TL;DR: please post pictures of dual color prints First of all, sorry for my broken English, I once again have to rely on the power of grammarly. Next is a small overview of my experience so far:
******** start of journey to hell ******** * bought the proforge 3 as a kit will all upgrades.
* assembled the kit wit the direct drive extruder and followed all manuals because I didn't want to be the cause of any possible problems.
* had all the issues everybody else had:
- belts jumping off
- extruder clogging
- missing parts
* decided to convert to the DSH * followed the manual to the letter but printing with marlin and the provided cura profiles gave me:
- clogs
- probing inconsistency, every time I had to babystep before a print (and yes I saved the settings)
- filament sensors didn't work with octoprint
* First Marlin firmware version provided by Makertech broke the servo motor after a while because it
always stays on and overheats. This is fixed in the new firmware
* thermistor broke - but that's probably my own fault - so took the 2nd high temp thermistor from the direct drive
* one of the fans on the heatblock broke. Didn't bother anymore to ask a replacement to makertech and took a spare one I had lying around (with flashy LED's - woop woop). Side-note: Sometimes it helps to grease a fan but I didn't find a way to do this on the ones provided without breaking them. ******** end of journey to hell ********
So what did I do to try to make it a somewhat functional printer:
* swapped the bearings for the belts to the one's suggested in this thread: https://www.forum.makertech3d.com/forum/proforge-3-3d-printing/upgrade-idler-pulleys
and it does wonders
* Installed Cura 5.0 and created a somewhat basic profile from scratch
* Installed Klipper based on the profile at https://www.forum.makertech3d.com/forum/proforge-3-general-discussion/klipper-on-the-proforge3
Why: because Klipper rules and Marlin sucks 😏, also Z-offset is finally consistent
With my limited skill set I added following features in the printer menu: - Tune menu:
* change in realtime the Z offset of the first hotend
* change in realtime the X Y and Z offset of the 2nd hotend for easy tuning
- Calibrate menu:
* z-probe offset with Lift Z in the menu
* Servo menu:
- Similar function like in Marlin to switch between T0 T1 and mid position so you can easily install the servo arm
- set the angle for the servo for T0 and T1 so you can finetune the switching. - Changed default PID tune behaviour in the menu so you can select the target temperature
What I want to achieve in the future:
* adjust filament menu so I can easily load/unload filament
* M600 (maybe)
* clean up code because naming convention is bleh.
Next are some pictures from some prints which I made with the super cheap pla+ filament from GST3D, a company where quality-control is none-existent. So you can clearly see the brown filament having more issues.
So my question to you guys is: can you post some successful dual color prints you made with your proforge 3 on the original marlin firmware and cura makertech edition so I can compare?
Apparently I was printing the same frog yesterday. I forgot to disable the ooze shield so it could have been better. I'm struggling with pressure advance and retraction settings at the moment. Because of the bowden pressure advance, has to be set very high, which results in my extruder clogging, that's why I disabled it for this print. So basically I have to start testing from 0 again
PLA
0.28mm layer height
2mm retraction (<= that was likely too small for the bowden extruders)
50mm/s
old brittle PLA I had on stock
Marlin + Cura 4.13.1
If it's your first printer I wouldn't advice to install Klipper if you don't know what you are doing. Still here's my config in attachement. I give absolutely NO warranty that nothing can break, especially the servo. In the macro's I made a simple delayed gcode (UPDATE_DELAYED_GCODE ID=repeatServ DURATION=1) which switches between the extruders continuously until you stop it with the code: stopServ. Ran it for 15 minutes straight without issues.
My Cura profile I won't be attaching atm because I don't think it's ready
Just make use of the makertech provided profiles, play with retraction distance and also change the startup gcode for the proforge to: START_PRINT BED_TEMP={material_bed_temperature_layer_0} EXTRUDER_TEMP={material_print_temperature_layer_0}
2 things I still sometimes have problems with:
* when doing resonance compensation I get very low frequencies: shaper_freq_x: 28.2
shaper_freq_y: 27.6 Copied from the Klipper manual: "If the measured ringing frequency is very low (below approx 20-25 Hz), it might be a good idea to invest into stiffening the printer or decreasing the moving mass - depending on what is applicable in your case - before proceeding with further input shaping tuning, and re-measuring the frequencies afterwards. For many popular printer models there are often some solutions available already."
So, I wonder if it has something to do with the rubber feet. * I still sometimes get clogs on both extruders. My theory is because of the narrow internal diameter of the bowden tubes but I can not prove this.
I would love to share them with you but unluckily i can't share any pic cause i didn't manage to make it work (the firmware is not showing me "the servo menu").
My journey has become a hell too, being my first printer I'm completely overwhelm, may you share the incredible work you have done by Cura 5.0, Klipper for the DSH?
I can't believe Marketech has completely abandoned us, or at least is how i feel.