The BLtouch has hugely improved my first-layer from this machine, and made the full bed usable and reliable. Buy the real BLtouch and support the developer!
I completed this upgrade on my Wanhao duplicator i3 plus, also added the new magnetic bed from Wanhao. BLtouch was easy to install. The new ADVi3 firmware went on smoothly. Thanks for the video, it encouraged me to 'give it a go' David
I have to say I love my BLTouch. I did have a minor issue with the one I received but after contacting Antclabs they were amazing at helping me resolve my issue. I am someone who appreciates quality and service and from my experience the service is great and I've had amazing accuracy with it.
For loose fitting electrical connector sockets, it makes sense to add of blob of glue or paint/nail polish to the sides walls of the connector or the socket, let it dry fully before reconnecting, and it should not wobble after being connected. Can be sanded or filed to proper diameter so its a good deal as a corrective measure to prevent shorting or arcing of electrical connections. That is a well designed printer there, all metal even for housing the electricals.
To level the bed, I believe Creality tells us to home the hot end, then disable the stepper motors to move from corner to corner and raise or lower these as needed. Problem is, when I follow this procedure I can never get the bed level the first time. It was infuriating. Then, I read an article someone wrote on the net. He said to stop using disable stepper motors. So, to move from corner to corner, I had to use the Move command. Doing it this way, I was able to level my bed the first time around! My print is perfect.
I the author of ADVi3++. Just for information (and because I get a lot of support because of that), these (very good instructions by Teaching Tech) are **obsolete** now with ADVi3++ version 4. Basically, I have integrated all the modifications explained in this video in the source code of ADVi3++. It is also important to note that now, ADVi3++ uses the "probe" connector, not the "z-end" one. So if you are upgrading from version 3 to version 4, you may have to change that.
Thank you and thank you again! 4 years ago I watched this video to add a BLtouch to my Maker Select Plus..... I've since moved on to a Cr10sPro v2 (Thanks for the modding videos there as well) I've been using Klipper on there for a while... figured I would dust off this old printer and try klipper on it.... I figured out the probe sensor pin was PA3 but searched the internet for quite a while to find out what the control pin was for bltouch... my BLtouch was added after and the documentation for it just says where to (physically) put the wires.... Your video shows a diagram at 7:34 that the control pin is acually Arduino pin 40 or in my case PG1..... I've set klippers BL settings to PA3 for sensor and PG1 for control pin and my old machine is starting to come back to life! Thanks again!
I just ordered the pin 27 break out board yesterday. I'm a little nervous ordering things from across the pond, but I'm confident it will arrive in tact. One reason I don't like ordering things from across the pond especially Australia is the shipping. It cost more to ship than what I paid for the board.
There's a BLtouch here, not the fraudulent clone made by geetech, but a genuine BLtouch. It hasn't been installed yet, no doubt it can do a better job of dialing things in than me making manual adjustments to 4 threaded fasteners that have springs. Keep on rocking!
prints don't fail after 3 hours because of you bed not being level... they fail immediately if your bed isn't level. prints failing after layer 1 is your bad gcoding. only the first layer is affected by the beds leveling, and if you use a raft then these things are completely worthless...
@@greedfox7842 thats not true, a slightly unleveled bed may print okay at first but the fault becomes more noticeable the further away the head gets from the bed. its geometry
We teally need more printers with auto + manual bed levelling. Manual to reduce physical warping as much as possible mesh to really fine tune minor imperfections out.
Great video Michael Thanks for all the info. Really thorough and well presented I am from Belgium and am 60 years old I completed this upgrade on my Balco 3D Printer Touch and also added the new magnetic bed from Wanhao. BLtouch was easy to install. But I can't find this hex file anywhere And I have no experience with it either. if it be possible to guide me for downloading that hex file. Regards Johnny Peire
Damn ZIF connector for the FCC that connects to the display. It damn well fell apart on releasing it to remove the flat cable. Now I have to source a new mainboard, or find someone who can solder on a new one. Be careful with it! (..and yes, I was!) Apart from that great video, very helpful! :)
Very cool, as i saw this video i had to make it too. I first had trouble with the driver of my wanhao i3+. I needed to install a special chinese serial driver (M340) to make it work. Because of it, i also couldn't install the new firmware with cura, i needed to use arduino. And this wanted to work either if i had cura open beside. Anyway its working now great!!! Would be cool to have a Video about adding a second extruder :-D I'm totaly in mood for upgrades now...
To confirm you have a authentic BL Touch, look at the pc board. It should have the QR code printed on it. You'll notice the knock offs won't have this and a lot of sellers will put pictures of their knock offs ip less the pcb. I found one on amazon that had on pic of a genuine item, but all the rest of the pics of their pcb show they do not have either the QR code or the antclabs name printed on it.
Thanks Michael, I already had the BLtouch ordered and delivered since the new firmware supported it, I have now ordered the harness (was originally going to make my own). Let us know how it goes with the manual bed level / centre Z head level adjustments.
Hi Michael, Good tutorial once again. Just a small concern that I have - I have recently installed this device and have noticed that I appear to be getting higher readings on the three left side readings of the grid even though all of the other six readings are within a few hundreths of each other? (the range of the right six = -0.021 to -0.077)(range of the left three = -0.217 to -0.251) - even after manually levelling the bed to get the same gap under the nozzle on all four corners. I have put a steel rule across my bed in all directions and can confirm that my bed is relatively 'flat'. This same 'issue' has been reported by at least one other on Github for this Andrivet project but the owner/developer has reported that his is showing up as 'flat' and within specs so has marked the reported bug as 'unconfirmed'. Andrivet has a screenshot of his bed grid that has a range of all nine points -0.001 to -0.072. I raise it here becuse I noticed that you too had similarly high numbers on the left of your grid (It looks like your were high right across the front as well but I'm assuming that the bed was in fact high at the front). To check/confirm this, could you please do a manual level of your bed and then redo the Z level followed by the mesh level to confirm or dismiss this as a potential issue? Thanks.
Hi Darryl, I've noticed when printing that one side of the object is more likely to lift off, so hadn't thought about it any further. I think your test is worthwhile, so I'll try and get it done soon.
Yes I'm getting a far more reliable result with bed adhesion when manual leveling than when using the auto level function which of course is contrary to what you would expect?!! Hmmmm.
Hi Michael, I may have resolved why my figures were all reading differently on the left side compared to the rest of my bed. After spending a LOT of time fiddling in the software trying to find a possible reason for the issue it dawned on me that if the X carriage was twisted or not perpendicular to the bed at one end then that would manifest itself when auto leveling. Sure enough the left hand side was just slightly out of vertical and after adjustment my figures are now all in the same vicinity of one another. So while I could manually level the nozzle to the same gap across the bed, when it came to auto levelling, any 'twisting' action caused by the the x rails not being aligned vertically was magnified slightly (because the sensor is about 50mm in front of the nozzle) and hence the 'appearance' of the left side being lower. In my case the sensor was being levered up away from the bed ever so slightly at the left hand side giving the levelling software the impression that this side was lower and hence compensating for it. This would explain my poor adhesion on one side after auto levelling. The test will be in the printing, which I'm yet to do, but just thought I'd mention my 'find' to hopefully put the tip out there for anyone else who is getting a similar issue and are pulling their hair out trying to find the problem like I was. I also like the sound of your 50 sec levelling process... I'm staying tuned! Cheers.
I've followed along on this and several other videos posted with excellent results. I have encountered an issue though, now when I Home Z the hotend will travel to the center of the bed as it always did, but will deploy the probe then stow it and not home. The screen displays STOPPED. G28 and G30 commands do nothing so I'm stuck at the moment and cant find any other videos or posts with a related issue.
Check out my advanced BLtouch follow up video to this. At one stage in that I speed up the process by tweaking settings. You should try the opposite to slow it down and make it more reliable.
Found the issue, sent M119 command and in every position of the BLTouch read “TRIGGERED”, the end stop pin (black and White wires) came loose. Still plugged in but not making contact, cut away the hot glue, reset the connector and re-glued while applying pressure. Fully functional again!
I rewatched your video while installing the MKS GEN L, thanks to your pinouts provided I was able to quickly find the issue. Thank you for the informative videos, they provide excellent reference and clear details!
Hi Michael, I don't know if you monitor this channel closely but I am about to embark on this mod but am finding that links are out of date or give a different result to what I expect - any chance of some updates? Love this channel BTW!
Thoughts on the DC42 mini ir sensor? It’s cheaper than a BLtouch and more accurate according to thomas sandlander’s bed probe showdown. Neat guide for the bltouch btw!
Haven't used one sorry. I saw Tom's guide and some comments that bltouch was at a disadvantage being tested on its side. I'll probably end up trying another type for my frankendoodle project.
I'm also curious to know whether you still need to be as diligent with the bed leveling Springs. Could you level the bed then lock it in place with lock nuts and then rely on the sensor to do the rest of the levelling? I ask because you mention the Prusa mk3 didnt have springs at all, and even though I level my bed it still moves?
Thanks so much for the guide! I have been considering doing this upgrade or installing an anycubic ultrabase, and your video helped me realize that an ultrabase would help some with bed adhesion but results would be held back by my warped build plate. Does anyone know the best place to get a bl touch package with leads, screws, and connecters in the USA?
I had some late night googling, went through the Marlin g29 documentation but couldn't find a straightforward way. Best I had was to change the homing speed and the divisor for the second slow homing. Please share.
Loving your stuff Michael. This is great. Wondering if ALDI will do another batch this year. Got my Prusa I3 Mk3 working pretty well now with Fusion 360 & S3D.. with prusa filament. The test will be when I load something else on -- so I wonder if ALDI will do filament again. On that note, where do you get your filament from Michael?
I now have a filament sponsor: www.x3d.com.au I was already using them because I've found it affordable and good quality. As standard, they have buy three, get one free, as well as a free sample pack. Good value.
Teaching Tech cheers mate. Sounds like a pretty good deal. Good to know it's decent quality. I bought a small feel from Jaycar and I'm not sure if I like it.
As I have 2 of those printers, modified, like everyone else's I3 Plus's, i'm always looking to improve things on them, they're a great printer and I have learnt a lot in the past 2 years of having them. As i have an issue with of the mainboards, I have been looking at replacing or modding the Mainboard to either the mk2 version with power resume, nothing worse than printing for several hours and losing power. or doing a MKS / Ramps board conversion with replacement stepper drivers to more quiet ones is something id love to see with the I3 plus as would many other aussie folks. Other than that, Great channel, keep up the good work. . @@TeachingTech
Can you please do a video this detailed for the installation of a bltouch on an any cubic mega X? I've been scouring the internet and UA-cam for instructions on doing so and the information I find is very limited... I've seen some reports where people are upgrading to Marlin v2, and some where people are leaving the firmware alone... One thing I can't seem to find it's on that main board, how do I add support for the bltouch? The ender 3 eight-bit boards require are USB firmware flashing device, but a lot of other boards just allow Marlin to be loaded via SD card... Some people say the wiring doesn't work straight forward and I've seen other people say it does, I've seen some who said you have to eliminate both z-axis switches and some say you can leave them... I've checked 3D printer forums and discords and constantly come up with misinformation or information that conflicts with the previous information I just read or was told.. Please Help... Lol
BLTouch to Cocoon Create Touch 3D printer Following your installation guide, I have installed the Antclabs BLtouch to my Cocoon Create Touch 3D printer. I'm lost looking for the HEX file that you downloaded in your guide, looked everywhere on the net. Briefly you quoted, add G29 code after every G28 code, I can only find G28 in the Start/End GCode in cocoon which is not HEX ?? Is the HEX already written for the Cocoon Create Touch 3D printer ?? It would be appreciated if you could help me. Kind Regards Bob
Hi Michael, I'm not sure how often you look back at comments but just in case you do: I have a custom fan duct that protrudes on the left hand side. This means that your mount won't work in my situation. I have printed it and am wondering if I could flip it and mount it on the right hand side. I assume that if I did that I would have to use different offsets settings. Can you give some advice?
hey buddy great video like all the rest of them :) can i ask whats the starting gcode to put in a slicer so a bltouch will self bed level before every print :)
Hi there, I see you have the Cocoon, I also have a Wanhao clone called the Maker Select Plus by Monoprice. Do you (or anyone reading) know if this will also work adding directly to the mainboard for the MSP as you did for the Cocoon? I am already running ADVi3pp and like it A LOT. Thanks for the tutorial!
As far as I know it will be the same. My Cocoon has Wanhao written on the main board, yours probably does as well. Only six screws on the underside to pull off the cove and check.
I have the same crowned bed problem on my Cocoon Create Touch. It doesn’t stop PLA sticking, but it does make for some fairly inconsistent first layers, and makes very thin layer heights (sub 0.12mm) unviable. I had planned to use a sheet of Borosilicate glass I bought on top of the bed, since sheet glass is naturally quite flat and fairly rigid, but I have no experience printing on glass. Is this a terrible idea? Also, what slicer settings do you find work for ABS on the CCT? I have my PLA settings tuned in fairly well, but I haven’t tried ABS yet.
Glass is a really popular surface to use. For Abs, start by putting your extruder up to about 250, your bed up to 100 and turning off the cooling fan unless it is bridging.
Firmware, is their firmware simply added on to the existing machine firmware, so you still have all the original controls, or does it completely replace the original machines firmware?
Yep, it's as simle as putting in an SD card with specific files on it, provided by the developer. Full guide here: ua-cam.com/video/lHLMkjnuJyU/v-deo.html
There may be other sensors which are cheaper, I agree. I mean in in terms of overall bang for your buck. Compared to the other mods featured in this series, it stacks up well.
I have a Cocoon Create as per your video and have physically installed the BL touch from Aurarum but having problems understanding how to get the firm ware into the system. Can you help. Thanks
Hi Michael I have had to reset my Create Touch and now the BL Touch does a much faster scan before printing, it works fine just much faster than before is it possible that the reset of the printer adjusted or reset the BL Touch as well? Thanks
I followed what I thought was the files you are mentioning but the display has different menu items. ADVi3++ 3.0.2 The BLTouch just goes to a manual enter distance from sensor screen. Can you show the links to your actual files please?
Never mind. I found it. Reading through the manual and watching your video a few times helped. And realized you had added your own startup graphics too.
Did you print the bracket out of PETG or PLA? I tried PETG and it’s too flexible , would PLA be ok even though it doesn’t have the thermal properties of PETG?
michael have you had any failures with the version 2 BL Touches, I may have to reinstall the 3.0.2 firmware as my software is now unresponsive to inputs?
Question: if your printer NEEDS to be re-leveled often, what is wrong with it? OK, swapping out build surfaces can change yer offset, but M206 handles that. Fine-tuning with your print monitor should be in everyone's 101.
hi, i got a problem at the blv cube. It's about the fact that it's an xy core but it's a bltouch problem. All axes are working correctly but when i want to level the z axis with the bltouch the bed moves, so the z axis goes down instead of up. please help me as i don't know what to do. i'll send you the configs of marlin if you want. thanks a lot in advance. i know that you are very busy but this could be a topic that interests you. i am a big fan because i have almost all my knowledge about 3d printing from you. i was also your patrion for a while and will be again when the financial situation is possible again :-)
Am I able to start preheating while the bed is doing the leveling? My i3 Plus usually takes a couple minutes to heat up anyway, so if I could have the leveling going at the same time that wouldn't be bad at all.
I have followed your instructions for my Cocoon and when i try leveling it does the first probe and the goes back to Home all axis and states "Leveling failed". Can you help. All functions of the senor work independently when pressed on the touch screen. Help.
Please see my advanced bltouch video. It goes over some of the settings you can tweak to speed up the probing. I would do the opposite and slow things down by increasing the height between probes.
@@TeachingTech Thanks, but I am struggling with how you get the modified Marlin .ino file into the Hex file. I am not a coder and age is against me. The HEX file from the Andrivet site I cannot open to review?????????????????Any help would be appreciated. Thanks
@@TeachingTech I have figured how to get the info into the printer but when I try to do that from Arduino I get the following.exit status 1 "Error compiling for board Arduino/Genuino Mega or Mega 2560." Can you help.
michael I noticed you are using the latest version 3.0.2 as well and cura to update, but yours has octoprint on it, would that make a difference to mine not updating the hex file? Also does your LCD version say 3.0.2 or 3.0.1 like mine? Both downloaded from the same file, its proving hard to install the bl touch hex file. I have after several hours managed to get 3.0.1 lcd and firmware together, but the bl touch hex file is not playing fair and wont install as smoothly as yours did
This was filmed before octoprint. 3.0.2 came out as I was filming, I had to update the video part way through. I would leave suggest doing it manually through Arduino like I show in the advanced bltouch video.
thats what I eneded up doing. I know nothing about arduino so I just watched this back and forth several times trying to work out what you had done and what I had to do to activate the sensor. I havent set that up yet, I spent too many hours trying to get the hex file installed, many many times unfortunately
All good. I've just order 2 x BL Touch from the place you recommended. I will hopefully get it tomorrow and will do the upgrade. I find your videos very useful. Keep up the good work.
Any help with this one please, when i go to to run the z height calibration (10:34 in the video) my BLTouch only comes down once , it does not do the 2nd touch and hence i dont get a z offset reading. Any ideas to why?
I have recently installed the 3.1 BLtouch to my ender 3 pro, but after probing i only get one decent square ( 5 square test ) and the rest are chewed up and crappy. Any ideas ?
th 3d touch i recieved never switches. it works with the servo, all settings tripple checked, servo numbers etc and true/false positions. It does not trigger
ok folks i am having some difficulties. i have had my bltouch working on the wanhao for a couple months now. i upgraded the firmware to the newest version with the help of my friend and coppied over my gcode. and so far no matter what i do (z offset, or releveling, adjusting the actual heatbed screws) nothing seems to help me. the left and middle side of my heat bed i can get prints to lay down just fine but when it comes to the right side of my heat bed, even with the bltouch it still seems to want to be very close to the heat bed to the point that it doesnt allow any filament to come out. i have leveled my gantry using z alignment bars multiple times to verify that it is correct and still nothing. any tips on what i could try would be great. G28 ;Home G1 Z15.0 F6000 ;Move the platform down 15mm G29 G92 E0 G1 F200 E3 G92 E0 that is my current start gcode as modified by my buddy who helped me upgrade my firmware. is there something wrong with it? or am i just missing something completely obvious.
Has anyone made a guide to do this with a Normal Di3 V2? I know you would need to flash marlin to the board, but I can't find a good guide to how to connect it up.
Hi Tech, i did this mod and have it working but unfortunatly after i did the upgrade to bl touch all of my prints are coming out with a ringing / wavey pattern on them and nothing i have done has been able to correct this. have you ever had this issue or know of anyone that has? and if so whats the best way to fix it. im printing standard PLA at 210 C at 60 mm / s using cura for a slicer. any help would be appreciated.
Hey, this might be a little late, but the Wanhao Duplicator i3 line has issues with Z-axis wiggle, and the firmware defaults may have too high of a jerk setting. Setting jerk to 8mm/s/s/s seems to be a common fix for that.
Far from easy I had nothing but problems with the Bltouch, in the end, I gave up because it was throwing so many errors at me after following over 20 different videos on how to set it up, pay the extra money and get are EZABL much more simple to set up and much better quality.
@@TeachingTech I have a flashforge creator pro and can't find anything on auto bed leveling. The zyyx 3d printer use sailfish firmware and it has that feature, but they won't share any information. I just added bltouch to my ender 3 and it works perfect....thanks
Just fitted the new BL touch V3 on my Cocoon Create. Downloaded the software and upgraded my printer, However what ever I tried the BL touch would not work correctly. I spent some two weeks trying to readjust all the settings but it just keep failing after the first point. I finally checked the signals from the BL Touch with an oscilloscope and found no output to the Cocoon from the BL touch I found that the BL touch V3 has had an Open Drain FET fitted to the output and this the problem as there is no pull up resistor to 5 Volts on the printer mother board which I could see on the oscilloscope. I fitted a 4K7 resistor to the 5 volt rail and the Z min input and it now works perfectly. Has anybody else come across this problem with the V3 on the Cocoon ? Steve
o @@scottaquilina9496 Hi Scott, After fitting the resistor I found a software fix in the Marlin upgrade I download for the BL touch It is under Configuration .H at " Endstoppullups" if you uncomment “ #define ENDSTOPPULLUP_ZMIN_PROBE “and re-flash the printer. No resistor is needed and it started to work without the resistor. Good luck. Steve
@@scottaquilina9496 After fitting the resistor I found a software fix in the Marlin upgrade I download for the BL touch It is under Configuration .H at " Endstoppullups" if you uncomment “ #define ENDSTOPPULLUP_ZMIN_PROBE “and re-flash the printer. No resistor is needed and it start to work without the resistor. Good luck.
This "genuine bltouch" site give me this message in Tor: "Aurarum - Home of Australian made 3D filament 503 Overloaded." What this means? They want to me to buy counterfeit sensors instead of their original? :)) Isn't it stupid? In a simple Firefox I'm just not allowed to see this message at all.. Heil to stupid politic wars? ))
You made a lot of "plus" owners happy with this video. Good job!
Thanks for watching :)
The BLtouch has hugely improved my first-layer from this machine, and made the full bed usable and reliable.
Buy the real BLtouch and support the developer!
I completed this upgrade on my Wanhao duplicator i3 plus, also added the new magnetic bed from Wanhao. BLtouch was easy to install. The new ADVi3 firmware went on smoothly. Thanks for the video, it encouraged me to 'give it a go'
David
I have to say I love my BLTouch. I did have a minor issue with the one I received but after contacting Antclabs they were amazing at helping me resolve my issue. I am someone who appreciates quality and service and from my experience the service is great and I've had amazing accuracy with it.
My impression from their website is that they have gone above and beyond. It's nice to support such a great developer.
For loose fitting electrical connector sockets, it makes sense to add of blob of glue or paint/nail polish to the sides walls of the connector or the socket, let it dry fully before reconnecting, and it should not wobble after being connected. Can be sanded or filed to proper diameter so its a good deal as a corrective measure to prevent shorting or arcing of electrical connections.
That is a well designed printer there, all metal even for housing the electricals.
Thanks for sharing.
To level the bed, I believe Creality tells us to home the hot end, then disable the stepper motors to move from corner to corner and raise or lower these as needed. Problem is, when I follow this procedure I can never get the bed level the first time. It was infuriating. Then, I read an article someone wrote on the net. He said to stop using disable stepper motors. So, to move from corner to corner, I had to use the Move command. Doing it this way, I was able to level my bed the first time around! My print is perfect.
I the author of ADVi3++. Just for information (and because I get a lot of support because of that), these (very good instructions by Teaching Tech) are **obsolete** now with ADVi3++ version 4. Basically, I have integrated all the modifications explained in this video in the source code of ADVi3++. It is also important to note that now, ADVi3++ uses the "probe" connector, not the "z-end" one. So if you are upgrading from version 3 to version 4, you may have to change that.
Need to pin this one
Thank you and thank you again! 4 years ago I watched this video to add a BLtouch to my Maker Select Plus..... I've since moved on to a Cr10sPro v2 (Thanks for the modding videos there as well) I've been using Klipper on there for a while... figured I would dust off this old printer and try klipper on it.... I figured out the probe sensor pin was PA3 but searched the internet for quite a while to find out what the control pin was for bltouch... my BLtouch was added after and the documentation for it just says where to (physically) put the wires.... Your video shows a diagram at 7:34 that the control pin is acually Arduino pin 40 or in my case PG1..... I've set klippers BL settings to PA3 for sensor and PG1 for control pin and my old machine is starting to come back to life! Thanks again!
Loving these tutorials, especially scene i have a Monoprice maker select Plus! I do recommend you to upgrade your cooler though!
I just ordered the pin 27 break out board yesterday. I'm a little nervous ordering things from across the pond, but I'm confident it will arrive in tact. One reason I don't like ordering things from across the pond especially Australia is the shipping. It cost more to ship than what I paid for the board.
Did you see that there is an Australian supplier linked n the description> He makes them here himself.
Yes, he is who I bought it from. I live in the US, which is the problem I face. Like I said it cost more to ship than the piece cost. LOL.
There's a BLtouch here, not the fraudulent clone made by geetech, but a genuine BLtouch.
It hasn't been installed yet, no doubt it can do a better job of dialing things in than me making manual adjustments to 4 threaded fasteners that have springs. Keep on rocking!
Good stuff Michael. Very straightforward and methodical. I'll be undertaking this mod soon. Cheers, JAYTEE
very good video mate. i used it extensively when installing my BLTouch which is just now doing its first test print.
Thanks for watching.
Great Video. Very helpful. 😀
Patrick from Bethesda, Maryland, USA
"too impatient to wait"
Yeah but that 4 minute wait is better than a failed print after 3+ hours
prints don't fail after 3 hours because of you bed not being level... they fail immediately if your bed isn't level.
prints failing after layer 1 is your bad gcoding. only the first layer is affected by the beds leveling, and if you use a raft then these things are completely worthless...
@@greedfox7842 thats not true, a slightly unleveled bed may print okay at first but the fault becomes more noticeable the further away the head gets from
the bed. its geometry
Thanks for the tutorial, I've been looking for a auto leveling sensor!
Amazing video mate! Thank you for all the info. Really thorough and well presented.
We teally need more printers with auto + manual bed levelling. Manual to reduce physical warping as much as possible mesh to really fine tune minor imperfections out.
Great video Michael Thanks for all the info. Really thorough and well presented
I am from Belgium and am 60 years old
I completed this upgrade on my Balco 3D Printer Touch and also added the new magnetic bed from Wanhao. BLtouch was easy to install.
But I can't find this hex file anywhere
And I have no experience with it either.
if it be possible to guide me for downloading that hex file.
Regards
Johnny Peire
Damn ZIF connector for the FCC that connects to the display. It damn well fell apart on releasing it to remove the flat cable. Now I have to source a new mainboard, or find someone who can solder on a new one. Be careful with it! (..and yes, I was!) Apart from that great video, very helpful! :)
Very cool, as i saw this video i had to make it too. I first had trouble with the driver of my wanhao i3+. I needed to install a special chinese serial driver (M340) to make it work. Because of it, i also couldn't install the new firmware with cura, i needed to use arduino. And this wanted to work either if i had cura open beside. Anyway its working now great!!!
Would be cool to have a Video about adding a second extruder
:-D I'm totaly in mood for upgrades now...
To confirm you have a authentic BL Touch, look at the pc board. It should have the QR code printed on it. You'll notice the knock offs won't have this and a lot of sellers will put pictures of their knock offs ip less the pcb. I found one on amazon that had on pic of a genuine item, but all the rest of the pics of their pcb show they do not have either the QR code or the antclabs name printed on it.
Thanks Michael, I already had the BLtouch ordered and delivered since the new firmware supported it, I have now ordered the harness (was originally going to make my own). Let us know how it goes with the manual bed level / centre Z head level adjustments.
Will do.
Hi Michael, Good tutorial once again. Just a small concern that I have - I have recently installed this device and have noticed that I appear to be getting higher readings on the three left side readings of the grid even though all of the other six readings are within a few hundreths of each other? (the range of the right six = -0.021 to -0.077)(range of the left three = -0.217 to -0.251) - even after manually levelling the bed to get the same gap under the nozzle on all four corners. I have put a steel rule across my bed in all directions and can confirm that my bed is relatively 'flat'. This same 'issue' has been reported by at least one other on Github for this Andrivet project but the owner/developer has reported that his is showing up as 'flat' and within specs so has marked the reported bug as 'unconfirmed'. Andrivet has a screenshot of his bed grid that has a range of all nine points -0.001 to -0.072.
I raise it here becuse I noticed that you too had similarly high numbers on the left of your grid (It looks like your were high right across the front as well but I'm assuming that the bed was in fact high at the front).
To check/confirm this, could you please do a manual level of your bed and then redo the Z level followed by the mesh level to confirm or dismiss this as a potential issue? Thanks.
Hi Darryl, I've noticed when printing that one side of the object is more likely to lift off, so hadn't thought about it any further. I think your test is worthwhile, so I'll try and get it done soon.
Yes I'm getting a far more reliable result with bed adhesion when manual leveling than when using the auto level function which of course is contrary to what you would expect?!! Hmmmm.
I'm getting closer to testing this. Have played with the firmware to get the g29 process under 50 seconds, so progress there.
Hi Michael, I may have resolved why my figures were all reading differently on the left side compared to the rest of my bed. After spending a LOT of time fiddling in the software trying to find a possible reason for the issue it dawned on me that if the X carriage was twisted or not perpendicular to the bed at one end then that would manifest itself when auto leveling. Sure enough the left hand side was just slightly out of vertical and after adjustment my figures are now all in the same vicinity of one another.
So while I could manually level the nozzle to the same gap across the bed, when it came to auto levelling, any 'twisting' action caused by the the x rails not being aligned vertically was magnified slightly (because the sensor is about 50mm in front of the nozzle) and hence the 'appearance' of the left side being lower. In my case the sensor was being levered up away from the bed ever so slightly at the left hand side giving the levelling software the impression that this side was lower and hence compensating for it.
This would explain my poor adhesion on one side after auto levelling.
The test will be in the printing, which I'm yet to do, but just thought I'd mention my 'find' to hopefully put the tip out there for anyone else who is getting a similar issue and are pulling their hair out trying to find the problem like I was.
I also like the sound of your 50 sec levelling process... I'm staying tuned! Cheers.
I've followed along on this and several other videos posted with excellent results. I have encountered an issue though, now when I Home Z the hotend will travel to the center of the bed as it always did, but will deploy the probe then stow it and not home. The screen displays STOPPED. G28 and G30 commands do nothing so I'm stuck at the moment and cant find any other videos or posts with a related issue.
Check out my advanced BLtouch follow up video to this. At one stage in that I speed up the process by tweaking settings. You should try the opposite to slow it down and make it more reliable.
Found the issue, sent M119 command and in every position of the BLTouch read “TRIGGERED”, the end stop pin (black and White wires) came loose. Still plugged in but not making contact, cut away the hot glue, reset the connector and re-glued while applying pressure. Fully functional again!
I rewatched your video while installing the MKS GEN L, thanks to your pinouts provided I was able to quickly find the issue. Thank you for the informative videos, they provide excellent reference and clear details!
Hi Michael, I don't know if you monitor this channel closely but I am about to embark on this mod but am finding that links are out of date or give a different result to what I expect - any chance of some updates? Love this channel BTW!
Thoughts on the DC42 mini ir sensor? It’s cheaper than a BLtouch and more accurate according to thomas sandlander’s bed probe showdown. Neat guide for the bltouch btw!
Haven't used one sorry. I saw Tom's guide and some comments that bltouch was at a disadvantage being tested on its side. I'll probably end up trying another type for my frankendoodle project.
Teaching Tech no worries, bed leveling probes ain’t as cheap as chips, but that’s a curious point about it being at a disadvantage on its side, thanks
I was wondering that if you had a glass bed would this sensor be any benefit still? thanks for the great videos
If the glass is flat it reduces the need. When I was using an ultrabase it was quite finicky to get level so it would be useful in my opinion.
ok thanks for the fast reply I may have to go down this road, as I am getting a trifle frustrated with levelling.
bought!
I'm also curious to know whether you still need to be as diligent with the bed leveling Springs. Could you level the bed then lock it in place with lock nuts and then rely on the sensor to do the rest of the levelling? I ask because you mention the Prusa mk3 didnt have springs at all, and even though I level my bed it still moves?
I just saw a poll on one of the Facebook groups about whether you even need springs at all. It's becoming more modern to get rid of them.
Thanks so much for the guide! I have been considering doing this upgrade or installing an anycubic ultrabase, and your video helped me realize that an ultrabase would help some with bed adhesion but results would be held back by my warped build plate. Does anyone know the best place to get a bl touch package with leads, screws, and connecters in the USA?
Scroll down to the USA section: www.antclabs.com/store
Exactly mine too, although heaps of people love it so I guess they have merit.
BLTouch should be standard equipment on FDM printers..... You can speed up the bed process in Marlin...
I agree. Check out my sped up process in my follow up: ua-cam.com/video/BV11-VOQjMc/v-deo.html
I use a BLTouch and probe 9 points, takes about 30 seconds. You can increase the probe speed...
I had some late night googling, went through the Marlin g29 documentation but couldn't find a straightforward way. Best I had was to change the homing speed and the divisor for the second slow homing. Please share.
BL Touch installation on an Ender 3v2 please.
Loving your stuff Michael. This is great. Wondering if ALDI will do another batch this year. Got my Prusa I3 Mk3 working pretty well now with Fusion 360 & S3D.. with prusa filament. The test will be when I load something else on -- so I wonder if ALDI will do filament again. On that note, where do you get your filament from Michael?
I now have a filament sponsor: www.x3d.com.au
I was already using them because I've found it affordable and good quality. As standard, they have buy three, get one free, as well as a free sample pack. Good value.
Teaching Tech cheers mate. Sounds like a pretty good deal. Good to know it's decent quality. I bought a small feel from Jaycar and I'm not sure if I like it.
Great channel, long time subscriber. Will you be doing anymore updates to your cocoon create touch?
Thanks Will. It works beautifully as a dedicated flexibles printer. No plans at this stage unless you can suggest some new upgrade I'm not aware of.
As I have 2 of those printers, modified, like everyone else's I3 Plus's, i'm always looking to improve things on them, they're a great printer and I have learnt a lot in the past 2 years of having them. As i have an issue with of the mainboards, I have been looking at replacing or modding the Mainboard to either the mk2 version with power resume, nothing worse than printing for several hours and losing power.
or doing a MKS / Ramps board conversion with replacement stepper drivers to more quiet ones is something id love to see with the I3 plus as would many other aussie folks.
Other than that, Great channel, keep up the good work. . @@TeachingTech
Thanks for sharing :-)
Can you please do a video this detailed for the installation of a bltouch on an any cubic mega X? I've been scouring the internet and UA-cam for instructions on doing so and the information I find is very limited... I've seen some reports where people are upgrading to Marlin v2, and some where people are leaving the firmware alone... One thing I can't seem to find it's on that main board, how do I add support for the bltouch? The ender 3 eight-bit boards require are USB firmware flashing device, but a lot of other boards just allow Marlin to be loaded via SD card... Some people say the wiring doesn't work straight forward and I've seen other people say it does, I've seen some who said you have to eliminate both z-axis switches and some say you can leave them... I've checked 3D printer forums and discords and constantly come up with misinformation or information that conflicts with the previous information I just read or was told.. Please Help... Lol
Can you please make a video on how to speed up bltouch probing?
Already done: ua-cam.com/video/BV11-VOQjMc/v-deo.html
Teaching Tech Awesome. Thanks a lot.
BLTouch to Cocoon Create Touch 3D printer
Following your installation guide, I have installed the Antclabs BLtouch to my Cocoon Create Touch 3D printer.
I'm lost looking for the HEX file that you downloaded in your guide, looked everywhere on the net.
Briefly you quoted, add G29 code after every G28 code, I can only find G28 in the Start/End GCode in cocoon which is not HEX ??
Is the HEX already written for the Cocoon Create Touch 3D printer ??
It would be appreciated if you could help me.
Kind Regards
Bob
Hi Michael, I'm not sure how often you look back at comments but just in case you do: I have a custom fan duct that protrudes on the left hand side. This means that your mount won't work in my situation. I have printed it and am wondering if I could flip it and mount it on the right hand side. I assume that if I did that I would have to use different offsets settings. Can you give some advice?
hey buddy great video like all the rest of them :) can i ask whats the starting gcode to put in a slicer so a bltouch will self bed level before every print :)
g29
So, did you compile the Advi3++ firmware or use a precompiled hex file? I would only do a single probe at each point...
Wich sensor and firmware will I need for the Wanhao Duplicator i3 v2.1?
Hi there, I see you have the Cocoon, I also have a Wanhao clone called the Maker Select Plus by Monoprice. Do you (or anyone reading) know if this will also work adding directly to the mainboard for the MSP as you did for the Cocoon? I am already running ADVi3pp and like it A LOT. Thanks for the tutorial!
As far as I know it will be the same. My Cocoon has Wanhao written on the main board, yours probably does as well. Only six screws on the underside to pull off the cove and check.
Teaching Tech awesome, thank you!
I have the same crowned bed problem on my Cocoon Create Touch. It doesn’t stop PLA sticking, but it does make for some fairly inconsistent first layers, and makes very thin layer heights (sub 0.12mm) unviable. I had planned to use a sheet of Borosilicate glass I bought on top of the bed, since sheet glass is naturally quite flat and fairly rigid, but I have no experience printing on glass. Is this a terrible idea?
Also, what slicer settings do you find work for ABS on the CCT? I have my PLA settings tuned in fairly well, but I haven’t tried ABS yet.
Glass is a really popular surface to use. For Abs, start by putting your extruder up to about 250, your bed up to 100 and turning off the cooling fan unless it is bridging.
Watching at 1.25x speed. You sound more like a south australian ;) talking just that bit faster. :)
Firmware, is their firmware simply added on to the existing machine firmware, so you still have all the original controls, or does it completely replace the original machines firmware?
thinking of buying one from amazon, maybe i should go for the one labelled "amazon's choice"?
is it possible to buy it on Amazon without getting a fake one (for the price of the original)?
@@KiR_3d never bought one before though the description does say it is genuin. dunno if that proves it is though
I did buy the amazon choice one on amazon for £42 it seems to be genuine
Did you have to flash your LCD screen as well on Cocoon Touch. Thanks
Yep, it's as simle as putting in an SD card with specific files on it, provided by the developer. Full guide here: ua-cam.com/video/lHLMkjnuJyU/v-deo.html
I'm curious how the bltouch is considered cheap compared to the inductive sensors?
There may be other sensors which are cheaper, I agree. I mean in in terms of overall bang for your buck. Compared to the other mods featured in this series, it stacks up well.
Hi, great video. But G29 is not working anymore :(
I have a Cocoon Create as per your video and have physically installed the BL touch from Aurarum but having problems understanding how to get the firm ware into the system. Can you help. Thanks
Hi Michael I have had to reset my Create Touch and now the BL Touch does a much faster scan before printing, it works fine just much faster than before is it possible that the reset of the printer adjusted or reset the BL Touch as well? Thanks
Does this replace the Z-min and Z-max switches? Plus, what printer are you using? My model board doesn't have any spots to solder.
I followed what I thought was the files you are mentioning but the display has different menu items.
ADVi3++ 3.0.2
The BLTouch just goes to a manual enter distance from sensor screen.
Can you show the links to your actual files please?
Never mind. I found it. Reading through the manual and watching your video a few times helped. And realized you had added your own startup graphics too.
Glad you got it sorted. For reference, I have posted my compiled firmware for my Patrons.
Do the header pins come with the BLtouch or do I need to purchase those separately?
What’s the name of the pins you solder to the board?
Did you print the bracket out of PETG or PLA? I tried PETG and it’s too flexible , would PLA be ok even though it doesn’t have the thermal properties of PETG?
michael have you had any failures with the version 2 BL Touches, I may have to reinstall the 3.0.2 firmware as my software is now unresponsive to inputs?
Question: if your printer NEEDS to be re-leveled often, what is wrong with it?
OK, swapping out build surfaces can change yer offset, but M206 handles that.
Fine-tuning with your print monitor should be in everyone's 101.
Why can an end-stop switch not be used as a bl switch? Just curious.
hi, i got a problem at the blv cube. It's about the fact that it's an xy core but it's a bltouch problem. All axes are working correctly but when i want to level the z axis with the bltouch the bed moves, so the z axis goes down instead of up. please help me as i don't know what to do. i'll send you the configs of marlin if you want. thanks a lot in advance. i know that you are very busy but this could be a topic that interests you. i am a big fan because i have almost all my knowledge about 3d printing from you. i was also your patrion for a while and will be again when the financial situation is possible again :-)
Nuts on top would have vastly simplified adding the washers, this is what I did
Am I able to start preheating while the bed is doing the leveling? My i3 Plus usually takes a couple minutes to heat up anyway, so if I could have the leveling going at the same time that wouldn't be bad at all.
You should actually probe at about 160F....youd have to set that up in gcode though.
what do you do for a melzi 3.5 board, as the places where they want me to connect the wires are already in use?
I have followed your instructions for my Cocoon and when i try leveling it does the first probe and the goes back to Home all axis and states "Leveling failed". Can you help. All functions of the senor work independently when pressed on the touch screen. Help.
Please see my advanced bltouch video. It goes over some of the settings you can tweak to speed up the probing. I would do the opposite and slow things down by increasing the height between probes.
@@TeachingTech Thanks, but I am struggling with how you get the modified Marlin .ino file into the Hex file. I am not a coder and age is against me. The HEX file from the Andrivet site I cannot open to review?????????????????Any help would be appreciated. Thanks
@@TeachingTech I have figured how to get the info into the printer but when I try to do that from Arduino I get the following.exit status 1
"Error compiling for board Arduino/Genuino Mega or Mega 2560." Can you help.
Is there any way to change the settings from metric to inches on the ender 3?
ADVi3pp BLtouch install instructions is BEHIND A PAYWALL. No instructions available. Link is dead
michael I noticed you are using the latest version 3.0.2 as well and cura to update, but yours has octoprint on it, would that make a difference to mine not updating the hex file? Also does your LCD version say 3.0.2 or 3.0.1 like mine? Both downloaded from the same file, its proving hard to install the bl touch hex file. I have after several hours managed to get 3.0.1 lcd and firmware together, but the bl touch hex file is not playing fair and wont install as smoothly as yours did
This was filmed before octoprint. 3.0.2 came out as I was filming, I had to update the video part way through. I would leave suggest doing it manually through Arduino like I show in the advanced bltouch video.
And yes mine days LCD 3.0.1 in the menu instead of 3.0.2, I think it's a bug.
i assume michael that you have to have the extruder at the correct level first. before you go through the sensor setup?
thats what I eneded up doing. I know nothing about arduino so I just watched this back and forth several times trying to work out what you had done and what I had to do to activate the sensor. I havent set that up yet, I spent too many hours trying to get the hex file installed, many many times unfortunately
ahh thanks for saying that I thought i was going nuts
FYI - The BL Touch install instructions link has changed to: andrivet.github.io/ADVi3pp-User-Manual/03-BLTouch.html
Thanks, updated.
All good. I've just order 2 x BL Touch from the place you recommended. I will hopefully get it tomorrow and will do the upgrade. I find your videos very useful. Keep up the good work.
Any help with this one please, when i go to to run the z height calibration (10:34 in the video) my BLTouch only comes down once , it does not do the 2nd touch and hence i dont get a z offset reading. Any ideas to why?
When using 420 S1 in the start code, should you delete the g29?
Yes.
I have recently installed the 3.1 BLtouch to my ender 3 pro, but after probing i only get one decent square ( 5 square test ) and the rest are chewed up and crappy. Any ideas ?
My bltouch pin doesn't snap up each time it touches the bed. It lights up red and probes each point twice. Is there something wrong?
th 3d touch i recieved never switches. it works with the servo, all settings tripple checked, servo numbers etc and true/false positions. It does not trigger
ok folks i am having some difficulties. i have had my bltouch working on the wanhao for a couple months now. i upgraded the firmware to the newest version with the help of my friend and coppied over my gcode. and so far no matter what i do (z offset, or releveling, adjusting the actual heatbed screws) nothing seems to help me. the left and middle side of my heat bed i can get prints to lay down just fine but when it comes to the right side of my heat bed, even with the bltouch it still seems to want to be very close to the heat bed to the point that it doesnt allow any filament to come out. i have leveled my gantry using z alignment bars multiple times to verify that it is correct and still nothing. any tips on what i could try would be great.
G28 ;Home
G1 Z15.0 F6000 ;Move the platform down 15mm
G29
G92 E0
G1 F200 E3
G92 E0
that is my current start gcode as modified by my buddy who helped me upgrade my firmware. is there something wrong with it? or am i just missing something completely obvious.
Has anyone made a guide to do this with a Normal Di3 V2? I know you would need to flash marlin to the board, but I can't find a good guide to how to connect it up.
Hi Tech, i did this mod and have it working but unfortunatly after i did the upgrade to bl touch all of my prints are coming out with a ringing / wavey pattern on them and nothing i have done has been able to correct this. have you ever had this issue or know of anyone that has? and if so whats the best way to fix it. im printing standard PLA at 210 C at 60 mm / s using cura for a slicer. any help would be appreciated.
Hey, this might be a little late, but the Wanhao Duplicator i3 line has issues with Z-axis wiggle, and the firmware defaults may have too high of a jerk setting. Setting jerk to 8mm/s/s/s seems to be a common fix for that.
hy all, i have a bltouch on ramps 1.4, i have a isue that the right side of the bed is always lower as the left side, any explication?
As in the probing returns skewed values or the be is physically uneven?
yes.. this sudenley happend :(
Far from easy I had nothing but problems with the Bltouch, in the end, I gave up because it was throwing so many errors at me after following over 20 different videos on how to set it up, pay the extra money and get are EZABL much more simple to set up and much better quality.
Can I add bltouch to sailfish firmware?
I'm not sure sorry. I haven't looked at Sailfish for a very long time.
@@TeachingTech I have a flashforge creator pro and can't find anything on auto bed leveling. The zyyx 3d printer use sailfish firmware and it has that feature, but they won't share any information. I just added bltouch to my ender 3 and it works perfect....thanks
Hi and thanks for your great channel.
Do you have any idea how to wire a BLTouch Smart to a lerdge-K Motherboard? :-/
Thanks and best regards
No but I have a printer coming for review with that mainboard so watch this space
Just fitted the new BL touch V3 on my Cocoon Create. Downloaded the software and upgraded my printer, However what ever I tried the BL touch would not work correctly.
I spent some two weeks trying to readjust all the settings but it just keep failing after the first point. I finally checked the signals from the BL Touch with an oscilloscope and found no output to the Cocoon from the BL touch
I found that the BL touch V3 has had an Open Drain FET fitted to the output and this the problem as there is no pull up resistor to 5 Volts on the printer mother board which I could see on the oscilloscope. I fitted a 4K7 resistor to the 5 volt rail and the Z min input and it now works perfectly.
Has anybody else come across this problem with the V3 on the Cocoon ?
Steve
Hey Steve. Having the same issue right now. Are you able to post some more details instructions on what you did you resolve this?
o
@@scottaquilina9496
Hi Scott,
After fitting the resistor I found a software fix in the Marlin upgrade I download for the BL touch
It is under Configuration .H at " Endstoppullups" if you uncomment “ #define ENDSTOPPULLUP_ZMIN_PROBE “and re-flash the printer. No resistor is needed and it started to work without the resistor.
Good luck.
Steve
@@scottaquilina9496
After fitting the resistor I found a software fix in the Marlin upgrade I download for the BL touch
It is under Configuration .H at " Endstoppullups" if you uncomment “ #define ENDSTOPPULLUP_ZMIN_PROBE “and re-flash the printer. No resistor is needed and it start to work without the resistor.
Good luck.
@@steveguy5737 mate. Make you've done it. Looks like its doing what it should be doing :)
@@scottaquilina9496
Glad it work for you too
Steve
Jesus christ, is that site actually selling 3 wires for basically $20? it's not even worth $1
If people were confident with a crimping tool it would be a no brainer to DIY but that's to much for most.
3dtouch is cheaper
But the quality is not as good. I prefer to support the original designer but each to their own.
I can confirm the knock offs are crap. A lot of them will fail within two weeks..
BLtouch is not cheap.
at 40$ it's not that cheap 0_0
Funny to see this video in 2020, only 2 years later. Everything is looking so outdated, Cura, ugly printer... :)
So u 3D print projects that take HOURS/DAYS!!!
But u can’t wait 3-4 minutes for the printer to calibrate it’s “level-ness”??? Rotfl...
So lame..
This "genuine bltouch" site give me this message in Tor: "Aurarum - Home of Australian made 3D filament
503 Overloaded." What this means? They want to me to buy counterfeit sensors instead of their original? :)) Isn't it stupid?
In a simple Firefox I'm just not allowed to see this message at all.. Heil to stupid politic wars? ))