Klipper on Ender 5 with Titan Extruder

[marcdraco]

Now this might be a little esoteric because I get the impression that most people who use Klipper are already veterans seeking more performance from their 3D machines.

I'm still learning so I hope this helps someone else (and prevents the pain that I went through) setting up Klipper with this powerful extruder.

Out of ignorance, I figured that

[extruder]
max_extrude_only_distance: 100.0
step_pin: PB1
dir_pin: !PB0
enable_pin: !PD6
gear_ratio: 3:1
microsteps: 16
rotation_distance: 16.683
nozzle_diameter: 0.400
filament_diameter: 1.750
heater_pin: PD5
sensor_type: EPCOS 100K B57560G104F
sensor_pin: PA7

It made sense to me (cough, splutter) that the 3:1 gear ratio would compensate for the 3:1 extrusion. (Wrong...)

So... I went through a lot and I do mean a lot of PLA and PETG with more failed prints that I'm comfortably admitting to with varying degrees of success - often resolved by fiddling like a madman with every setting you can imagine. I mean, how far off could it be?

More than 140 percent! Yeah, you read that right. When Klipper thought it was extruding 100mm of filament it was actually delivering over 140mm - eek!

Just for anyone with the same hardware here's my setting just in case it helps anyone else - 100mm within 1% measured using my calipers.


and here for the sake of anyone else who finds this later on (I'll probably also have it added to my headstone) is a good starting point, but don't be a Draco - calibrate!

rotation_distance: 22.355

[mincevv]

My extruder cfg looks like this (Ender 5 Pro with BMG extruder):

[extruder]
max_extrude_only_distance: 100.0
step_pin: PB1
dir_pin: PB0
enable_pin: !PD6
microsteps: 16
rotation_distance: 7.027
nozzle_diameter: 0.400
filament_diameter: 1.750
heater_pin: PD5
sensor_type: EPCOS 100K B57560G104F
sensor_pin: PA7
#control: pid
# tuned for stock hardware with 200 degree Celsius target
#pid_Kp: 21.527
#pid_Ki: 1.063
#pid_Kd: 108.982
min_temp: 0
max_temp: 250

Do note couple of items I've updated:
- dir_pin was reversed since I've upgraded to direct drive
- rotation_distance for BMG is 7.027 but I've didn't add gear_ratio at all (same as yours 3:1), so mine 7.027*3 = 21.081 looks close to yours 22.355
- PID settings were autotuned (config added to bottom of the file, that is why those are commented out here - in case someone is wondering).

Still learning about Klipper, but managed to dial it in. Available for exchanging notes

[marcdraco]

Hi and welcome to the forums from one noob to another, I don't post a lot because I'm still in the learning curve so I read a lot more than I write unless it's something I know about.

(For people unfamiliar with Klipper, it makes even 8-bit boards into flying machines by using more advanced mathematics and offsetting the real-time calculations to a much more powerful CPU - typically a Raspberry Pi leaving the modest MCU on the main board to drive the electronics. The Web interfaces are beautifully designed which is a good thing because as of this writing, most 32-bit boards will lose screen/touchscreen functionality. All hail the 8-bit MCU! Gina's wonderful Octoprint is supported but I prefer Fluidd personally.)

I noted that the PID autotune is something a lot of us tend to overlook - but as you've probably seen from your experience, we shouldn't! Seems that it's useful (and with a Klipper macro, stupidly easy) to tune the PID every time we change printing temperature rather than setting it for (say) 200C and then trying to print PETG for example.

I hope others might post their Klipper configurations too so we can all compare notes. I got part-way through a Pressure Advance tower yesterday before realising that I was running tight on filament and I had a fairly larger (aprx. 24 hour) print to do and I don't have a run-out sensor on this machine. Something else I'm going to have to make myself I suspect.

If you haven't tried it yet, Kevin recently added an accelerometer function to Klipper to sense how stable our machines are - I haven't tried that yet but from what I've heard it's another facility that can help us get more performance out of our "stock" machines than would otherwise be possible. The device itself is only a few bucks and all you need to do is add a couple of wires and set it off. There's quite a few tutorials on it on YouTube.

I also noted that my stock E5 came with fairly "loose" fitting belts. Not so much sloppy but with enough thrash that there small lines appeared in prints that took a fair amount of hand-finishing with ultra-fine filler and wet/dry abrasives to produce an acceptable print. Now this won't matter for internal parts but it does affect strength to a certain degree as the layers don't stack all that well.

I had to set mine up using a small amount of pressure from a pry bar and finished up by re-tightening the entire cage. The difference is, quite literally, palpable.

Based on that I'm seriously considering fastening the E5 to a brick wall with four mounts to make the cage even more rigid and that should allow me to squeeze even more performance from it - assuming that I can dampen the vibrations from the steppers and the new part fan I've had to add (horrid thing) as part of the Petsfang Blockhead; and all of that came about because - wait for this - I thought I needed better tool head.

But I digress, here's Fluidd with the new GCode viewer and Mainsail to the right with the chart shown. All hail Open Source!