I finally got the mini up and running but when I started running the calibration print the mini went through the nozzle cleaning sequence and then it was going to do the g29 sequence. But for some reason the g29 was processed but it never autoleveled. It just went on to the next line of code. So I canceled the print and manually typed in g29 in the command line to see what it would do. To my surprise it did the autolevel. I have tried more than 4 times and I get the same result that the bed doesn’t autolevel. Anyone have a clue to what is going on?
The calibration print is just a gcode file. it doesn’t have the auto leveling bit in its code. If you were to load the STL file for the part that the gcode file is made from, it would probably auto level correctly if you have the auto leveling code set up in your slicing engine correctly since it would add that code to the beginning of the resulting new gcode file.
A 3d model of a solid object is basically a file containing all of the geometry of that particular object. An STL file is a 3d model that has been formatted so it is easy to slice it into individual layers. A gcode file is the resulting instruction set file that you get when you slice an stl file into layers and tell those layers to print inside the settings of your 3d printer. It’s literally a set of instructions along the lines of “start here at 0,0,0, go over that way to point 0,2,5 and start a line x mm wide over that way for x mm” Gcode files are generallyvery specific to the printer they are designed for. if you took that gcode file and tried it on something like a printbot simple, it probably wouldn’t fit on the bed. You could take the STL file and make a gcode file that would work with that type of machine though.
Hope that helps!
Thanks for your input but the calibration block on trying to use is a stl file. So it is slicing it on its own based on my script settings. Any other ideas what could be happening? Or does cura work on windows 10? I can at least install it and see if it works then. I just find it odd that when g29 comes up in the command line (during print) that it does nothing but if I try typing it manually then it works.
Do you have the correct start gcode in S3D? If not, you need to copy the start gcode from Lulzbot’s cura profiles into S3D and set up the wipe, measure and print temps since S3D does not use the same variables as Cura. I just hard coded mine.
Care to share your setup?
I had some issues with older versoions of S3D but the new version works perfectly fine with my Mini.
Try to delete the printer and load it again.
I can when I get home this evening.
If you could share your config that would be greatly appreciated! - are there any downfalls using S3D vs Lulzbot Cura?
Thanks!
They both have positive and negative aspects. You just need to use both to see what works for the type of parts you are printing. I will often slice with both to see what the gcode preview looks like.
This is for PLA. You can adjust speeds and temps for other filaments. You will need to remove the txt extension to load into S3D.
Mini_PLA.fff.txt (11.3 KB)
Thanks for the config!
Stupid question but how do you import that file? Or can you copy and paste your start script?
Also I have verified that if I run cura everything works fine. It seems that simplify3d is missing the g29 command even though it shows in the command line that it was accepted.
Ok I think I have figured it out. Below is my stock start scrip for the mini that didn’t work with simplify3d.
M107 ; start with the fan off
G92 E0 ; zero extruder
M140 S[bed0_temperature] ; begin bed heating
G28 ; home all axes
M109 S150 ; set to cleaning temp and wait
G1 Z150 E-30 F75 ; suck up 30mm of filament
M109 S170 ; heat up rest of way
G1 X45 Y174 F11520 ; move behind scraper
G1 Z0 F1200 ; set Z to height of top of scraper
G1 X45 Y174 Z-.5 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X55 Y172 Z-.5 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X45 Y174 Z0 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X55 Y172 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X45 Y174 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X55 Y172 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X45 Y174 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X55 Y172 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X60 Y174 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X80 Y172 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X60 Y174 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X80 Y172 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X60 Y174 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X90 Y172 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X80 Y174 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X100 Y172 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X80 Y174 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X100 Y172 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X80 Y174 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X100 Y172 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X110 Y174 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X100 Y172 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X110 Y174 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X100 Y172 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X110 Y174 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X115 Y172 Z-0.5 F1000 ; wipe slower and lower Z
G1 Z10 ; raise Z
G28 X0 Y0 ; home XY axes
M109 S140 ; set to probing temp
M204 S300 ; Set probing acceleration
G29 ; Probe
M204 S2000 ; Restore standard acceleration
G1 X5 Y15 Z10 F5000 ; get out the way
G4 S1 ; pause
M400 ; clear buffer
M109 S[extruder0_temperature] ; set extruder temp and wait
G1 Z2 E0 F75 ; extrude filament back into nozzle
M190 S[bed0_temperature] ; wait for bed to finish heating
This is my new script which I moved the G28 X0 Y0 to just before G29. I think the G29 calls for the Home xy to happen just before the probe sequence. By moving the home right before G29 I fixed the problem. What do you guys/gals think?
M107 ; start with the fan off
G92 E0 ; zero extruder
M140 S[bed0_temperature] ; begin bed heating
G28 ; home all axes
M109 S150 ; set to cleaning temp and wait
G1 Z150 E-30 F75 ; suck up 30mm of filament
M109 S170 ; heat up rest of way
G1 X45 Y174 F11520 ; move behind scraper
G1 Z0 F1200 ; set Z to height of top of scraper
G1 X45 Y174 Z-.5 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X55 Y172 Z-.5 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X45 Y174 Z0 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X55 Y172 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X45 Y174 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X55 Y172 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X45 Y174 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X55 Y172 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X60 Y174 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X80 Y172 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X60 Y174 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X80 Y172 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X60 Y174 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X90 Y172 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X80 Y174 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X100 Y172 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X80 Y174 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X100 Y172 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X80 Y174 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X100 Y172 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X110 Y174 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X100 Y172 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X110 Y174 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X100 Y172 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X110 Y174 F4000 ; wiping
G1 X115 Y172 Z-0.5 F1000 ; wipe slower and lower Z
G1 Z10 ; raise Z
M109 S140 ; set to probing temp
M204 S300 ; Set probing acceleration
G28 X0 Y0 ; home XY axes
G29 ; Probe
M204 S2000 ; Restore standard acceleration
G1 X5 Y15 Z10 F5000 ; get out the way
G4 S1 ; pause
M400 ; clear buffer
M109 S[extruder0_temperature] ; set extruder temp and wait
G1 Z2 E0 F75 ; extrude filament back into nozzle
M190 S[bed0_temperature] ; wait for bed to finish heating
I also changed my first layer height to 100% which put the nozzle directly on the bed for the first layer(not a good idea). But then I went to the z offset command and added the .20 layer thickness that I normally print at and now have a nice even layer. Is there anything that I can do to speed up the heating/cooling process during this cycle as it seems like this takes forever.
So does it work? I have Simplify 3D but afraid to use it because it did not have much info on the Mini?
Well to answer my own question I did a sample print and then a “real” print both using new to me filament eSun PETG yellow no less as the job was going to be a proto type for my John Deere mower deck. I did none of the programing listed above as it had all the pre leveling and leveling routines built in a Script
I had to raise the temp to 250 and bed to 100 C to get what I wanted but it worked fine. I can’t say its better than Cura because I had no issues with that program but I got a sale price on Simplify 3D. It came out beautiful, if a 3D print for a mower deck could be called that 
.
The auto-leveling stuff with marlin is really finicky. If you’re too far away in the z-axis, sometimes the G29 does nothing. I’ve had other issues where it won’t work depending on where you are in the X/Y axes too. So the strategy I use is to always run G28 X0 Y0 Z0 right before the G29 command. That’s been working perfect for me so far 
That being said, the stock profile for the LulzBot mini in S3D v3.0.1 worked beautifully for me. It was producing much better prints that the other programs I had tried and I didn’t have to make any modifications to their profile - it worked fine on the first try. You may need to calibrate things like the extrusion multiplier depending on what plastic you are using, but it was nearly perfect for me. The program itself has gotten flat out awesome since the v3 upgrade they did a month back. Well worth the price.