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Version 3.1.0A - Timing fixes, calibration fixes, tons more
Changes:
-The program now utilizes responses from the printer to initiate the next step of the height map generating process.
-Also, the calibration algorithm is ran on a separate thread than the reading thread. This prevents the printer console from being locked up.
-There is also a manual calibration included on the third tab of the advanced area - which utilizes the same exact algorithm as the automatic calibration.
-Slight changes to the calibration control flow, the steps per mm is now corrected afterward. This reduces the error between the horizontal radius changes and the steps per millimeter.
-Heuristic mode fixes
-Disconnection fixes
-Stop button for calibration
-Basic mode is now fully iterative

From default settings on my printer, I got a successful calibration in 3 iterations. After randomizing values (tower offsets, horizontal radius, alpha rotation), I had a successful calibration after 9 iterations - would be faster if heuristic was enabled.

Upcoming Changes:
-improve control flow to increase speed of calibration

Download:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B06WCA ... sp=sharing" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Would something like the below do for making a probe for calibration purposes, or is it not high enough in resolution or accuracy?
I know it is not top notch quality, but I have no further purpose for it. "Good enough is the best!"

[img]http://hennekens.info/rostock/dialindicator-a.png[/img]
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Digital-Dial-in ... SwR0JUNVrH" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I am looking for something like this for mounting it steadily during calibration:
http://repables.com/r/344/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
or
http://repables.com/r/343/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Tricklaser sells this component meant for holding your digital probe. http://tricklaser.com/Pen-Tool-holder-f ... RM-PTH.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Hello,
I have some problems and I hope you can help me...
I have a Micromake D1 printer with default firmware. I have understood that the firmware is repetier 0.91 (how can I confirm this) and I am using Cura for printing (actually a custom Cura that has a Micromake Debugger menu entry that does auto calibration). Being frustrating by the bugs in the auto calibrating issues I run into this forum and tried OpenDACT.
It did not worked but source code being available I spend a day checking what is happening. I had some issues with code that did not work ok (like iteration being a local variable, not entering the logic if Z-probe received etc.... I have seen that the problems where fixed with this latest commit) but after fixing this it still not working and I was able to identify somehow the problem...
It seams that G30 it always probe the center not the current position (if you do G1 Z10 X-80 Y-40 and then G30 it will go to 10, -80, -40 and then quick to 10,0,0 and begin probe). Do you have any idea why I have this problem. Is my firmware not ok? how can I fix this? Are there any other Micromake users that can advise me regarding firmware/upgrade?
10x & keep up the good work

Eaglezsoar wrote:Tricklaser sells this component meant for holding your digital probe. http://tricklaser.com/Pen-Tool-holder-f ... RM-PTH.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Their website seems to be down

It seams Micrmake D1 comes with a custom firmware that has custom leveling code. After decompiling the Micromake debugger I have discovered there is a G229 comand that does this:
> G229 S50
< ok 0
< X:0.00 Y:0.00 Z:305.48 E:0.00
< ok 0
< Z-probe:5.00 X:0.00 Y:0.00
< Z-probe:5.03 X:-43.30 Y:-25.00
< Z-probe:4.81 X:0.00 Y:-50.00
< Z-probe:4.85 X:43.30 Y:-25.00
< Z-probe:4.79 X:43.30 Y:25.00
< Z-probe:4.79 X:0.00 Y:50.00
< Z-probe:4.93 X:-43.30 Y:25.00
< Z-probe:4.95 X:0.00 Y:0.00
< Z-probe distance: 301.53 5.03 4.81 4.85 4.79 4.79 4.93 4.95
I think the best solution for me is to switch to custom firmware that is standard...

For some reason 3.1.0 doesn't converge for my printer at all. It just spikes up and down and doesn't even get below 0.5 accuracy. I have had it go for over 100 iterations.

3.0.0 does converge nicely but the only issue I have with it that it changes my steps per mm a lot. The steps/mm that I should have is 106.67 but after calibration it goes to 53.

I am honestly happy with 3.0.0 but I would prefer not to have an additional step to figure out what I need to scale my prints to after the automatic calibration. In 3.1.0 you said that it fixes the steps/mm after the calibration but it never finishes.

I looked in your code to see how you are fixing the steps/mm so that I can manually fix it after the calibration in 3.0.0 but couldn't find it anywhere. is it in Calibration.stepsPMM? or in DecisionHandler?

Thanks,

bilalasd wrote:For some reason 3.1.0 doesn't converge for my printer at all. It just spikes up and down and doesn't even get below 0.5 accuracy. I have had it go for over 100 iterations.

3.0.0 does converge nicely but the only issue I have with it that it changes my steps per mm a lot. The steps/mm that I should have is 106.67 but after calibration it goes to 53.

I am honestly happy with 3.0.0 but I would prefer not to have an additional step to figure out what I need to scale my prints to after the automatic calibration. In 3.1.0 you said that it fixes the steps/mm after the calibration but it never finishes.

I looked in your code to see how you are fixing the steps/mm so that I can manually fix it after the calibration in 3.0.0 but couldn't find it anywhere. is it in Calibration.stepsPMM? or in DecisionHandler?

Thanks,

The function that calibrates the steps per mm is in the calibration class and is stepsPMM. However, since your printer differs from the RMax in steps per mm, you will need to have the program calibrate itself to understand your printer. You can do this by flipping the heuristic mode to true and let it calibrate. This will modify the values in the program and I recommend saving them for later;

bogdanbrudiu wrote: I think the best solution for me is to switch to custom firmware that is standard...

I would recommend using repetiers firmware config tool - http://www.repetier.com/firmware/v092/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

All you will need to do is save your current configuration (in the eeprom hopefully) and modify the configuration.h to work with your printers parameters.

----------------------------------

So I ran OpenDACT (current as of 01/30/16) on Red Sonja (v1) after installing the FSR mod. After 121 iterations it still hadn't come up with a solution. When clicking "Stop" the application freezes after homing the machine. The only way to get out of it is to end-task it.

Suggestions?

g.

Geneb,

Are you sure there is no play in your build ? Can the plunger in the FSR mounts move freely ?
If you calculate height 5 times, do you get consistent results ?

What target precision did you set up ?

When you look at the successive results in advanced mode, did it improve (get closer to 0) ?

I ran OpenDact for the first time 3 days ago on my max V1. No issue whatsoever, appart from the probe offset different from 0, causing the head to crash into the bed at second iteration.

geneb wrote:So I ran OpenDACT (current as of 01/30/16) on Red Sonja (v1) after installing the FSR mod. After 121 iterations it still hadn't come up with a solution. When clicking "Stop" the application freezes after homing the machine. The only way to get out of it is to end-task it.

Suggestions?

g.

Well I am going to assume that this is because the program is using the default parameters for the V2 i.e. the SPM percent correction/change, horizontal radius change, alpha rotation correction, and tower offset correction values. These are all printer specific, so try to flip the heuristic mode to true. Before I did this my printer took ~40-50 iterations, now it takes around 5-15. I haven't used this function in a while though, so hopefully I didn't break it along the way. If it doesn't work properly let me know and I will look at it later today! Also for the stop button, there must be commands in the buffer that are causing the program to get upset - I will look into this as well.

The only setting I changed from the defaults were the arm length (to 290.8). RS has got the new carriages and ball-socket arms so it's very tight.

In a prior run I tried Heuristic mode (I set the dropdown to "true") and it ran for a while and then apparently decided to go back to "normal" mode as the Heuristic setting was flipped back to "false".

I was unable to take a screen shot of the Accuracy pane since it froze. When I try it again, I'll take a screenshot before I stop it.

The best result I ever noticed was x, y, and z at .01, and a, b, and c were around .03-.09.

g.

Use your smartphone to photo a frozen screen!

I'm sorry, that makes sense and is therefore forbidden.

g.

geneb wrote:The only setting I changed from the defaults were the arm length (to 290.8). RS has got the new carriages and ball-socket arms so it's very tight.

In a prior run I tried Heuristic mode (I set the dropdown to "true") and it ran for a while and then apparently decided to go back to "normal" mode as the Heuristic setting was flipped back to "false".

I was unable to take a screen shot of the Accuracy pane since it froze. When I try it again, I'll take a screenshot before I stop it.

The best result I ever noticed was x, y, and z at .01, and a, b, and c were around .03-.09.

g.

Yes, in the heuristic mode it will figure out the parameters of your printer then once that step is complete it will perform a normal calibration.

Steps in the calibration(~ -> approximately equal):
0. If heuristic mode = true, then check how much each value changes when increased by a set amount. Else: 1
1. Checks if the X ~ Y ~ Z, if no then calibrates offsets again. Also, if it can't calibrate it will adjust the horizontal radius so it can. This will throw off every height on the next measurement. Else: 2
2. Checks if XO ~ YO ~ ZO, if no then calibrates alpha rotation. Else: 3
3. Checks if (XO ~ YO ~ ZO) ~ (X ~ Y ~ Z), if no then calibrates the steps per millimeter. Else: 4
4. Checks if (XO ~ YO ~ ZO ~ X ~ Y ~ Z) ~ 0, if no then calibrates the horizontal radius. Else: Calibration Complete

Hi guys!
I'm glad the new version of opendact includes a manual calibration. I use a caliper to probe the bed.
First question : do we need to invert the measurements using a caliper or not? (When the bed is lower than it should, it shows a positive value)

Second, I tried yesterday to calibrate my printer, without using the heuristic mode , and I got to the point were all towers are the same and all opposite are the same, then it tries modifying the steps per mm, but it was only increasing dramatically the difference between tower and opposite (turned a 1mm difference to more than 3 then I stopped) do you have anything to suggest exept heuristic mode?
Also as I build my 3D printer myself, I'm not sure about the tower radius correction, which is no more calibrated by this software, can I still get a calibrated printer without touching thus setting?

Thanks for your answer,
Arnaud

Anyone have openDACT working with Repetier firmware 0.92.X? Ever since I updated Repetier firmware to 0.92.8, openDACT can't read in EEPROM values. It will function for what seems to be a random amount of time and then enters an endless "Resend:####" "ok" loop that begins with "Error: Missing linenumber", then freezes when I attempt to reset or disconnect. At one point I noticed in Repetier Host that a few of the EEPROM values (XYZ steps per mm, Z max height, etc) got erased after running openDACT. I ensured that baud rates match.

Update: I also noticed occasionally in Repetier Host when updating EEPROM values I will get "Error: Missing linenumber", "Resend: ####". Perhaps my problem involves the USB connection?

If your computer does not have US number format, it can be the issue.

I do have Opendact working with repetier 0.92.8, I had no more problems to get it working than the number formating.

Thanks - I verified in Control Panel that Windows 7 is already using US English number format.

Just completed an 11 iteration calibration in heuristic mode after clearing the EEPROM, cycling power, then reloading the firmware. However, every time Repetier Host 1.6.0 is even just connected (and disconnected) first, OpenDACT will have the missing linenumber error. The printer power then has to be cycled for it to work again.

I would appreciate if someone can confirm defaults.
So, to get it working properly, I need to enter starting parameters: DiagonalRod = 290.8 and PlateDiameter 280? I know that 290.8 is the correct value, but I am not sure about plate diameter is it 280 or is it 310, or is it the diameter where I want the calibration to do the tests? The problem is that I cannot see the default to begin with The screenshot shows that the fields are "empty" but the numbers are just so far to the left that the first three numbers are invisible. I have Win7Pro US/English, no problems obviously with other apps.
Although I am sure I will have more questions, the last one for now, why does it need to change steps/mm? I am sorry if it has been asked before, but it is not so easy to find or understand for a newb:). My understanding is that it only affects scaling.
Thanks.

Diameter is just the circle of cal points used. I go for a safe 200mm which I think is the default too.

Thanks magicmushroom666,
that makes a lot of sense, but I just wasn't sure. After checking my bed with digital indicator, I know that that there are some second order deviations up and down. So, unless I am printing something really big, it would make sense to calibrate for a smaller radius, although I have calibrated today at 288mm just fine, but area close to the center was not perfect.

Just my gut speaking, and without any mathematical proof, but my guess is that the wider the diameter you use for calibration, the more accurate the calibration is. This because it would make sense that the larger the traveldistances are, the bigger the possible misalignment faults are. Of course if it is just about bed-leveling, it makes sense you use only the part of the bed you are going to use.