MakerFarm 8" i3v Prusa build by Printbus

[usarmyaircav]

So I didn't buy enough wire to power everything up, but I had enough for the 11v and the 5v, and will need to get more for the heatbed. I hooked up my laptop and fired up pronterface and it seems like everything is working except the z access. Facing the printer the left side moves, but the right doesn't want to do anything. it looks to be trying but I am thinking something is binding so will look at that tonight.

In Pronterface if I click on the right side of the X axis, it should go right correct? If so I have the plug reversed.

The other question I have is that I noticed that I mounted the fan for the hexagon, so that it is pulling air, rather than pushing. Will that be ok, or do I need to flip it?

So encouraged to actually get this far!!!!! My time has been really limited to work on this so happy to finally get some movement!

[gmay3]

In Pronterface if I click on the right side of the X axis, it should go right correct? If so I have the plug reversed.

Mine has also done this for the entire time I've owned the printer and I have always had to press the opposite button to get it to go the right way. The important thing is to make sure that the X axis moves from right to left (towards the x endstop) when you press the home button in pronterface.

I'm guessing there might be a way to flip the X axis button direction in the pronterface options but I haven't tried this personally.

The other question I have is that I noticed that I mounted the fan for the hexagon, so that it is pulling air, rather than pushing. Will that be ok, or do I need to flip it?

Mine pushes air but I believe I have heard other folks on here say they flipped theirs and had it working.

[TopJimmyCooks]

printbus, by relocating your endstops your home position is in the front left of the bed. any downsides to this that you can think of? I would like to have the X and Y directions make more sense in pronterface, if there's no other downsides.

[printbus]

printbus, by relocating your endstops your home position is in the front left of the bed. any downsides to this that you can think of? I would like to have the X and Y directions make more sense in pronterface, if there's no other downsides.

Personally, I think the front left of the bed is the natural place for home. If there are issues with it, I don't know of them. Having home in the front left makes it easy to clean off the nozzle as it is heating, and to grab the pre-flush of extrusion that I do before starting to print. At the end of the print, I have my slicer end code lift the nozzle and then send the extruder to the right rear, getting it out of the way for print inspection and removal.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT: By moving the X-endstop to the left bottom side of the lower v-rail, it was also easier to achieve the full 100mm travel that the 8-inch printer is supposed to have. As a smaller benefit, the wiring is a bit more logical. Z enstop switch wires are bundled with the Z-motor wires, X endstop switch wires are bundled with the X-motor wires, and Y-endstop switch wires are bundled with the Y-motor wires. My engineering background suggested the co-bundling of motor wires and endstop wires could lead to crosstalk from the high current motor spikes causing incorrect endstop readings, but no problem with this has been observed.

FOLLOWUP COMMENT #2: When changing the home position to the front left corner, those using a fixed spacer on one corner of the heat bed may want to move it to the front left corner of the heat bed so it stays with the home position. In my printer, I ditched the fixed spacer and have all four corners adjustable.

[AbuMaia]

I, too, have my X endstop on the bottom left of the bottom rail, and my Y endstop moved back near the Y motor, putting my Home position left-front. I like this better, as prints now come out facing forwards, instead of towards the wall. The only downside I can think of is the Y endstop is now just a tiny bit harder to get at to adjust, but you likely won't be adjusting it much once it's set.

[usarmyaircav]

So I found out that my z axis is ok, it was just stuck. I need to get some oil. 2 questions.
1. How do I adjust the z end stop far enough down with the couplers being in the way. It looks like I have about an inch down from the hot end to the bed. I do need to do the initial bed leveling yet.
The end stops seem to be testing ok, but doing the m119 command, is shows the X max and y max as triggered, yet the mins work fine?

[printbus]

So I found out that my z axis is ok, it was just stuck. I need to get some oil. 2 questions.
1. How do I adjust the z end stop far enough down with the couplers being in the way. It looks like I have about an inch down from the hot end to the bed. I do need to do the initial bed leveling yet.
The end stops seem to be testing ok, but doing the m119 command, is shows the X max and y max as triggered, yet the mins work fine?

1. I mention in my Z MOTOR post that a ball end driver helps with the Z endstop bolt if you are using the large couplers. You'll soon be realizing how crude the i3v approach to the Z endstop is - it is very tough to adjust it with any repeatability or accuracy. The large coupler being in the way just aggravates this. Luck will be an important part of getting a good adjustment. Before I could print a new mount for the Z endstop, I swapped the fixed spacer on the bed with another spring so I can just adjust all four corners.

2. At the home position I show the mins as triggered and the maxs as open with M119. Away from home, all show open. Are you sure you have the endstop connectors on the right places on the RAMPS board? There are -Z, -Y, and -X labels next to three rows of pins on RAMPS. Your connectors should be on those rows of pins.

[usarmyaircav]

1. I mention in my Z MOTOR post that a ball end driver helps with the Z endstop bolt if you are using the large couplers. You'll soon be realizing how crude the i3v approach to the Z endstop is - it is very tough to adjust it with any repeatability or accuracy. The large coupler being in the way just aggravates this. Luck will be an important part of getting a good adjustment. Before I could print a new mount for the Z endstop, I swapped the fixed spacer on the bed with another spring so I can just adjust all four corners.

2. At the home position I show the mins as triggered and the maxs as open with M119. Away from home, all show open. Are you sure you have the endstop connectors on the right places on the RAMPS board? There are -Z, -Y, and -X labels next to three rows of pins on RAMPS. Your connectors should be on those rows of pins.

Hi Printbus, I totally forgot about your comment about needing the ball driver, I will pick one of those up tonight. do you think having 4 springs is better than 3 and a spacer? As to the end stops, I put them where Colin said to without really looking at the board itself. could my less than stellar sodering jobs be related?

[printbus]

Hi Printbus, I totally forgot about your comment about needing the ball driver, I will pick one of those up tonight. do you think having 4 springs is better than 3 and a spacer? As to the end stops, I put them where Colin said to without really looking at the board itself. could my less than stellar sodering jobs be related?

If you have the endstop connectors where Colin shows them, and the mins work OK, maybe the right answer is to not worry about the maxs. The configuration.h file has the #defines for the pullups on the input pins for the max endstops commented out; this likely prevents the internal pullup being activated for those pins on the MEGA2560 processor. That would lead to the input being randomly read in as high or low depending on how the unconnected pin tends to float. With the #defines for the max inputs commented out, firmware likely doesn't do anything with the inputs for the max switches. Your soldering is likely fine, since the min and max endstop switches would be on separate connectors on the RAMPS board.

I prefer the four springs approach. It allows me to just get the Z endstop anywhere close, and then all fine adjustments are done in the four corners of the bed. Of course, I have thumbwheels on the corners now too. Leveling the bed takes me about two or three minutes. The stock makerfarm approach can easily take 20-30 minutes because of the crude approach for mounting the Z endstop switch, the complexity caused by the fixed corner that requires a near-impossible fine adjustment of the Z endstop, and the multitude of tools required to adjust the other corners.

[usarmyaircav]

My current status:
On a Lets try it and see note, I moved the z end stop to the side of the extrusion, and then tilted it forward to make sure that the endstop switch would hit the frame of the x idler, which it did!!!!! YES!!!!! So I was able to adjust it to get it down maybe 1 or 2 mm, and then attempt to level the bed. I did it fairly quickly and I think it is level. I need to get it down to the paper thickness level, and I agree moving that whole end stop is not accurate. So I will get it adjusted closer.
Do I then attempt to print the test cube, or calibrate the e-steps? So looking forward to actually printing something!!!