Hi! I have a brand new Ultimaker, and I'm trying to get the first print to work. I'm stalled out trying to get the stepper motor that drives the extruder to work correctly. I expect there is a software/firmware problem, but don't know how to fully diagnose.
What I know:
I can get the motor to turn from the 0025-beta1 version of ReplicatorG if it is below temp and the software puts up the error dialog asking me if I want to turn the motor anyway. (I had the acorn nut loosened so the wooden gear wasn't connected to the drive gear on the motor.) Once it's at temp and I don't get the error dialog the motor won't turn from the software. At all. Ever. Not in the same conditions, not when I try to start a print, not at all.
I have a Macbook Air running 10.7.4.
I can drive all the X,Y,Z motors just fine from ReplicatorG 0025-beta1. I installed the FTDI drivers even though I probably don't need them, because I've been trying for about 6 hours to solve this problem now and have tried all sorts of things.
I can't get ReplicatorG-0035-rc1 to recognize the printer at all. It will report a successful firmware upgrade, but in fact appears to corrupt it. If I downgrade to 0025-beta1 I have to reinstall the firmware to get it to connect to the printer.
The 2560 firmware build 1 (old 5D release) seems to be the only one that will work on my machine at all.
I can hand advance the PLA when the heater is at temp, so I know it's possible. The PLA seems to move smoothly. And the PLA tension shouldn't be relevant at this point since the motor won't turn even with the wooden gear disconnected, or with it connected and no tension on the PLA.
(I have mucked with the Java install on this computer while playing with Processing libraries, so that's a possible area of concern. I don't think it's related, just stating for completeness since the documentation suggests a possible dependency. I installed the latest Oracle released version of Java, but the computer is configured to run the standard Mac Java.)
Things I could do, but have not:
I haven't tried Cura or Repetier host or any other packages; I was assuming the Ultimaker build of ReplicatorG would be the best chance for success.
I haven't tried driving from a different computer. Notably, I don't have easy access to a linux or windows box, but I can hit up friends if needed for debugging purposes. Ultimately it needs to work from a Mac though- I prefer to only maintain a single OS in my home.
Also I find that Marlin/Print Run to be better at running the ultimaker.
If your 100% sure its not the software, then check your step motor drivers on the PCB, Try swapping out the E axis with the X, Y or Z that's working. Or before you do that you can try just swapping their wiring.
I had a bad driver board once.
Last thought might be heat issue on the driver board, there is a little pot on there that you can turn to adjust the current to the motor. Just be careful don't turn it more then 1/4 revolution or so.
On Tuesday, August 7, 2012 10:41:56 PM UTC-7, Jennigma wrote:
> Hi! I have a brand new Ultimaker, and I'm trying to get the first print to > work. I'm stalled out trying to get the stepper motor that drives the > extruder to work correctly. I expect there is a software/firmware problem, > but don't know how to fully diagnose.
> What I know:
> I can get the motor to turn from the 0025-beta1 version of ReplicatorG if > it is below temp and the software puts up the error dialog asking me if I > want to turn the motor anyway. (I had the acorn nut loosened so the wooden > gear wasn't connected to the drive gear on the motor.) Once it's at temp > and I don't get the error dialog the motor won't turn from the software. At > all. Ever. Not in the same conditions, not when I try to start a print, not > at all.
> I have a Macbook Air running 10.7.4.
> I can drive all the X,Y,Z motors just fine from ReplicatorG 0025-beta1. I > installed the FTDI drivers even though I probably don't need them, because > I've been trying for about 6 hours to solve this problem now and have tried > all sorts of things.
> I can't get ReplicatorG-0035-rc1 to recognize the printer at all. It will > report a successful firmware upgrade, but in fact appears to corrupt it. If > I downgrade to 0025-beta1 I have to reinstall the firmware to get it to > connect to the printer.
> The 2560 firmware build 1 (old 5D release) seems to be the only one that > will work on my machine at all.
> I can hand advance the PLA when the heater is at temp, so I know it's > possible. The PLA seems to move smoothly. And the PLA tension shouldn't be > relevant at this point since the motor won't turn even with the wooden gear > disconnected, or with it connected and no tension on the PLA.
> (I have mucked with the Java install on this computer while playing with > Processing libraries, so that's a possible area of concern. I don't think > it's related, just stating for completeness since the documentation > suggests a possible dependency. I installed the latest Oracle released > version of Java, but the computer is configured to run the standard Mac > Java.)
> Things I could do, but have not:
> I haven't tried Cura or Repetier host or any other packages; I was > assuming the Ultimaker build of ReplicatorG would be the best chance for > success.
> I haven't tried driving from a different computer. Notably, I don't have > easy access to a linux or windows box, but I can hit up friends if needed > for debugging purposes. Ultimately it needs to work from a Mac though- I > prefer to only maintain a single OS in my home.
> Also I find that Marlin/Print Run to be better at running the ultimaker.
> If your 100% sure its not the software, then check your step motor drivers > on the PCB, Try swapping out the E axis with the X, Y or Z that's > working. Or before you do that you can try just swapping their wiring.
> I had a bad driver board once.
> Last thought might be heat issue on the driver board, there is a little > pot on there that you can turn to adjust the current to the motor. Just be > careful don't turn it more then 1/4 revolution or so.
> Good luck ! > Brian
> On Tuesday, August 7, 2012 10:41:56 PM UTC-7, Jennigma wrote:
>> Hi! I have a brand new Ultimaker, and I'm trying to get the first print >> to work. I'm stalled out trying to get the stepper motor that drives the >> extruder to work correctly. I expect there is a software/firmware problem, >> but don't know how to fully diagnose.
>> What I know:
>> I can get the motor to turn from the 0025-beta1 version of ReplicatorG if >> it is below temp and the software puts up the error dialog asking me if I >> want to turn the motor anyway. (I had the acorn nut loosened so the wooden >> gear wasn't connected to the drive gear on the motor.) Once it's at temp >> and I don't get the error dialog the motor won't turn from the software. At >> all. Ever. Not in the same conditions, not when I try to start a print, not >> at all.
>> I have a Macbook Air running 10.7.4.
>> I can drive all the X,Y,Z motors just fine from ReplicatorG 0025-beta1. I >> installed the FTDI drivers even though I probably don't need them, because >> I've been trying for about 6 hours to solve this problem now and have tried >> all sorts of things.
>> I can't get ReplicatorG-0035-rc1 to recognize the printer at all. It >> will report a successful firmware upgrade, but in fact appears to corrupt >> it. If I downgrade to 0025-beta1 I have to reinstall the firmware to get it >> to connect to the printer.
>> The 2560 firmware build 1 (old 5D release) seems to be the only one that >> will work on my machine at all.
>> I can hand advance the PLA when the heater is at temp, so I know it's >> possible. The PLA seems to move smoothly. And the PLA tension shouldn't be >> relevant at this point since the motor won't turn even with the wooden gear >> disconnected, or with it connected and no tension on the PLA.
>> (I have mucked with the Java install on this computer while playing with >> Processing libraries, so that's a possible area of concern. I don't think >> it's related, just stating for completeness since the documentation >> suggests a possible dependency. I installed the latest Oracle released >> version of Java, but the computer is configured to run the standard Mac >> Java.)
>> Things I could do, but have not:
>> I haven't tried Cura or Repetier host or any other packages; I was >> assuming the Ultimaker build of ReplicatorG would be the best chance for >> success.
>> I haven't tried driving from a different computer. Notably, I don't have >> easy access to a linux or windows box, but I can hit up friends if needed >> for debugging purposes. Ultimately it needs to work from a Mac though- I >> prefer to only maintain a single OS in my home.
Whilst others have answerd this qeustion, I'd suggest you also measure your PLA at multiple points along the length, and also around the same point. If you're getting variations of more than 0.1-0.2mm I would highly recommend ordering some new PLA from a reputable local supplier. The PLA which came with my Ultimaker has caused weeks of frustration and huge issues with printing - mostly because of the PLA being out of spec as supplied.
On Wednesday, August 8, 2012 1:41:56 PM UTC+8, Jennigma wrote:
> Hi! I have a brand new Ultimaker, and I'm trying to get the first print to > work. I'm stalled out trying to get the stepper motor that drives the > extruder to work correctly. I expect there is a software/firmware problem, > but don't know how to fully diagnose.
> What I know:
> I can get the motor to turn from the 0025-beta1 version of ReplicatorG if > it is below temp and the software puts up the error dialog asking me if I > want to turn the motor anyway. (I had the acorn nut loosened so the wooden > gear wasn't connected to the drive gear on the motor.) Once it's at temp > and I don't get the error dialog the motor won't turn from the software. At > all. Ever. Not in the same conditions, not when I try to start a print, not > at all.
> I have a Macbook Air running 10.7.4.
> I can drive all the X,Y,Z motors just fine from ReplicatorG 0025-beta1. I > installed the FTDI drivers even though I probably don't need them, because > I've been trying for about 6 hours to solve this problem now and have tried > all sorts of things.
> I can't get ReplicatorG-0035-rc1 to recognize the printer at all. It will > report a successful firmware upgrade, but in fact appears to corrupt it. If > I downgrade to 0025-beta1 I have to reinstall the firmware to get it to > connect to the printer.
> The 2560 firmware build 1 (old 5D release) seems to be the only one that > will work on my machine at all.
> I can hand advance the PLA when the heater is at temp, so I know it's > possible. The PLA seems to move smoothly. And the PLA tension shouldn't be > relevant at this point since the motor won't turn even with the wooden gear > disconnected, or with it connected and no tension on the PLA.
> (I have mucked with the Java install on this computer while playing with > Processing libraries, so that's a possible area of concern. I don't think > it's related, just stating for completeness since the documentation > suggests a possible dependency. I installed the latest Oracle released > version of Java, but the computer is configured to run the standard Mac > Java.)
> Things I could do, but have not:
> I haven't tried Cura or Repetier host or any other packages; I was > assuming the Ultimaker build of ReplicatorG would be the best chance for > success.
> I haven't tried driving from a different computer. Notably, I don't have > easy access to a linux or windows box, but I can hit up friends if needed > for debugging purposes. Ultimately it needs to work from a Mac though- I > prefer to only maintain a single OS in my home.
>> Also I find that Marlin/Print Run to be better at running the ultimaker.
>> If your 100% sure its not the software, then check your step motor >> drivers on the PCB, Try swapping out the E axis with the X, Y or Z that's >> working. Or before you do that you can try just swapping their wiring.
>> I had a bad driver board once.
>> Last thought might be heat issue on the driver board, there is a little >> pot on there that you can turn to adjust the current to the motor. Just be >> careful don't turn it more then 1/4 revolution or so.
>> Good luck ! >> Brian
>> On Tuesday, August 7, 2012 10:41:56 PM UTC-7, Jennigma wrote:
>>> Hi! I have a brand new Ultimaker, and I'm trying to get the first print >>> to work. I'm stalled out trying to get the stepper motor that drives the >>> extruder to work correctly. I expect there is a software/firmware problem, >>> but don't know how to fully diagnose.
>>> What I know:
>>> I can get the motor to turn from the 0025-beta1 version of ReplicatorG >>> if it is below temp and the software puts up the error dialog asking me if >>> I want to turn the motor anyway. (I had the acorn nut loosened so the >>> wooden gear wasn't connected to the drive gear on the motor.) Once it's at >>> temp and I don't get the error dialog the motor won't turn from the >>> software. At all. Ever. Not in the same conditions, not when I try to start >>> a print, not at all.
>>> I have a Macbook Air running 10.7.4.
>>> I can drive all the X,Y,Z motors just fine from ReplicatorG 0025-beta1. >>> I installed the FTDI drivers even though I probably don't need them, >>> because I've been trying for about 6 hours to solve this problem now and >>> have tried all sorts of things.
>>> I can't get ReplicatorG-0035-rc1 to recognize the printer at all. It >>> will report a successful firmware upgrade, but in fact appears to corrupt >>> it. If I downgrade to 0025-beta1 I have to reinstall the firmware to get it >>> to connect to the printer.
>>> The 2560 firmware build 1 (old 5D release) seems to be the only one that >>> will work on my machine at all.
>>> I can hand advance the PLA when the heater is at temp, so I know it's >>> possible. The PLA seems to move smoothly. And the PLA tension shouldn't be >>> relevant at this point since the motor won't turn even with the wooden gear >>> disconnected, or with it connected and no tension on the PLA.
>>> (I have mucked with the Java install on this computer while playing with >>> Processing libraries, so that's a possible area of concern. I don't think >>> it's related, just stating for completeness since the documentation >>> suggests a possible dependency. I installed the latest Oracle released >>> version of Java, but the computer is configured to run the standard Mac >>> Java.)
>>> Things I could do, but have not:
>>> I haven't tried Cura or Repetier host or any other packages; I was >>> assuming the Ultimaker build of ReplicatorG would be the best chance for >>> success.
>>> I haven't tried driving from a different computer. Notably, I don't have >>> easy access to a linux or windows box, but I can hit up friends if needed >>> for debugging purposes. Ultimately it needs to work from a Mac though- I >>> prefer to only maintain a single OS in my home.
Ok, I got Cura installed, but the Setup Wizard won't run through; I get the error "Missing start message." If I push through without the checks it doesn't turn the motor in the filament test or heat the head.
On Wednesday, August 8, 2012 4:59:52 PM UTC+2, Jennigma wrote:
> Ok, I got Cura installed, but the Setup Wizard won't run through; I get > the error "Missing start message." If I push through without the checks it > doesn't turn the motor in the filament test or heat the head.
I tried something someone recommended on the forums, which was installing RPG 0025, pushing the Marlin candidate 2 firmware, then removing RPG 0025 and installing 0035. That seemed to work, sort of. I could move all the motors including the extruder, and control heat.
The extruder works well enough at pushing filament at 210o from the control panel, but when I try to actually print it sets the Z axis about 15mm down from where the printhead is moving. (I didn't measure on the first layer, so I'm not sure exactly the distance it thinks is zero.) And it doesn't seem to be able to extrude consistently.
Two new questions:
1) I'm not clear on what the two controls are supposed to do on the extruder motor assembly. There's the screw and the clutch lever thing, and no documentation I can find. I'm tweaking them at random, but not knowing how they are supposed to work I have no idea if I'm making things better or worse. Is there an explanation on how to set them anywhere?
2) I can hand advance the PLA, but it sometimes takes a good bit of pressure to get it started. Is this evidence of a plug starting? I'm loathe to start ripping it down to check.
On Wed, Aug 8, 2012 at 5:04 PM, Jennigma <jleig...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I tried something someone recommended on the forums, which was installing
> RPG 0025, pushing the Marlin candidate 2 firmware, then removing RPG 0025
> and installing 0035. That seemed to work, sort of. I could move all the
> motors including the extruder, and control heat.
> The extruder works well enough at pushing filament at 210o from the
> control panel, but when I try to actually print it sets the Z axis about
> 15mm down from where the printhead is moving. (I didn't measure on the
> first layer, so I'm not sure exactly the distance it thinks is zero.) And
> it doesn't seem to be able to extrude consistently.
> Two new questions:
> 1) I'm not clear on what the two controls are supposed to do on the
> extruder motor assembly. There's the screw and the clutch lever thing, and
> no documentation I can find. I'm tweaking them at random, but not knowing
> how they are supposed to work I have no idea if I'm making things better or
> worse. Is there an explanation on how to set them anywhere?
> 2) I can hand advance the PLA, but it sometimes takes a good bit of
> pressure to get it started. Is this evidence of a plug starting? I'm loathe
> to start ripping it down to check.
> --
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When I got my machine 5 months ago, I initially thought that I had plugs several times. Upon testing, it showed that it wasn't "full plugs" but rather "partial plugs" and I realized that by just manually extruding some filament (by turning the large gear on the back manually) the plugs would come loose.
I didn't really find out what caused it, but I suspect it was some poor quality filament. I now buy most my filament from either fabderdashery.co.uk and it's superb quality.
I don't know if this is the same for you, but you really should not need to disassemble the entire extruder. Just using a 0.4mm (or thinner) drill bit to pull out any plugs should be sufficient. That'll churn the plug into small enough pieces that it'll be pushed out with the filament.
Just at the moment it's completely plugged- I can't even hand advance filament. It got mucked up when I was working with the drive motor yesterday.
I'm going to turn up the heat and try to bake out the plug and then run ABS through to see if that will seal it well enough for now. I'm leery of driving a drill inside the head; I don't think scarring the brass would do good things for the melted filament flow, not to mention what would happen if I hit the tip of the nozzle, since I don't have access to a shop to make a new one.
Speaking of which, is there some reason I'm not seeing for why the nozzle and pipe should be separate? I'm not seeing it, but on the other hand I'm also not seeing a functional printer. If I did have access to a shop, I'd machine a solid piece of brass down to match the nozzle and threaded tube assembly and do away with that junction entirely. It serves no purpose, and just makes for trouble. I'd like to hear from other folks on this- would that improve the state of the tech for Ultimakers? for RepRap's generally?
I'm not giving up on getting good seals, but I have other more thorny problems to solve and I do think the current state of the extruder should be good enough.
I also rebuilt and (I think) improved the assembly around the filament drive motor. The grinding I was finding yesterday was caused by the bearing on the opposite side from the gear wheel getting pulled into the path of the filament. I pushed both bearings to the outside edge of the plywood, sanded off every sharp or rough surface on the filament's path, and reassembled with larger washers that put any pressure on the plywood, not the bearings.I also put a washer between the acorn nut and the nut in the center of the drive wheel, and tightened them hard against each other towards the tip of the threads, making plenty of space for the bolt to rotate freely in the bearings.
I'm going to post a flickr set of how I rebuilt this later when I get the photos off the camera, and I'll update the thread with a link once that's live. I may not have the damned thing printing yet, but I have enough mechanical chops to be fairly certain I've made a good improvement and others might benefit from it. I'm noodling on the Bowden junctions; there has to be a good way to mechanically improve them. But that's a problem for another day.
My partner David ("uzziel") started mucking about with Cura last night stepping through the tests, and found that the controller appears to reboot when the filament pushing motor is turned on. That matches behavior I was seeing yesterday. The motor would turn weakly, then not respond, then turn well enough to push the filament for a little while, then the box would reboot. I think we have either bad electronics, a bad drive motor, or faulty connections.
Today's jobs:
1) Pop the extruder head assembly open to check on the Bowden tube junction. Melt out the plug if possible, and drive ABS filament through by hand to try to seal it. Since I don't want to futz with getting a better extruder nozzle seal on the pipe I'll kludge it with ABS for the moment.
2) Work through a debugging list I got from Vincent at Ultimaker tech support, which includes inspecting the electronics and taking a bunch of pictures, as well as trying to get ReplicatorG working.
My partner Jennifer and I are in the process of trying to get our Ultimaker to work and it is a huge headache. The machine is displaying some odd behavior, like powering up the fans and lights when we connect it to our laptops via the USB cable - it does this even if the power cable for the printer is not connected yet. It's definitely drawing power over the USB connection, which neither of us thought was normal.
I tried using the latest Cura download from github last night to run a calibration test. The first call to DoCommCommandWithTimeout in OnRun in the configWizard.py module always fails with "Error: Missing start message." because the output from the printer does not include a line beginning with 'start'. The output that does come back from the printer looks something like this:
The first line varies in length - sometimes it contains more bytes, sometimes fewer.
I changed the code to bypass that test and get the wizard to run all the way to the heating test, XYZ limit tests, and then the extruder test. On the extruder test it always fails when trying to feed 1000mm of filament. I modified the code there to print out the response from the printer, and this is what it's returning when it tries to drive the extruder motor:
############################### x_min:L x_max:L y_min:L y_max:L z_min:L z_max:L ok x_min:L x_max:L y_min:L y_max:L z_min:L z_max:H objc[71251]: Object 0x105aa4270 of class NSConcreteMapTable autoreleased with no pool in place - just leaking - break on objc_autoreleaseNoPool() to debug objc[71251]: Object 0x10a569e70 of class __NSCFString autoreleased with no pool in place - just leaking - break on objc_autoreleaseNoPool() to debug objc[71251]: Object 0x10a569e70 of class __NSCFString autoreleased with no pool in place - just leaking - break on objc_autoreleaseNoPool() to debug Connecting to: /dev/tty.usbmodemfd121 Serial<id=0x108b9a2d0, open=True>(port='/dev/tty.usbmodemfd121', baudrate=250000, bytesize=8, parity='N', stopbits=1, timeout=2, xonxoff=False, rtscts=False, dsrdtr=False) 2012 17:33:42 +0200 - b67dacdc8f1bd489e058e16d92ba29c364b2a8e5 | Author: Build-Me-Marlin
echo: Free Memory: 4494 PlannerBufferBy?start
echo: External Reset
Marlin 1.0.0 RC2
echo: Last Updated: Marlin-Mon, 11 Jun 2012 17:33:42 +0200 - b67dacdc8f1bd489e058e16d92ba29c364b2a8e5 | Author: Build-Me-Marlin
This looks to me like the arduino board is rebooting when the extruder head is being activated. Am I interpreting that correctly? Does anyone know if this would indicate a problem in the board itself?
Correction to the previous post: it's not the extruder, but the filament drive motor. When Cura activates the filament drive motor, the test fails and the board appears to reboot.
Dunno about the rest of your issues but on my machine, the Arduino is powered by USB and the rest of the machine is powered by the brick. It's normal for the light on the printhead to go on when you plug the USB into your computer. I don't think my fan is powered by USB too but I could be wrong there..
On Friday, August 10, 2012 12:45:25 PM UTC-4, David Roth wrote: > (crossposted from the Ultimaker forums)
> My partner Jennifer and I are in the process of trying to get our > Ultimaker to work and it is a huge headache. The machine is displaying some > odd behavior, like powering up the fans and lights when we connect it to > our laptops via the USB cable - it does this even if the power cable for > the printer is not connected yet. It's definitely drawing power over the > USB connection, which neither of us thought was normal.
> I tried using the latest Cura download from github last night to run a > calibration test. The first call to DoCommCommandWithTimeout in OnRun in > the configWizard.py module always fails with "Error: Missing start > message." because the output from the printer does not include a line > beginning with 'start'. The output that does come back from the printer > looks something like this:
> The first line varies in length - sometimes it contains more bytes, > sometimes fewer.
> I changed the code to bypass that test and get the wizard to run all the > way to the heating test, XYZ limit tests, and then the extruder test. On > the extruder test it always fails when trying to feed 1000mm of filament. I > modified the code there to print out the response from the printer, and > this is what it's returning when it tries to drive the extruder motor:
> ############################### > x_min:L x_max:L y_min:L y_max:L z_min:L z_max:L > ok > x_min:L x_max:L y_min:L y_max:L z_min:L z_max:H > objc[71251]: Object 0x105aa4270 of class NSConcreteMapTable > autoreleased with no pool in place - just leaking - break on > objc_autoreleaseNoPool() to debug > objc[71251]: Object 0x10a569e70 of class __NSCFString autoreleased > with no pool in place - just leaking - break on > objc_autoreleaseNoPool() to debug > objc[71251]: Object 0x10a569e70 of class __NSCFString autoreleased > with no pool in place - just leaking - break on > objc_autoreleaseNoPool() to debug > Connecting to: /dev/tty.usbmodemfd121 > Serial<id=0x108b9a2d0, open=True>(port='/dev/tty.usbmodemfd121', > baudrate=250000, bytesize=8, parity='N', stopbits=1, timeout=2, > xonxoff=False, rtscts=False, dsrdtr=False) > 2012 17:33:42 +0200 - b67dacdc8f1bd489e058e16d92ba29c364b2a8e5 | > Author: Build-Me-Marlin
> echo: Free Memory: 4494 PlannerBufferBy?start
> echo: External Reset
> Marlin 1.0.0 RC2
> echo: Last Updated: Marlin-Mon, 11 Jun 2012 17:33:42 +0200 - > b67dacdc8f1bd489e058e16d92ba29c364b2a8e5 | Author: Build-Me-Marlin
> This looks to me like the arduino board is rebooting when the extruder > head is being activated. Am I interpreting that correctly? Does anyone know > if this would indicate a problem in the board itself?
We (Jennifer and I) are pretty confident at this point that we do in fact have a bad board.
We kept running in to problems with the extruder feeder motor. It would turn very, very slowly (<1 rpm) or it would jerk back and forth without making any forward progress. We changed the stepper motor controller chips for the extruder feeder and the Z axis and tested again with the same results. We tried to tune the POT on the extruder feeder controller but were unable to get it to respond any better.
I downloaded the Marlin 1.0.0 RC 2 firmware and edited the pins.h file to change the pinouts for the E0 controller to match the pinouts for the E1 controller so that we could use the extra extruder controller on the board. After compiling this and uploading it to the board, we were able to successfully drive all four motors without issue. We tried to use the ReplicatorG build from Ultimaker as well as Cura to control the printer but neither one would allow us to connect with the new firmware. Repetier-Host did connect successfully and we were able to begin a test print.
When I say that neither ReplicatorG nor Cura would allow us to connect to the new firmware, I should give more detail - ReplicatorG doesn't seem to see the printer connected at all. I cannot get it to show any information about the printer even after checking the machine and connection settings. Cura does connect enough to log messages from the printer, but every time I try to run the extruder head test, it reboot the board.
Update: I just heard from Daid on the Ultimaker boards that it is normal for Cura to reboot the board when running each step in the config wizard. So I may have to give Cura another look.
On Monday, August 13, 2012 6:53:10 AM UTC-7, David Roth wrote:
> We (Jennifer and I) are pretty confident at this point that we do in fact > have a bad board.
> We kept running in to problems with the extruder feeder motor. It > would turn very, very slowly (<1 rpm) or it would jerk back and forth > without making any forward progress. We changed the stepper motor > controller chips for the extruder feeder and the Z axis and tested > again with the same results. We tried to tune the POT on the extruder > feeder controller but were unable to get it to respond any better.
> I downloaded the Marlin 1.0.0 RC 2 firmware and edited the pins.h file > to change the pinouts for the E0 controller to match the pinouts for > the E1 controller so that we could use the extra extruder controller > on the board. After compiling this and uploading it to the board, we > were able to successfully drive all four motors without issue. We > tried to use the ReplicatorG build from Ultimaker as well as Cura to > control the printer but neither one would allow us to connect with the > new firmware. Repetier-Host did connect successfully and we were able > to begin a test print.
> When I say that neither ReplicatorG nor Cura would allow us to connect to > the new firmware, I should give more detail - ReplicatorG doesn't seem to > see the printer connected at all. I cannot get it to show any information > about the printer even after checking the machine and connection settings. > Cura does connect enough to log messages from the printer, but every time > I try to run the extruder head test, it reboot the board.
I'm pretty happy with Repetier-Host. It seems like the best SW for driving a printer from a Mac, from what I've seen. I know they use it at Metrix, our maker space, so I assume it works well for them, too. :-)
