I don’t know if anyone is doing a val/ver on the setup procedures but here’s a couple of things I’m dealing with:
I received my J1S yesterday afternoon and opted for the new hardened hotends and the high speed fan kit.
So naturally I wanted to install all the optional parts before turning the machine on for the first time.
In the Wiki there is a procedure for installing the high speed fans and that is very straightforward. While the hotend fan enclosure is removed you can also replace the hotends with the newer hardened versions. What the Wiki and the setup guide does not tell you (since it focusses only on replacing the left side hotend) is that when you try to remove the right side hotend using the same procedures…it won’t come out until you use the Z axis adjustment knob to “unscrew” the hotend before trying to pull down on it. Somebody’s gonna break a right side hotend trying to get that out by following those instructions.
Why does the installation manual tell you to install the PEI glass plate if the first time you turn the machine on you have to take the PEI glass plate off to do the calibration?
If you have installed the new hardened hotends before you’ve turned the machine on for the first time, how are you supposed to update the firmware and PID tune etc. if you can’t skip the setup wizard?
Is the question only the last one? (I seem to recall it does tell you to loosen/tighten that thumb wheel. It’s done for both, just more one than the other.)
As for updating before doing the procedure, I think they’re stuck. It currently shows the wizard first. The answer is, you just do the wizard first, then update, then repeat the wizard. You actually may not need to do the wizard again depending how old the original firmware was. (It was only very old firmware where settings didn’t fully carry over.) But they can’t know ahead of time which one you’ll get, so the advice is usually as above.
The problem is, in order to fix this they need to update the firmware to always check for an update before the first launch wizard. But to do that, they need to update the firmware which you can’t currently do on old units until it finishes the wizard. Catch 22.
You’re totally right and Snapmaker probably ought to change the firmware on newly manufactured units to do a wifi setup and firmware check first. That wouldn’t help any older units sitting in warehouses though. It’s a big oops.
Yes…the instructions in the Wiki specifically say that everything they are referencing is for the left side hotend…and that would be fine if the left side hotend is the only one you were changing. But since the procedure for the right side hotend doesn’t mention the additional necessary step of unthreading the hotend using the Z axis adjustment wheel at all…it’s a problem.
And I get that the "Wizard’ is supposed to make things easier. But what I think they need to do is add a step right after setting up the Wi-Fi to 1) check for a firmware update, and then 2) go to settings to make sure any additional upgrades are accounted for before launching into the Wizard that steps you through all the calibrations.
I did end up having to do a firmware update after I did the setup Wizard, and then I also remembered to do the PID tune on both hotends due to installing the hardened all metal versions.
After doing all of that I did a Benchy and it came out looking pretty good. I was surprised at how much the unit was rocking back and forth while it was printing. It moves around a bit while printing.
The wizard should check for a firmware upgrade first for sure, but it doesn’t seem like that big of a deal that it doesn’t. The settings that are stored during the calibrations are saved in eeprom, so they are still saved even after the firmware update. Does the firmware update force you to go through the wizard all over again? That would be annoying as hell if so, but otherwise, I just don’t see the issue.
As for the PID tune for the new hot ends, it really doesn’t matter if that comes before or after the calibrations. Worst case scenario is that the hot end is less efficient and the temp swings a couple degrees during the calibration print. You probably won’t even notice a difference.
Yeah, after I went back re-looked at the procedures I realized there were separate tabs for the left and the right side hotends…completely missed that on the laptop I was using while setting the machine up.
Now I just need to figure out the best settings for ABS. My PLA prints are perfect but the ABS versions are coming out blobular and horribly misshapen. Like a bad horror movie.
And yes, as mentioned, agree this should be changed in the firmware at first boot. Just pointing out it doesn’t really help anyone getting units already in warehouses due to the catch 22.
For suggested firmware improvements, the direct path would be to email them to support@snapmaker.com. (They then often add these to a list for future releases, but don’t often monitor the community forum.)
