Bed calibration tips

I use the Repetier firmware (to avoid XYZ's calibration routine and bogus stored offset) so I just home all the axis, warm up the extruder and bed, then use a .03mm feeler gauge to level the bed.

I keep the Z-offset at 0 in KISSlicer and Slic3r because .03mm is about the thickness of the glue stick/ABS juice.

At the very least you would need to use Repetier-Host or Pronterface for xfering the .gcode file to the printer but at that point you could just "print file" function from the LCD. There are a lot of options that using RH gives however, ones like you mentioned above controlling extruder and bed temp independently at any time. I generally heat the bed to 50C when I apply the glue stick, that seems to make the glue more even on the bed.

As far as XYZWare goes, most of the simplicity comes from just not having any options. While Slic3r running in simple mode is only a little more complex but the options it gives more than make up for the added learning curve.

joshj thanks so much, thats all the confidence I need to go through with it. I was just worried because I havent seen a post about how to simply revert the firmware back to xyz firmware. (probably because no one wants to go back). The only thing is, I have an arduino, but i havent played around with it yet, I dont know if its the right model for the job, and Im a little to busy to try to figure the whole thing out right now. If it is as simple as copy and paste, i think Ill be ok.

thanks a lot

Install arduino IDE1.5. bla bla

Use the latest version that is beta and specifies drivers for the due

go to the arduino folder in windows explorer in the program files directory probably and search bossac  copy this file to c: to make this easier.

put your davinici firmware in c:

open command prompt

bossac -p com19 -R -e -w -v -b 3DP01_20140310_FW_V1.1.G_RELEASE.bin

run that command line after erasing the flash on the printer using the 2 jumper pins.

replace the com19 with your com port and the 3DP01_20140310_FW_V1.1.G_RELEASE.bin with the name of the firmware you want to use.

I believe JoshJ is referring to the reset jumper on the Da Vinci motherboard (in back of the Da Vinci).