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Partial Answer Firmware Recommendation

Discussion in 'Troubleshooting' started by Russ_B, Sep 25, 2022.

  1. Russ_B

    Russ_B New Member

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    I recently purchased a new in the box R1+ at a yard sale, it was originally shipped in December of 2016, and I'm having issues getting it to print correctly. I typed in a detailed post which was rejected, so I thought I'd start with a simpler one.

    I think I have a firmware issue, all of my prints with Auto Bed Leveling (ABL) are compressed in the Z Axis. The Z steps/mm look to be correct for my machine, and if I comment the G29; out of the startup GCode and put a Z offset into the slicer my prints look OK as long as I stay near the middle of the bed. Too far to the front left and they don't stick, too far to the back right and the nozzle scrapes the glass and doesn't extrude. I know I could shim the bed and do without ABL, but I use a sacrificial pane of glass on top of the glass bed with silicone thermal pads, and if I remove for cleaning and put it back it's not always perfect, so I'd like to get the ABL working.

    I downloaded the "ROBO3DR1PLUSVV2.zip" firmware from the Robo3D site, but I'm still having the same issue. I see posts on here about using 1.1.9 and 2.0.x, and I see 2.1.1 on the Marlin site, but rather than just picking something, I'd like to know what has worked for others.

    Once I get more posts in I can provide more info and photos showing the issues that I'm having.

    Thanks,
    Russ
     
  2. fred3d

    fred3d Member

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    One characteristic I've found on the R1+ relates to the microswitches on the ABL system. The compensation has limitations of range and it's important to bring the carriage into range to get reliable leveling.

    With the power off, manually rotate the Z-axis screws independently until the switch on each side triggers. Do this with the extruder in the center of the carriage and listen for the click.

    I prefer to lower the carriage, hear the click and then back it off until the release click is heard. This has to be done on both sides alternating two to four times to ensure you are getting a good balance, as lowering one side raises the other but the change is reduced with each iteration.
     
  3. Russ_B

    Russ_B New Member

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    I tried that technique, and just ran a test print. It seemed to help with the X axis rods getting out of parallel with the bed, but my print still came out compressed in the Z axis (although less than before, but the amount of compression has always been inconsistent.) Let's see if I can attach a photo...

    Here are 3 20mmx20mmx10mm boxes. The one on the far left was done a few days ago with ABL enabled, and ended up about 5.3mm tall. The one in the middle was done the same day with the G29 commented out, it's about 10.25mm tall. The one on the right was done just a few minutes ago with ABL enabled and turned out about 8.7mm tall:

    BoxComparison2.jpg

    For whatever reason, the Z axis is always inconsistent with ABL enabled, but almost perfect with ABL disabled. I printed a 25x25x25mm cube with ABL enabled, and I thought it was fixed until I compared it to one I did on the Monoprice Mini and discovered the R1+ print was shorter, I measured and it was about 23mm tall.
     

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