# Specific 3D Printers, Scanners, & Hardware > RepRap Format Printer Forum >  New guy here

## bzmotoninja83

Hello ALL!

 First I just want to say, of course, 3d printers are amazing. In the last 2 weeks, I've watched so many videos and read countless forums and other internet malarkey that it'll make your head spin. 

I just tonight started to understand a little more about my Makerfarm Prusa i3v 12".
Having small issues getting the Z axis setup correctly. Has a servo mounted switch. Offset is shown as 2.6mms but, jogging the Z to just a hair above the glass nets me 1.3mm. Current firmware is Marlin 1.0.3 on a ramps 1.4 . with slic3r it seems to print sort of close to accurate, at least in my testing. Using Simplify 3d, the nozzle just plows the glass for a few layers. 

I adjusted the Z zero in S3D. Now at the start of a print, any print, S3D raises the Z at the start of a print by 0.1mm . Pronterface does not. 

In the next few days, after more research, I may be updating to a newer Marlin firmware. 

That's all for now as it's 3:40am.

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## Geoff

> Hello ALL!
> 
> 
> 
>  First I just want to say, of course, 3d printers are amazing. In the last 2 weeks, I've watched so many videos and read countless forums and other internet malarkey that it'll make your head spin. 
> 
> I just tonight started to understand a little more about my Makerfarm Prusa i3v 12".
> Having small issues getting the Z axis setup correctly. Has a servo mounted switch. Offset is shown as 2.6mms but, jogging the Z to just a hair above the glass nets me 1.3mm. Current firmware is Marlin 1.0.3 on a ramps 1.4 . with slic3r it seems to print sort of close to accurate, at least in my testing. Using Simplify 3d, the nozzle just plows the glass for a few layers. 
> 
> ...


Hi, Welcome to the forum.

Pronterface does not because it is not slicing the model as well as printing. Pronterface is just a control program to send prints to the printer and control the axis, send Gcode commands to it.. (ie send G28 to home the printer...  G29 for auto levelling if you have it)

While Simplify3D is good for having alot of control of your machine, it can be daunting for new users with so many options. 

To fix your issue if you want to use Pronterface too, download a program like Slic3r 

You will need to either make your own profile, or find a slic3r profile for the Prusa you have (I could probably make one for you if you can't figure it out) You need to (in slic3r) manually add the Z raise in the Gcode section of your Profile. Slic3r uses profiles just like Simplify3D (and its free...) and I run 6 different printers from the same slicer - just change profile, generate Gcode and print.

For example, my Kossel starts with this code, which I pasted into the profile - only need to add it once and save the profile..

G28 ; home all axes
G29; Auto Bed Leveling
G1 X0 Y0 Z40 F5000; Centers Nozzle

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## bzmotoninja83

Awesome. I will look into this when I get off work. Thank you for the reply!

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## bzmotoninja83

Ok so, im learning so, If I ask stupid questions, they are for reasons that, possibly I cant really answer. 

I know that yourr Gcode wont be exactly the same as mine only because my printer and process is going to be different. As far as the auto bed level, i have one mounted to the side of the extruder body. it does extend to find the relative position of the bed to the nozzle. Like an idiot, I copied your code into S3d and, proceeded to start a test rrun, no filament to be extruded only because I manually set the temps to stay at room temp. 

Silly me... is there a command that needs to be entered to have the Z probe extend? Orr is this assumed and automatically done? my z probe did not extend and the print head crashed into the build surface. LOL

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## bzmotoninja83

ok so.... I know all hope is not lost but, I just FINALLY, got the computer ot communicate with the arduino correctly. I found that the USB 3.0 ports are not as legacy as they seem. Found a USB 2.0 port and POOF, it uploads. Now, I need to rumage through the files and set it to use the LCD interface. I dont think I set it up to use the Z probe either. 
Currently, I am going through the videos from Makerfarm so that I can learn at least a little bit.

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## Roxy

> While Simplify3D is good for having alot of control of your machine, it can be daunting for new users with so many options. 
> 
> To fix your issue if you want to use Pronterface too, download a program like Slic3r


I have always used Slic3r and Pronterface.  But I'm trying to do a big print of a hollowed skull and PronterFace kept blowing up.   So, out of desperation I decided to try different tools.   I loaded the skull into Cura and I have to say, I'm impressed.  It doesn't have a lot of options.  It doesn't let me move the nozzle around or control the heat on my bed or nozzle.  It really is pretty lame in that regard.

But it prints really nice with hardly any setup.  If you are new to 3D-Printing...   It wouldn't hurt to give Cura a quick try.  It is impressive for how well it works while being super simple!

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## bzmotoninja83

OK so.... I, with the help of my friend and quite a few TOMS GUIDES on youtube, was able to see where my errors were with the LCD not working in the firmware. 

Anotherr issue all together, My Z axis zero probe, the servo.... its dying. In the last 2 weeks that ive had it, it would chatter and bounce around. Last night it stopped chattering. Today, after getting the firmware straight, I sent the proper M280 cmd for the servo to move. I hear the power supply ramp up, and feel the servo get a little tense. Ive already made sure that the servo was configured in the FW.

When I send the cmd, if I assist the servo movement a little, it jumps to where it is supposed to be just not as fast as it did last week. My friend says he has a 9g servo or 2 that I can have to replace it. That wont be till this upcoming weekend so, for now, I will manually assist the little guy. LOL

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## bzmotoninja83

Ok so, I have the new servo in, new firmware uploaded and, even managed to get the offset setup corrrectly. Well, pretty close to correct. Weird issue we had after getting the firmware installed and starting a test print, using S3D, the printer did not wait for the heaters to reach an acceptable level. The bed and nozzle were way to low to start and, it tried to print immediately. Checking S3d, it was checked to wait for the temps to stabilize. This issue was also present printing direct from the SD card also. 

Strange, right? It could have been somehting in the coding using S3d and, I will report back if I have different results with somehting like Pronterface or Cura.

SIDE NOTE, I picked up a Rapsberry Pi 2 today too.

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## Geoff

> Ok so, I have the new servo in, new firmware uploaded and, even managed to get the offset setup corrrectly. Well, pretty close to correct. Weird issue we had after getting the firmware installed and starting a test print, using S3D, the printer did not wait for the heaters to reach an acceptable level. The bed and nozzle were way to low to start and, it tried to print immediately. Checking S3d, it was checked to wait for the temps to stabilize. This issue was also present printing direct from the SD card also. 
> 
> Strange, right? It could have been somehting in the coding using S3d and, I will report back if I have different results with somehting like Pronterface or Cura.
> 
> SIDE NOTE, I picked up a Rapsberry Pi 2 today too.


This is not a good thing, you should have an anti Cold-Extrusion set in your firmware, so the print should most definitely not start until the nozzles are hot enough, it sounds like for some reason yours is disabled. It will just grind the filament out in the extruder because its forcing it into a cold hot end.

If you are using Marlin, look for this:




> //this prevents dangerous Extruder moves, i.e. if the temperature is under the limit
> //can be software-disabled for whatever purposes by
> #define PREVENT_DANGEROUS_EXTRUDE
> #define EXTRUDE_MINTEMP 200

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## bzmotoninja83

I dunno what it was. I took it home and everything was so
perfect. 

In other news, raspi up and running. Having issues getting a CURA profile to save. Really wish it would communicate with S3D but ehh. 

Finally got my offset set right. Seems 1.3 is gold

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## bzmotoninja83

Wooooo.... so, i was off and printing last night, everything was going great until last night. Trying my hand at printing PLA vs ABS. i knew everything would be different but, i wasnt aware that it was this much of a pain in my rear......

in other news, i think I might have killed another servo. The guy I got the printer from, didnt run the servo direct off of the Ramps 1.4 . he said it wasnt workign right. So, he has it running 12v thru a DC-DC converter to 5v.

its always had this weird jitter to the servo but, i took it as noise in the wires. last servo basically refused to move unless provoked after sending the commands. This new servo, worked great for a few weeks until last night. Went to move and it yelled at me. it shreeked as it was trying to move downward to show zero as the z axis went crashing into the bed. Im assuming the RAMPS board might be bad since the guy I got it from said it might be bad or are known to go bad. 

I do have a RUMBA board also. he didnt use it with the Makerfarm kit because he said he didnt like it. 

I am also moving on from using the servo to take that out of the equation all together by getting a capacitive sensor to hang off the side of the carriage. That way, once I have it set, I'll never need to touch that aspect again.

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## bzmotoninja83

LJC18A3-B-Z / AY and 15k and 10k ohm resistors are on the way.

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## bzmotoninja83

Resistors are on the way! It wont be long now. lol

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## bzmotoninja83

Resistors have arrived and, the sensors should be here tomorrow! Pretty stoked. My friend was talking about wanting to do the same thing to his TAZ 5 printer so, i ordered the parts for his too and, will let him science mine and his.

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## bzmotoninja83

Sensor is here, resistors are wired, 15k and 10k as denoted on many videos, Brown is wired to the 12v power and the resistors are a voltage divider. The black and blue wires are wired accordingly, using the enstop plug on the Ramps 1.4 where its supposed to be. The snesor trips when it senses the bed however, the Z axis does not stop. I tried inverting the enstop info in Marlin but, still doesnt seem to see the endstop being triggered.

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## bzmotoninja83

I finally got it working. Black wire from probe goes to the first pin on the plug. Now, i need to find out how to disable the probe after leveling...... Other wise, the print will not start at the desired height.

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## bzmotoninja83

Decided to just adjust the sensor sensitivity to where its right at the height I want to start printing. If anyone has suggestions firmware wise, Im all eyes.

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