Ender3 Pro Direct Drive - Bullseye Mount

After installing klipper for quality, i wanted to convert my bowden Ender3 pro to a direct drive printer. I found the "speed drive v1" design made by "sashalex007" which mostly uses stock parts and he achieved a great result with 100mm/s wall speed. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3816051 

The part that i would not like about the design is that you loose some x space (not much) which lead me to search for the remixes at start, and i found 2 remixes that uses Banta mount design but at the end after having many problems decided to use the original design with some tweaks. 

For not to loose x space, you need to change Y motor with the extruder motor. Here are my  installation instructions: 

1. Some Ender3 devices  came with press fit pulleys on Y axis, so before starting the job, print a pulley extractor. 

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3593964

I printed extractor with %100 infill (PLA) and it worked. But second time (when i'm using it for a friend) it cracked, so print 2 of them just in case. 

And if you own such an  Ender with a press fit pulley Y motor, you need to buy a 20 teeth G2 belt compatible 5mm diameter and 6mm width gear (since press fit ones can't be used again)

2. You need to print a leveling knob smaller than the default 60mm. When you change the Y motor with the larger extruder, the knob on back left side hits the motor just before touching the Y switch. 

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3447421/files 

3. You need 6 m5 washers (2 for each wheel), be careful to buy standard ones like in photos below. Outer diameter need to be small, otherwise it will touch to the moving parts of bearings and creates friction. Using the 6 washers you gain 1-2 mm and you need it, otherwise motor hits the vertical colums. 

4. You need either a usb cable, than you can extend extruder cable by soldering it or you need a fabricated cable to extend extruder cable which is a lot easier ( 6pin female-male nema step motor cable) 

If you choose to solder yourself  be careful to mark the cables, otherwise you could solder it wrong.  Some usb cables have thinner cables for data, so check if they are too thin or not, use something good. After soldering, try moving the extruder motor from marlin menu but don't forget about cold extrusion prevention mechanism. Ender3 default marlin settings prevent you from moving the extruder motor when the hot end is cold. 

5. You need some plastic cable zippers to tidy cables. Below is the best cabling orieantation i could find which could reach the top right corner of the printer without cables passing inside the frame. 

6. You could use the stock fan or you could use a 24v blower fan with an adapter to mount it to Bullseye. 

7. You need to print speeddrive mount, bullseye base (From speeddrive page), and bullseye from its own page.  Read bullseye installation on it's own page (you will need m3 nuts and button head 12mm bolts for ender3 pro installation )

The good part about using bullseye is that extruder is easily reachable, and it is easy to level the duct bottom. During installation just use the wrench that comes with Ender3 Pro like below. 

You could also use Petsfang if you own a 5015 fan, like the guy here https://www.thingiverse.com/make:794919 

Testing 

Below 20mm test cube is printed with 100mm/s infill and 70mm/s wall speed, 1250 acceleration and at 0.2mm resolution using klipper (and settings are tuned for klipper). You could achieve higher values with a stable shelf, mein is a bit shaky. 

Cube test should not be your only method to evaluate. Print a micro 3d printer test object. Here are my results: 

You could do a water turbulence test to understand if  bullseye is mounted in right position: 

FAILURES 

If you also would like to check what i tried before being successful, you could read this part. I checked the designs below not to loose x space with speeddrive design: 

• First one: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4322768 

This design changes Y and Extruder motor (Y motor is shorter) which results in full X usage and lighter moving parts. And also the blower fan sits to banta mount without and adapter (e.g. to rotate a bit not to to hit the extruder )

• Second one: https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4245035 

This has an adapter that rotates the blower fan 45 degrees. 

First I chose to go with the first design and at the end succesfully had a direct drive. I then decided to do a printer test print and my result was not good (x cube looked ok !):  

I then did the water-turbulence test and saw that the cooling is misdirected (it is either wrong installation or there was a problem with the base bart design for banta mount, i don't know).

.I decided to go back to Bullseye but with an adapter and wrote this documentation :). 

Klipper On Android - Galaxy S3 - Ender 3 Pro

 I've succesfully installed klipper on my old phone Galaxy S3. If you haven't read  first part of this topic "Octoprint on Android" please read it, cause i'm assuming you already accomplished the tasks below: 

Prerequisites

• Android with printer serial driver installed (ch341 serial driver for Ender3 Pro).
• Debian installed on Android  (using Linux Deploy) 
• Always on phone (Check my other posts for an always on phone

Setting Klippy-Env Python Version

Klipper needs newer python like octoprint as Debian Jessie is too old. Klipper creates a "klippy-env" folder when installing it, so creating a virtual-env and changing python version in advance helps overcoming problems: 

mkdir /home/pi/klippy-env
virtualenv --python=/usr/local/lib/python2.7.17/bin/python klippy-env
sudo apt-get install libffi-dev
 
sudo apt-get install git 
source /home/pi/klippy-env/bin/activate

Check python and pip version inside virtualenv (python 2.7.17, pip 20.x)

python --version
pip install --upgrade "pip < 21.0" 
pip install --upgrade setuptools
pip install greenlet
pip install cffi
pip install pyserial

Installing Klipper

You could now start installing klipper (exit virtualenv first) 

deactivate
git clone https://github.com/KevinOConnor/klipper

You need to start installing using klipper scripts (Which is standard installation of klipper). 

/home/pi/klipper/scripts/install-octopi.sh

Klipper Configuration File

In service start file we show printer.cfg file location in /home/pi.  Copy the sample config file to "/home/pi/printer.cfg" and make it readable by any user so that octoprint can read it 

cp /home/pi/klipper/config/printer-creality-ender3-2018.cfg /home/pi/printer.cfg 
chmod 777 /home/pi/printer.cfg 

If you unplug and plug usb, sometimes serial connection changes from TTYUSB0 to TTYUSB1 (like below picture) so it is better to connect to device by its id.

Enable virtual-sdcard from scratch so that you could start printing from lcd screen, and it works faster since klipper is directly sending commands not octoprint to klipper and klipper to printer.

You are still not ready to start klipper, next action is compiling: 

Compiling Klipper for Mainboard

If you can not succeed compiling klipper on a phone, you could do it on a linux and then you could copy the "klipper" folder to your phone. If you don't compile it you won't have the necessary dictionaries etc. and you will have problems. In my case it seems like it was working but when i checked "/tmp/klippy.log", i saw errors of missing build.dict  logs. 

You need to compile klipper according to your printer board, which for my case ATMEGA 1284P 16Mhz for Ender3 Pro standart board (not the quiet one) 

cd /home/pi/klipper/

make menuconfig

then you need to "make": 

So if everything up to here is successful, start klipper and check for logs whether it works without any warning logs etc. Below commands clear log file, restart klipper and check it's status and log files: 

pi@localhost:~/klipper$ sudo rm -rf /tmp/*
pi@localhost:~/klipper$ sudo service klipper restart
Restarting klipper: klipperStopping klipper: klipper.
Starting klipper: klipper.
pi@localhost:~/klipper$ sudo service klipper status
pi@localhost:~/klipper$ cat /tmp/klippy.log

Binding Octoprint to Klipper

Before changing the firmware of your board we need to be sure of 2 things: 

• klipper and octoprint services are running (above) 
• Octoprint is connected to klipper 

So you need to bind octoprint to klipper as below: 

Next action is changing firmware of your printer and if klipper & octoprint does not work you will loose time either finding the problem or converting your printer back to Marlin.  

Flashing Firmware to Mainboard

To flash klipper to printer, you need determine the serial connnected port by its id. First determine the id: 

ls /dev/serial/by-id/*

It should report something similar to the following:

/dev/serial/by-id/usb-1a86_USB2.0-Serial-if00-port0

You can then flash klipper to printer. 

make flash FLASH_DEVICE=/dev/serial/by-id/usb-1a86_USB2.0-Serial-if00-port0

After flashing, connect your phone (Which klipper is active), and then restart klipper service. 

Fixing Permissions 

If you try connecting to printer, this time you would face an error like "/tmp/printer permission denied." Because symlinks are sticky in tmp folder and if you install octoprint and klipper with different users, octoprint can not reach it. Here is the enhancement link: https://github.com/KevinOConnor/klipper/issues/1902 

Possible solutions are:

- Remove sticky bit and make tmp folder permissions readable (i used this one) 

ls -ld /tmp/printer
sudo chmod a=rwX /tmp/printer

- Remove symlink protection (it is not possible in this debian version unfortunately) 

Temporary Files 

If temporary files uses too much space, at the end your 4gb image could fill and octoprint/klipper might stop working. Keep an eye on the octoprint main page, under upload file menu you could see the. 

Folders you need to erase are: 

• /home/pi/.octoprint/logs/*
• /tmp/*
• /var/log/*

PYTHON SCRIPT 

 I created a python script  that clears all log files, restarts klipper and then change the permission of "/tmp/printer" links. ("sudo nano /home/pi/printer.py")

import os,time
os.system(r'rm -rf /var/log/*') 
print r'/var/log cleaned' 
os.system(r'rm -rf /tmp/*')
print r'/tmp cleaned'
os.system (r'rm -rf /home/pi/.octoprint/logs/*')
print 'octoprint logs cleaned'
os.system (r'service klipper restart') 
print 'klipper service restarted'
time.sleep(2)
os.system(r'sudo chmod a=rwX /tmp/printer')
print 'klipper tmp-printer chmod changed'

Then add a system button to restart klipper by using "system command editor" plugin.

I also recommend a Tplink smartplug and its octoprint plugin to remotely power on/off your printer (red thunder icon).

Octoprint on Android (Galaxy S3) - Ender 3 (Pro)

I have read "installing octoprint on a smartphone" on reddit and decided to do it. Here is my documentation about how to install Octoprint on an Android-Phone (Galaxy S3) 

For any rom, if you want to connect it to Ender 3, you need "ch341" driver added/activated in the kernel or you need a custom implementation of it (look for octo4a program). You could understand it by connecting the phone with a USB OTG cable to your printer and execute command "ls /dev | grep tty". If  there is "ttyusb" or "ttyacm" , it means that kernel has the driver. If kernel does not have the driver you have two options: 

1. You need to compile a kernel with driver support. Also keep in mind that kernel needs to support "loopback" functionality to host a virtual linux system and accept/direct connections to that virtual linux over its loopback.
2. You can install octo4a, which installs custom a ch34x driver. and you need to mount the serial pipe of the octo4a (you can check that part from: https://github.com/d4rk50ul1/klipper-on-android) 

• Terminal Emulator (you need to give root priviliges)
  

Installing Ubuntu  - "Linux Deploy"

Before installing Ubuntu, be sure to have the serial drivers installed (kernel) on the phone, otherwise you will waste too much time.

1. Install Busybox 

Leave folders as default. 

2. Install LinuxDeploy

Newest Ubuntu that i succeded to install is Debian Jessie, since it depends on the Android kernel version of the phone itself. 

3. Open LinuxDeploy and go to settings and check 

• Lock-wifi
• Wake lock 
• Auto-start
• Track network changes
• Track power changes
• Auto-start delay : 60 seconds is enough 
• Debug : Useful to understand if something goes wrong (like kernel version is old etc.) 

Go to properties menu and and configure below: 

• Distribution: debian jessie
• Architecture: armhf
  
• Username: pi    (octoprint scripts are for raspberry-pi installation, pi user will make our job easier)
• Password: your-password 
  
• Installation type: file  (default) 
• Installation path: $(EXTERNAL_STORAGE)/linux.img  (default) 
• Image Size: 4000 MB
• enable ssh
  
• Init: enabled 
• Mounts: enabled
• Mount points: source: /sdcard  target: /sdcard 

Start installation

To eliminate local network problems, first try to connect to linux over the phone itself. ssh to "localhost"

Change root password with command "sudo passwd root" 

Installing Python & Octoprint

Octoprint needs Python 2.7.9 or newer (Debian Jessie 2.7.9 could be installad). If you have a phone with a newer kernel you could install a later version of Ubuntu/debian and you won't need to upgrade system or venv python.) It is better to install latest python version in a virtual-environment and install octoprint in the same venv.(future octoprint version or klipper might need newer python version)  

1.Change user shell from sh to bash, and close and restart your ssh session. 

sudo usermod --shell /bin/bash pi

2. Upgrade ubuntu and install prerequisites 

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade
sudo apt-get install build-essential checkinstall -y
sudo apt-get install libreadline-gplv2-dev libncursesw5-dev libssl-dev libsqlite3-dev tk-dev libgdbm-dev libc6-dev libbz2-dev -y
sudo apt-get install python-pip python-dev python-setuptools python-virtualenv -y

3. Install python 2.7.17 in virtual-environment

Above packages are needed not to face problems later on (python could be make-install without libz2 etc. but then you might face problems like missing modules....) 

sudo apt-get install wget -y
wget https://www.python.org/ftp/python/2.7.17/Python-2.7.17.tgz
tar xfz Python-2.7.17.tgz
cd Python-2.7.17
sudo ./configure --prefix /usr/local/lib/python2.7.17 --enable-ipv6
sudo make
sudo make install

*if you add  --enable-optimizations to line ./configure   it will add around 30-40 minutes to compiliation but will result in faster python processing. (for galaxy s3 test result was failure)

4. Check python installation 

cd /usr/local/lib/python2.7.17/bin/
./python --version

5. Upgrade PIP (also for virtualenv)

sudo pip install wheel
sudo pip install --upgrade "pip < 21.0" virtualenv virtualenvwrapper --ignore-inst

6.Create and enter into virtual env 

cd /home/pi
mkdir venvs
cd venvs/
virtualenv --python=/usr/local/lib/python2.7.17/bin/python octoprint
source /home/pi/venvs/octoprint/bin/activate

7.Check python and pip version inside virtualenv (python 2.7.17, pip 20.x)

python --version
pip install --upgrade "pip < 21.0" 
pip install --upgrade setuptools
pip --version

8. Install octoprint (inside venv)

pip install wheel
pip install octoprint

8. Start octoprint

/home/pi/venvs/python2717/bin/octoprint serve

Start Octoprint On Debian Boot Automatically

Download necessary script files: 

wget https://github.com/foosel/OctoPrint/raw/master/scripts/octoprint.init && sudo mv octoprint.init /etc/init.d/octoprint
wget https://github.com/foosel/OctoPrint/raw/master/scripts/octoprint.default && sudo mv octoprint.default /etc/default/octoprint
sudo chmod +x /etc/init.d/octoprint
sudo systemctl octoprint enable

Change the daemon path in "/etc/default/octoprint" file with vi/nano (whatever text editor is your favorite) to: 

sudo nano 
DAEMON=/home/pi/venvs/octoprint/bin/octoprint

Screen Off - Sleep Problems

For an always on Linux installation on Android, some battery and cpu optimization settings need to be changed otherwise Linux becomes unreachable when screen is of after a while: 

1. Change wifi settings to "keep wifi always on" 

2. Install Wake-Lock: Select "Screen_DIM_wake_lock" option for phone not to (deep)sleep when the screen is off. 

3. Change Battery Settings: Disable optimization for LinuxDeploy and WakeLock application. 

4. Change minimum cpu frequency: 100Mhz minimum frequency is too low, i changed it to 400Mhz. You could use  SmartPack-Kernel Manager or KernelAuditor. 

Astroprint plugin 

First install missing packages: 

sudo apt-get install libjpeg-dev

Then you could install it Astroprint plugin from octoprint web page.

Restarting Phone Over Octoprint Webpage

Somekev explained it really well in his website, Here it is: https://somekev.com/2019/04/10/adapting-an-s6-for-octoprint/ 

Temporary Files 

If temporary files uses too much space, at the end your 4gb image could fill and octorint might stop working. Keep an eye on the octoprint main page, under upload file menu you could see the. 

Logfiles of octoprint are located at "/home/pi/.octoprint/logs". Linux temp files are under "/tmp".

Problems 

If i restart my phone, after Linux deploy started, i need to unplug and plug the microusb on phone side, then usb is recognized. 

Ender 3 Pro Beginners Guide - Part 2: Printable Upgrades

Printable Upgrades 

One of the best thing about Creality Ender printers is that, it has a huge community and there are many printable upgrades that you could use which increases the quality of your prints. 

Filament Holder 80mm with Bearings

For this part you need to buy 2 bearings. I do think that a filament holder with less friction is a must for quality.  

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3209211

Also i printed the roller part from a remix(not the one above) which is a curved one, which helps oddly shaped rolls run without an issue

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4244293 

Filament Guide 

If you hang your filament on the top of your printer, use a filament guide to guide the filament to extruder with minimum resistance: 

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2917932 

If you have enough space, print side spool mount to the filament holder, so that filament could stay right next to the printer attached to the ground bars. This way filament roll movement would not create vibration. 

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3544593

X Belt Tensioner

Y Axis Belt Tensioner

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3268192 ender3 pro belt tensioner

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3384120/files  not to lose y axis length main body remixed part

Display LCD PCB Cover

LCD PCB is not closed and a cover will help  not to damage it or cause a shortcut. I printed the one below which also allows adding a bipper silencer also

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2858209/files (select the version where there is a hole for beep)

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2943218  (and add the silencer)

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3661665   (slim version)

Display Ribbon Cable Clip 

to attach display ribbon cable to metal bars, you would need clips. IF you also wanted to print a drawer, either find a one that has empty space for ribbon cable clips, or do not use the clips and take the cable below from the drawer. 

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2880021

Power Cable Clip

to tidy power cable at behind, you need deeper clips than the ones for ribbon cable. You could use the below clip:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3638381/ 

Cable Chain for Z Axis

Extruder, Z axis stepper motor cables sometimes hit the print table and can tackle around. So it is a good idea to tidy them with a cable chain. People sometimes use cable chains for both hotend to extruder, table heat cable, and exturder-z axis cables. These chain cables are a bit noisy so i think only printing it for extruder-z axis stepper motors are enough. Below is the picture of my device

Extruder Knob & Metal Extruder Cable Clip 

If you also use metal extruder (which i suggested in part 1 also), below clip helps to attach the power cable of the fans to the extruder. 

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4178305 

Feet Noise Dampeners

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3520264 

For Noise dampening please watch the video below, it is a much more better solution but you need to find a concrete (like..). block to lay under the printer.

Z Axis Spacer

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2959991/remixes adjustable z stepper for  ender3

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4295093 adjustable z stepper remix for ender3 pro

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2925230 non-adjustable fixthick spacer (read comments section for ender3 pro compability)

Z Axis Lead Screw Stabilizer

I was thinking of using Z axis lead screw stabilizer but than in a comment i read that,top of the z-axis is MEANT to be free-floating to IMPROVE print quality and so i do not use it. Here is the video:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3080912 -->you can find mentioned comment in comments section

Fan Duct 

For a better print quality, cooling is really important. If you do not want to upgrade to 5015 fans and use stock fans, bullseye duct is one of the best fan ducts for ender3 pro. If you are willing to upgrade fans petsfang is the newer model.

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2759439 

Read the thing details carefully since there are many files and versions. Below link shows what to print: 

http://www.dpetsel.com/files2print-modular-v2---bullseye.html 

Bullseye youtube channel:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLrSJ-TZuC69z2SXe9VJomdm9E8hRe4-cC 

Installation videos:  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6mwQJicx4E installation video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hz3XM18TeR0&list=PLrSJ-TZuC69z2SXe9VJomdm9E8hRe4-cC&index=2  installation video

 

There are direct-drive modes compatible with bullseye fan also but i think direct drive modification is not for a beginner, you will need a bit more time have experience before going on to direct drive. 

In the video below, you will see that bridging quality becomes better with Bullseye duct

Tool Holder

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2886395

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3577931

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3321292 only ender3 pro

I prefer the above one, since it is not on z axis and not adds any space to existing usage. 

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3026123/ only ender3 

1.75mm Filament Clip

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:42528

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:12516 

Ender 3 Pro Beginners Guide - Part 1: Assembly, Extruder Calibration & Heat Tower Test

Ender 3 pro is listed as one of the best budget printers, so i decided to buy one. I could not find a one place that writes everything about what to do, what to tune so i decided to put everything i learned in one place. Let's start: 

Assembly. 

Since Ender3 is half assembled, you need to assemble the parts first. If you assemble your printer the way it should be (not to tight, not too lose ....), you will have less quality problems with your prints.This is the most important part!!!. I do suggest the youtube video for assembly: 

I advise you to buy at least 3 things with your printer and install them from the first day: 

• TL smoothers for X and Y axis (below video shows how to install it, and how it improves your prints, if you are using the standart creality control board)

• Metal extruder (since original plastic one errodes with time)

• A good quality filament (not a black one, you would use many for printable upgrades, and a colorful one looks good on the printer)
• Capricorn PTFE Tubing (if you will not upgrade to direct-drive immediatly - wtf is direct drive?)

Extruder Calibration 

Before printing anything, i would suggest you to tune your extruder first.

• Over-extruding, under extruding adjust: Does your printer extrudes the exact lenght you tell it to. 
• Flow-rate adjust: Walls of your prints are at right thickness ? 

 It is really easy  to configure, i suggest you to watch the video below: 

https://mattshub.com/blog/2017/04/19/extruder-calibration 

Cura Slicer Settings and Test Print 

You could now start printing. I use Cura slicing software. Slicer settings change your print quality too much and for a starter it is not easy to understand all those configurations. First use standart cura settings and print a calibration cube. And then use one of Cheps Creality compatible profiles and see the result again:

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:1278865 Calibration Cube 

https://www.chepclub.com/cura-profiles.html  Chep's web page - downloadable profiles.

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=chep+profile  Chep's profile related videos 

https://www.youtube.com/user/beginnerelectronics Chep's youtube channel 

Chep's profile uses 6mm retraction, it is for people that uses Ender3 with standart bowden setup. If you upgrade to direct-drive or already enabled linear-advance, you need to change the retraction settings. 

In another part i will try to gather information about slicer settings. But to increase quality and stability, ender 3 needs printable upgrades first. 

Heat Tower Test

Each brand and filament type has different characteristics and you need to find the right temperature. and your thermistor might show the temperature a bit wrong. So print a heat-tower and understand the best temperature. For me it was 210C for PLA. 

https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:2729076 

Cura - go to Extensions, post processing,Modify G-Code

Add Script ChangeAtZ 5.1.1 for each layer to change temperature

Change Height value and Change Extruder 1 Temp to the values below

Height = 1.6

Temp: 235

Height = 11.6

Temp: 230

Height = 21.6

Temp: 225

Height = 31.6

Temp: 220

Height = 41.6

Temp: 215

Height = 51.6

Temp: 210

Height = 61.6

Temp = 205

Height = 71.6

Temp: 200

Height 81.6

Temp: 195

You could watch the heat-tower part of teaching tech video: 

https://youtu.be/3yIebnVjADM?t=266