OpenDACT(Delta Automatic Calibration Tool) - For Repetier

User-Generated tips and tricks for the Rostock Max, Orion, H1.1, or H1 Printers
terabyte
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Re: OpenDACT(Delta Automatic Calibration Tool) - For Repetie

Post by terabyte »

No, I have not figured it out yet. Today I am back to looping and/or smashing the z-probe into the bed. When it worked, I had it calibrate to within 0.01mm at 288, but then it felt like it was off towards the center.
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Re: OpenDACT(Delta Automatic Calibration Tool) - For Repetie

Post by wowowee »

hello newb here.. :D
just built a delta pi printer, waiting for the hot end, have repetier fw..
very good calc. tool.. watch the video/read this tread.. ran this tool, several times, was able to get close to 0.02 bed level manually with the digital caliper..still pushing for 0.00.. :geek: :)
??1, after getting the calibrated numbers in the repetier host software, does one?, enter the calibrated numbers in the firmware (config.H) arduino software, then reburn/install in the ramps1.4 board..or just leave in rep. host software??

??2, don't have my hot end yet, unsure of the height, (318mm for now), i assume bed height can just be adjusted in the firmware.. :?

thanks :)
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Re: OpenDACT(Delta Automatic Calibration Tool) - For Repetie

Post by Xenocrates »

To answer your questions:
Assuming it managed to transfer the values to EEPROM correctly, then you don't need to do anything to calibrate. In point of fact, it would do nothing if you put the numbers in the firmware config, provided EEPROM is active, as it takes precedence (You could change EEPROM modes to overwrite it, or blank the EEPROM if you really wanted it to pay attention to the values there rather than those in EEPROM).

Provided you have an LCD controller, for the most part firmwares allow you to not only adjust Z height in firmware, they provide a way to jog the hotend down and calibrate you're Z height as a standalone thing.

But as an aside, Why chose the Delta Pi? While the extrusions may be slightly cheaper (8 cents per inch), it seems like a cheapskate derived design (Such as used on the Max, and Max V2) would be cheaper except for cases with exceptional Z heights, (Assuming the cost of 93 cents per bearing, the switchover point is 42 1/8 inches) and would be less complex and easier to tension, not to mention the easier mounting of the extrusions to a solid frame. Is there a reasoning behind it at all?
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Re: OpenDACT(Delta Automatic Calibration Tool) - For Repetie

Post by wowowee »

Xenocrates ..thanks you for replying n advise..much appreciated

my son(16yr 0ld) and i, built this printer, more to challenge him to learn.. http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:53708" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
i guess you could say we cheepskated :oops: our aim was the 3/4 metal stands that i can get locally.. could not locate any 8mm rods or t- slotted rods.. and their $$$,plus to ship.. :oops:, got a friend to print most of the parts, and i think this has less printed parts.. :D
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Re: OpenDACT(Delta Automatic Calibration Tool) - For Repetie

Post by Xenocrates »

I know how that goes. I've done many things that were more or less questionable after the fact. Although I doubt that you'd have fewer printer parts than a Rostock (It has 2, both of which it is functional without, but it's largely sold as a kit, and does cost a good chunk of money). Good on you for getting your son involved. If he's got the inclination, he may very well end up taking it apart a large number of times, and improving it each time. If I were you, I'd largely set him loose (Although do constrain his budget, and check occasionally on what he's printing, it won't necessarily make him not do silly things, but it will make him more clever about it, so he doesn't do anything stupid). It worked well on me.

(I happen to be 17, and so somewhat understand how teenagers think.)
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Re: OpenDACT(Delta Automatic Calibration Tool) - For Repetie

Post by DeltaCon »

Xenocrates wrote:I happen to be 17, and so somewhat understand how teenagers think.
Haha, that does not show a lot in the nice contributions you make here! ;-)
(coming from a relatively oldie... :| )
I am DeltaCon, I have a delta, my name is Con, I am definitely PRO delta! ;-)
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PS.: Sorry for the avatar, that's my other hobby!
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Re: OpenDACT(Delta Automatic Calibration Tool) - For Repetie

Post by Xenocrates »

DeltaCon wrote:
Xenocrates wrote:I happen to be 17, and so somewhat understand how teenagers think.
Haha, that does not show a lot in the nice contributions you make here! ;-)
(coming from a relatively oldie... :| )
[img]http://img.picturequotes.com/2/47/46682 ... uote-2.jpg[/img]

I try not to let it show, and to keep my post quality fairly high. It helps that I spend most of my time imitating a college student and dealing with other CNC machines at school.
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Re: OpenDACT(Delta Automatic Calibration Tool) - For Repetie

Post by Eaglezsoar »

Great Picture and well worth a laugh! Thanks.... :) :) :)
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Re: OpenDACT(Delta Automatic Calibration Tool) - For Repetie

Post by HumanLiberty »

I've been asking help pretty frequently on this form and you guys have been really generous with it.
And now, I'm about to ask for more. But first, I thought I'd share what it's all about, in case one or two of you guys would find it interesting, and a reason
why it's worth your time.

My whole reason for building the Rostock was to print a full-scale prototype of something I invented - a patent-pending telescoping musical drum, with a
maximum 10.73" diameter, comprised of 7 rings. Pictures at bottom.

The idea is to print a full scale prototype to test for functionality, and pursue crowd funding. The final product will be made of colored and/or uncolored transparent copolyester and should look pretty freakin' cool.

Unfortunately, printing at the edge has been and remains a huge challenge - I've yet to succeed with the last and widest components.

I was thinking OpenDACT would be the answer, but was not able to get it working, and must
give up on it till I can get access to another windows computer.

Meantime, I'd like to go back to the HTML tool. But so far I have not been able to get a tight enough calibration with it.

My questions are,
1) would it be feasible to reconfigure the probe algorithm to take measurements all the way out near the white line?
2) If so, would those measurments be useful to the HTML tool in its current form?
3) If not, would it be feasible to rejigger the HTML tool to work with them?

If you think this project looks cool and you'd like to help me get over this many-months-long hurdle, I'd greatly appreciate your continued input.
This shows 1) my initial 56% scale prototype, printed on a uPrint - that's the collapsed white one, <br />2) another 56% scales i did on my Rostock in Black and Yellow, and 3) The only 100% scale work I've succeed with so far. Note the top is incomplete.
This shows 1) my initial 56% scale prototype, printed on a uPrint - that's the collapsed white one,
2) another 56% scales i did on my Rostock in Black and Yellow, and 3) The only 100% scale work I've succeed with so far. Note the top is incomplete.
Zoom-in on where the best 100% scale print I've gotten so far failed.
Zoom-in on where the best 100% scale print I've gotten so far failed.
An early transparent render
An early transparent render
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Same thing expanded (obviously...)
Same thing expanded (obviously...)
terabyte
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Re: OpenDACT(Delta Automatic Calibration Tool) - For Repetie

Post by terabyte »

HumanLiberty wrote: I was thinking OpenDACT would be the answer, but was not able to get it working, and must
give up on it till I can get access to another windows computer.
Although I haven't tried it myself yet, I would suggest trying heuristic calibration by 626Pilot http://forum.seemecnc.com/viewtopic.php?f=82&t=7640" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; Looks very promising.

Good luck with your project. The idea looks great! As for the HTML tool, I would just using manual calibration tab without connecting to the printer through OpenDACT. Use the g-code posted here and edit it to your liking. You may have to do some math to figure out absolute coordinates for a specified diameter. Take measurements with a dial/digital indicator or a caliper. It does take longer, but it is safer.
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Re: OpenDACT(Delta Automatic Calibration Tool) - For Repetie

Post by HumanLiberty »

Thanks terabyte! Doesn't 626Pilot's script require a smoothi instead of RAMBo?

Re modifying the g-code - man, I have no clue how to go about figuring out those coordinates or modifying the g-code, and i have to
admit, the prospect of learning seems pretty daunting. Perhaps there's not other way. Do you know 1) which g-code fields determine where the probe takes its measurments? 2) how changing those values to probe a wider diameter would impact the rest of the factors comprising the calibration code?
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Re: OpenDACT(Delta Automatic Calibration Tool) - For Repetie

Post by dcfc_sandy »

I've been trying to run OpenDACT today, I've read the first and last couple of pages of the thread and skimmed so of the others.

I'm attempting this the poor mans way (with a digital caliper cabled tied, I'll get a Z-Probe after the bank holidays). In terms of the actual towers I was having good success with around 0.03mm accuracy, however the in-between point or virtual towers is whats been killing me, giving me worse numbers than when I started, from around 0.3 worst to 0.6mm. One aspect I've noticed is I only get new values for Horizontal Radius and Tower ofset, not for Alpha Rotation. I tried changing the Delta ofset by one in a tower per iteration and no luck....

I'm not a windows user, but I've got a install of 10 on a spare HDD and I changed it all to US settings as well

Any help would be marvelous :D
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Re: OpenDACT(Delta Automatic Calibration Tool) - For Repetie

Post by terabyte »

HumanLiberty wrote:Thanks terabyte! Doesn't 626Pilot's script require a smoothi instead of RAMBo?

Re modifying the g-code - man, I have no clue how to go about figuring out those coordinates or modifying the g-code, and i have to
admit, the prospect of learning seems pretty daunting. Perhaps there's not other way. Do you know 1) which g-code fields determine where the probe takes its measurments? 2) how changing those values to probe a wider diameter would impact the rest of the factors comprising the calibration code?
Yes, it requires you to abandon RAMBo.
gcode is not that hard to figure out. So, this is the script from the page 1, which is used for manual calibration.
G28 - home
G1 Z2 F5000 - move to 2 mm above the bed (while keeping x and y the same). F5000 is the speed
G4 S5 - wait 5 sec (to zero the caliper or the indicator)
G1 Z50 X0 Y0 - move to 50 mm above the bed at the center (x=0, y=0 is the center)

G1 Z50 X-113 Y-65 - move to 50 mm above the bed at coordinates (x, y) (-113, -65) This prepares for the measurement
G1 Z2 X-113 Y-65 - move to 2 mm above the bed at the same spot, to perform the measurement
G4 S3 - wait 3 sec to record the measurement of the indicator
... and so on. The script moves the effector to various coordinates and waits for a few seconds, then returns to the center. I hope that helps. To calculate new coordinates (in case you want to use measurement points at a different diameter) you have to solve the triangle using sin and cos. Angle is the direction to the tower from the center, and the distance from the center to the measure point is the radius. Check out http://www.mathsisfun.com/polar-cartesi ... nates.html on how to convert from Polar coordinates (angle, radius) to Cartesian (x,y). Use x = r × cos( θ ) and y = r × sin( θ ).
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Re: OpenDACT(Delta Automatic Calibration Tool) - For Repetie

Post by terabyte »

HumanLiberty wrote:2) how changing those values to probe a wider diameter would impact the rest of the factors comprising the calibration code?
I think you would specify the diameter in the app. You might have to reverse the numbers (change the + to - and - to +) depending on how you have measured (The html version has an option for that). I think, that if going into (or beyond the bed) is measured as positive, you have to change the sign. When using the manual mode, you have to connect to the printer with the Mattercontrol and change the suggested values in the EEPROM yourself. You do not need to connect OpenDACT to the printer.
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Re: OpenDACT(Delta Automatic Calibration Tool) - For Repetie

Post by bigfella »

Hi, Can anyone tell me why, after it goes down and tests the bed I think maybe twice. it then adds in a z height well beyond the firmware setting. i.e. it is around 349mm and it will set it to 390 ish. Which of coarse crashes the head into the bed. I have tried many settings. But can't work it out. If I st the bed size down from 150 to 120 I can get it so solve some times.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
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Re: OpenDACT(Delta Automatic Calibration Tool) - For Repetier

Post by lignumaqua »

Quick question. I'm trying to use V1.04 of the html, manual, tool. Reading this thread (and there's a lot of it so I might have missed something! :) ) it seems like I should ignore Delta Radius changes as they will change part scaling. (I tried running it using Delta Radius, and indeed they do, I got a perfectly flat bed but all parts are now way too small)

Unfortunately the html tool still provides values for Delta Radius. Do I just ignore them and set them back to zero in the html tool every iteration? Thanks!
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Re: OpenDACT(Delta Automatic Calibration Tool) - For Repetie

Post by Mac The Knife »

HumanLiberty wrote:Thanks terabyte! Doesn't 626Pilot's script require a smoothi instead of RAMBo?

Re modifying the g-code - man, I have no clue how to go about figuring out those coordinates or modifying the g-code, and i have to
admit, the prospect of learning seems pretty daunting. Perhaps there's not other way. Do you know 1) which g-code fields determine where the probe takes its measurments? 2) how changing those values to probe a wider diameter would impact the rest of the factors comprising the calibration code?

I don't see your print failure being caused by a calibration error. I see the failure being caused by the large diameter it's trying to print. SeeMe's new arms I believe are longer? Trick Laser does offer their arms in a longer version.
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Re: OpenDACT(Delta Automatic Calibration Tool) - For Repetier

Post by DeltaCon »

After installing FSR this week, I have been struggling getting firware 0.92.9 at work, but it looks like I have it going now. So, on to OpenDact for a calibration. OpenDact is hanging very often btw, especially after stopping a calibration job. it does not seem to like that! At first I got "G29 leveling failed" errors at the first probe. Yes, I passed the "banging head in bed" stage! What does that error mean exactly? After a manual Z height calibration it does a bit better: it finishes one iteration, but at the centerpoint of the second iteration the error returns. Tried to google it but it does not offer many sensible hits. Help is appreciated!
I am DeltaCon, I have a delta, my name is Con, I am definitely PRO delta! ;-)
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Re: OpenDACT(Delta Automatic Calibration Tool) - For Repetier

Post by buggy »

Ive been reading and searching this post for answers to my questions but have yet to find them so i thought it was time to ask. I decided to calibrate my rostock max v2 with the manual calibration portion of this thread and after some stumbling i thought i figured it out.
These are the steps i took.
1. Because ive been having a gcode error where i cant execute a long gcode script i had to divide the gcode into 4 scripts.
2. Ran script 1 which brought it down to Z where i zeroed my calipers.
3. Ran script 2-4 making note of each number that it returned.
4. entered numbers into the calculator and filled out my eeproms.
5. I saved my numbers then ran 5 more iterations til i was level at each location. Note each time i ran script 1 i zeroed my calipers.

After completing the calibration with this method i went to print. On the first layer, it seems to be really close to the bed and its so close that no material is printed around the Y tower ( Picture to show what im talking about.)

So my questions are:
1. am I missing a step somewhere?
2. do i need to account for the fact that i calibrated on a cold bed?
3. Are you not supposed to zero the calipers on each iteration?

any help would be appreciated greatly. Dan
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Re: OpenDACT(Delta Automatic Calibration Tool) - For Repetie

Post by HumanLiberty »

Mac The Knife wrote:
HumanLiberty wrote:Thanks terabyte! Doesn't 626Pilot's script require a smoothi instead of RAMBo?

Re modifying the g-code - man, I have no clue how to go about figuring out those coordinates or modifying the g-code, and i have to
admit, the prospect of learning seems pretty daunting. Perhaps there's not other way. Do you know 1) which g-code fields determine where the probe takes its measurments? 2) how changing those values to probe a wider diameter would impact the rest of the factors comprising the calibration code?

I don't see your print failure being caused by a calibration error. I see the failure being caused by the large diameter it's trying to print. SeeMe's new arms I believe are longer? Trick Laser does offer their arms in a longer version.
Thanks Mac The Knife. I was initially plagued by that problem, but resolved it long ago with TR's 325mm CF arms. So now I think it's back to calibration.
Just spent about 4 hours trying to dial in Delta Radius but prints around the edge are still useless, and auto leveling also doesn't work - I have an email in to MC's support about that.

I'm trying to figure out how I can use the FRN's I installed to auto-calibrate. Was never able to get OpenDACT to respond to the FRN's signals, and 626Pilot's script requires a Smoothieboard I believe - anyone know any other auto leveling options that can work with FRN's?
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Re: OpenDACT(Delta Automatic Calibration Tool) - For Repetier

Post by Qdeathstar »

I don't understand how this is supposed to work? how am I supposed to attach my digital caliper to my printer? I'm getting satisfactory, but not perfect prints now, should I bother with this.

I still got my e3d v6 and bond tech extruded in the box because of a combination of not having the time to deal with the probes that might arise from installing them and the fact I'm only printing in pla/abs and getting good results. Hate to screw it up.
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Re: OpenDACT(Delta Automatic Calibration Tool) - For Repetier

Post by U.S. Water Rockets »

I've upgraded my printer to the new SeeMeCNC Ball socket arms and have multiple effectors for different hot ends. So, my question now is whether you guys think that the calibration of the bed would hold true when I swap out effector platforms, or do you think variations in the platforms will throw off the calibration?

If the calibration holds true, then I would consider making a 3rd effector platform that is only for the dial gauge and that way I can get it totally centered on the platform.

What do you guys think?
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Re: OpenDACT(Delta Automatic Calibration Tool) - For Repetier

Post by KAS »

installing the dial indicator on each effector might be the only way to verify it initially.
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Re: OpenDACT(Delta Automatic Calibration Tool) - For Repetier

Post by Antidamage »

Hi everyone

I'm trying to calibrate my delta but when I run OpenDACT it doesn't do anything. Manually sending g-codes works, but everything else just puts "ok" into the output window and nothing happens.

I downloaded the source and tried to run the current and previous versions but I get the same behaviour. The only thing of interest in the output log is a lot of:

Code: Select all

Exception thrown: 'System.TimeoutException' in System.dll
I'm not 100% what printer I have, it's a chinese clone of a kossel delta pro. In the configuration CUSTOM_MENDEL_NAME is set to "UM v2.4" and it uses "RAMPS 1.3 / 1.4 (Power outputs: Extruder, Fan, Bed)" for MOTHERBOARD.

I'm running Windows 10.

Has anyone else experienced this?
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Re: OpenDACT(Delta Automatic Calibration Tool) - For Repetier

Post by Artesian »

Okay so... two weird things:

1. I love the tool and built a special mount for a digital dial gauge to replace the calipers and rubber bands solution. For some bizarre reason you have to read a dial gauge opposite of the way you read calipers. So NEGATIVE is POSITIVE and vice versa. After I figured that out...

2. I got the towers to be within .02mm of level with one another and the origin point in middle of the bed. BUT, there is still virtual ruffling betwen X and Z, and between Y and Z. .23,, and .11mm. And the tool professed to be able to get me within .01 or .02 at least, right?

It ran for 4 iterations (I do it manually to be extra careful), but then it STOPPED feeding new values. I can press "manually calibrate" and it doesn't give me any new EEPROM. It just stops and feeds back the same values. Is it because my towers are now "perfect" and it thinks any new calibration will knock them out of alignment? I want the ruffles between the axes to go away!

Any help appreciated. You can reach out here or @Artesian3D on reprap IRC.
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