How to run it
Ender 3 Pro converted to a plotter
- Tape the paper down where the preview shows it. With Centre on the bed that is the middle of the bed; measure from the bed's front-left corner if you set it by hand.
- Measure the pen offset once. Home the printer, then note how far the pen tip is from where the nozzle would be (to the right and towards the back are positive). Enter it under Pen offset. Until you do, use Start at the paper's front-left corner instead.
- Set the pen height. Lower Z until the pen tip just touches the paper (from the screen, Prepare > Move axis). Do not home Z with the pen fitted; the program takes this height as Z0 with
G92 Z0. - Do a dry run. Tick Dry run under Pen and print the file once. The pen stays up and traces the drawing in the air, so you can see it stays on the paper.
- Plot. Untick Dry run, download again and print. Between layers the printer pauses (
M0) so you can swap pens; click the knob to carry on, or sendM108from your host software.
Generic GRBL plotter
- Set the pen up and pen down commands to whatever your firmware uses for the servo (often
M3 S…andM5) and give the servo a delay of 150 to 300 ms. - Jog the pen over the paper's front-left corner and start the file.
G92 X0 Y0makes that spot zero. If your machine homes and you know where the paper is, pick Home first instead.
Notes
- The top of the drawing faces the back of the machine, so it reads the right way up from the front.
- Scale the page to the paper keeps the margins burin put in the file. Fit the lines ignores the page and fills the paper up to your margin.
- Click a layer's name to pick it out in the preview; the other layers turn grey.
- Stock Ender firmware limits Z to 5 mm/s. Every lift costs about half a second, so a drawing with thousands of short strokes takes a while. A smaller lift (1 to 1.5 mm) helps.
- Text in an SVG has to be converted to paths first. burin's files are already paths.
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