Cartesian Printers¶
*This is a work in progress, so bare with me… There are tons of varieties when it comes to Cartesian printers, and this tutorial will be as complicated to write as it is to set up one of these printers.*
Welcome to the Setting up Replicape for Cartesian Printers How-To!!
First off, if this is your first printer, or maybe the first printer you’ve built yourself, please just take your time and don’t frustrate yourself. If you thought you were going to be printing on the first day or even the first week, I hate to break the news, but there is a learning curve involved. Try to have fun, and don’t hesitate to check in over at: Slack and Google+ if you need some real-time help.
- I’m hoping you have figured out how to wire your steppers, end stops, fans, heaters, etc… I also hope you know your way around Cartesian space… from this point on, just remember that on your Cartesian printer, the front left corner of your build plate is X ‘zero’, and Y ‘zero’ (0,0)… and when the tip of your hot end is touching your build plate your Z axis is at ‘zero’…
- When you first turn on your printer, the system is going to think it’s sitting at X ‘zero’, Y ‘zero’, Z ‘zero’ until it homes to it’s endstops, so until we have the correct configuration, let’s only make careful moves with the software.
OK! So if your printer is wired up, and you have the software flashed, let’s get started!
Configurations¶
Let’s open Octoprint and check out the Profile Configurations which are located in These guys are what tells Redeem (the software) everything it needs to know about your printer. At the bottom you’ll see Default.cfg… Click on the little eyeball and check out all of the commands in that file. This configuration contains all of the necessary commands that tells the software the size of the printer, how much power to send to your steppers, how fast it can move, and how slow, just to name a few… Ok, close that window… above Default.cfg, you’ll see Printer.cfg… these particular configurations are tweaked for specific printers, and whatever is written to this configuration will override the commands within the Default.cfg… if you have a name brand printer or a similar clone, you can choose the configuration that matches your printer and use it as your default profile. This could get you to third base with setting up your printer!
Before we go printing, let’s talk a little more about that profile up top called “Local.cfg”… What? There’s nothing in that profile? You’re right! This is where you get to add commands to the configuration… and this configuration overrides the Printer.cfg, and the Default.cfg, so now I hope you’re seeing the “hierarchy” of the configurations… Local.cfg > Printer.cfg > Default.cfg…
Setting up your Local.cfg¶
Setting up your Local.cfg can get pretty complicated, but for now, we’re just going to get your printer moving normally, homing correctly, and stopping where it’s supposed to… once you’ve got your feet wet, and maybe waste deep, you’ll eventually need to dive into some deeper water to get your printer tweaked for maximum performance… I’ll tell you where to go at the end of this How-To. **Also** Whenever you add to or make changes to your Local.cfg, you’ll need to restart Redeem for those changes to take effect.
For now, let’s get started with the basic entries you’ll need to get started!
[System]¶
Let’s leave the System section alone for now, but if you’re using Toggle and a Manga Screen or similar, you’ll need to edit this section later to get those systems working. For now, just add:
[System][Geomtery]¶
The Geometry section basically lets the software know what kind of printer it’s dealing with. Having a Cartesian printer, you don’t even need this section in your Local.cfg, but I’ve decided to add it anyway. You can add this section if you want:
[Geometry]
# 0 - Cartesian
# 1 - H-belt
# 2 - Core XY
# 3 - Delta
axis_config = 0
[Steppers]¶
The Steppers section is where you’ll make changes for your stepper’s steps per mm, direction, supplied amperage, microstepping, and whether or not they’re in use. If you have two stepper motors for one axis this is where you will add the second stepper as a slave… I’ll have a second section for help with the slave stepper. Here are the following entries you can add to your Stepper section with explanations for each:
[Steppers]
# steps per mm:
# Defined how many stepper full steps needed to move 1mm.
# Do not factor in microstepping settings.
# For example: If the axis will travel 10mm in one revolution and
# angle per step in 1.8deg (200step/rev), steps_pr_mm is 20.
steps_pr_mm_x = 4.0
steps_pr_mm_y = 4.0
steps_pr_mm_z = 50.0
steps_pr_mm_e = 6.0
steps_pr_mm_h = 6.0
steps_pr_mm_a = 6.0
steps_pr_mm_b = 6.0
steps_pr_mm_c = 6.0
# Which steppers are enabled
in_use_x = True
in_use_y = True
in_use_z = True
in_use_e = True
in_use_h = True
in_use_a = False
in_use_b = False
in_use_c = False
# Set to -1 if axis is inverted
direction_x = 1
direction_y = 1
direction_z = 1
direction_e = 1
direction_h = 1
direction_a = 1
direction_b = 1
direction_c = 1
# A stepper controller can operate in slave mode,
# meaning that it will mirror the position of the
# specified stepper. Typically, H will mirror Y or Z,
# in the case of the former, write this: slave_y = H.
slave_x =
slave_y =
slave_z =
slave_e =
slave_h =
slave_a =
slave_b =
slave_c =
[Endstops]¶
The first thing we need to do is make sure your endstops are working correctly… to do this, all you need to do is go into Octoprint and open the Terminal. When you press in your endstop switches, you should see a message in the terminal that displays which end stop was hit. If you’re not seeing this message, then
[Homing]¶
Updated 09/28/17 by: Dancook