Can't find PINDA "Sweet Spot"
So far, I've spent a day and a half (12 hours) trying to find the "sweet spot" for the PINDA probe.
When I get it so the nozzle doesn't catch on the paper, I have to adjust the Z-axis to more than -1.00mm (-1.25 minimum) to get the filament bead right. I've been adjusting this silly thing up & down by 0.25mm (±.02mm) with a precision caliper, and can't get the Z-axis adjustment below -1.00mm. (BTW, how important/critical is that -1.00mm limit, and why shouldn't it be exceeded?)
Am I doing something wrong? Is the adjustment more precise than 0.25mm? Do I perhaps have a defective PINDA probe? What?
This is my first 3d printer.
That's "MISTER Old Fart" to you!
Re: Can't find PINDA "Sweet Spot"
I just got my MK3 a few weeks ago so I am very new to this. From what I can gather, perhaps some time ago there was a hard limit at -1.000 mm but I do not know if it is still the case. As long as your PINDA probe is reliably finding the bed and not crashing the nozzle, I do not know if a live Z value of over -1.000 mm matters. In the new owner's guide, Joseph mentions that the typical live Z value will be close to -1.000 mm: . I currently have mine at -0.990 and everything seems fine.
Re: Can't find PINDA "Sweet Spot"
After reading the thread, Live Z, can't get a perfect even surface, it occurred to me that there was a problem with the bed itself, so I took some more measurements (5 sets) with the calipers at each of the 4 corners. The variances between high & low were between .20mm and .50mm. Would this be enough to be significant?
I also read something about an Octoprint plugin(?) From what I've seen on Youtube, I thought Octoprint was strictly a smart phone (which I don't have) app. Am I mistaken? Might this help?
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Re: Can't find PINDA "Sweet Spot"
UPDATE:
We finally got Octoprint up & running on a (Windows 10) PC, but installing the Bed Level Visualizer plugin failed. We're trying to figure out why (any help would be greatly appreciated!)
Meanwhile, I happened to catch a Youtube video on autoleveling sensors (PINDA being one of the 12 tested/compared), in which I learned that they're more accurate if the autoleveling is done with a heated bed. I don't recall seeing anything about that in the User's Manual, but it's possible I could have missed it.
So I preheated my MK3 bed and ran through the XYZ Calibration again. (Unfortunately it cooled down somewhat during the process) This time I thought things were getting better, as I managed to get the Live Z Correction down to -1.00mm. Here is the result:
Anyway, I thought it looked good--until I tried an actual print ("PRUSA") from the SD card. It started to look funky until I "up-ed" the Live Z back to -1.250mm. The first part of the print failed, but the -1.250 part (below) looked like it's supposed to look (so again I ask, is that -1.00 limit a killing thing?)
Since the -1.250 did look so good, we tried printing the "PRUSA" again at that setting, and it's gorgeous.
We'll keep trying to get the Octoprint plugin to work, but since the measured variance in our bed is <=0.5mm, I'm not sure we'll ever get that Live Z below -1.250... (without some help/guidance !) 😕
That's "MISTER Old Fart" to you!
Re: Can't find PINDA "Sweet Spot"
Begin to install the plug-in, and walk away. Go to dinner. It takes a long time.
The details are in the Visualizer thread, but it's a Linux thing and tiny differences between libraries. The pi is building some stuff so it can install more stuff.
Once it's installed the first time, you are good to go for all updates. And it's a sweet plug-in.
Good luck.
Re: Can't find PINDA "Sweet Spot"
Thanks, but we're not using a Pi--it's going directly on the PC (We have no need for wireless printing, and don't even own a smart phone).
The plugin crashes immediately upon trying to install (see edited post above).
That's "MISTER Old Fart" to you!
Re: Can't find PINDA "Sweet Spot"
You may want to post this on the devs page so that it can be checked out
https://github.com/jneilliii/OctoPrint-BedLevelVisualizer/issues
I do know that the issue is mostly on Prusa's side...I'm not surprised
https://github.com/foosel/OctoPrint/issues/2721
Anything can be made better
https://www.myminifactory.com/users/Joe%20Prints
Re: Can't find PINDA "Sweet Spot"
Thank you! We will check out those links, I should add that failure to launch the plugin occurred with and/or without being connected to the printer--on and/or off, so I'm guessing that it may be something with Octoprint, the plugin, Windows, (or most likely) something we're doing wrong/not understanding. 😳
That's "MISTER Old Fart" to you!
Re: Can't find PINDA "Sweet Spot"
OCTOPRINT BED LEVEL VISUALIZER UPDATE:
After much detective work, and contact with the plugin's developer, we suspect the problem is in/with PIP v10.
When we first installed Octoprint, there was a message recommending to update PIP from v9 to v10, which we did, Apparently, there are reports of PIP v10 having a bug that causes some plugins to crash/not install properly. The issue will purportedly be fixed in the next version of Octoprint, but until then, it was recommended to us to go back to v9 of PIP.
That's "MISTER Old Fart" to you!
Re: Can't find PINDA "Sweet Spot"
OCTOPRINT BED LEVEL VISUALIZER UPDATE:
Ok, after a few more days of reading & anguish, we got the Bed Level Visualizer up & running. Checking against information in Live Z, can't get a perfect even surface, we determined we didn't need to invert anything; the data/graphic were congruous. The Bed Level Visualizer also showed even less variance than my measurements with the caliper!
From reading other threads, it seems this level of variance should be able to be compensated for by the firmware (or am I mistaken?) yet prints are showing evidence of bed leveling issues.
This is not (just) a lighting issue--the left side if the above disc suggests to me that that side of the bed is too low(?) The right side is much smoother--significant difference running a fingernail across the "groves".
The Z-axis adjustment still needs to be above -1.250mm. Will this damage anything?
Do I need further leveling adjustment or other modification?
PLEASE HELP/ADVISE/SUGGEST/EDUCATE!!!
Thank you!
That's "MISTER Old Fart" to you!