Looking at Pegasus 12

[mook898]

I formatted SD cards with windows 10. I tried switching cables around today and making sure they were seated correctly. Still same as far as info screen says sd card inserted and next screen says no sd card. Augerpro suggested we try and reformat cards one more time. Would you recommend a different OS to format?

[uncle_bob]

Hi

I would format it on a Windows 7 machine if you suspect that Win 10 might be an issue. I format them on OS-X and Linux. In any case you want to be sure that it is a FAT file system.

Bob

[BLKKROW]

It could also be a faulty Reprap Discount LCD.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

Indeed, the *assumption* is that the parts are the ones that MakerFarm supplies for a Pegasus 12". If we are into some other set of parts then all bets are off ....

Bob

[augerpro]

It's the LCD from Makerfarm. I personally don't think it's the format, or the cables. I think needs to send us a new LCD, unless you guys know of any other reasons?

[uncle_bob]

Hi

If you are not already in touch wth Coin on all this, you should be. He has always been very quick when you ask him a question. He will want to go though a few things before shipping a part. He also *knows* what you ordered and what he shipped you.

Bob

[augerpro]

Gotta say I'm pretty pi$$ed off at the moment with this printer. Had the ACME rod mounts printed commercially and installed them. First off, the alignment sucks, had the steppers binding up near the bottom really bad. After we messed around with spacing the stepper mounts it is better but not reliable long term solution. Loaded the new firmware and went to level the bed, but it appears the manual option is gone, as it appeared to go through an auto operation. But we don't have the damn sensor mounted because WE CAN'T PRINT and didn't expect to have to send even more parts to the commercial printer!!!!!!!!!!

I didn't find the ACME rod guides to have zero backlash, hope gravity is one our side.

New firmware has "Z offset = -1.6" as the first option in Prepare or Control (can't remember which), which I assume is related to what UB was telling me. Is this a correct starting value?

Note to new owners: don't bother with the Upgrade kit. You can buy the ACME rod parts for cheap and you'll be designing your own mounts anyway. Acrylic sides are easy to make. ABL is $10.

[uncle_bob]

Hi

If you go through all the info on the Deluxe package, they are pretty clear about buying the not-deluxe first and getting the deluxe only after the standard printer is up and running. Yes, I found that a bit odd as well. There are a bunch of differences between the standard printer and the deluxe. The whole geometry of the printer changes.

The Z offset in the firmware is the distance between a typical trigger on the BL Touch and the typical hot end mount in the Makerfarm carriage. If you head over to the Prusa MK2, you will find that all of these sensors have a bit of fiddling involved with them. The part I designed up has a similar offset. It is *not* a perfect number. There is to much tolerance in the probes trigger point for that to be true. You go through a print / measure / change offset / new gcode (loop) process to get them set up.

The other thing to keep in mind, if you are going to use a gcode offset, your firmware will need a negative Z minimum limit in it.

Bob

[augerpro]

The Z offset in the firmware is the distance between a typical trigger on the BL Touch and the typical hot end mount in the Makerfarm carriage. If you head over to the Prusa MK2, you will find that all of these sensors have a bit of fiddling involved with them. The part I designed up has a similar offset. It is *not* a perfect number. There is to much tolerance in the probes trigger point for that to be true. You go through a print / measure / change offset / new gcode (loop) process to get them set up.

Do you know of a good walkthrough?

The other thing to keep in mind, if you are going to use a gcode offset, your firmware will need a negative Z minimum limit in it.

Bob

I don't understand what your saying here?

Thanks for the help!

[uncle_bob]

Hi

I have yet to see a rational set of instructions on setting up the probe on a bed leveling system. It is one of the most discussed and least understood parts of these systems. Compounding the problem is the fact that signs (which way is +) can change depending on what the reference is.

====

A gcode file is generated from an stl by a silcer. The slicer program does a whole bunch of things. One of the many things is to center the stl model up on the print surface. You can tell your silcer how far above or below the surface you want the print to start. Many people find that re-compiling firmware each time you do a different print is a bit of a pain. Changing the Z offset (start of the print) in the slicer can be an easier way to do things. You have to do it one way or the other (firmware or slicer). It's an iterative process that has to be done on each printer after it's built.

In the case of a slicer based adjustment, it can be either negative or positive. The sign simply depends on which direction the offset is being applied in. The standard Marlin firmware has a minimum Z of zero. If you apply an offset of -0.1 mm in your slicer and have a firmware minimum of zero, the offset will be ignored. That makes the process very frustrating ....

Bob