Solved Frustration...complete noob needs help please!

holy shit I didn't realize so many posts before mine

 

By default it is 0 when you install MC. I did see the zOffset at the bottom of the gCode file created when I exported to a folder, but that is just a comment of settings and has no affect on the print. You need the M565. You can see that based on the help text in MC that if you set it here you will have an opposite result that if you just set the M565 in the start code. Not a fan of that. Since the robo uses the nozzle as the probe, it really needs to always be a negative number that is created, either by us manually setting it in gcode or by the MC code generation. Which I did test by changing from 0 to -.8 in this box and it never created the needed gcode to do the offset. Not sure why, but wouldn't trust setting it here. My vote is for the start gcode. Then you know what it is.

; zOffset = 0

 

Yea when I changed it, never seemed to do anything, granted I didn't try printing anything. MC just needs to eliminate the Z Offset and put the M565 command in the Starting Gcode, like every other slicer software. Whoops I forgot I changed the number before taking the screenshot and I missed the help info!

I remember when I first used MC, they had the stupid macro button and you could only adjust a few tenths of a mm. It was like 0.8, 0.9, and 1.0 or something. Needless to say adding the M565 command to the start gcode was one of the first things I did. Plus I currently use an offset of -0.79, which is far more accurate then just using tenths.

Attached is a screenshot showing where to place the M565 command. I am not quite sure why they have 2 Home commands as the default starting code. Seems like a waste of time.

Here is an example of my starting gcode just in case:

M104 S175; Set extruder and do not wait - preheat
M190 S[bed0_temperature] ; Set bed temp and wait to be reached
G28 ; home all axes
G1 Z5 F5000 ; lift Z by 5mm
M565 Z-0.79 ; set the offset for auto-leveling mechanism
G29 ; run auto-level
G1 Z10 F5000 ; lift Z by 10mm
M117 Waiting for Extruder to Stabilize; LCD Message
M109 S[extruder0_temperature] ; Set extruder temp and wait to be reached
G1 Z10 F5000 ; lift Z by 10mm
M117 Leave Me Alone...; LCD Message

 

Their default start code makes no sense...agreed. It can definitely be cleaned up. Now when running "Robo" firmware (Marlin 1.0.0 based) then M565 is supported. Once you go to a true Marlin based firmware greater than 1.0.0 then M565 is no longer supported. It now using M851. That might be why they steer away from trying to put it in across the board. Should still be in the profile when you select Robo since it is in their list of supported printers. I think the headache I am getting looking at MC today is why I switched to Cura in the first place

 

Alright! Got something to print, but the first layer seems to be not quite right. I am going to keep playing around a adjusting things to see if I can get it as close to perfect as possible. Thanks for the tips and the help everyone!

 

Glad to hear you are on your way to getting a good print now. Having this in the classroom will hopefully be beneficial to your students.