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Klipper Enabled Ender 3

Teddy Warner's GitHub profile picture Teddy Warner| Spring & Summer, 2021 | 10-12 minutes

Due to uncertainty surrounding lab access during the Covid-19 pandemic, I received an Ender 3 3D-printer at the start of my cycle in Fab Academy. During my second week in the course, I built and began to mod this machine as a little side project to the course work. However as the cycle progressed, I quickly ran out of time to keep working on this machine’s mods and moved the machine to my closet, where it sat up until the Klipper firmware piqued my interest. After modding the printer during Fab Academy1, I was running the machine on Marlin linked to Octoprint2, a setup I use on my other machines. This setup worked great with my machine mods, allowing me to print over a network through Octoprint as I would on any of my other Octoprint enabled machines. In this configuration, a Raspberry Pi running Octorpint hosts a local server that .gcode flies can be uploaded to and ran from. The Pi sends this uploaded .gcode to the machine’s mainboard, where the code is processed, and movements/operations are determined.

Klipper Opperation Principal

Klipper on the other hand operates on a different principle. The firmware runs across both the mainboard and the Raspberry Pi, allowing for the same type of hosted server to exist (I used FluiddPi as my servers GUI), but instead of relying on the machines mainboard to compute .gcode, the code parsing is done by the Raspberry Pi - the more powerful computer- leaving the machine mainboard to only worry about stepper movements and operations. This setup uses the given hardware of a setup more optimally, allowing for faster calculations and more precise movements.

After learning about the benefits of Klipper I knew I had to try it out and thus, the Ender 3 modding project was revied and pulled from the closet.

Ender 3 Modding

Before the installation of Klipper, here are all the hardware mods done to the machine. I upgraded the main bored from the original factory board to a SKR Mini E3 V2, and the original factory screen I switched out to a TFT35 Touchscreen. Following that I added a Bltouch for auto bed leveling, and switched the machine from Bowen to direct drive, with this Thingiverse design. I spent some time adding some customization to the machine as well, giving the direct drive system a little nameplate.

Direct drive system with custom nameplate on Ender 3

Finally, I moved all of the electronics of the machine to the rear of the machine using this Thingiverse design. This mod gave the space to add a raspberry pi and a means of power for it in addition to the mainboard, a perfect case for a Klipper-enabled machine.

Electronics enclosure at the rear of the Ender 3 Installed electronics box with Raspberry Pi and mainboard

I used this Thingiverse design to mount a raspberry pi camera to my printer’s x-axis as shown in one of the pictures below. All of these modifications were done with parts printed on my Prusa I3 Mk3S+, and electronics I had laying around, making these printer modifications only take around three days to complete, including the time it took to print the parts.

Raspberry Pi camera mounted on Ender 3's x-axis

Full view of the modified Ender 3 printer

Klipper Installation

As mentioned in the introduction paragraph of this page, I settled on using FluiddPi as the GUI for this Klipper setup. As opposed to a more broadly know GUI like Octoprint, FluiddPi offers some features that work directly with Klipper that make the entire experience pretty seamless. FluiddPi in addition to containing the servers GUI also packages Klipper & Moonraker into the software image, making the install of Klipper super straightforward.

Download the Latest FluiddPi Image

Beginning the installation of Klipper, the first step is to download and flash the latest FluiddPi image (linked above). This Pi image can be flashed as you would with any other Raspberry Pi project - I use balenaEtcher for flashing, its simple 3-step interface makes the process super straightforward. After a successful flash of this image on your Pi’s SD card configure your WiFi information in the fluiddpi-wpa-supplicant.txt located on the flashed SD card (If you’re using wired internet, you can skip this setup). Then, you can install your flashed SD in your Pi and boot.

Next, some basic Pi config. Make sure you are on the same WiFi network you set up your Pi on, and then SSH into your booted Pi at the IP fluiddpi.local with the Pi’s default credentials (Username - pi / Password - raspberry). I use Putty as my SSH client as again, it’s pretty straightforward to use. Once connected to your Pi, run the command …

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sudo raspi-config

to open the configuration GUI. Here you can change your Pi’s credentials (highly recommended), set up your local timezone (to allow for accurate machine ETAs), and change your machine’s hostname (thus changing the URL from the default fluiddpi.local to YOURHOSTNAME.local). After all, changes, reboot your Pi and then confirm all software is up to date with the lines

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sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

Congrats!

You have now successfully set up FluiddPi on your Raspberry Pi, and can now connect to its web server with the URL http://fluiddpi.local ( or if you changed your hostname, with the URL http://YOURHOSTNAME.local).

FluiddPi web server interface for Klipper

The FluiddPi Web Server Interface

Upon connection, the webserver will throw an error with a lack of a printer.cfg file. This file is your machine config file. Notably different from Marlin, Klipper does not require a machine to be specified before the flash but instead looks to this printer.cfg file for machine configuration. One of the benefits of using FluiddPi for Klipper is the ability to alter this printer.cfg file and reboot the firmware right from the server’s GUI. The machine configuration for my Klipper Enabled Ender 3 is covered later on this page under the Klipper Configuration section, but for any other machines, preconfigured printer.cfg files can be found online.

Next up, building Klipper to for machines mainboard. SSH back into your Raspberry Pi (making sure to change your IP to match your altered hostname if you changed it) and run the commands …

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cd ~/klipper/
make menuconfig

to open the mainboard configuration GUI. Work through this interface with your mainboards information before running the command …

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make

to build your set configurations. Now, connect your Pi and machine mainboard via USB and determine the connected serial port with the line

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ls /dev/serial/by-id/*

the report this line will yield provides the serial port that connects your mainboard to your Pi, take note of this.

Now, to begin the flashing, run the lines…

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sudo service klipper stop
make flash FLASH_DEVICE=YOUR-SERIAL-PORT-INFORMATION-HERE
sudo service klipper start

making sure to paste in the reported serial port where it says YOUR-SERIAL-PORT-INFORMATION-HERE. This will flash the built Klipper instance to your machine’s mainboard, and then begin communication between the two parallel boards.

Good Work!

Klipper is now installed.

Klipper Configuration

As mentioned prior, unlike the Marlin firmware, Klipper is not compiled for a specific machine. Instead, the firmware looks to a machine configuration file - printer.cfg. This file can be altered without the reflashing of the firmware, just a simple reboot, thus making machine tinkering and hardware swapping significantly simpler. This printer.cfg file can be altered in the FluiddPi web server interface, simplifying the configuration process even more.

FluiddPi configuration menu for printer.cfg file

FluiddPi's Configuration Menu in Web Server Interface

As shown above, your printer.cfg file can be accessed in FluiddPi’s configuration menu. Due to Klipper’s ability to experiment with your machine config, my printer’s configuration is always subject to change, but included below is the latest machine config running on my Klipper Enabled Ender 3.

printer.cfg

printer.cfg
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# See docs/Config_Reference.md for a description of parameters.

[virtual_sdcard]
path: ~/gcode_files

[display_status]

[pause_resume]

[stepper_x]
step_pin: PB13
dir_pin: !PB12
enable_pin: !PB14
microsteps: 16
rotation_distance: 40
endstop_pin: ^PC0
position_endstop: 0
position_max: 235
homing_speed: 50

[tmc2209 stepper_x]
uart_pin: PC11
tx_pin: PC10
uart_address: 0
run_current: 0.580
hold_current: 0.500
stealthchop_threshold: 999999

[stepper_y]
step_pin: PB10
dir_pin: !PB2
enable_pin: !PB11
microsteps: 16
rotation_distance: 40
endstop_pin: ^PC1
position_endstop: 0
position_max: 235
homing_speed: 50

[tmc2209 stepper_y]
uart_pin: PC11
tx_pin: PC10
uart_address: 2
run_current: 0.580
hold_current: 0.500
stealthchop_threshold: 999999

[stepper_z]
step_pin: PB0
dir_pin: PC5
enable_pin: !PB1
microsteps: 16
rotation_distance: 8
endstop_pin: probe:z_virtual_endstop
#position_endstop: 0.0
position_min: -5
position_max: 250

[tmc2209 stepper_z]
uart_pin: PC11
tx_pin: PC10
uart_address: 1
run_current: 0.580
hold_current: 0.500
stealthchop_threshold: 999999

[extruder]
step_pin: PB3
dir_pin: !PB4
enable_pin: !PD2
microsteps: 16
rotation_distance: 7.61
pressure_advance = 0.235
nozzle_diameter: 0.400
filament_diameter: 1.750
heater_pin: PC8
sensor_type: EPCOS 100K B57560G104F
sensor_pin: PA0
#control: pid
#pid_Kp: 21.527
#pid_Ki: 1.063
#pid_Kd: 108.982
min_temp: 0
max_temp: 250

[tmc2209 extruder]
uart_pin: PC11
tx_pin: PC10
uart_address: 3
run_current: 0.650
hold_current: 0.500
stealthchop_threshold: 999999

[heater_bed]
heater_pin: PC9
sensor_type: ATC Semitec 104GT-2
sensor_pin: PC3
#control: pid
#pid_Kp: 54.027
#pid_Ki: 0.770
#pid_Kd: 948.182
min_temp: 0
max_temp: 130

[heater_fan nozzle_cooling_fan]
pin: PC7

[fan]
pin: PC6

[mcu]
serial: /dev/serial/by-id/usb-Klipper_stm32f103xe_36FFDB05424E313841781457-if00

[printer]
kinematics: cartesian
max_velocity: 300
max_accel: 3000
max_z_velocity: 5
max_z_accel: 100

[static_digital_output usb_pullup_enable]
pins: !PA14

[board_pins]
aliases:
    # EXP1 header
    EXP1_1=PB5,  EXP1_3=PA9,   EXP1_5=PA10, EXP1_7=PB8,  EXP1_9=<GND>,
    EXP1_2=PA15, EXP1_4=<RST>, EXP1_6=PB9,  EXP1_8=PB15, EXP1_10=<5V>

[display]
lcd_type: st7920
cs_pin: EXP1_7
sclk_pin: EXP1_6
sid_pin: EXP1_8
encoder_pins: ^EXP1_5, ^EXP1_3
click_pin: ^!EXP1_2

[bltouch]
sensor_pin: ^PC2
control_pin: PA1
x_offset: 32
y_offset: -2
#z_offset = 3.050

[safe_z_home]
home_xy_position: 85.5,119.5
speed: 75
z_hop: 10                 
z_hop_speed: 5

[bed_mesh]
speed: 120
horizontal_move_z: 5
mesh_min: 32,44
mesh_max: 202, 220
probe_count: 3,3

[screws_tilt_adjust]
screw1: 0,45
screw1_name: front left screw
screw2: 164,45
screw2_name: front right screw
screw3: 164,220
screw3_name: rear right screw
screw4: 0,220
screw4_name: rear left screw
horizontal_move_z: 10.
speed: 50.
screw_thread: CW-M4

[gcode_macro PAUSE]
description: Pause the actual running print
rename_existing: PAUSE_BASE
# change this if you need more or less extrusion
variable_extrude: 1.0
gcode:
  ##### read E from pause macro #####
  {% set E = printer["gcode_macro PAUSE"].extrude|float %}
  ##### set park positon for x and y #####
  # default is your max posion from your printer.cfg
  {% set x_park = printer.toolhead.axis_maximum.x|float - 5.0 %}
  {% set y_park = printer.toolhead.axis_maximum.y|float - 5.0 %}
  ##### calculate save lift position #####
  {% set max_z = printer.toolhead.axis_maximum.z|float %}
  {% set act_z = printer.toolhead.position.z|float %}
  {% if act_z < (max_z - 2.0) %}
      {% set z_safe = 2.0 %}
  {% else %}
      {% set z_safe = max_z - act_z %}
  {% endif %}
  ##### end of definitions #####
  PAUSE_BASE
  G91
  {% if printer.extruder.can_extrude|lower == 'true' %}
    G1 E-{E} F2100
  {% else %}
    {action_respond_info("Extruder not hot enough")}
  {% endif %}
  {% if "xyz" in printer.toolhead.homed_axes %}
    G1 Z{z_safe} F900
    G90
    G1 X{x_park} Y{y_park} F6000
  {% else %}
    {action_respond_info("Printer not homed")}
  {% endif %} 

[gcode_macro RESUME]
description: Resume the actual running print
rename_existing: RESUME_BASE
gcode:
  ##### read E from pause macro #####
  {% set E = printer["gcode_macro PAUSE"].extrude|float %}
  #### get VELOCITY parameter if specified ####
  {% if 'VELOCITY' in params|upper %}
    {% set get_params = ('VELOCITY=' + params.VELOCITY)  %}
  {%else %}
    {% set get_params = "" %}
  {% endif %}
  ##### end of definitions #####
  {% if printer.extruder.can_extrude|lower == 'true' %}
    G91
    G1 E{E} F2100
  {% else %}
    {action_respond_info("Extruder not hot enough")}
  {% endif %}  
  RESUME_BASE {get_params}

[gcode_macro CANCEL_PRINT]
description: Cancel the actual running print
rename_existing: CANCEL_PRINT_BASE
gcode:
  TURN_OFF_HEATERS
  CANCEL_PRINT_BASE

[gcode_macro START_PRINT]
gcode:
    {% set BED_TEMP = params.BED_TEMP|default(60)|float %}
    {% set EXTRUDER_TEMP = params.EXTRUDER_TEMP|default(190)|float %}
    # Start bed heating
    M140 S{BED_TEMP}
    # Use absolute coordinates
    G90
    # Reset the G-Code Z offset (adjust Z offset if needed)
    SET_GCODE_OFFSET Z=0.395
    # Home the printer
    G28
    # Move the nozzle
    G1 Z10 F3000
    G0 X10 Y0
    # Wait for bed to reach temperature
    M190 S{BED_TEMP}
    # Set and wait for nozzle to reach temperature
    M109 S{EXTRUDER_TEMP}

    G92 E0 ; reset extruder G1 Z1.0 F3000 ; move z up little to prevent scratching of surface
    G1 X0.1 Y20 Z0.395 F5000.0 ; move to start-line position
    G1 X0.1 Y200.0 Z0.395 F1500.0 E15 ; draw 1st line
    G1 X0.4 Y200.0 Z0.395 F5000.0 ; move to side a little
    G1 X0.4 Y20 Z0.395 F1500.0 E30 ; draw 2nd line
    G92 E0 ; reset extruder

[gcode_macro END_PRINT]
gcode:
    # Turn off bed, extruder, and fan
    M140 S0
    M104 S0
    M106 S0
    # Move nozzle away from print while retracting
    G91
    G1 X-2 Y-2 E-3 F300
    # Raise nozzle by 15mm
    G1 Z15 F3000
    # Present Print
    G90
    G1 X0 Y190 F6000
    G90
    # Disable steppers
    M84

[gcode_macro M600]
gcode:
    {% set X = params.X|default(50)|float %}
    {% set Y = params.Y|default(0)|float %}
    {% set Z = params.Z|default(10)|float %}
    SAVE_GCODE_STATE NAME=M600_state
    PAUSE
    G91
    G1 E-.8 F2700
    G1 Z{Z}
    G90
    G1 X{X} Y{Y} F3000
    G91
    G1 E-50 F1000
    RESTORE_GCODE_STATE NAME=M600_state

#*# <---------------------- SAVE_CONFIG ---------------------->
#*# DO NOT EDIT THIS BLOCK OR BELOW. The contents are auto-generated.
#*#
#*# [bed_mesh default]
#*# version = 1
#*# points =
#*#     -0.160000, -0.305000, -0.365000
#*#     0.107500, -0.015000, -0.337500
#*#     0.097500, -0.020000, -0.162500
#*# tension = 0.2
#*# min_x = 32.0
#*# algo = lagrange
#*# y_count = 3
#*# mesh_y_pps = 2
#*# min_y = 44.0
#*# x_count = 3
#*# max_y = 220.0
#*# mesh_x_pps = 2
#*# max_x = 202.0
#*#
#*# [heater_bed]
#*# control = pid
#*# pid_kp = 63.826
#*# pid_ki = 1.462
#*# pid_kd = 696.505
#*#
#*# [extruder]
#*# control = pid
#*# pid_kp = 25.693
#*# pid_ki = 1.338
#*# pid_kd = 123.326
#*#
#*# [bltouch]
#*# z_offset = 2.900

Slicer Configuration

Check out my Klipper Enabled Ender 3 machine profile page, linked below, for information regarding the slicer setup & config, as well as my profile download.

Klipper Enabled Ender 3 Profile

  1. http://fabacademy.org/2021/labs/charlotte/students/theodore-warner/Assignments/week02/ ↩

  2. https://teddywarner.org/Projects/Octoprint/ ↩

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