New guy here

[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.

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.

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

[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!