FLSUN from AliExpres

I'm a complete noob to 3D printing, and decided to take my first baby steps with this kit from FLSUN: FLSUN on AliExpress

After one day of building and another day for wiring, installing the firmware and calibrating, the beast is alive.

I'm pretty impressed with the quality of my first prints OOTB.



Are there any other owners of that printer?

Im finishing up getting mine together. I added an E3D, Duet 0.6, and DC42 IR probe, so I'm hoping I dont run into any problems on that front. I am a bit worried about the wheels. They look like shower door wheels...

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Picked one up -- having weird issues with the autolevel. It kinda has a mind of it's own (but, I will say it worked well for a bit). Overall not bad, printed some replacement bits already on my other rigs and plan on swapping out their arms for something with less play in it.

Quote
ncshooter426
Picked one up -- having weird issues with the autolevel. It kinda has a mind of it's own (but, I will say it worked well for a bit). Overall not bad, printed some replacement bits already on my other rigs and plan on swapping out their arms for something with less play in it.

Make sure that the pivot on the effector which does the autoleveling, isn't being held in place by the screws from the arms. I actually sanded this down a bit so that the screw couldnt grip on to it.

Also noticed that the small amount of sheathing on the wires will catch in the little outlet routing hole as well, causing the pivot to get stuck. Easy fix also

Maybe a stupid question: What does G29 actually do? It probes the different points on the bed, and reports the results. But are those results stored anywhere and used in the calculations?

I changed the number of points in configuration.h

#define ACCURATE_BED_LEVELING_POINTS 4

So now it probes 12 points, and I manually leveled the bed (with the endstop screws on the carriages) so the standard deviation is below 0.05mm

Had to change the rod length as well according to my measurements

#define DELTA_DIAGONAL_ROD 219.0

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/04/2016 06:56AM by LVD.

Yes. Auto-leveling (which is somewhat of a misnomer on these builds) will compensate for bed deviation from a software perspective. Nothing is every 100%, if the bed is super wavy then you will still run into high/low spots. I've read that having too many points of calculation on these round glass beds is actually detrimental.

Here's the latest Marlin 1.1.0 RC3 Firmware with a working setup for the FLSUN
I had to change some things in pins_RAMPS_13.h and temperature.cpp in order to have the same settings as the firmware provided by FLSUN (ver 1.0.0); I commented those with "FLSUN"

I've also been working on the Repetier firmware (not fully tested yet, but so far so good)

PS: After you switch firmware run the M502 and M500 commands to reset the EEPROM to the default values for that firmware. The printer behaves really strange with EEPROM setting from another firmware

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/07/2016 04:35PM by LVD.

Are you guys having issues with prints being inverted on the X axis?

You probably inverted the X and Y axis, connecting to the board. X should be on the left, Y on the right and Z at the back. Looking down from the top XYZ have to be counterclockwise.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/08/2016 03:50PM by LVD.

I've made a bracket to accommodate an extra fan for cooling the print and added a fan duct for that. This also frees some travel space to the belts on the fan axis.



dual_fan_support

I have a question about the fanspeed.

It seems not possible to adjust the fanspeed with the M106 Sxxx code or turning it of with the M107 code. I used Pronterface and the display settings of the FLSUN.
I tried 3 types of firmware:
* firmware provided by FLSUN (ver 1.0.0)
* the firmware from LVD: Marlin 1.1.0-RC3-FLSUN-DELTA
* and firmware Repetier 0.92-FLSUN-DELTA.zip

I tried also the other connection on the board and changed the jumper right next to the connector but still 100% fanspeed.
The supplier answered me that the fanspeed is adjusted by the manufacturer and is not adjustable. But that's too easy :-)

Anyone has any idea how to adjust/test the fanspeed ?





PS. For now I'm using the Marlin version from LVD which works fine. (Thanks !)

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/20/2016 10:47AM by JanR.

Those 2 white jumpers at the top are giving you 12V; the fan is always on. Cut the connector and connect the fan to the green terminals next to the hot-end (it's conveniently labeled 'FAN') and then you can do whatever you want.

BTW: if you ever want to upgrade to a hotbed directly connected to a power supply: the white connector at the bottom labeled 'TB' is the temperature sensor of the bed (you need to set it up in configuration.h), and the jumper pins labeled 'GRD D7 D8' a little bit higher is the signal connector to drive a MOSFET-board for the heated bed (GRN being ground, D8 the positive voltage and D7 the signal - it's already has been setup in pins.h). [www.aliexpress.com]. The rest of the connectors are labeled in the picture.

Now the fan works fine. Thanks!

Do you know how to use the M666 'delta endstop adjustment'
Is this an M-code to be sent by a hosting program like Repetier or are the delta values being set in the Marlin firmware ?

Easiest is to set them in Repetier with M666 and store them into EEPROM with M500 so they get reloaded when rebooting.

Is this done by sending code:
* M666 X0.1 Y-0.3 Z0
* M500
to the printer with Repetier in manual mode ?

Indeed

Figured out that it is in Repertier - Config - Firmware EEPROM Configuration

Here is a reworked version of the FLSUN firmware (Marlin 1.0.0) with an autocalibration function. If you want the old detailed bed probing uncomment the following line in configuration.h:

//#define AUTO_BED_LEVELING_GRID //uncomment for detailed probing; leave comment for autocalibration

It is simple to use: it is a 4 point calibration near the 3 towers and in the centre of the bed. The results are stored in memory so no need to change z_hight and delta_radius in the firmware and recompile every time. If you want to set the values manually:

Endstop adjustments are stored with M666 Xx.xx Yy.yy Zz.zz
Height adjustment with M206 Xw.ww Yw.ww Zw.ww (use the same value for X, Y and Z)
And Delta-radius adjustment with a new M665 Dd.dd command

The easiest way is to run a series G28 and G29 commands; it iterates until the results converge to your liking and then just store the obtained adjustment settings to EEPROM with M500. The results in the picture are after 15 iterations.

PS: after installing the firmware the first time do reset the EEPROM with M502 and M500

EDIT: I deleted the firmware; it had some bugs in it (updated version will follow soon)

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/24/2016 01:06PM by LVD.

Quote
JanR
Figured out that it is in Repertier - Config - Firmware EEPROM Configuration

This is the homing_offset (M206) that I used for the delta_z_height_adjustment in the above autocalibration firmaware , not the delta_endstop_adjustment (M666), but you could use M206 instead of M666 as well for endstops, it works almost the same.

The difference is M206 is designed for Cartesian printers and does a software correction adding or subtracting an offset to the homing position on each axis; Since the 3 axis on deltas are parallel if you use the same corrections on all axis you are doing a height correction. M666 is designed for deltas and only accepts negative values; after hitting the end stops it moves the homing position physically down (just like if you would have lengthened the set screws on the carriages), so it physically tilts the homing plane to be perpendicular to the axis and parallel with the bed.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/23/2016 08:33AM by LVD.

So here it is the FLSun Marlin with autocalibration.

Since this is comething completely different then G29 auto bed levelling I put it under a new G-command:

G33 C(calibration standard deviation) T(probing tolerance)

The routine probes 4 points (center, near each tower) repeatitly until the probe-results are within T(probing tolerance) difference. It calculates the endstop adjustments (M666 X (x-offset) Y(y-offset) Z(z-offset)) and the delta radius adjustment (a new M664 D(delta radius adjustment)). The routine iterates until the standard deviation of the probed points is lower than the set calibration standard deviation.

Default values of C(calibration standard deviation) T(probing tolerance) are set in configuraion.h:

#define CALIBRATION_STANDARD_DEVIATION 0.05 //iteration stops at desired standard deviation (0.05mm)
#define PROBING_TOLERANCE 0.02 //tolerance for repeated probing (0.02mm)


Calibration procedure:

Define the z-height by probing the center and set the screws on the carriages by probing a point near the tower (aim for a precision of 1mm). Set the height in Marlin.

#define MANUAL_Z_HOME_POS 281

Set the z-offset of the probe (the difference between the zero bed level by putting a piece of paper under the probe and pulling it and when the probes triggers):

#define Z_PROBE_OFFSET_FROM_EXTRUDER -0.15

Then set the height in configuration.h slightly smaller so the probe floats about 1mm above the bed when put at z=0

#define MANUAL_Z_HOME_POS 280

Run the G33 command, save the results in EEPROM with M500 and done; the printer is calibrated.

Let me know what you think and how to improve.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/27/2016 09:02AM by LVD.

A couple of upgrades I recommend:

Upgrade to a heated bed:

Heated bed : [www.aliexpress.com]
Thermistor : [www.aliexpress.com] (these are type 6 in Marlin configuration.h)
Jumper connector: [www.aliexpress.com]
Power supply : [www.aliexpress.com]
MOS-driver for the MKS-mini : [www.aliexpress.com]

For the connector panel I used a switch, AC-connector and a 5.5mm jack I had lying around and for the USB-connector I used this : [www.aliexpress.com]

So in total a little over 45€.

I had to mount the bed slightly higher using spacers in order for it to clear the power supply; I used that space to put some cork insulation under the bed.

Metal extruder : [www.aliexpress.com] with [www.aliexpress.com]

A little over 10€

Spoolholder:

Printed parts: [www.thingiverse.com]
Wheel bearings: [www.aliexpress.com]
Some M5 washers, nuts and bolts

Almost free

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/27/2016 09:04AM by LVD.

Thanks for the links to the parts on AliExpress. I allready ordered some parts
How many amps does the heated bed need? The specs on Aliexpress won't tell and 360 Watts seems a lot.

For now another issue pops up. My printer stops printing during longer prints. When I print the spoolholder for example, the printer stalls 2 times in 17 minutes.
When I resume with the OK button in Repetier (in the Manual Control menu), the printer continues without any problems. It seems that for some reason the Repeties stops sending codes to the printer or the printer won't accept them.

I thought it was the powersupply so I replaced it with an industrial one of 10 Amps. But no improvement.
I think somenthing happens with the USB connection.
Mine is still running on the Marlin 1.1.0-RC3 software you posted earlier by the way.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/2016 02:18PM by JanR.

The bed in the link is 1.2 Ohm; so at 12V it draws 10A or 120W. With some insulation under the bed it reaches 100°C. 360W is a lot but at 18€ it was a steal (the price has more then doubled I see). Here's another one I was considering at 200W for 21€ [www.aliexpress.com] .

I had the same issue in Marlin 1.1.0-RC3, seems to be a USB communication error somewhere, so I stopped using it and went back to the FLSun Marlin 1.0.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/29/2016 06:43PM by LVD.

The printer does not recognise the SD card. In what filesystem should it be formatted ?

Mine came formatted in FAT32

The latest version of the Auto Calibration Flsun firmware

Have you tried increasing the buffer? There should be a USB buffer depending on the slicer/host program you are using that might fix it. Also the Marlin version I got gives me errors when I compile it. Something to do with converting int to char or something.....

I didn't set any USB buffer. Iwent back to the original FLSUN Marlin version again but de printer stalled within a minute of printing.
I'm using Repetier-Host on a different computer but it still doens't work. I check for buffer settings and try again.

I know I'm using simplif3d and I had to up my buffer to get it to work. How your version of the Marlin firmware? Does it give you warning when you compile it?