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I have a Printrbot metal plus and recently I backed a kickstarter called Fleks3D. It is an add on for the bed that has changeable plates to print on. I am having difficulty setting up Cura so that when I print I am able to accommodate the additional 4mm. I have come close but I am not an expert at gcode. My current start.gcode settings are below.

M104 S{print_temperature}

G21 ;metric values

G90 ;absolute positioning

M82 ;set extruder to absolute mode

M107 ;start with the fan off

G28 X0 Y0 ;move X/Y to min endstops

G1 Z7.3 ; move to 7.3mm above Z=0

G92 Z7 ; set the current position to Z=7

M109 S{print_temperature} ;wait on temperature line

G92 E0 ;zero the extruded length

G1 F{travel_speed}

These settings move my printer head to the back left corner about, it then lifts up to about 7cm to heat up, it moves the center as it drops to some height (about 1 cm higher then my 4mm print plate and starts printing. The issue is I can not move the print head any lower when it starts to print, even when I change my M212 Z setting. I have gone from M212 Z4 to M212 Z0 and have seen no different in head height. Any help would be fantastic.

I assume those working with glass must have worked around this issue.

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Does this new plate cover the whole of the metal surface?

The sensor has a range of 4mm, so if the plate is 4mm, and covers the complete surface, the G29 bed levelling won’t work.

Now you can convert the Z stop to a mechanical one. There is a printable switch holder on paste extruder product page and instructions how to wire a mechanical switch on the printrboard pages on help.printrbot.com.

If it doesnt cover the metal plate and you can still G29 properly, there is a code for Home Offset from memory, I cant check it now as I’m printing

Ian

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you may need a firmware update I know that for the x-axis upgrade for the Printrbot they said that the original software did not work.

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Change “G28 X0 Y0” to “G28 X0 Y0 Z0” The auto leveling only works if z is leveled first. This might cause the head to crash into the plate. You will likely need to raise the height of the sensor. Check to see if the plate triggers the sensor by holding it under the sensor and looking to see if the LED on the sensor turns on. As said before. If the plate is too thick. You’ll have to either disable auto leveling and do it manually. Or convert to a switch.

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The plate covers all but a sliver of the original plate and that sliver is not in the correct location for the sensor to read it. I was not away of the 4mm limit.

Thank for the response!

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Yeah that is why I took out the Z0 because it would crash. I will have to test the plate as you mentioned and see what results I get.

Thanks for the advice!

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I didnt even think to update my firmware, what on oversight on my part.

Thank you

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We used our Fleks3D we got from Kickstarter and it works really great for PLA. We clip it on our build plate on the front and back with 4 clips and take the arms out so it fits. Then, instead of messing around with the M212 settings first, we glued dimes to the Fleks3D where the induction sensor goes on the three points. Foil works too, but it doesn’t measure the same all the time. We could never get the induction sensor to see the metal build platform through the Fleks3D plate.

After you have the dimes set up, you can use:

G28 X0 Y0

G28 Z0

G29

And then, see what values you get back. Get the average of the three points and then add 0.5mm (Z nozzle offset) - 1.35mm (Z dime offset) = Z offset

M212 Z[Z offset]

M500 ; to save

M501 ; to check your save

Start printing, checking your first layer adhesion and the correcting your M212 until you are happy.