Thing-o-matic retracts filament when it should be extruding it.

[skyler...@gmail.com]

Hi Guys,

Firstly if this has been answered before, apologies.

I just purchased a Thing-o-matic and it in good order. It was a good friend of mines, but he had to let it go.

I have been using Makerware Ver 2.4.1 to set up some prints and for the life of me could not understand why there was nothing coming out of the extruder. Then I realised that the motor was actually retracting the filament, and not feeding it through!

Is this a common issue with using Makerware? Does anyone know? Or is it a case where the pins to the motor has been turned around and I can reverse the plug and set it right? As I have only had the printer for a few days, I thought I would ask before jumping in.

Thanks for any suggestions in advance.

- Gil

[c f]

I'm not sure about how to do this in makerware, but in ReplicatorG there was a checkbox hidden somewhere in a preferences menu to control the polarity of the extruder stepper motor (along with the polarity of all the other steppers). Your machine is almost certainly fine in terms of wiring.

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[skyler...@gmail.com]

Hi CF,

So it's a Makerware issue then? I have been able to use it with ReplicatorG, am hoping to get it working with Makerware so I can get some Makerspace students using her.

-Gil

[James McCracken]

I did experience a similar issue with a cupcake cnc (prev gen to thingomatic) - and it appeared to be that the extruder was retracting instead of extruding.  It turned out when I upgraded the software, the new start.gcode contained commands that digitally set the extruder position to some crazy value (like E50.0) and then asked for travel to something small like E0.00014325, as usual... this resulted in the extruder spending the first few minutes of the print slowly rewinding backwards 49.999 mm.  Check the start.gcode matches what was used previously, if you have that available; if not, might be time to walk through the gcode line by line...

[c f]

Maybe try the 'onboard preferences' menu under 'Makerbots' at the top of makerware when you're connected to the ToM via USB. I think it's stored in the firmware of the machine somehow. I've definitely successfully used my ToM with makerware (although it has since been retired).

[Dan Newman]

On 15/06/2015 5:09 AM, skyler...@gmail.com wrote:
>
>
> Hi Guys,
>
> Firstly if this has been answered before, apologies.
>
> I just purchased a Thing-o-matic and it in good order. It was a good friend
> of mines, but he had to let it go.
>
> I have been using Makerware Ver 2.4.1 to set up some prints and for the
> life of me could not understand why there was nothing coming out of the
> extruder. Then I realised that the motor was actually retracting the
> filament, and not feeding it through!
>
> Is this a common issue with using Makerware?

No. The issue is that you have not taken steps to configure your Gen 4 printer
for Volumetric 5D printing. The steps on doing that used to be documented under
the old Jetty Firmware pages at the MakerBot wiki. However, that info was taken
down along with the entire Wiki by MakerBot on Jan 2013.

For this specific issue, you need to reverse your A axis (extruder axis). You
can do that via RepG Machine > Onboard Preferences OR by flipping the extruder's
wiring connector at the bot's stepper driver. (YOU MUST DO THAT WITH THE BOT
POWERED OFF.) You also must be running the Sailfish firmware on your Thing-o-Matic.

Dan

[Dan Newman]

On 15/06/2015 5:19 AM, skyler...@gmail.com wrote:
> Hi CF,
>
> So it's a Makerware issue then?

Not per se. It's an issue that you are trying to use your Thing-o-Matic with
an different type of gcode than you used before. Note that RepG supported
both the old style you were using ("RPM gcode") and the new style ("Volumetric
5D"). You appear to have been using the old style. To cut over to the new
style, be it with RepG OR MakerWare, there are some config changes you need
to make to your ToM. The most important one being the reversal of the extruder
axis. Other changes are things like recalibrating the "filament packing density"
(feedstockMultiplier in MakerWare).

Dan

[skyler...@gmail.com]

On Tuesday, June 16, 2015 at 12:01:26 AM UTC+10, Daniel Newman wrote:

No.  The issue is that you have not taken steps to configure your Gen 4 printer
for Volumetric 5D printing.  The steps on doing that used to be documented under
the old Jetty Firmware pages at the MakerBot wiki.  However, that info was taken
down along with the entire Wiki by MakerBot on Jan 2013.

Ok, thanks for the direction. As I am new to the Thing-o-matic, is there anywhere else I might be able to find information or instructions on how to configure my printer for Volumetric 5D printing?

For this specific issue, you need to reverse your A axis (extruder axis).  You
can do that via RepG Machine > Onboard Preferences

Does this mean that once it is set, it is set to the arduino board in the machine, or must I use RepG every time to run a print?

Thanks...

-Gil

[Dan Newman]

> Ok, thanks for the direction. As I am new to the Thing-o-matic, is there
> anywhere else I might be able to find information or instructions on how to
> configure my printer for Volumetric 5D printing?

Not offhand, no.

> Does this mean that once it is set, it is set to the arduino board in the
> machine, or must I use RepG every time to run a print?

It's set until you change it, replace the Arduino board, or reset the
EEPROM in the board to factory defaults. It's a form of non-volatile
memory so it does survive reboots and power cycles.

Dan