Anycubic Kobra Neo - Connection issue

[velikibrat]

Hi all, I’m completely new here, I had the same problem as OP, with the same printer (Anycubic Kobra Neo). Of course, the issue was a power-only USB cable. After finding a data cable, the serial-by-id showed up and it was the same as it was in the printer.cfg file (/dev/serial/by-id/usb-1a86_USB_Serial-if00-port0), so no change needed there, except… There was still an error in Mainsale and nothing worked.
Log in “printer_data/logs/klippy.log” was helpful, since it showed me that the setup doesn’t even use my printer.cfg file located in my home folder, but instead another printer.cfg file located in the “~/printer_data/config/” folder.
The log said:

mcu ‘mcu’: Unable to open serial port: [Errno 2] could not open port /dev/serial/by-id/: [Errno 2] No such file or directory: ‘/dev/serial/by-id/’

which is obviously a placeholder, so at the top of the log I found where klippy got it’s configuration from:

Args: [‘/home/luka/klipper/klippy/klippy.py’, ‘/home/luka/printer_data/config/printer.cfg’, ‘-I’, ‘/home/luka/printer_data/comms/klippy.serial’, ‘-l’, ‘/home/luka/printer_data/logs/klippy.log’, ‘-a’, ‘/home/luka/printer_data/comms/klippy.sock’]

A quick copy solved that issue, but then all sorts of config errors started to get reported, since the printer.cfg setup expects all sorts of files in that folder. OK, so I managed to locate different .cfg files and symlinked them to the “printer_data/config/” folder (well, except for the calibration.cfg file, but we’ll get there, I just commented it out for now) and next in line is a series of configuration options that printer.cfg file from online sources doesn’t contain (and mainsail complains about and refuses to start).

So, all in all - yes, this particular printer is basically taken care of in the above mentioned tutorials, there is no need to change motherboards or sell the printer BUT one does need to go through logs and official documentation. It is just hard because, for me, this is my first foray into 3D printing and I have absolutely no idea what all of these configuration options do or mean, I just copy them from another printer.cfg file, I simply use the officially available .cfg file for Kobra Go and hope all will be well.

Just for information, I use RPi3B+, have installed klipper via KIAUH, as well as Mainsail and Moonraker. The firmware was compiled as per @Catnippr 's AND official instructions.

I hope this will be helpful to OP and perhaps anyone else who might stumble upon this problem.

Cheers,
Luka

[Catnippr]

None of that is a Kobra Neo related/specific problem tho.
If you’re a beginner, then yes, of course you have to go thru logs and official documentations if you encounter problems or don’t know how to set up and configure the Klipper installation itself etc.

I have absolutely no idea what all of these configuration options do or mean, I just copy them from another printer.cfg file, I simply use the officially available .cfg file for Kobra Go and hope all will be well.

I can promise you that you’ll run into further issues when you stick to your plan on taking the “officially available” printer.cfg for the Kobra Go.
Not only because you don’t know what certain configuration options do and copying them isn’t the best idea anyway if you don’t know what they mean, but also because the printer.cfg for the Go is different than the Neo in certain settings - and in some cases it’s due to a different hardware that’s being used.

So, again, the mentioned problems you had and the ones that’ll most likely come up soon if you stick to your plan aren’t Kobra Neo related or caused. If you would want to e.g. flash an Elegoo Neptune 3 Plus or an Ender or whatever, then you’d have to do the same steps as with the Kobra Neo.
If a beginner decides to take the step to convert to Klipper, then yes, reading docs is mandatory. But that’s the case as well if you’d e.g. try to configure Marlin.
If you then also decide to e.g. take the more challenging route of setting up a printer.cfg from scratch or from another printer model instead of taking one that’s made for your printer and that’s widely being used already, then it’s your decision, but, again, it’s not a fault of the Kobra Neo then if things become even more difficult.

I really don’t want to sound rude and I know how challenging it can be when you’re new to all of this.
It’s just that I want to make clear that the Kobra Neo isn’t anything “special”, like with special needs one has to take care of.

[velikibrat]

First of all, thank you for the guide, it was after I read it that I decided to try and set up klipper myself. Up until a week ago I never 3D printed a thing (though 3D modelling itself is not alien to me), just so you would understand what “being new” means for me - a total and complete beginner.
Also, I don’t think you are rude and I understand what you’re saying, plus I appreciate any amount of time anyone spends on my behalf. I am fully aware that nobody on the Internet can help in detail to someone who is a complete beginner, the work to be done is on me. So there’s that.
As for the different options that were causing errors with Mainsale, just to explain how these happened, I somehow missed your printer.cfg files, but instead used the file from a two year old guide on reddit by xpeng121.
I will use your files now and try to figure out what calibration.cfg is, where does it come from and what it does. Other bits I have ironed out, but I suppose that will change once I use your file.

[Catnippr]

Aaahh ok, now it makes more sense. Don’t use codeneobee’s printer.cfg for the Neo from there, it’s missing some stuff and it’s not up to date anyway. I’d recommend using my printer.cfg instead, yes.

As for that error about that calibration.cfg: right at the beginning of the printer.cfg you’re using (assuming it’s the one from codeneobee), you see this:

[include mainsail.cfg]
[include gcode.cfg]
[include calibration.cfg]

→ the last entry here, the [include calibration.cfg], is what causes the problem if you don’t have such a file.
When you look at the cfg I’m offering, there I put a # in front of all those [include] entries to ‘deactivate’ them so to say.

Did you install Klipper the way he mentioned it as well, with cloning that specific repo from Steve Gotthart? Because if so, that’s not necessary anymore and I wouldn’t recommend installing it that way…

[velikibrat]

No, I followed official guide in nstalling klipper, using your and xpeng’s guides as references in what I didn’t understand (for instance, the official guide leaves you out in the open regarding communication interface, your guide states that PA3 & PA2 are for Anycubic, that was very helpful). But in the end official build looks for config files in a different folder (which I explained above), so it took me a while to figure it out.
Your printer.cfg doesn’t have calibration.cfg at all, which helped too
The calibration is done now, the plate looks horribly out of level (not too skewed, luckily), so now I’m stuck in finding out how to use the heightmap. It save a profile of some kind, but I have no idea should I try to level it or does the heightmap profile take care of everything (I guess not).

But I am going off topic now, thank you for your support again!

[Catnippr]

The image shows you that along the x axis the bed seems to be tilted massively, and along the Y-axis it seems to be a bit off as well. So you gotta calibrate/tram your printer itself first of all, see the chapter “Calibration” at my infosite.
If you have further questions, feel free to reach out directly - and if you’re on reddit as well, you can reach out there via chat as well, I try to be online there at least once a day (same username as here).
Good luck and happy 3d printing then