Klipper anyone?

[Ender5r]

You're likely to get Console msgs like "Unknown command "/"", or "M201", or "M203". You can safely ignore them. Klipper doesn't implement them because the creator considers them superfluous.

The most important thing, once you have basic operation going, is to move on to Input Shaping and Pressure Advance. You should order an ADXL345 to do the Input Shaping. These 2 features have greatly improved my print quality and speed.

I can't wait to hear your impressions of being able to make major configuration changes via printer.cfg instead of having to re-compile and flash.

[[email protected]]

Good to hear that you got it going. Sound like you are using the stock board. I have a macro setup for START_PRINT that does everything the slicer startup code did. Let know if you would like to see it.

Here is what I did for EZABL on my BTT min3 V2 - see also screen shot of my printer.cfg

You need to determine the Pin numbers for the probe on your board and the correct offsets for your mount, those should be the same as Marlin.

# Define a probe
[probe]
pin: !PC2
#z_offset: 1
# new values
# old values
#x_offset: -33
#y_offset: -45
# new values 2021-8-19
x_offset: -60 # left of nozzle
y_offset: -25 # front nozzle


I inserted this in PRINTER.CFG before my [stepper_z]

You also need one more change in
[stepper_z]
step_pin: PB0
dir_pin: !PC5
enable_pin: !PB1
microsteps: 16
rotation_distance: 2 # unique lead screws
endstop_pin: probe:z_virtual_endstop #EZABL
#position_endstop: 0.2 # this is no longer a valid command
position_max: 300
position_min: -2 # The Z carriage may need to travel below the Z=0

[Ender5r]

Thanks for chiming in [email protected]. The more Klipper enthusiasts the better

[[email protected]]

I haven't been on the for some time. Got to many irons in the fire. I have been using Klipper with either Fluidd or Mainsail for almost a year - the only caution I have is be careful of updates, they can sometimes require that you regenerate and recompile the printer firmware.

[Ender5r]

I heard something similar from Nero 3D. I don't think I've run into it yet. It's 1 of the reasons I've been working on a simple way to back up and restore Klipper. So far, it's been a bit of a challenge, but I'll keep at it.

[[email protected]]

I found a way to create a backup of the Pi MicroSD card. I use Win32 Disk Imager to create a image file of the card. I have not spent much time, but it makes a copy of the card - the same size as the card. I used 32GB cards so had a really big image file. There is probably a way to make it smaller or a different program. I have ended up just rebuilding the whole program from scratch with the lastest version.

[Ender5r]

Yeah. 1 of the issues with WinDiskImager32 is it can't handle cards of different sizes. It also can't do compressed backups, which would save a lot of time.

I have to give Acronis a try. Don't know if it can handle SD cards, but we'll see.

[Gramps]

With the files from [email protected] and some probing around to find my pin assignment I got the probe to work. It wouldn't center to the center of the bed unit I added

# Set Home to the center of the bed
[safe_z_home]
home_xy_position: 162, 120 # Change coordinates to the center of your print bed
speed: 50
z_hop: 10 # Move up 10mm
z_hop_speed: 5

into the printer.cfg

As many times as I edited the printer.cfg to get ti home in the center of the bed I would still be compiling Marlin and flashing firmware instead of editing a file and restarting Klipper. I downloaded some Star_print macros from Github but am getting error when trying to use them. Maybe something in Klipper has changed since they were written. When I was reading this thread earlier I think I saw where Dave had attached his macros, I'm gonna check them out.

[Ender5r]

Told you you would like it Soooooo much easier than recompiling over and over.

[Gramps]

You guys know way more about Klipper than I do but it looks like to me you could copy all the config files (maybe 6) off to a PC and you would have a backup. True you would have to reimagine the SD card but that's pretty easy and quick using the Raspberry Pi Imager. Once you get Klipper setup how often to those files change. Personally I don't store my gcode files in my Pi. I upload them print them them when the list get to long I just delete them off the Pi. I still have them on the laptop and I don't slice and send them directly to the Pi.

[[email protected]]

Your point about saving your printer.cfg is well taken. I keep a repository of all my printers with the history of each on my server. Another advance option is to have multiple configuration files. These are files of macros that you can call from the printer.cfg file. I was introduced to this concept when I installed Klipper on my Rat Rig. They have a customized version of Klipper that has different entries for each board, hot end, printer size and ABL. In the printer.cfg file you uncomment which you are using and that file is included. It took me a while to figure out how it worked, but it makes sense. I have done something similar on my simple setups. My slicer start code consists on one line START_PRINT_PLA or START_PRINT_PETG.

I have attached two files - both have been renamed as .TXT files - I was not allowed to upload .CFG files. The dave_klipper file is called from the printer.cfg
this makes it easy to edit these macros and copy them from to different printers. I developed a M600 macro since Klipper does not have one in the base setup. It is not perfect, but works for me with a filament sensor and when a M600 command is in the gcode.
Take a look and let me know if you have any questions

[Ender5r]

I do want a way to back up that doesn't require reimaging the SD card every time. For 1 thing, I have been thinking about using an M.2 drive instead of an SD card, to avoid SD card burnout. For that I would really need a good backup sol'n.

[Gramps]

UGH! I've spent all afternoon trying to get a bed mesh. I finally got G28 home home at the center of the bed. But for the life of me I can't get a bed mesh. I did get it to it once by leaving out the XY offsets for the probe. I even went through the calibration procedure for the probe and used those values which weren't that far off from mine.

# Define a probe for EZABL
[probe]
pin: !PA7
z_offset: 1
x_offset: -45.5 # left of nozzle
y_offset: -12.5 # front nozzle



# Example bed_mesh config section
[bed_mesh]
mesh_min: 20, 20
mesh_max: 235,235
probe_count: 3,3

These are the errors I get when doing BED_MESH_CALIBRATE following a G28
5:32:22
Move out of range: 280.500 32.500 5.000 [0.000]
15:32:22
probe at 173.000,32.500 is z=1.000000
15:32:18
probe at 65.500,32.500 is z=0.950000

The only thing I haven't tried is a G29 macro

[Ender5r]

Try issuing a G90 before doing the bed mesh. The printer may be trying to use relative positioning instead absolute.

[[email protected]]

This is a learning experience. I forget what printer you have, but the bed mesh min and max take into consideration the probe offsets. This gets confusing with the negative values.

I think this is where you ave the problem, the move out of range at 280.5 X is the result of 235 max and a -- 45.5 offset, which I will guess is past the edge of your bed.
The beauty of Klipper is in this kind of experimenting. Try setting your bed mesh:
mesh_min: 50,50
mesh_max: 100,100
probe_count: 3,3

See if this works. These will have to be adjusted later, but this is just to test that it will work.

[Gramps]

This is a learning experience. I forget what printer you have, but the bed mesh min and max take into consideration the probe offsets. This gets confusing with the negative values.

I think this is where you ave the problem, the move out of range at 280.5 X is the result of 235 max and a -- 45.5 offset, which I will guess is past the edge of your bed.
The beauty of Klipper is in this kind of experimenting. Try setting your bed mesh:
mesh_min: 50,50
mesh_max: 100,100
probe_count: 3,3

See if this works. These will have to be adjusted later, but this is just to test that it will work.

Tried the G90 and the G29 macro same results. I'll give that a try and see what happens.

[Gramps]

Started at 50,50 100,100 and it worked small pattern but it worked. Ended up at 20,20 & 188,188 Klipper does math is strange ways in my opinion. You would think that it would subtract the offset from the min/max not add the offset to it. Changed it to 4x4 grid and it still worked. Yippie!

[Ender5r]

Ah, now I recall having that issue as well. I, too, finally found the right settings by experimenting. Those probe offsets can be real killers.