, max speed, fan control etc are all available in Cura when slicing and I had rather assumed that the settings in config.g would be the machine settings but since its all Gcode what happens when they conflict?

say I set acceleration to 100 and jerk to 10 for the X axis in my config.g but the settings in Cura are acceleration 500 jerk 30 for the X axis on a print that I slice.....

which are used?

sorry if this is really obvious but it seems like the gonfig.g would be bypassed by a slicer command unless there is some logic to compare the model Gcode to the config and go from there with the most appropriate setting - not sure how that would be achieved.

I guess what I am really after is what's the best practice - do I get the machine tuned by working with the Config.g file or do I set realistic maximums into the config.g and then tune in Cura?

The more I think about this I think I have been trying to do this the wrong way and I need to do the tuning in the slicer as different filaments, nozzles and model types may all need slightly different settings.

so what is the correct way?

@jay_s_uk thank you so much

I have run a fresh config for RR3

; Configuration file for Duet WiFi (firmware version 3)
; executed by the firmware on start-up
;
; generated by RepRapFirmware Configuration Tool v3.2.3 on Mon Jun 28 2021 10:39:08 GMT+0100 (British Summer Time)

; General preferences
G90                                                 ; send absolute coordinates...
M83                                                 ; ...but relative extruder moves
M550 P"Duet CR-10"                                       ; 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 S1                                          ; physical drive 0 goes forwards
M569 P1 S1                                          ; physical drive 1 goes forwards
M569 P2 S1                                          ; physical drive 2 goes forwards
M569 P3 S1                                          ; physical drive 3 goes forwards
M584 X0 Y1 Z2:4 E3               					; Driver 0 controls the X motor, 1 controls Y, 2 and 4 control Z motors, 3 control E motor
M671 X-60:325 Y150:150 S2       					;leadscrews 60mm off each side of the bed max 2mm correction
M350 E1 I0                                          ; configure microstepping without interpolation
M350 X16 Y16 Z16 I1                                 ; configure microstepping with interpolation
M92 X80.00 Y80.00 Z800.00 E850.00                   ; 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
;M572 D3 S0.01		    	 						 ;set pressure advance 0.1 seconds
			                             

; Axis Limits
M208 X0 Y0 Z0 S1                                    ; set axis minima
M208 X270 Y270 Z360 S0                              ; set axis maxima

; Endstops
M574 X1 S1 P"xstop"                                 ; configure active-high endstop for low end on X via pin xstop
M574 Y1 S1 P"ystop"                                 ; configure active-high endstop for low end on Y via pin ystop
M574 Z1 S2                                          ; configure Z-probe endstop for low end on Z

; Z-Probe
M558 P1 I1 R0.8 F300          						; (analogue mode, NO, delay, speed, not used as axis endstop
G31 X0 Y0 Z-0.05 P600                    			; X, Y, Z offsets, sensitivity/threshold
M557 X25:250 Y25:250 S30       						; Define mesh grid

; Z-Probe
;M558 P5 R0.4 C"zprobe.in+zprobe.mod" H5 F1200 T6000 ; set Z probe type to effector and the dive height + speeds
;G31 P500 X0 Y0 Z0                                   ; set Z probe trigger value, offset and trigger height
;M557 X25:245 Y25:245 S20                            ; define mesh grid

; Heaters
M308 S0 P"bedtemp" Y"thermistor" T100000 B4092      ; configure sensor 0 as thermistor on pin bedtemp
M950 H0 C"bedheat" T0                               ; create bed heater output on bedheat and map it to sensor 0
M307 H0 B0 S1.00                                    ; disable bang-bang mode for the bed heater and set PWM limit
M140 H0                                             ; map heated bed to heater 0
M143 H0 S150                                        ; set temperature limit for heater 0 to 150C
M308 S1 P"e0temp" Y"thermistor" T100000 B4092       ; configure sensor 1 as thermistor on pin e0temp
M950 H1 C"e0heat" T1                                ; create nozzle heater output on e0heat and map it to sensor 1
M307 H1 B0 S1.00                                    ; disable bang-bang mode for heater  and set PWM limit
M143 H1 S275                                        ; set temperature limit for heater 1 to 275C

; Fans
M950 F0 C"fan0" Q500                                ; create fan 0 on pin fan0 and set its frequency
M106 P0 S0 H-1                                      ; set fan 0 value. Thermostatic control is turned off
M950 F1 C"fan1" Q500                                ; create fan 1 on pin fan1 and set its frequency
M106 P1 S1 H1 T45                                   ; set fan 1 value. Thermostatic control is turned on
M950 F2 C"fan2" Q500                                ; create fan 2 on pin fan2 and set its frequency
M106 P2 S1 H1:0 T45                                 ; set fan 2 value. 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

will update correctly and fingers crossed

well I think I have managed to mash together several different mounts and fan shrouds and have come up with something that should work.... its not the prettiest but combines the parts I liked especially @jay_s_uk fan shroud.

as I use a volcano it looks like I have just enough space for the 1LC under the smart effector though it is tight.

if anyone is interested here is my not pretty collaboration of designs

predetor delta effector adapter toolboard and fans.stl

40mm fan on the hotend cooling
4020 blower fan for part cooling
toolboard mounting
seperate adapter for existing Anycubic Predator arms which when I change to magballs can simply be removed leaving the rest good to go at the expense of a small amount of Z height.

@o_lampe

Delta is tempting my main issue is spending the money on the materials to do it right in the first place which I know is the best way to go but I suspect I will probably end up trying to start with a working machine then upgrade it to (hopefully) make it close to what I want.

I was having a look around and if I got something like an Anycubic Predator it should at least work to start with and it seems to be at least a solid frame. I could then slowly spend the money I should have spent in the first place to make it better. the electronics are rubbish but then seeing as I am here its no surprise how to resolve that problem and then linear rails, rods and smart effector might make it the basis for a good machine in the end...

the biggest problem is the initial outlay. from the Blog DC42 posted while his machine I have no doubt is far superior I cant justify £1k initial outlay but a few hundred then a few hundred more LOL I might get away with sneaking that past the wife!

@fcwilt

I was surprised by how well it does as it claims. Slightly hotter for good adhesion on the first layer then as it cools off at the end of the print the part releases.

I spent a lot of time with plain glass trying to get either good first layer adhesion or release of the part after printing and tried a load of the usual tapes and adhesives without luck before stumbling on these but they are working for me

Swapped the x and y motors and endstops and think thats fixed it. Thanks again for the pointer.

I think I went clockwise not anticlockwise when I first added the Duet.

I think 3D printing and frustration go hand in hand.

I started with my cartesian bed slinger and also found the first months a frustrating and unsatisfying experience however eventually something must have sunk in as it all started coming together.

For this current job I finally ran out of the PETG I was printing with from the start so figured I might as well use up some of the PLA I had kicking about..... que another frustrating couple of days dialling in to a different although alledgedly "easy" material

Fortunately the frustration tends to be short lived and the satisfaction of a good print keeps on rewarding

While speed isnt the ultimate aim I guess I would want to do better. At the moment while I can push 150-200mm/s I only use that for very rough tests and for any actual production part for use I need to be at 50-100mm/s depending on the part.

While it always feels slow what are realistic speeds for a reasonable finish with a well designed modern printer? I am guessing there isnt a huge improvement to be gained possibly double?

@elmoret thanks. That was what I was hoping.

That's the way the person at E3D I spoke to was suggesting I guess but odly it works out cheaper to just make the set out of spare parts. Go figure

so the time has come to fit a new hotend to my SE r3

I have been looking at E3D Revo Micro but having tried speaking to them they apparently no longer do the micro as a kit.

apparently if I select an Ender mini that would work with extra bits (not defined) or it looks like I can put the parts together from the spares an the website. neither is ideal but there is an amazon seller with the complete kit so all is not lost.

before I make a mistake is there a reason they don't do this kit? any problems I should know about?

for that matter is there a better hotend option out there?

I mainly just print in PETG and while the Revo nozzles are expensive the one piece design appeals to me and the V6 has worked well in the past but I am not up to date with the latest and greatest out there so would welcome any suggestions.

definitely something weird going on as configuring to the Mini5 an open circuit is 2000c for PT1000 and -273c for a thermistor

the output from the 1LC is 2000c with either configuration.

@dc42 before I send it would there be any value in resetting the 1LC or reloading the firmware? could this be a firmware hiccup rather than hardware fault?

factory reset seems not to work as the toolboard remains on B20 how long should the buttons be held on power up?

@dc42 thank you, I was just thinking I would create a harness for the effector and remove the 1LC until I could figure out the problem.

@rjenkinsgb lol my bad definately PT1000 and thermistor (arent they both thermistors) I had assumed the others would be simple cheap thermocouples but looking at them they are not.

as I have described though the problem is they work directly connected to the mini 5 but no longer work on the 1LC

the 1LC is saying 2000c regardless of which channel is used or whether anything is plugged in...

sorry let me check as I think the thermocouple is -273c but either way it cant "see" anything - interesting I think I remember the open circuit being 2000 on PT1000 and -273 on the thermistor but I get 2000c for both configs now ??

I can reconnect these in various ways and photograph anything needed but the simple part is both the PT1000 and thermistor are known working and tested with connection direct to the Mini 5 (just realised the mini5 would take a PT1000)

nothing has pre fitted plugs and I hate the stupid tiny crimps on the 1LC but they are connecting

also remember this was working and now is not so it was configured and wired correctly and then stopped working. wiring has been simplified to remove wiring as the problem and the PT1000 is now also confirmed working.

I believe the 1LC must have failed but it does seem strange both channels would fail with one not even being used. my default assumption is that I have done something wrong but I cant find anything

@dc42

yes sorry I have tried PT1000 and thermistor

@Phaedrux

no daugtherboard as on the 1LC but I think I have one somewhere if needed for testing

internal board short then as this is the case with or without anything plugged in.

yes to config changes in the above the options i used are commented out starting with what was working prior to the failure and the options tried.

got a bad feeling

so having got everything working in my smart effector to 1LC to Mini 5 I noticed today I have no tool temperature - well 2000C

couldn't see anything wrong wiring wise but simplified things by connecting to the toolboard rather than the extra connections to the smart effector.

also tried temp1 rather than temp0 and finally swapped from PT1000 to a thermocouple and tried that, still nothing.

I can check the thermocouple on the Mini5 and have confirmed its working but now am at a loss as since this was working and now is not I hope I am missing something as I wouldn't have thought hardware failure would get both temp inputs on the 1LC.

config below for reference..... any ideas?

; Configuration file for Duet 3 Mini 5+ (firmware version 3.3)
; executed by the firmware on start-up
;
; generated by RepRapFirmware Configuration Tool v3.3.10 on Sun Nov 28 2021 15:18:17 GMT+0000 (Greenwich Mean Time)

; General preferences
G90                                                   ; send absolute coordinates...
M83                                                   ; ...but relative extruder moves
M550 P"Predator"                                      ; set printer name
M665 R227 L440 B185 H410                             ; Set delta radius, diagonal rod length, printable radius and homed height
M666 X0 Y0 Z0                                         ; put your endstop adjustments here, or let auto calibration find them

; Wait a moment for the CAN expansion boards to start
G4 S1

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

; Drives
M569 P0.0 S0                                          ; physical drive 0.0 goes backwards
M569 P0.1 S0                                          ; physical drive 0.1 goes backwards
M569 P0.2 S0                                          ; physical drive 0.2 goes backwards
M569 P20.0 S0                                         ; physical drive 20.0 goes backwards
;M569 P0.4 S1                                          ; physical drive 0.4 goes forwards
M584 X0.0 Y0.1 Z0.2 E20.0:0.4                         ; set drive mapping
M350 X16 Y16 Z16 E16 I1        	                      ; configure microstepping with interpolation
M92 X80.00 Y80.00 Z80.00 E436.54             		  ; set steps per mm
M566 X1200.00 Y1200.00 Z1200.00 E1200.00    		  ; set maximum instantaneous speed changes (mm/min)
M203 X18000.00 Y18000.00 Z18000.00 E1200.00  		  ; set maximum speeds (mm/min)
M201 X1000.00 Y1000.00 Z1000.00 E1000.00    		  ; set accelerations (mm/s^2)
M906 X800 Y800 Z800 E100 I30                	      ; set motor currents (mA) and motor idle factor in per cent
M84 S300                                              ; Set idle timeout

; Axis Limits
M208 Z0 S1                                            ; set minimum Z

; Endstops
M574 X2 S1 P"io0.in"                                  ; configure switch-type (e.g. microswitch) endstop for high end on X via pin io0.in
M574 Y2 S1 P"io1.in"                                  ; configure switch-type (e.g. microswitch) endstop for high end on Y via pin io1.in
M574 Z2 S1 P"io2.in"                                  ; configure switch-type (e.g. microswitch) endstop for high end on Z via pin io2.in
;M591 P2 C"20.io1.in" S1 D0.3 			 		   	   ; filament monitor active-low connected to pin 20.io1.in

; Z-Probe
;M558 P8 R0.4 C"io3.in+io3.out"  F240 T2400           ; for programming sensitivity direct connection required
M558 P8 R0.4 C"20.io0.in" H5 F600 T6000               ; Z probe type, set to unmodulated & dive height/speeds
G31 P100 X0 Y0 Z-0.148                                ; Z probe trigger value, offset & trigger height
M557 R180 S20                                         ; Mesh grid

; Heaters
M308 S0 P"temp0" Y"thermistor" T100000 B4138          ; configure sensor 0 as thermistor on pin temp0
M950 H0 C"out0" T0                                    ; create bed heater output on out0 and map it to sensor 0
M307 H0 B0 S1.00                                      ; disable bang-bang mode for the bed heater and set PWM limit
M140 H0                                               ; map heated bed to heater 0
M143 H0 S120                                          ; set temperature limit for heater 0 to 120C
;M308 S1 P"20.temp0" Y"PT1000" 						  ; configure sensor 1 as PT1000 on pin 20.temp0
;M950 H1 C"20.out0" T1                                 ; create nozzle heater output on out0 and map it to sensor 1
M308 S1 P"20.temp0" Y"thermistor" T100000 B4138 	  ; configure sensor 1 as thermistor on pin 20.temp0
M950 H1 C"20.out0" T1                                 ; create nozzle heater output on out0 and map it to sensor 1
;M308 S1 P"20.temp1" Y"thermistor" T100000 B4138 	  ; configure sensor 1 as thermistor on pin 20.temp0
;M950 H1 C"20.out1" T1                                 ; create nozzle heater output on out1 and map it to sensor 1
;M308 S1 P"temp1" Y"thermistor" T100000 B4138 		  ; configure sensor 1 as thermistor on pin temp1
;M950 H1 C"out1" T1                                 ; create nozzle heater output on out1 and map it to sensor 1
M307 H1 B0 S1.00                                      ; disable bang-bang mode for heater  and set PWM limit
M143 H1 S280                                          ; set temperature limit for heater 1 to 280C
M308 S2 P"temp2" Y"thermistor" T100000 B4138          ; configure sensor 2 as thermistor on pin temp2
M950 H2 C"out2" T2                                    ; create nozzle heater output on out2 and map it to sensor 2
M307 H2 B0 S1.00                                      ; disable bang-bang mode for heater  and set PWM limit
M143 H2 S280                                          ; set temperature limit for heater 2 to 280C

; Fans
M950 F0 C"20.out1" Q500                               ; create fan0 on pin 20.out1 and set its frequency part cooling
M106 P0 S1 H-1                                        ; set fan0 value. Thermostatic control is turned off 
M950 F1 C"20.out2" Q500                               ; create fan1 on pin 20.out2 and set its frequency hotend
M106 P1 S1 H1 T45                                     ; set fan1 value. Thermostatic control is turned on 
M950 F2 C"out5" Q500                                  ; create fan 2 on pin out5 and set its frequency Duet cooling
M106 P2 S1 H-1                                        ; set fan 2 value. Thermostatic control is turned off
M950 F3 C"out6" Q500                                  ; create fan 3 on pin out6 and set its frequency PSU cooling
M106 P3 S1 H2 T30                                     ; set fan 3 value. 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
M563 P1 D1 H2 F3                                    ; define tool 1
G10 P1 X0 Y0 Z0                                       ; set tool 1 axis offsets
G10 P1 R0 S0                                          ; set initial tool 1 active and standby temperatures to 0C

; Custom settings are not defined

M501

@jay_s_uk thanks, that was what I was thinking and at least I will then know the spec I am working with.

@jay_s_uk sorry to throw in another question, did you ever change out the Predator motors? linear rails and magball arms are almost here and I find myself wondering about the standard motors on the Predator.

since it will all be coming apart they would be easy to change but there is little to no information on the stock motors.

reading the Duet wiki there is lots of technical info about motor choice but without any info on the current steppers other than likely 1.8deg but then sellers like E3d provide little info on the motors they sell other than the likely replacement is 0.9deg

does it matter, are the stock steppers good enough or is it worth changing them?

I see in your blog you tried a 0.9 stepper but I got the impression that didn't work more as the motor wasn't a suitable rating rather than anything else.

@jay_s_uk doh, daft error it is!

for some reason the configuration tool has mapped F0:1

grr thanks again. fingers crossed