Building "The Beast" a large MP3DP2

I should say I am using the V1 firmware.

The MK8 and the titan aero values are right. I don’t know what thermistor you have on your bed, but I bet the firmware is fine. If you have a different hot end, then you’ll need to pick the right thermistor in Configuration.h.

I am using a Titan Aero Clone. The thermistor is quoted as “NTC 100K thermistor (Beta 25/50 3950K-1%) and is supported directly by Marlin firmware” Anyway will check it out.

So it runs and while there are a still quite few things to sort out it works, sort of. I can;t find anything that explains which fan is connected where ? or does it not matter ? Does anyone know ?

The part fan (pointed at the nozzle/printed part) should be fan 0. It should get turned on when you send M106 S255.

The extruder fan (on the titan aero) can either be always on, or on fan1, but I am not sure the fan1 firmware is set up. If it is, then fan1 should come on whenever the nozzle is over 50C.

Glad I asked - i did not think it would be that way.

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Have made a lot of progress including calibrating the extruder (was extruding twice the length it should ) and the z height (was moving about 25% of the requested distance). I cant seem to get more than about 2.0mm in height printed before the printer physically stops. The timer for the print keeps going and there are no warning or errors that i can see. Any way to find out why? I assume Marlin must have a way to report this ?

I’m assuming it can jog higher than 2mm?

How are you sending the gcode? I would try with pronterface and look for a message on the console.

Travel is not the problem, I have fixed that. The G Code is on a SD card and is Ryan’s test part. I actually managed to get my first print out of it tonight. Its a bit rough but its a significant step.
I read somewhere that if the temp controller for the extruder goes out of range it can cause it to stop. I have just completed a PID calibration of the heater. Its behaved this way a number of times. I will keep plugging away and look at what Pronterface says…

Thanks again

Also, if you are using the touch screen, switch to marlin mode until you know the build is stable.

So i have made a lot of progress and printed out a bunch of calibration tools, have a reasonable calibration and am thinking about what it all means.

One of my issues was the ambient temperature. I have the printer in a unheated shed. It turns out below about 5 deg C Marlin thinks the thermistor has failed and beeps and locks up. On Pronterface it give a “Mintemp” message. I worked out that if i warm things up a bit with a hairdryer it allows me to print. Do you know if this can possibly be calibrated to allow starting in lower temps ?

There are a few basic things to fix up. The springs for the bed are too soft, upgrades are coming. The aluminium i bought for the bed is warped by about 1.0mm. I have a replacement coming.
Probably the biggest issue is by mounting the Y motor to one side means there is slight rotation of the bed every time it moves forward or backward. I am thinking I will probably centralise the Y motor to eliminate the moment and the rotation as much as possible.

Is Marlin mode more stable than the touch screen mode ? I have mostly used the touch mode, and I still get the occasional stop without any warning.

For the low temp issues I am fairly certain there is a setting in the Marlin config that allows you to set which temperature triggers that error/stop. You are messing with your safety somewhat at that point since a failed thermistor usually looks like a low temp (why this is a thing in the first place) so proceed at your own risk.

I can’t speak to the touch screen mode. I have had more issues with the touch screens than almost anything else in my 3d printing journey so I have been avoiding them lately for cheap full graphic controllers.

As far as the mintemp warning… You probably don’t actually want to use the printer too much in a cold environment.

The larger the temperature variation across materials, the more stress they’re under. Things like the smooth rods for the axes will want to warp, your heat bet will be under stress, and your build platform (glass, detachable sheet, etc) will also be under a lot of stress. You’ll have more problems with warping and layer adhesion. I have a completely different set of presets for printing in winter than in summer, and it’s only a difference between about 18°C in the house and 25°C.

I would suggest a small (Well, slightly larger than “beast sized”) enclosure with a heater in it. As a bonus, Marlin can manage a heated enclosure. Bring the temperature up to something that the other temperature sensors don’t mind, and everything should go much more smoothly, and you won’t have to compromise on the safety factor of the sensors.

Heath - there seems to be a problem with operating in touch mode versus Marlin mode. I cannot get a long print (longer than 1-2 hours ish) without it stopping when i print from touch Mode. The occurrence seems to be random. Everything else in touch mode works fine. There are no messages shown so i don’t know the cause. When i print from Marlin mode I have never had the same problem. So i can work around it. I have a Pi coming for Octoprint so maybe I will be able to find out more about the issue then.

Dan - thanks I realise the low temps are a long way from ideal and plan an enclosure but are still finishing, and changing some things, waiting for parts e.t.c. I did not know that Marlin can manage a heated enclosure so that’s good news.