Change the waiting position

AstroBox Troubleshooting
#1

Did a search, but couldn’t find an answer. Is there a way to change the waiting position while the extruder/bed heats up?

In replicatorG, for instance, the default is to wait in the bottom left corner and then print a small line on the way to printing the object. This works great most of the time of keeping the filament ooze from messing up the print.

As it is now, the extruder always starts in the dead center of the bed, right where it’s going to print the object. This has caused several prints to fail for me. I’m only in my first week of 3D printing, so I apologize in advance if I’m just missing something obvious.

-David

#2

thanks for this, it’s probably something we should add to the default case. You could however use the start gcode ( which gets converted to S3G commands in postprocessing ).

You can change this in the printer profile app in AstroPrint.com under advanced settings.

It’s fairly advanced and you’ll need to know gcode.

#3

Thank you for your reply. That helps a lot.

I started looking at the gcode that I liked from replicatorg and then looking up the wiki for what each code meant. I was able to put in a start code into the cura printer profile that allows the print head do the same thing! Brilliant.

Wouldn’t be bad as an option though for the user to be able to decide one what start up behavior they’d like the printer to do. :wink:

#4

Hi David,

I have the same issue. Can you share the gcode you came up with. I’m a noob at this and it is the only thing keeping me from using Astroprint.

Thanks much,
Andy

#5

Hello Daniel,

I love the idea that you have here. My problem is the same as Davids. Adding that piece to the Flashforge Creator Pro profile would be an enormous help. I’m new at this so any help is welcome. How much of the replicator gcode is needed to add to that start box on your site. There is about 20 lines of gcode in the start portion of the repG gcode. Does that whole piece get places in the start box?

Thanks much,

Andy

#6

This is the GCODE that I use for my FlashForge Creator. Depending on your printer, YMMV, as this is for a specific bed size and a sailfish printer.

G90
G162 X Y F2500
G161 Z F1100
G92 Z-5
G1 Z0.0
G161 Z F100
M132 X Y Z A B
G1 X-110.5 Y-72 Z50 F3300.0
G130 X20 Y20 A20 B20
M6 T1
G130 X127 Y127 A127 B127
M108 T1
G0 X-110.5 Y-72
G0 Z0.6
G92 E0
G1 E4 F300
G92 E0

#7

Thanks David,

I will try this and let you know.

Andy

#8

Hi Daniel

I am having a similar problem with the start position that Astroprint uses. Basically I have a plate that I attach to the top of my bed for use with PLA. This of course, affects the home position and the bed levelling setting. I work around this by setting different home offsets in the profile in my printer’s settings for each different type of material. This means that I can just change filaments, add or remove the plate, recall the appropriate profile and am ready to go without having to re-level the bed each time.

The problem is that Astroprint doesn’t recall the home offsets before it positions the print head and so the print head doesn’t clear the bed with the plate attached. I have tried adding some start gcode to recall the stored home offsets (M132 X Y Z A B) but it is not processed until after Astroprint has centred the printhead and heated it up.

Not being able to customise the entire start gcode for a printer profile is a major limitation.

Dean

#9

I think the problem here is how the slicer interprets custom start commands. If you specify center and heat up commands in your start gcode after your M command, it won’t try to add them at the beginning. If you leave them out, it will automatically assume the beginning is the best place.

Have you tried that?

#10

I tried this startup gcode and it does fix the problem with the axis start position (lowers the build plate so the nozzle doesn’t burn the platform while heating) but then slic3r does not set the build platform temperature so the bed never heats up. Changing to Cura DOES set the temperatures correctly but then DOES NOT apply the gcode start codes so the build platform does not lower during startup/heating.

So without being able to get this right, you really can’t use astroprint to do your slicing/printing since the nozzle heating will damage the build platform (kapton or PEI surface).

#11

I’ve done some more experimenting and here is what I have found.

Printer: Flashforge creator pro
Slicer: Cura
Issue: custom start gcodes are ignored so you cannot set the platform height while extruders are heating.

Slicer: Slic3r
The good: custom start gcodes do work. So to lower the build platform on startup use G1 X-110.5 Y-72 Z50 F3300.0
To position extruder to front left and drop build platform away from heating nozzles.

The bad: slic3r is not heating the build platform and the gcodes for setting the build platform through a custom startup are not working properly. M109 S110 T0 should be setting the build platform to 110c but instead it is setting the extruder to 110c

M140 S110 appears to be ignored.

So currently the only way to use astroprint on a sailfish / mighty board printer is to either

A) use the Cura slicer and let the extruders heat up while almost touching the build platform. Bad news if using an acrylic, PEI, etc platform.

B) use Slic3r with a custom start gcode of G1 X-110.5 Y-72 Z50 F3300.0 to drop the z axis but without a heated platform. Bad news if using ABS or a non glass/hairspray/painters tape/PEI etc build plate.