First Layer Printing

The grinding is definatly the cable to the heated bed the cable needs to stay to the right side of the bed, when it moves around it gets In the way of the sensor, little metal tab under the bed. If its properly to the right hand side, its ok, the bed gets a proper reading of its position and no more grinding I had this issue for a couple hours as well

For me, also havig an r1 with enclosed bottom, I dissabled the auto level In MatterControl and let the built in to the printer hardware auto level do its thing, now I get great prints

So, if it was me id fix heat cable, dissable auto level in MatterControl, reatart computer amd printer and try another. As a new user, I also went into filiment and brought all speeds down 50%. As someone who has used a few plotters in his day this is a natural step when learning. Will make it easier for you to see whats up and make desicions. Always worked for me with plotters and is working for me now, ive only had this printer a few days and im printing a killer T Rex skul right now

 

Please post a photo of the T Rex!

 

Here is the bottom Jaw. I like it. I know it can still do better (I haven't really got into the settings properly yet) but man, for my second proper object, Im impressed!

Opps, sorry about the thread kill, I'll start a new one with my T Rex build.

 

Thomas, thanks for your advice. I got the printer to stop making that grinding noise. It was the cable to the heated bed, when would took off the bed to check something, we must have turned the bed upside down which twisted the cable. We turn the bed the opposite direction, which turned the cable and no more grinding noise, the cable slides into it's slot.

I am now have printing problems with layers above the first. The first lays down really nice, but after the first layer things get really messed up. I will attach some pictures. I am still using MatterControl auto leveling, tomorrow I will "dissabled the auto level In MatterControl and let the built in the printer hardware auto level do its thing", but first a few questions about this?
1. Do I need to make any changes to my startup Gcode or anywhere else for the printer hardware auto leveling to work??
This my start up Gcode:.
G28 ; home all axes
G1 Z5 F5000 ; lift nozzle
M109 S[temperature] ; set the extruder temp and wait
G28 Z0 ; Home Z again in case there was filament on nozzle
M565 Z0
G29 ; probe the bed
2. My concern is with the M565 Z0 command,
I have read somewhere that this needs to be changed to Z -1 or something like this.
3. What version of firmware are you using and where did you get it>

 

I have had first layer issues plague me since I got mine. After disabling the auto level in MatterControl, I manually adjust the 2 threaded rods as it prints the skirt to dial it in. I need to do something so I don't have to tweak it manually, but so far this process has resulted in great prints.

 

Hi Robert, I'm still learning about Gcode, as a single dad working for myself time is very tight. I'm having a slight issue like yours as well now but not as extreme. I'm about to check bed level as well as X axis. for me the hot end is find in the middle of the bed, a bit too high on the left (a tinny but noticeable amount, its making the layer come out to rounded and affecting adhesion of some layers) and a bit too low on the right (a tinny but noticeable amount, its squishing the layer a bit making it bulge on the edges a tinny bit and then the hot end drags and ruins things, sometimes.) I'm able to compensate by slowing the printer down half speed of the stock High quality settings but still as it lays the first 10-15 layers you can see they are slightly higher on the left than the right. I'm just about to start, update coming soon.

As per the Z on code m565, I believe mine is 1, ill double check.

 

Brad T, I have the robo r1 with the enclose bottom, not sure how you manually adjust the 2 threaded rods.
Thomas thanks for the response, hoping someone else has the smoking gun to fix my problem.

I have been reading a lot on the forum and the more I read the more confused I get.

I have the robo r1 with the enclose bottom, I am running MatterContro 2.0 and using matterscontrols slicer. My firmware is running version 2

My startup Gcode is
This my start up Gcode:.
G28 ; home all axes
G1 Z5 F5000 ; lift nozzle
M109 S[temperature] ; set the extruder temp and wait
G28 Z0 ; Home Z again in case there was filament on nozzle
M565 Z0
G29 ; probe the bed

In the mean time can someone answer some questions concerning,

1. Setting Calibration (using paper and checking 3 points on the bed).

is this something that Robo came up with or is this a MatterControl thing
Does this have to be done to make the Robo R1 bed level.
Does this work in conjunction with the G29 command and the M565 Z-1
People on the Forum talk about Robo using behind the scene commands to do bed leveling, can someone verify this as true of false and if true, what commands are they using
2. Enable or disable Automatic Print leveling
When you enable or disable, does this have any effect after I do my calibration setting, If I choose disable, does this disable the automatic Calibration that I just did.
Does this effect or work with the G29 and the M565 commands.
3. The G29 and M565 Z-1 command
Do these commands work together
If M565 and G29 are in my Gcode start up what do they do, what do the do if I have the Automatic Print Leveling enabled or disabled
Do these commands do the same thing that the setting calibration command does.
I know that the G29 command does the 9 points probe of the bed, is it actually leveling the hot end for printing

I am hoping that the answers to these questions will help others understand how to setup the Robo R1 with the enclosed bottom.

 

1) MatterControl is the only one that has this utility.
Yes it does have to be done to make the bed level. At least in MatterControl. I don't fully understand their logic but it seems to be critical.
G29 is what calls the routine. As far as I can tell M565 and slicer offsets conflict with APL and shouldn't be used.
G29 is the command to run autolevel. If you want to use a different slicer software than MC you need to use G29 and an offset code in the startup G-code

2) I don't know what happens if you disable. Best suited to ask MatterHackers some of these questions. Best to get the answer from the horses mouth: www.matterhackers.com/community/forum
G29 uses the values calibrated by the APL. M565 conflicts as I said before.

3) They work together in the sense that you usually need an offset for G29 to compensate properly.
The M565 Z0 is an artifact of old code. It doesn't do anything right now. Learn more about g-code here: http://reprap.org/wiki/G-code
M565 and APL do more or less the same thing
It adjusts the Z axis depending on the unleveleness of the print bed. If you watch your couplers you'll see them moving up and down.

 

I have the R1 with enclosed bottom too. I reach in the build area and twist the rods above the carriage assembly a little at a time to raise it up until the printed layer looks right. The issue I have with this is that is still auto levels on some prints.

I was printing a spool holder and with auto leveling disabled, it would not auto on some parts but auto on the others. Very inconsistent.

 

Disabling the APL doesn't remove the G29 call from the startup G-code. If you're fiddling with your rods you should adjust your offset values.

 

Mike thanks for your response, I posted these questions on MatterControl, will let you know when I hear something.

The reason for all these question is I'm having trouble with getting my Robo R1 to calibrate and print.
If I do my calibration, APL is enabled, startup Gcode as shown above, then start the print, the hot end is too high off the bed, I have redone the calibration a number of time with the paper and same problem. If I go in and change the calibration settings to lower numbers, then I can get the first layer to print successfully. I can print the calibration cube perfectly, but when I print something that is larger, covers more of the bed, it gets really messed up. The first layer looks good, but when you get to the 3,4 layers the head will start dragging over areas of the bed and start lifting off the previously layer.
I have had successful prints before installing MatterControl V2 and firmware V2.

It maybe time to switch to another software package, how hard is it to setup Repitier Host. Do you have the startup gcode and is there anything special I should be aware of when using this software.

 

I suggest for setting up repetier host you use the values from matter control. Here's a quick rundown of what is critical to change. Leave default values unless noted

Connection:
Baud Rate: 250000

Printer shape:

X (Width): 228
Y (Depth): 254
Z (Height): 228

Slicer Configurations

Slic3r:
Printer Settings > Custom G-code

Cura:

Gcodes > Start Gcode:

Add this either at the end of the section, or after G28, doesn't really matter but I think in slic3r if you added it after G28 it would run calibration cold

Code:

M565 Z-1.0   ; Add 1.0mm of offset
G29                ; Run autolevel routine

 

OK, Little story here, won't take long and I think it will be a good little read for the forum.

I got my Robo R1 a couple weeks ago, took a few days to get to playing with it but when I did I wasn't getting good results at all as it kept printing a 1/4 inch above the bed. Bummer. So I did some reading and kept hearing the R1 (with enclosed bottom) has hardware auto levelling built in so I disabled the auto levelling in MatterControl and gave it another try, the printer probed the bed in its 9 points and Boom I got a good print out of it (the little cube) and was happy. So I loaded up a file from the built in library (business card holder 2) and tried again and yes, got another good print. This time I loaded up a internet file (T Rex skull and base) and gave it a go, had adhesion issue, used a bit more glue stick and again got a very nice item.

So, I backed up my MatterControl database file (matter control.db) located at (on a Mac) ~/.local/share/ (must use finder go to folder as its a hidden folder) and erased it so I could start over, keeping my working settings safe. This wasn't the best idea. haha. It didn't go well at first anyway. I ended up with the extruder not moving over the print bed evenly, giving me a "bead" of filament on the bed that was to round on top on the left, ok in the middle and being squished on the right. So as it was laying down the first few outlines i manually adjusted the threaded rods and got it very, very close but it still wasn't correct.

So again and decided to just do what I did last time. I deleted mattercontrol.db and started fresh, this time doing exactly what I did out of the box. I used MatterControl's Auto Leveling and did it's calibration with the three points and the sheet of paper and yes, it printed a 1/4 inch above the bed. Then I disabled MatterControl's auto level and tried same print again, this time the printer probed the 9 points and the print was just fine.

I think MatterControl needs its calibration done so It knows whats up but its auto function gets in the way of printer operation.

Any thoughts?

 

MatterHackers would probably know the answer. www.matterhackers.com/community/forum

 

Thomas, I will try disabling the Automatic Print leveling(APL) then print something, I will let you know how it goes.
Thomas, I post a rather lengthy question on MatterControls website called: Calibration, Automatic Print leveling, and G29, M565 Z-1 offset, I will let you know when I get a response.
Thomas, what does your M565 Z offset look like, is it set in the startup gcode or it is set in the menu screen.

Mike, I'm going to setup Repitier Host and see if I can get a good print, I will also let you know what happens.

 

I just finished a very, very cool print. I'll include a link to the item on thing verse and a few photos.

@Robert Choban M565 Z =0.

Its amazing. Printed hinges that work, I am blown away. I truly believe that going into configure in MatterControl and doing the three point calibration, then printing (it will be too high from the bed), then disabling auto level in MatterControl and print again so the Printer does its nine point level is the way to go. My first layer is flat and even, going down great. I am still having an issue, little bit, with top layers filling in properly and not leaving a little cross hatch pattern like the fill but Adjusting extruder temp is helping and I feel that learning the settings better could help as well. Some fine tuning.

I'm going to try another before bed but heres is my:
Print-In-Place Fidget Cube

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:230139

 

@Thomas Bowman, for basic prints like the fidget cube I use 2 perimeters, 3 top layers, 2 bottom layers, and 15% infill. For a better top finish I'll go up to 20% infill and 4 top layers. That's using Slic3r to do the slice, though I use the same for Simplify 3D.

 

I've been using matterslice, every time I try and use slic3r it just bounces in my dock and does nothing, Mac OS X 10.10. Thats in MatterControl. I'm going to try and get Repeater up and running today. Now that I have time I'll look into my Slic3r issue as well.