Quick tip to get your prints to stick without glue etc. Cover the glass with Heat Resistant Polyimide Kapton Tape. You can get it on Amazon at 200mm wide. I used the flexible foam that came with the printer to squeeze down the tape to the glass to prevent bubbles. That's it! Print PLA or ABS and it will stick. As it cools it will release automatically. No mess and no cleaning. Be sure to adjust Z-Axis for tape thickness. Also thanks Steve for the tip on installing Repetier 0.92 on Da Vinci 1.0a with new motherboard having the MicroSD works perfectly. You are a star!
Hi Steven, another good video explaining vital concepts. Why fiddle with the Z-offset to get layer 1 = 0,1 mm. Set the Z-offet at -0,4 and specify layer 1 height in Slic3r to be 0,1 mm, or what ever first layer height you desire.
Hi Steve, I'm use repetier 0.91 and no work extrusor (dont UP temperature) .... You use repetier 0.92 with Arduino due? Sorry for my bad english best regards From Chile
arr yes, the good old z axis offset chestnut... That got me when I first built my CNC Mill as well, I spent days trying to figure out why it was cutting in mid air, only to find it was trying to offset for the length of the tool. I have seen many of the Pro's of this firmware update, but is there any con's to this? (other than voiding warranty) Does it check for pre heating bed, extruder etc..? Is there any functionality such as load/unload filament etc... missing form the repetier firmware?
HI. I've a question. I have the davinci 1.0A common firmware, common printer. But i'm can't connect to it with host repetier, and so I can't print. Have you some settings to share ?
thanks for the video. very well explained! I watched this months ago and was too new and it all just sounded like greek to me! Now I understand the concept, but can't figure out how to get the probe to go OVER the bed. I can't find any reference to the problem except below from William Vanderlinden. I get z-probe failed over and over, the probe/extruder never goes past the drip tray. What am I doing wrong here? any advice?
Hi Steve, in regards to Auto Bed Levelling, do you save to EEProm after each reading before doing the next setting or do you select "NO" and then "Yes" to repeat the process? Cheers Carl
Carl Chard-Maple Hi, I select NO every time as I just use the auto level as a process to get close to Z= -1.500. Also, when you do a Home All the printer display should read Z= -1.500. If it does not then connect to your computer via USB and use Repetier Host to write -1.500 to the Z home value. Once this is done use the printer controls to Save -> EEprom. I learned after many many hours leveling the bed and trying things that this Z= -1.500 target and a Slic3r Z Offset of -0.30 gives really good results. Hope this helps, good luck :)
Hi Steve, Thanks for this vid. I just got my hands on a Davinci (first model), installed Repetier, and I found I'm getting this same issue. I selected a 20mm cube, sliced and hit print. The printer starts printing in mid-air. I am trying the Z-Offset (It was 0, changed it to -0.6) Will update soon with results
Update: I set the offset to -0.6, but the extruder still lifts up 0.6 just before the print. Strange, because it homes fine, I've calibrated the bed to just-grabbing-paper height all over the bed. Any suggestions?
The problem is (at least mine) is that the numbers change by points each time auto-level is run. Then, they change when I run minimum z. Sometimes I've done nothing but run it a few times and it 'corrects itself'. The screws are running (on my AIO) about half mast. and the numbers from auto are around 7.8 to 8.
I tried your leveling techniques after flashing Repetier Host on Davinci 1A which should be the same as yours and my extruder started banging against the side of the bed. Can you give a more detailed explanation? I'm used to doing things step by step from RUclips but this video isn't linear as 123. Can you provide a step by step on what to do after the automatic calibration numbers are generated? Feel free to reach out on Hangouts
Stephen Graham the comment reply to ibanezkeaton11 below is a full step by step. Not sure why your hot end is hitting the print bed as the auto level retracts the Z axis 10mm between each move.
Stephen Graham i have to go in to home all for the offset to work, each time i power it up if not it will set 0 and crash into the bed. know the extruder will not feed. working on this all week..fix one thing and then it is something new to fix. someone need to do a after flash vid. :)
GTO Hi, glad you found this helpful. You can set the first layer to 0.1 and the Z offset to -0.4 but I am not sure how well it will stick to the build platform. I use a first layer of 0.3 and a Z offset of -0.6 so there is a better chance of it sticking. It would be great if you gave it a try and let me know how it goes. Have fun :)
Ok, on my printer, if I calibrate on -1.5 and set the z home to -1.5 the nozzle is almost touching the glass when the print starts (I'm not seeing an 0.4 gap)...
PLEASE HELP!! I flashed my DaVinci 1.0 with repetier 9.2 and when I try to level the bed the hot end goes down to the metal thing that holds the bed in place? Then it says failed and takes me to the home screen. I can level it with a piece of paper just fine though.
+Kyler._.not._.Tyler Sounds like the hot end "probe" and or the metal tabs on the bed are dirty. The DaVinci I had often needed the hot end probe cleaning or it would show 'failed' I would usually clean the hot end with the little wire brush making sure the probe was very clean. Then, with the hot end and bed COLD I'd use some acetone on a cotton bud to clean the hot end probe and the metal tabs on the beb too. I never tried levelling it with paper but tons of people use that instead of the auto level. Good luck
Hi. leveling the bed can be very tricky. It took me about a week to fully understand which adjustment screws affected which numbers. Lets see if i can "Ascii draw" in the comments lol + ┌─────────┐ - C │ 4 1 │ A - │ │ + │ │ │ │ │ 3 2 │ └─────────┘ + B - This very bad drawing shows the way I identify the adjustment controls and the autolevel result numbers. This is what I use the controls to adjust. Control A (Positive) + direction moves point 1 UP and point 3 DOWN Control A (Negative) - direction moves point 1 DOWN and point 3 UP Control B (Positive) + direction moves point 2 AND 3 UP and point 1 AND 4 DOWN a little Control B (Negative) - direction moves point 2 AND 3 DOWN and point 1 AND 4 UP a little Control C (Positive) + direction moves point 4 UP and point 2 DOWN Control C (Negative) - direction moves point 4 DOWN and point 2 UP Control A AND C (Positive) + direction by the SAME AMOUNT moves point 1 AND 4 UP and point 2 AND 3 DOWN Control A AND C (Negative) - direction by the SAME AMOUNT moves point 1 AND 4 DOWN and point 2 AND 3 UP Control A, B AND C (Positive) + direction by the SAME AMOUNT moves ALL points UP Control A, B AND C (Negative) - direction by the SAME AMOUNT moves ALL points DOWN Starting with your first set of numbers, point 1=1.5mm point 2=1.5mm point 3=2mm. I will assume at this point that your numbers are actually all negative (-) First, I would look at the numbers for point 2 and 3 ONLY. By adjusting control C ONLY to the NEGATIVE (-), point 4 will move DOWN AND point 2 will move UP. This will allow you to get point 2 and 3 really close but you must ONLY use control C and only look at point 2 and 3. Second, I would then adjust control A AND control C by the SAME AMOUNT in the SAME DIRECTION, in this case positive (+). This will INCREASE the numbers at point 1 AND 4 and REDUCE the numbers at point 2 AND 3. You should be able to get all 3 numbers really close doing this. Finally, I would then adjust ALL the controls in the SAME DIRECTION by the SAME AMOUNT. You should be able to get ALL the numbers really really close to NEGATIVE (-) 1.500mm doing this. Now, as you make adjustments to the controls, you will see small changes in ALL the numbers. This means that you'll have go through the steps a number of times making smaller adjustments each time. I can't stress enough how long this takes at first, but hang in there, once you get the hang of it you'll be leveling the print bed in a few minuets. As for your second set of numbers point 1 = 1.674 point 2 = 1.3 point 3 = 1.584 Control C to bring point 2 and close to point 3 Control A and C together to bring point 1 close to point 2 and 3 All controls together to get to the target number You can, of course, aim for any target number but I work towards negative (-) 1.500mm as that is what I have the Z axis offset in Slic3r set up for. There are, of course, a few "other things" to look out for. I downloaded a CLEAN version of Retetier Host 0.92 last week and flashed it to my printer. I found that after auto level the display now says "Write value to Matrix" and the Z axis home in the eeprom stays at 0 (zero) which means it's not working correctly. It used to show the value but it does not any more. So I have to write the Z home = minus (-) 1.500 to the eeprom manually using Repetier Host AND go to settings menu on the printer and hit SAVE -> EEPROM so the printer remembers after I power off. Anyway that's my rant over lol. If you have any more questions about this just let me know and I'll try to help
PC23 Hi, I was wondering if you had seen the rather large comment below taking you through the whole bed leveling. I aim for my numbers to be -1.500 but hitting anywhere between -1.425 and -1.500 works great. Good luck :)
PC23 I have noticed that the numbers do change if you run the auto level twice in a row without making any changes. They don't change by a lot, maybe 0.025, but they do change. If you think your sensor is broken you could try these tricks to make it super clean first. I have seen the auto level display an ERR when the sensor is really dirty. Try giving the hot end a good scrub with the wire brush before running the auto level. Also use the wire brush to scrub the 3 metal pads on the bed that the sensor touches. Try removing the "drip box" when bed leveling as the "scraper thing" sometimes makes the sensor more dirty and makes the auto level fail. Then you have to clean the hot end and sensor all over again :( Finally, if all else fails. take a nail file rub the end of the auto level sensor. Warning !!!!!!!! do not try and file the sensor down, just a light rub forwards then back, once, will be enough. This is just to expose fresh metal on the sensor. Too much rubbing will change the size of the sensor and that will screw up the Z axis offset. I hope this helps, good luck :)
Woah, be careful. Acetone is not nice stuff. I'd still recommend the nail file solution as that will expose clean metal and removing the "drip box" too. Also, if you have access to a multimeter, disconnect the power and check the resistance between the hot end sensor and the metal parts of the printer case as they should be connected with no resistance.
hey great video I am running repetier 0.92 on a davinci 1.0a I did the auto bed calibration however the extruder just remains over the drip tray and the bed goes up and down looking for the probe it all homes fine when I do it from the printer anyone else have a problem like this or have a solution I did the basic settings in slicer from here ruclips.net/video/fWRhNyCFA6I/видео.html which shouldn't affect the auto level calibration as it should be in the firmware any help would be appreciated
+William Vanderlinden hey there, I am having the exact same issue, resulting in "z-probe failed" I've searched and searched and it doesn't seem ANYONE addresses this. did you find a fix? thanks!!
Thanks for the video Steve! It definitely got my bed calibrated again. I did come across this on Thingiverse thought you might be interested. www.thingiverse.com/thing:630529 I went ahead and got a machinist dial indicator, and now I can fine tune the bed each day much quicker. The main difference is I can get readings right where the adjustment knobs are. That makes recalibrating a 5-min task rather than hours. Your method got me my initial numbers. The part and machinist dial indicator just helps me maintain the bed.
Quick tip to get your prints to stick without glue etc. Cover the glass with Heat Resistant Polyimide Kapton Tape. You can get it on Amazon at 200mm wide. I used the flexible foam that came with the printer to squeeze down the tape to the glass to prevent bubbles. That's it! Print PLA or ABS and it will stick. As it cools it will release automatically. No mess and no cleaning. Be sure to adjust Z-Axis for tape thickness.
Also thanks Steve for the tip on installing Repetier 0.92 on Da Vinci 1.0a with new motherboard having the MicroSD works perfectly. You are a star!
Hi Steven, another good video explaining vital concepts. Why fiddle with the Z-offset to get layer 1 = 0,1 mm. Set the Z-offet at -0,4 and specify layer 1 height in Slic3r to be 0,1 mm, or what ever first layer height you desire.
Hi Ian,
I like to have my first layer squished to the glass. This was the most repeatable way I found to get the right amount of "squish" every time
Thank you Steve, I am going to have a good look at repiter host now as I think you are right, this is the way to go.
Hi Steve, I'm use repetier 0.91 and no work extrusor (dont UP temperature) .... You use repetier 0.92 with Arduino due?
Sorry for my bad english
best regards
From Chile
arr yes, the good old z axis offset chestnut... That got me when I first built my CNC Mill as well, I spent days trying to figure out why it was cutting in mid air, only to find it was trying to offset for the length of the tool.
I have seen many of the Pro's of this firmware update, but is there any con's to this? (other than voiding warranty) Does it check for pre heating bed, extruder etc..? Is there any functionality such as load/unload filament etc... missing form the repetier firmware?
HI. I've a question. I have the davinci 1.0A common firmware, common printer. But i'm can't connect to it with host repetier, and so I can't print. Have you some settings to share ?
thanks for the video. very well explained! I watched this months ago and was too new and it all just sounded like greek to me! Now I understand the concept, but can't figure out how to get the probe to go OVER the bed. I can't find any reference to the problem except below from William Vanderlinden. I get z-probe failed over and over, the probe/extruder never goes past the drip tray.
What am I doing wrong here? any advice?
Hi Steve, in regards to Auto Bed Levelling, do you save to EEProm after each reading before doing the next setting or do you select "NO" and then "Yes" to repeat the process? Cheers Carl
Carl Chard-Maple Hi, I select NO every time as I just use the auto level as a process to get close to Z= -1.500.
Also, when you do a Home All the printer display should read Z= -1.500. If it does not then connect to your computer via USB and use Repetier Host to write -1.500 to the Z home value. Once this is done use the printer controls to Save -> EEprom.
I learned after many many hours leveling the bed and trying things that this Z= -1.500 target and a Slic3r Z Offset of -0.30 gives really good results.
Hope this helps, good luck :)
Where is the other video you mentioned about programming the printer with the rep software
Hi Steve,
Thanks for this vid.
I just got my hands on a Davinci (first model), installed Repetier, and I found I'm getting this same issue.
I selected a 20mm cube, sliced and hit print. The printer starts printing in mid-air.
I am trying the Z-Offset (It was 0, changed it to -0.6)
Will update soon with results
Update: I set the offset to -0.6, but the extruder still lifts up 0.6 just before the print.
Strange, because it homes fine, I've calibrated the bed to just-grabbing-paper height all over the bed.
Any suggestions?
The problem is (at least mine) is that the numbers change by points each time auto-level is run. Then, they change when I run minimum z. Sometimes I've done nothing but run it a few times and it 'corrects itself'.
The screws are running (on my AIO) about half mast. and the numbers from auto are around 7.8 to 8.
I tried your leveling techniques after flashing Repetier Host on Davinci 1A which should be the same as yours and my extruder started banging against the side of the bed. Can you give a more detailed explanation? I'm used to doing things step by step from RUclips but this video isn't linear as 123. Can you provide a step by step on what to do after the automatic calibration numbers are generated?
Feel free to reach out on Hangouts
Stephen Graham the comment reply to ibanezkeaton11 below is a full step by step. Not sure why your hot end is hitting the print bed as the auto level retracts the Z axis 10mm between each move.
Stephen Graham i have to go in to home all for the offset to work, each time i power it up if not it will set 0 and crash into the bed. know the extruder will not feed. working on this all week..fix one thing and then it is something new to fix. someone need to do a after flash vid. :)
Thank you so much. You help me saved a lot of time. By the way can i set First layer height to 0.1 and Z offset to -0.4?
GTO Hi, glad you found this helpful. You can set the first layer to 0.1 and the Z offset to -0.4 but I am not sure how well it will stick to the build platform. I use a first layer of 0.3 and a Z offset of -0.6 so there is a better chance of it sticking. It would be great if you gave it a try and let me know how it goes. Have fun :)
I think it goes to 1.5 because that's what you set in the EEPROM settings not that it is rounding up...(the z home)
Setting the EEPROM value to -1.5 is basically telling the printer "when the Z end stop is triggered Z = -1.5"
Ok, on my printer, if I calibrate on -1.5 and set the z home to -1.5 the nozzle is almost touching the glass when the print starts (I'm not seeing an 0.4 gap)...
Interesting, sounds like you'll have to mess around with the Z offset in slic3r to get your printer perfect.
PLEASE HELP!! I flashed my DaVinci 1.0 with repetier 9.2 and when I try to level the bed the hot end goes down to the metal thing that holds the bed in place? Then it says failed and takes me to the home screen. I can level it with a piece of paper just fine though.
+Kyler._.not._.Tyler Sounds like the hot end "probe" and or the metal tabs on the bed are dirty. The DaVinci I had often needed the hot end probe cleaning or it would show 'failed' I would usually clean the hot end with the little wire brush making sure the probe was very clean. Then, with the hot end and bed COLD I'd use some acetone on a cotton bud to clean the hot end probe and the metal tabs on the beb too. I never tried levelling it with paper but tons of people use that instead of the auto level. Good luck
+StevenQ-NE-UK thanks for the reply! And how did the e3d v6 do with the DaVinci?
+StevenQ-NE-UK oh, and when I'm in repetier host I will click on the configuration button and then l do the load eprom tab nothing shows up :(
thanks the head is not crashing in to the bed :) but when i print no extruder feed :( help
Tips on leveling. I cannot get all 3 to 1.5 they get to 1.5 1.5 and 2 or 1.674 1.3 and 1.584
Hi. leveling the bed can be very tricky. It took me about a week to fully understand which adjustment screws affected which numbers. Lets see if i can "Ascii draw" in the comments lol
+ ┌─────────┐ -
C │ 4 1 │ A
- │ │ +
│ │
│ │
│ 3 2 │
└─────────┘
+ B -
This very bad drawing shows the way I identify the adjustment controls and the autolevel result numbers. This is what I use the controls to adjust.
Control A (Positive) + direction moves point 1 UP and point 3 DOWN
Control A (Negative) - direction moves point 1 DOWN and point 3 UP
Control B (Positive) + direction moves point 2 AND 3 UP and point 1 AND 4 DOWN a little
Control B (Negative) - direction moves point 2 AND 3 DOWN and point 1 AND 4 UP a little
Control C (Positive) + direction moves point 4 UP and point 2 DOWN
Control C (Negative) - direction moves point 4 DOWN and point 2 UP
Control A AND C (Positive) + direction by the SAME AMOUNT moves point 1 AND 4 UP and point 2 AND 3 DOWN
Control A AND C (Negative) - direction by the SAME AMOUNT moves point 1 AND 4 DOWN and point 2 AND 3 UP
Control A, B AND C (Positive) + direction by the SAME AMOUNT moves ALL points UP
Control A, B AND C (Negative) - direction by the SAME AMOUNT moves ALL points DOWN
Starting with your first set of numbers,
point 1=1.5mm
point 2=1.5mm
point 3=2mm.
I will assume at this point that your numbers are actually all negative (-)
First, I would look at the numbers for point 2 and 3 ONLY. By adjusting control C ONLY to the NEGATIVE (-), point 4 will move DOWN AND point 2 will move UP.
This will allow you to get point 2 and 3 really close but you must ONLY use control C and only look at point 2 and 3.
Second, I would then adjust control A AND control C by the SAME AMOUNT in the SAME DIRECTION, in this case positive (+). This will INCREASE the numbers at point 1 AND 4 and REDUCE the numbers at point 2 AND 3. You should be able to get all 3 numbers really close doing this.
Finally, I would then adjust ALL the controls in the SAME DIRECTION by the SAME AMOUNT. You should be able to get ALL the numbers really really close to NEGATIVE (-) 1.500mm doing this.
Now, as you make adjustments to the controls, you will see small changes in ALL the numbers. This means that you'll have go through the steps a number of times making smaller adjustments each time. I can't stress enough how long this takes at first, but hang in there, once you get the hang of it you'll be leveling the print bed in a few minuets.
As for your second set of numbers
point 1 = 1.674
point 2 = 1.3
point 3 = 1.584
Control C to bring point 2 and close to point 3
Control A and C together to bring point 1 close to point 2 and 3
All controls together to get to the target number
You can, of course, aim for any target number but I work towards negative (-) 1.500mm as that is what I have the Z axis offset in Slic3r set up for.
There are, of course, a few "other things" to look out for. I downloaded a CLEAN version of Retetier Host 0.92 last week and flashed it to my printer. I found that after auto level the display now says "Write value to Matrix" and the Z axis home in the eeprom stays at 0 (zero) which means it's not working correctly. It used to show the value but it does not any more. So I have to write the Z home = minus (-) 1.500 to the eeprom manually using Repetier Host AND go to settings menu on the printer and hit SAVE -> EEPROM so the printer remembers after I power off. Anyway that's my rant over lol.
If you have any more questions about this just let me know and I'll try to help
Hello I worked about a week on my numbers and I dont get them matched.
PC23 Hi, I was wondering if you had seen the rather large comment below taking you through the whole bed leveling. I aim for my numbers to be -1.500 but hitting anywhere between -1.425 and -1.500 works great. Good luck :)
StevenQ-NE-UK Thank you, but I think my sensor is damaged because it shows different numbers on the same bed leveling.
PC23 I have noticed that the numbers do change if you run the auto level twice in a row without making any changes. They don't change by a lot, maybe 0.025, but they do change. If you think your sensor is broken you could try these tricks to make it super clean first.
I have seen the auto level display an ERR when the sensor is really dirty. Try giving the hot end a good scrub with the wire brush before running the auto level. Also use the wire brush to scrub the 3 metal pads on the bed that the sensor touches.
Try removing the "drip box" when bed leveling as the "scraper thing" sometimes makes the sensor more dirty and makes the auto level fail. Then you have to clean the hot end and sensor all over again :(
Finally, if all else fails. take a nail file rub the end of the auto level sensor. Warning !!!!!!!! do not try and file the sensor down, just a light rub forwards then back, once, will be enough. This is just to expose fresh metal on the sensor. Too much rubbing will change the size of the sensor and that will screw up the Z axis offset.
I hope this helps, good luck :)
StevenQ-NE-UK I tryed to clean it with aceton
Woah, be careful. Acetone is not nice stuff. I'd still recommend the nail file solution as that will expose clean metal and removing the "drip box" too. Also, if you have access to a multimeter, disconnect the power and check the resistance between the hot end sensor and the metal parts of the printer case as they should be connected with no resistance.
My auto level causes the head to crash and jump belts
hey great video I am running repetier 0.92 on a davinci 1.0a I did the auto bed calibration however the extruder just remains over the drip tray and the bed goes up and down looking for the probe it all homes fine when I do it from the printer anyone else have a problem like this or have a solution I did the basic settings in slicer from here ruclips.net/video/fWRhNyCFA6I/видео.html which shouldn't affect the auto level calibration as it should be in the firmware any help would be appreciated
+William Vanderlinden I am having this same problem. Does anyone know what to do when your printer says "z-probe failed"?
+William Vanderlinden hey there, I am having the exact same issue, resulting in "z-probe failed" I've searched and searched and it doesn't seem ANYONE addresses this. did you find a fix? thanks!!
Thanks for the video Steve! It definitely got my bed calibrated again. I did come across this on Thingiverse thought you might be interested. www.thingiverse.com/thing:630529 I went ahead and got a machinist dial indicator, and now I can fine tune the bed each day much quicker. The main difference is I can get readings right where the adjustment knobs are. That makes recalibrating a 5-min task rather than hours. Your method got me my initial numbers. The part and machinist dial indicator just helps me maintain the bed.