How to calibrate this damn device?

While teamviewer can help upload the firmware and install GC, for calibration it’s not useful i think.
Machines that can’t be good calibrated have often mechanical issues, that can only be discovered in front of the Maslow or by pictures and videos.

Accurate measurements is the next to take care of. (better 3 times measured then 1 time wrong)

  • are your motors level, how did you check?
  • do you have a flex in the top beam or on the motor mounts?
  • do you have a helper to measure the motor distance by hand?
  • how confident are you that the ring? is exactly centred on the router-bit?
  • have you changed from bungees to weight system?

The software is attempting to get the measurements of the Maslow for you, however there are a bunch of reasons the software can get the measurements wrong. Is good to check the numbers from the calibration with what you measure by hand and if you think the software is off to far, replace the calibrated values with the hand measured ones. Main values with the names in the groundcontrol.ini are in this picture:


If you change settings in GC, it’s recommended to close GC after the changes, un- and re-plug the arduino, start GC again and check that the changes are still there, before moving the machine.

Optional:
Take a look at the holey-triangular-calibration. It runs a different FW and GC and has been reported to give great results.

P.S. I’m calibrating 2 years and 1 month (only few hours every weekend). I’ve modified my frame 3 times making it level and stronger. I’m running my 3rd sled now. I’m still not in the 1mm i want, but getting closer with every modification. I still call it an incredible machine, rather then a ‘damn device’.
The link above (holey calibration) is what i’m testing next. Good luck and heads up.

Kind regards, Gero

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