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Mods and experiences with our Robo 3D R1+ (1st Printer)

Discussion in 'Mods and Upgrades' started by Curtis Wolfe, Feb 27, 2017.

  1. Thomas E. Foss

    Thomas E. Foss New Member

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    True, the X axis is activated by the carriage travelling to the far left (as viewed from the front) but the Y axis is only triggered by the bed travelling all the way to the back Not when the extruder is at the far back left side. The Y axis limit switch is facing forward and only gets activated when the bed moves back. In recent posts you mentioned that at this end of travel it would be math, so I had changed the bed size in the configuration.h file but that didn't help.
     
  2. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Each axis (x. y. z) has a home switch and this is the only certain position.
    Extents of each axis and position on those extents... is calculated based on the home and how large the axis is defined in the firmware.

    When you home it -- each axis goes towards the home switch. If your Y axis is doing the opposite then the firmware is likely misconfigured for the HOME direction (home direction, how the home switch works -- open to activate or closed to activate -- and the size of each axis are all things set in the configuration.h). Post a copy of your CONFIGURATION.H and we can have a look.
     
  3. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    X homes first, then Y and lastly Z.
     
  4. Thomas E. Foss

    Thomas E. Foss New Member

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    As I say that I find the file to upload, go figure.
     

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  5. Thomas E. Foss

    Thomas E. Foss New Member

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    So, are we saying that home is identified incorrectly in the configuration file? Where it thinks it is going to home is actually beyond the actual limits of the printer size maybe?
     
  6. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Unless the firmware is misconfigured... home is always X/Y/Z => 0/0/0 which can hardly be out of range.
    The direction the Y is moving when you tell it to home should be the same direction that will cause the Y limit switch (under the bed) to trigger. If it is not then the firmware is misconfigured. If it is moving the correct way and still grinding then the Y home switch is not getting tripped. That grinding occurs when one of the steppers is trying to move the belt, but can not.
     
  7. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    That grinding normally means that the printer is trying to drive one or more of the steppers past the limit (less than 0 or greater than the max for that axis). It can happen if something gets in the way and blocks travel (there is a cable bundle under the bed that can sometimes get loose and block the Y axis from traveling)
     
  8. Thomas E. Foss

    Thomas E. Foss New Member

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    This is the firmware I used: http://download.robo3d.com/firmware/R1Plus/ROBO3DR1PLUSV2.zip
    This is from the Robo support site R1+ firmware link.
    This, when installed and I hit home sends the bed towards me and the X axis (extruder assembly) moves all the way to the left.
    The extruder assembly contacts the X axis limit switch.
    The bed when moved toward the front of the machine is moving away from the Y axis limit switch which faces forwards (forwards to me is towards me sitting in front of the printer away from where the power cord plugs in with the USB outlet on the right of the printer.
    You mentioned in a previous post that Y going home will activate the limit switch but the only way the Y limit switch will come in contact with the bed is when the bed travels towards the back of the printer since it faces forwards on the machine. I have not moved any of the limit switches. The bed has never since it first came out of the box moved towards the back of the machine to go home.
    Home has always been: Z axis down to the bed, Y axis moved all the way to the front of the machine, and X axis (the extruder assembly all the way to the left contacting the limit switch).
    The only way to make the Y limit switch come in contact with the bed when it goes to it's current home is to remove it from it's factory mounted location and move it behind the center support facing towards the back of the machine.
     
  9. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    The easiest way is to fix the firmware. :)


    #define INVERT_Y_DIR false // for Mendel set to true, for Orca set to false
    #define Y_HOME_DIR -1
    #define Y_MAX_POS 254
    #define Y_MIN_POS 0

    While those are not all together in the same spot those are all in the CONFIGURATION.H so verify them. If it is correct then for whatever reason your stepper is inverted for the Y (this can happen if the motor is plugged backwards -- yes, really)
     
  10. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    If you have the Y motor plugged in backwards (the connector is rotated 180 degrees on the RAMPS board) then that is even easier to fix.
     
  11. Thomas E. Foss

    Thomas E. Foss New Member

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    Photos of current condition (easier for me to demonstrate)
     
  12. Thomas E. Foss

    Thomas E. Foss New Member

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    OK, that would make sense with the plug orientation. The problem is that the picture of correct plug orientation seems to be different depending upon who shows the picture. Blue wire down or blue wire up? I obviously have them reversed so I will switch that and see what happens.
    Mark, you have been invaluable to me through this process and I do not want to come off as disrespectful or argumentative when I explain my problems. Please accept my apologies if I have!
     
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  13. Thomas E. Foss

    Thomas E. Foss New Member

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    So the Y connector was blue wire down, The RAMPS diagram from the ROBO site shows all stepper motors with the blue wires facing up (towards the power plugs) so I reversed them, I also reversed all the other plugs because they were blue down but when I did that the Z axis now thinks home is all the way up and X is also out of orientation so I guess the X and Z plugs need to be reversed from the diagram and Y needs to face up.
    confusing! I would think they should all face the same way but whatever works.
    Just for clarification, Y+ moves the bed towards me and Y- moves the bed away from me.
     
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  14. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Yea, they are not consistent. Just move the one that was backwards and you should be fine :)
    Ultimately you want HOME to move the bed towards the zero position (where the switch is located) for each axis.
    Left/right/forward/back are all viewpoint sensitive :) Z is not (down is down).

    If you know where the switches are located you can sort out which direction is home.
     
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  15. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    No problem -- you need to understand it so whatever it takes to make that click :)
     
  16. Thomas E. Foss

    Thomas E. Foss New Member

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    Question: The R1+ has a predetermined build area and when I print a circular item in the center of the build area on Matter Control it ends up being built off center on the bed. Out of the area the bed says is heated which makes those edges not adhere properly to the bed.
     
  17. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    There are a massive amount of threads on this going back ... forever.

    http://community.robo3d.com/index.php?search/26592123/&q=bed+off+center&o=relevance

    The truth is that the markings on the bed mean nothing and the center of print area should be the center of the heated pad.
    BUT... they were inconsistent with that so that the real center seldom matched the center of the heated area. You can calculate this by measuring how far off the center of the heater is from where the bed is centering now. You have to refer to the heater pad by looking under the bed and measuring where it actually is mounted, find the center and then calculate the offset. The apply that offset to the bed size in the slicer where the printer dimensions are provided. This will reduce the actual print area slightly, but will force the slicer to auto-center correctly.

    The alternative is you use the graphic in the slicer that shows where the print will be placed and manually adjust it off-center so that the sliced model is centered where you want.

    Actually there is one other alternative... move the heater pad. Not really fun, but if you want to that is certainly an option. Or simply replace it with another heater that you center where you want it. That means using a 12vdc 150w (or less) heater pad.
     
  18. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Many people assumed the center of the design on the bed top was the center of the print area (it was not) and that it was the center of the heater pad (nope -- generally not that either)
     
  19. Thomas E. Foss

    Thomas E. Foss New Member

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    Well, I think I have it back to it's original condition. It prints PLA just fine and balks at ABS and TPU, getting the first layer down then freaks out and the build plate ends up looking bare or like a plate of angel hair pasta.
    Maybe since I live in Colorado and the house is colder could have some effect, will try again in the summer.
    Thanks again!
     
  20. mark tomlinson

    mark tomlinson ༼ つ ◕_ ◕ ༽つ
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    Good luck. TPU / NinjaFlex is difficult on an open bay printer and needs a lot of tweaking on the settings. There are a number of threads on that here you can dig though, but the two key settings are to print hot and slow (really slow print speed) :)
     
    #440 mark tomlinson, Apr 25, 2021
    Last edited: Apr 29, 2021

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