I've finally got round to publishing the Bed Calibration Application that I discussed in this post.
The calibration application is now available, along with the STL for the bracket here.
This series of scripts requires the Python libraries: PySerial, Matplotlib and NumPy
Note: This script banks on the Mendel firmware supporting the M117 GCode. Without it, it won't work!
RepRapComms.py: Comms library for communicating with a Mendel.
ZCal.py: Main calibration routines.
PlotBed.py: Bed plotting routines.
gui.py: A GUI to make calibration easier.
To use the GUI:
- Use the Printer Menu tab to configure the various settings to match your printer.
- Calibrate Button, will perform a series of measurements across the whole bed at the specified X & Y step size.
- Quick Cal Button, will perform a quick test at four specified points across the bed.
- Variance Button, will perform a repeated measurement at a specified point to see what the variance is for the microswitch.
One of the problems I have regularly with Skeinforge is that after tweaking some settings and getting everything just how I want it, I go and modify something for another print and forget to go and save the contents of the '.skeinforge' directory as a back-up. Then I can't remember what settings I had before.
I decided to write a simple program that makes it easy to quickly archive the settings once you have them dialed-in. Allowing you to keep them safe and then restore them at a later date.
The result is SkeinArchiver, it's very simple to use and I've already found it to be beneficial. I have several profiles archived and my first task during each printing session is to restore the most appropriate saved archive before I start making any tweaks. That way I always start from a known point and don't accidentally have an old setting lingering around from one of my experiments (multiply is a favorite or printing at the wrong layer height).
SkeinArchiver
 |
| SkeinArchive |
Save - Prompts the user to name the new archive. It suggests a name based around the days date. Then it saves the Skeinforge settings files in a Zip file in the local script directory.
Restore - Prompts the user to pick an archive to restore. This will overwrite the existing Skeinforge settings, so if you have something useful configured, save it first.
Dir to Arch - This allows the user to select the Skeinforge settings directory to archive. By default the program assumes the directory is under '~/.skeinforge', which is where Skeinforge prefers to put it. If you haven't moved it, you don't need to worry about this button.
About - Provides useful information about this version of the tool.
Quit - Pretty self explanatory.
If anyone else fancies using this tool, they can find it here: SkeinArchiver
Hopefully others will find it useful too.
import sys
# Preferred Start Codes
startCode = [
'G21\n'
'G90\n'
'T0\n'
'G28 Z0\n'
'G28 X0 Y0\n'
'G92 E0\n'
]
def AppendCode(fh, codes):
for code in codes:
fh.write(code)
def Main(fileName):
# Counters
M101Cnt = 0
M103Cnt = 0
# Open Input File
try:
fh = open(fileName, 'r')
except:
print 'Cannot open file: %s' % (fileName)
print '\nProcessing %s' % (fileName)
# Create Output Filename
name, ext = fileName.split('.')
name = name+'_mod'
opFile = name+'.'+ext
# Open Output File
op = open(opFile, 'w')
# Add preferred Start-up code
AppendCode(op, startCode)
# Remove first X lines
# Skeinforge produces strange start-up code that isn't useful.
X = 12
for i in range(X):
fh.readline()
# Process remaining lines in turn
for line in fh:
# Remove 'M101' and 'M103' commands, Mendel doesn't use these.
if line.find('M101')==0:
M101Cnt +=1
line = ''
if line.find('M103')==0:
M103Cnt+=1
line = ''
# Remove 'M113' command, stepper based extruder doesn't use this
if line.find('M113')==0:
M101Cnt +=1
line = ''
# Write to output file
op.write(line)
print 'Generated file: %s' % (opFile)
print
print 'Removed %s old M101 Codes' % (M101Cnt)
print 'Removed %s old M103 Codes' % (M103Cnt)
if __name__ == '__main__':
Main(sys.argv[1])
