Disclaimer: This page is still under construction, I'm implementing content I will found legit to make a Pure straightforward Klipper/Mainsail setup, this is exactly the way I'm making my machines. It is not a complete guide, it is here to guide you for the main setup. You must build the printer cfg according the pinout layout and your specific hardware. you must be sure that the cables are correctly set to be fonctionnal too, this guid is not a wiring guide.
These instructions assume the software will run on a Raspberry Pi computer. It is recommended that a Raspberry Pi 2 (or later) be used as the host machine. RPi 4 and 5 are recommended to achieve good performance. CM4 modules with EMMC >=16Go is a good option for specific MCU boards too. This page is dedicated to a full Klipper Mainsail installation from the start, as a pure instalation. A KIAUH installation is possible too, I'm making this page as I'm making my own machines
Start by downloading Rasberry Pi image (here), Then follow the steps
By clicking we go to Mainsail OS, a package with Klipper and Mainsail already pre-installed. We can follow this route:
"Enable SSH" and then click "Save", there are other functions that can be set in this interface, please modify them according to your needs.
Since we have selected the most recent version of Mainsail OS, we can select the SD card and configure the wifi. For this we have these options:
It is important to choose a quality and fast micro SD card, since a slow card can hinder the performance of the device.
Wait for the process to complete.
Use PUTTY to connect you controller, I use Advanced IP scanner to check the IP adress
To compile the micro-controller code, start by running these commands on the Raspberry Pi:
cd ~/klipper/
make menuconfig
Follow you motherboard manual to get the correct settings to apply
exemple
Once done you can quit
The comments at the top of the printer configuration file should describe the settings that need to be set during "make menuconfig". Open the file in a web browser or text editor and look for these instructions near the top of the file. Once the appropriate "menuconfig" settings have been configured, press "Q" to exit, and then "Y" to save. Then run:
make
After the make command is executed, the klipper.bin firmware we need will be generated in the device's home/pi/klipper/out folder. You can download it directly to your computer with WINSCP
According to you board model (here BTT), Rename klipper.bin to "firmware.bin", copy it to the root directory of the SD card, insert the SD card into the MCU SD card slot, press the reset button or power on again, and the firmware will be automatically updated.
After the update is complete, the "firmware.bin" in the SD card will be renamed to "FIRMWARE.CUR".
In PUTTY, enter
ls /dev/serial/by-id/*
It should report something similar to the following:
It's common for each printer to have its own unique serial port name. This unique name will be used when flashing the micro-controller. It's possible there may be multiple lines in the above output - if so, choose the line corresponding to the micro-controller. Copy this ID for later
If nothing is shown, please check the cable connection between the PI and the main MCU board. Please check the compile settings are correct (sometime STM32 chips can be mistaken), please always confirm the "firmware.bin" is transformed to "firmware.cur" to confirm a successful flash.
You can now Access the WEBUI of the machine via any Browser. The machine will report ERRORS, that is normal, we dont have any cfg installed.
We will make the updates to be as fresh as we can.
Check the Config Tab and make the according update if available. I suggest before doing anything, UPDATE ALL and/or install all the things you need (Telegram bot etc)
AT THIS POINT, I STRONGLY SUGGEST TO NEVER DO ANY UPDATE TO KEEP A WORKING MACHINE FONCTIONNAL Update can wreck you system and take time to solve and remake. If a machine works fine, DON'T DO ANY UPDATES Update are relevent if a major add on or support is added for new hardware or new fonctionnality, please consider the balance between benefits and risks of such an thing.
In many case scenarios, the RPi will be used as a secondary MCU (GPIO pins, etc). It is a good idea to flash it as a secondary MCU if you want to ad Fans, Servo, custom modules, relays...
Open a PUTTY instance to install the RC script:
cd ~/klipper/
sudo cp ./scripts/klipper-mcu.service /etc/systemd/system/
sudo systemctl enable klipper-mcu.service
Then we build the MCU code
cd ~/klipper/
make menuconfig
select "linux process", quit the menu Then we flash it
sudo service klipper stop
make flash
sudo service klipper start
If klippy.log reports a "Permission denied" error when attempting to connect to /tmp/klipper_host_mcu then you need to add your user to the tty group. The following command will add the "pi" user to the tty group:
sudo usermod -a -G tty pi
Optionnally you can enable SPI and GPIOCHIP
Make sure the Linux SPI driver is enabled by running
sudo raspi-config
and enabling SPI under the "Interfacing options" menu.
For GPIO tools:
sudo apt-get install gpiod
gpiodetect
gpioinfo
To call a PIN as a fonction, by exemple a CPAP PWM signal modulation, you need to adress the FAN pin as
Meaning you will use the pin on the GPIOpin 20 here. To check GPIO pin availability, run the upper commands (gpiodetect, gpioinfo)
The Printer.cfg is the config file containing all the settings linked to the machine You must build you own depending you MCU PIN layout, Machine architecture, and custom hardware, Here a file used in the last VUCLAIN 600 v1.3 In this file must be mentionned the ID of the MCU(s) identified previously via the command
I personnaly don't like to make too much INCLUDES, calling different CFGs. RatOS by exemple use an insanely high count of that, making the adjustement and the cfg readings quite difficult and hard to remember in my opinion. As RatOS is meant for versatility it is understandable, but here we are making a quite straightforward config, sometime keeping it simple is the way. I prefer using a complete printer.cfg, and if I need to, includes some specific auxilliary CFGs, like a macros.cfg (only for MACROS), a Toolhead.cfg (for CanBus toolheads) and eventually some exotic hardware like Euclid probes settings
ls /dev/serial/by-id/*
Like this
To add the RPi MCU previously prepare, you must include
TEST_RESONANCES AXIS=1,1 OUTPUT=raw_data
TEST_RESONANCES AXIS=1,-1 OUTPUT=raw_data
Then run this line in PUTTY the instance:
~/klipper/scripts/graph_accelerometer.py -c /tmp/raw_data_axis*.csv -o /tmp/resonances.png
Make sure your ADXL based module is configured correctly The way this one is attached to the toolhead will matter a lot, a loosy fixation a placment will result a bad shaping The best place is in the nozzle (the BTT ADXL V2 is the best option IMO). You will use it only on this occasion and then removed it after use
Keep in mind that getting a not perfect shaper is not the end of the world, it is here to counterbalance thos issues. Only the print result count at the end of the day
First check the acceleromete fonction nwith ACCELEROMETER_QUERY in the printer CLI
you should get something like this
Recv: // adxl345 values (x, y, z): 470.719200, 941.438400, 9728.196800
Then run
TEST_RESONANCES AXIS=X
TEST_RESONANCES AXIS=Y
and finally those lines in the Putty instance
~/klipper/scripts/calibrate_shaper.py /tmp/resonances_x_*.csv -o /tmp/shaper_calibrate_x.png
~/klipper/scripts/calibrate_shaper.py /tmp/resonances_y_*.csv -o /tmp/shaper_calibrate_y.png
you can now grab the PNGs of the shaper and make you analysis