Questions about Anet A8 controller and Marlin

I have an Anet A8 and I am tired of Octoprint telling me about its fire-danger firmware AND I am putting an E3Dv6 and geared extruder on it, and the old F/W must go for a couple of reasons.
So.
I have pulled over the latest Marlin (1.1.8) and am using the A8 configuration files. But I have some questions before I replace the F/W in the controller.

1) Will the default F/W config do something odd/bad/destructive if I don't have any bed leveling sensor on my printer?

2) Someone had a blog post that said that this board has digipots, does the A8 board really have digipots?

3) Do the Marlin Anet A8 configuration files deal with the X home being off the actual build plate like the Anet A8 firmware does?

I really want to change out this clunky firmware, but it works well enough that I don't want to make the printer unusable by installing the Marlin version without putting in tweaks that really need put in. I started this thread over in the firmware forums, but it isn't getting any traction there, so I am moving to this forum which is far more lively. Hopefully I don't offend anyone by doing that.

Thanks,
DLC

I don't know about the digipots, but everything else is handled in Configuration.h and configuration_adv.h. Just make sure that you don't have a probe option enabled if you don't have a probe on the machine. You can also set your home position in the configuration.h file.

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Pheneeny
I don't know about the digipots, but everything else is handled in Configuration.h and configuration_adv.h. Just make sure that you don't have a probe option enabled if you don't have a probe on the machine. You can also set your home position in the configuration.h file.

I get that. I was mostly worried about the z-probe. I don't use them, I prefer to manually level. I am looking through the Configuration.h file, but not finding anything that explicitly turns off the Z probe. The way it looks to me is that as long as I don't use G29, I don't have to worry about having a probe installed. I have a design in mind for "someday" that uses a pin, magnet and Hall-effect sensor to create a z probe that is unaffected by any external element. Very little contact force, consistent trigger height, zero mechanical wear issues, etc. "Someday", indeed...

Thanks,
DLC

As far as digipots go, I'm somewhat skeptical. All of the listings I've seen for this board have visible potentiometers on the bed that you adjust with a screwdriver. I don't see why those would be there if it had digipots. That being said, I did a quick google and found a page mentioning that the board has gone through several iterations which have removed these screwdriver pots from the board. Whether this means the motor current is hard wired or the newer boards have digipots I don't know, best to take a look at the board you have on your printer and see. I'd be very interested to get my hands on one of these if it does indeed have digipots considering that probably makes it the cheapest board with digipots by a decent margin.

(results of aforementioned googling)
[3dprint.wiki]
[3daddict.com]

As for the z probe, I think its disabled by default in the config file and its something you need to turn on. I could be wrong on this. But you're right, you shouldn't need to worry about it regardless unless you tell your printer to home with a z probe. I'd keep an eye on it when you home it for the first time and keep a hand on the power cord in case your slicer/the firmware has some blocks of gcode for start up or pre print that try to use a z probe.

Ok then.
I got my E3Dv6 and Itty bitty belted extgruder combo working with the A8 controller using Marlin 1.1.8! It is currently printing a quickie Benchy, or Benchy light, or whatever it is called using Hatchbox wood filament (a very finicky filament). Only the usual stepper, display and Z-height fiddles were needed. In contrast to the appearance of what looks like a much bulkier extruder, I think that this combo is actually may weigh a bit more than half the stock carriage.

But,
The X and Y axis are off by about 20mm each. The E3D is a bit further forward and to the right of what the stock A8 head was. I looked through the Marlin code and could not find a way to tell the firmware to offset the head location, and I really looked. So, it appears that my search foo is not as good as I thought it would be. I use Simplify3D for my slicer/printer and it has X, Y and Z gcode offsets that can be applied, so all is not lost! I just can't use CURA (as far as I know) to print if I need to use a large portion of the print surface.

When the unit "homes" it goes to -33,-10. I do not find these numbers in the source code so it must be in the EEPROM. I'll have to blow that away and change it. As soon as I find those gcode commands.

**edit
I found it in the "travel limits" section of configuration.h. Now all is probably good.
**

DLC

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/20/2018 04:10PM by dlc60.

That's a cool looking setup. Do you have a source for the files? The carriage looks like my design but I've never seen the belted extruder before.

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Pheneeny
That's a cool looking setup. Do you have a source for the files? The carriage looks like my design but I've never seen the belted extruder before.

The computer I printed it from is in storage while the basement is being finished and I have searched and searched for the creator but been unable to find him/her. What is you your design like? Maybe it is yours! The extruder is the Itty Bitty Belted Extruder by Clout42 - I have built a few of these and even mixed a couple of Bowden versions. Yeah, I like it too.

DLC

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dlc60

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Pheneeny
That's a cool looking setup. Do you have a source for the files? The carriage looks like my design but I've never seen the belted extruder before.

The computer I printed it from is in storage while the basement is being finished and I have searched and searched for the creator but been unable to find him/her. What is you your design like? Maybe it is yours! The extruder is the Itty Bitty Belted Extruder by Clout42 - I have built a few of these and even mixed a couple of Bowden versions. Yeah, I like it too.

DLC

This is mine: [www.thingiverse.com]

Looks like a remix of mine to mount that sweet extruder.

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Pheneeny

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dlc60

Quote
Pheneeny
That's a cool looking setup. Do you have a source for the files? The carriage looks like my design but I've never seen the belted extruder before.

The computer I printed it from is in storage while the basement is being finished and I have searched and searched for the creator but been unable to find him/her. What is you your design like? Maybe it is yours! The extruder is the Itty Bitty Belted Extruder by Clout42 - I have built a few of these and even mixed a couple of Bowden versions. Yeah, I like it too.

DLC

This is mine: [www.thingiverse.com]

Looks like a remix of mine to mount that sweet extruder.

That is it! I didn't even remix it, I made mine from PETG and just drilled two holes for the M4 screws. What did you use for the part cooler? I found that the one made for the stock head doesn't mate with the E3Dv6 that I have. Thanks for the tip!

DLC

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dlc60

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Pheneeny

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dlc60

Quote
Pheneeny
That's a cool looking setup. Do you have a source for the files? The carriage looks like my design but I've never seen the belted extruder before.

The computer I printed it from is in storage while the basement is being finished and I have searched and searched for the creator but been unable to find him/her. What is you your design like? Maybe it is yours! The extruder is the Itty Bitty Belted Extruder by Clout42 - I have built a few of these and even mixed a couple of Bowden versions. Yeah, I like it too.

DLC

This is mine: [www.thingiverse.com]

Looks like a remix of mine to mount that sweet extruder.

That is it! I didn't even remix it, I made mine from PETG and just drilled two holes for the M4 screws. What did you use for the part cooler? I found that the one made for the stock head doesn't mate with the E3Dv6 that I have. Thanks for the tip!

DLC

I used this one and it worked well. [www.thingiverse.com]