Hello everyone!

I am dealing with a slightly warped print bed. Smaller prints are no problem and come out absolutely perfect (for me), but as the prints get larger and go near the sides of the printbed they won’t stick very good, because the bed is a bit more away from the nozzle on all sides, causing my prints to warp or even fall off the printbed.

So now I am thinking about upgrading my Voxelab Aquila with a BLTouch (or similar) to get rid of that problem. So far I read you could use Voxelab‘s Aquila X2 BLTouch Firmware with the standard Aquila?! Is that true? Does someone here know it or already upgraded one? Or maybe have a link to a tutorial?

Any help appreciated! Thanks in advance :)

  • thantik@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Creating a custom mesh without a probe is possible, you just need to enable it in the correct firmware. If there’s a build of Marlin for your machine, check the bed leveling section in the source code, and enable “Manual Mesh” leveling. It’ll allow you to Next -> Knob Turn -> Next – through all 9 points and manually set a bed mesh. No need for a touch probe. You still need to update the firmware to enable it though.

    Also don’t get caught up in the “BLTouch is for leveling” misinformation. A machine with a mechanical issue will not have the mechanical issue fixed by adding a touch probe, it’ll just add yet another source of frustration.

    If you have a glass plate and you think it’s warped – you are wrong. Glass is not manufactured that way, and the only way it can be warped is if you’re purposely pulling it out of its natural resting state. The more common thing to be warped is the T-slot rails that your hardware is riding on. If you know anything about aluminum extrusion, you’ll know it’s pressed through a die, and then kind of bent flat at the factory after it’s been extruded.

    • Gorroth@lemmy.worldOP
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      11 months ago

      Thanks for all this information. Very interesting! Do you have a link to that firmware or a name I can search for? I have no problem with manually leveling, I just need to be able to tell my printer where the highs and lows of my print bed are if you get what I mean.

      No I don’t think that. In my case it just looks like the plate (the one unter the printing surface that heats up) seems to be bent even in disassembled state. And yes, I don’t really need another instance of frustration, that hobby brings enough of that along its way :D So if I can do it without a probe I might give mesh leveling a try.

      I am using a PEI print bed. I had a glass one before, that i had nearly the same problem with (but never tried this big prints, so it didn’t actually bother me).

      • thantik@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        I literally gave you instructions with the name of the firmware my dude…

        If there’s a build of Marlin for your machine, check the bed leveling section in the source code, and enable “Manual Mesh” leveling.

        Marlinfw.org

        A quick search on github gave me this: https://github.com/shadow578/Marlin-H32

        Honestly though, you’re better fixing the mechanical issue you have with the machine.

        • Gorroth@lemmy.worldOP
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          11 months ago

          Oh my… sorry, it might have been to early for me to read your comment, sorry. Will have a look at it, thank you!

          I am already trying to fix it mechanically, but I need a Plan B, that’s why I made that post :)