Auto Bedleveling Questions on Setup

[Tachout]

OK Things are starting to quiet down some so I am going to go back to working on my 3d printer. I want to set up the auto bed leveling, and a replacement and adjustable z stop. I have a couple of questions first before I jump into this.

Right now I do everything on my printer by loading the G-Codes from my Laptop onto a card, and then putting the card into the printer and running it so that I am not tying up my laptop if I need it. In the future am I going to have to have my Laptop have to be on and in the printer room? I usually set it to run parts, and then take the laptop into my bedroom for the night, or sometimes it will be printing during the day when I am at work, and would rather not have my laptop sitting there on all day when I am gone.

Second question is how hard will it be to go back to stock if I decide in the future I do not want to have this on the machine? I do not for see it, however with some of the problems I see you guys having that understand this, it makes me nervous as I am a NOOB with all this and most of what you are saying in the posts are greek to me. I can probably get it, but incase it just makes no sense is it hard to go back to the original settings?

[RobH2]

I have a couple of suggestions.

1. Before you dive in and do any modifications to your files to set up auto-leveling, save a copy of that file/s and put it in a folder named 'Original Printer Files before Autoleveling' or something like that. You can then always just flash your board with them and be back to where you started very easily.
2. I don't think that you'll ever go back once you get it going.
3. I'm not sure I'd leave a 3D printer running at home if no one is there. There is a lot of heat being produced and in a serious malfunction, a fire can start. I don't even run mine all night when I'm home. If you do run overnight, I'd say mount a smoke alarm over it so at the first sign of trouble you an wake up and grab a fire extinguisher.

Here's a thread showing a printer that caught fire:
http://forums.reprap.org/read.php?1,294850

[Roxy]

OK Things are starting to quiet down some so I am going to go back to working on my 3d printer. I want to set up the auto bed leveling, and a replacement and adjustable z stop. I have a couple of questions first before I jump into this.

Right now I do everything on my printer by loading the G-Codes from my Laptop onto a card, and then putting the card into the printer and running it so that I am not tying up my laptop if I need it. In the future am I going to have to have my Laptop have to be on and in the printer room? I usually set it to run parts, and then take the laptop into my bedroom for the night, or sometimes it will be printing during the day when I am at work, and would rather not have my laptop sitting there on all day when I am gone.

Once you have everything dialed in, the biggest difference will be you will issue a G29 command after the G28 command you are most likely already doing. It pretty much will be that one extra line in the GCode file. And pretty much, the first layer will almost always go down clean. You won't have to change the way you make files (other than add a G29 to your Slicer's startup GCode) or how you deploy them.

Second question is how hard will it be to go back to stock if I decide in the future I do not want to have this on the machine? I do not for see it, however with some of the problems I see you guys having that understand this, it makes me nervous as I am a NOOB with all this and most of what you are saying in the posts are greek to me. I can probably get it, but incase it just makes no sense is it hard to go back to the original settings?

If you do it 'right' you can just not use the Auto Bed Leveling and you won't have to 'Go Back' if you don't like it. By this, I mean leave your existing Z-End-Stop switch in position and just add the Z-Probe switch. If you choose to go back in this scenario... You just reload the older firmware configured with the Auto Bed Leveling turned off. Most people do not do the switches this way. Most people recycle the existing Z-Endstop switch and use it in their Z-Probe. But if you are worried about this, wire up a separate switch so either one of them can sense something pressing on them and alert your electronics that you have hit the end. If you are wired this way, if you reload the old firmware, the Z-Probe will no longer kick down and the older, original Z-Endstop is the one that will get pressed.

And there is the 1/2 way go back scenario where you use the Z-Probe to zero the Z-Axis (via a G28), but you don't bother to issue a G29 command to generate a bed level correction matrix.

Don't worry about this... I don't think we have failed to get anybody up and running yet. And pretty much, once a person has Auto Bed Leveling going, they don't want to go back.

[Tachout]

Thank you both for the fast responses.

My wife is always home and close to my office where the printer resides. The office has a Smoke Detector in it as well as a CO Detector. It is right behind my garage and thus also has a fire extinguisher right there at the door (Less than 5 feet away.) The detectors are wired into the house.

As for getting it all going, I have really been impressed with how fast it seems everyone can get it up and going, and I am hoping it is something I can master fast. I have a couple of hard parts to change on mine right now. I need to put a new glass on it (Or just turn this one over) as mine now has a couple of chips in it that I have no idea where came from (I really am just going to replace it as cheap as that is). Once I saw these chips I have not heated it since. Do not want it to break. I need to install all the hardware to the machine itself (ie the servo, the switch, and the couple of printed parts and the Z stop). Beyond that I want to clean up some of the wires with more than just zip ties. I plan on putting them in the corregated stuff I put auto wire looms into. I have plenty of that in the garage. I want to get things Clean and ready before getting into the other side. Once I am ready, I will just go in and make a copy, make sure it is backed up on my External hard drive (My data backup) and then go in and start working on it. Hopefully this will be soon. Weather will be turning soon and I want to spend my winter in the garage making parts and stuff. Once spring hits it will go on hold again while I prepare the kids pair of Jr. Dragsters for the season and once the season starts it is every other weekend on Friday Nights so hoping to have atleast part of my weekends for this too. So much going on right now....

[RobH2]

Sounds like a great winter project. As far as glass, I have a few chips in my cheap window glass plates and haven't had any breaks or cracks due to using them. But, you are correct, it's really inexpensive to replace them. I do have a few sheets of Borosilicate glass now. One has a chip and it's performing well too. Unless you get a crack, you are probably ok.

Glad you are being safe with leaving the printer running alone. Good job wife...

[gmay3]

RobH2, a big thanks for posting that thread about the printer catching fire. Just ordered a dedicated smoke alarm and small fire extinguisher for less than the cost of a new roll of filament. Perspective is important when it comes to safety!

[RobH2]

Hi gmay3. Sure, no problem. I hope it's rate but you are doing the right thing. Safety is inexpensive. Replacement can be catastrophic.

Not to scare people but here is another. Just know that it can happen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qVjWg2vuWzk

This is a hot end that is allowed to overheat as if the thermistor failed to shut it off. End result, fire. Fortunately this is a controlled test and not a forensic file from a disaster. It's incredible and scary how effective the ceramic heaters are.