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Unresolved Model alignment on MC verses actual printer

Discussion in 'Troubleshooting' started by Terry Reilley, Jan 7, 2016.

  1. Terry Reilley

    Terry Reilley Member

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    Hi everyone - noted a small problem today that I wanted to ask about:

    I found a nice tool caddy that hangs on the side of the R3D and decided to print it. One odd thing that I noticed was that the way MatterControl displays the model on the print bed is quite different from what is on the actual printer bed. Do these not coincide with each other?

    The reason I ask is because I use a heated bed printing with PLA and the model stretched the limit of the y-axis. One end is not on the heated section of the bed, so it tends to start warping. MC displays the model dead-centered on the y-axis, but thats not actually the case.

    Do I have something misaligned in the software or printer??? Any ideas? Bueller?

    BTW, I did search the forum for this answer using "alignment" as a search term. I think one person mentioned that one has nothing to do with the other, but I thought maybe the stated problem was different than mine.

    Thanks for the help as always!
     
    #1 Terry Reilley, Jan 7, 2016
  2. Terry Reilley

    Terry Reilley Member

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    Photos of the issue:

    IMG_1838.JPG IMG_1840.jpg
     
    #2 Terry Reilley, Jan 7, 2016
  3. dirtbikr

    dirtbikr New Member

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    Mine is like that too. The image from MC is not reliable in finding center. Also, the heated area is deceivingly NOT the box on the glass bed, it is a little further forward. The back of the box is unheated (you can see this by pulling the bed off and looking underneath at the heating element).
     
    #3 dirtbikr, Jan 7, 2016
  4. WheresWaldo

    WheresWaldo Volunteer ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)
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    As @dirtbikr mentions, the build area is just a fraction under 10" square but the heated area is only about 8.2 inches square. and the white square has nothing at all to do with where the actual print area is located.
     
    #4 WheresWaldo, Jan 7, 2016
  5. Terry Reilley

    Terry Reilley Member

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    Ok wow, ok. That really IS deceiving!!! So I need to either slice the model or learn how to move it around on the bed so it's more forward as you mentioned. My MacBook Pro is shutting down about an hour or two into these prints for some reason (working with Apple on that one, lol), so I am slicing and dicing in order to get the print done. About ready to send it off to ShapeWays or something!

    Thank you both for your help!!!
     
    #5 Terry Reilley, Jan 8, 2016
  6. Terry Reilley

    Terry Reilley Member

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    Oh, BTW WheresWaldo - I'm digging the Fallout avatar. Here's a sign I made for my front door to ward off solicitation.
     

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    #6 Terry Reilley, Jan 8, 2016
  7. WheresWaldo

    WheresWaldo Volunteer ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)
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    The Robo actually prints where it needs to print, the endstops make sure it knows where 0,0,0 is located but you are correct, it is a bit difficult to visualize since the white square is where YOU expect it to print! I would only use the word deceiving with regard to the heater, as all marketing done by Robo indicates that the build area is about 10 inches cubed but the heated area is much smaller. This makes it near impossible to use the entire build plate with any type of filament that requires a consistently heated bed.
     
    #7 WheresWaldo, Jan 8, 2016
  8. Terry Reilley

    Terry Reilley Member

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    Agreed, the white outline on the print bed suggests that this is the heated area. Deceiving is kinda harsh, so I will say "my expectations were..", lol. So would you recommend trying to move the print forward on the Y axis somehow? I tried this in Cura but Cura would not print the image unless it was in the defined workspace.

    Speaking of Cura, MatterControl, and the like, I'm contemplating Simplify3D and have read a lot of good things here about it. I have an iMac on the way so will wait until it arrives before I purchase it. My MacBook Pro keeps crashing in the middle of a big print and I hate wasting filament!!!
     
    #8 Terry Reilley, Jan 8, 2016
  9. WheresWaldo

    WheresWaldo Volunteer ( ͠° ͟ʖ ͡°)
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    No don't move it at all, Cura bases its coordinate system on cartesian plotting and knowing the lower left corner on the bed is 0,0,0. The endstops tell Robo where that same point is, So they are actually in sync. Now it gets tricky if you want to have your print directly over the heated area, since the tape and cork are only a covering and are larger than the actual heated mat, you would need to figure (by that I mean measure how far offset from X0 and Y0) out how many millimeters you need to offset X and Y and then make sure the lower left portion of your print never goes into the non-heated area. Remember the heated area is approximately 200 mm square. Besides this, Cura only displays the approximately 240 x 250 mm printable area, if configured correctly, and not the entire glass plate.
     
    #9 WheresWaldo, Jan 8, 2016

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