Help cailbrateing

[amoskst...@gmail.com]

For mouth I have been trying to figure out how to use a mechaduino, with no success, it has been VERY frustrating. I have tried and tired as everything I can think of. I can't even get the mechaduino to calibrate, constantly. I have tried 6 different mechaduino, and a few different motors. All of the motors however where 1X Zyltech Nema 17 stepper motors. I have tried both the jcchurch13 and the other version (I forget what it is called on github, but it was made of 3d printers). 

A few times I have been able to get the motor to turn during calibration, and only one time have I been able to run a motor using ramps 1.4, but I have not been able to replicate those results. But most of the times I try to calibrate, it says in the serial motor that it is calibrating, but the motor does not turn, and yes I do have it connect to 12 power. Then other times it says wired backwards. For example this morning I connect one to the 12 power on my ramps board, and tired to calibrate, and to my surprise it worked. So I took the lookup table and pasted it into const int sin_1[] = (I know it is the wrong place, I realized it later) And tried again but of course the motor did nothing, so I deleted all of the changes, re-uploaded the firmware, and tried again, this time it said "wired backwards" so I tried again and on the serial motor it showed it was calibrating, but the motor was not moving. So I uploaded the other firmware, the first time I was using jcchruch13. And tried again, but I have never been able to get the commands to work, I typed in "calibrate" and nothing happen, the serial motor did not even say it was calibrating, so I tried a few of the other commands, with the same results.

Could anyone please explain to me what I'm doing wrong?

[amoskst...@gmail.com]

I finally got the calibrating figured out, but still can't get it to run using ramps 1.4. I have 5 volts connect to the vin and enable connected, which I have reduced the voltage to 3.4 volts, first I tried it at 3.1, does it need to be right at 3.3? I did go and uncomment configureEnablePin().

[Trampas Stern]

You could try the firmware from Misfit Tech, www,misfittech.net  it might help. 

Trampas

[amoskst...@gmail.com]

Where can I find the firmware from Misfit Tech? I bought a controller from them, but I have not been able to calibrate it, and I can't find any instruction anywhere on how to do it. 

[Trampas Stern]

If you got the controller with the LCD then when you power up it will ask you to calibrate.  The calibration should be done with motor not connected to the machine. 

If you got the misfittech unit without LCD then you need connect a USB cable  see:  http://misfittech.net/nema-17-smart-stepper/ and here http://misfittech.net/blog/installing-the-nano-zero-stepper/

Of course if you have any problems let me know via orders @ misfittech.net. 

Thanks

Trampas

[amoskst...@gmail.com]

I do have the LCD, but can't get it to calibrate. When I connect it to 12 volt power, it powers up and on the LCD it says not calibrated, then goes to a screen that says Calibrate and below that is says exit. If I push the button to the left, exit turns yellow instead of calibrate, if I push the center button when the exit is yellow, it goes to another screen. However if I push the center button when calibrate is yellow, it does nothing, and even if I push any of the buttons again, again nothing happens, even if I push the button on the left again, it seems it just freezes. What is the problem? And what are the three buttons for?

[cool...@gmail.com]

When calibrating you say it "freezes". If you let it run for a while after the freezing has occurred, is there any output to the serial console? I ask because the NZS may actually be in calibration mode, and there is no output to the console until it has finished. Try this, and wait for about 2 minutes and see if there is any output to the console after it "freezes".

[Trampas Stern]

As the NZS is calibrating the motor should moving and you should here it clicking as it takes steps. If this is not happening let me know offline and I will help you.

Trampas

[amoskst...@gmail.com]

When I tried to calibrate it, it just froze up, so I went to do something else, and after a few minutes, it seem to have finished calibrating. Because when I start it up it no-longer says it needs to be calibrated, but when I try to run it from my ramps 1.4 board it does not move but the screen on the controller starts to change. I don't have a end-stop connected, but it works just fine if I use a regular motor controller, and plug the motor directly to the board.. Here is a link to a video of what it does, the 2nd link is a video of me trying to calibrate a machaduino with the misfit firmware. https://youtu.be/eEHbtziW900  https://youtu.be/jRZmGdG053g

[cool...@gmail.com]

I'm pretty sure in the serial console that you need to change the line ending to CR and NL, or at minimum NL. You have it set to "No Line Ending" and it may not get the right character for the CLI to accept the parameter. Also what is your AGC value when you type "encoderdiag" in the console?

[tomek...@googlemail.com]

Hello guys,

I'm using the Mechaduino 0.1 from Tropical Labs.

Today I tested the latest Firmware (FW 0.25) from "https://github.com/Misfittech/nano_stepper"

and I had exactly the same issue at startup with changed board.h:

"need to calibrate...need to calibrate....need to calibrate" here reported and recorded "https://youtu.be/jRZmGdG053g".

My Mechaduino works again with my Backup from April 2017 (FW 0.14):

But I had to make some modification in board.h (FW 0.14)

Line 18 #define MECHADUINO_HARDWARE -> removed "//"

Line 115 #define PIN_STEP_INPUT  (1) -> changed to "1" because D1 is StepPin

Line 116 #define PIN_DIR_INPUT   (0) -> changed to "0" because D0 is DirPin

(http://tropical-labs.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/Pin_diagram_2.png)

I played around with the new Firmware (FW 0.25) and modified board.h again, but it didn't work:

Line 18 #define MECHADUINO_HARDWARE -> remove"//" 

Line 30 //#define NEMA17_SMART_STEPPER_3_21_2017 -> add "//"

Line 178 #define PIN_STEP_INPUT  (1) -> changed to "1" because D1 is StepPin

Line 179 #define PIN_DIR_INPUT   (0) -> changed to "0" because D0 is DirPin

Any Idea?

Thanks Tom

[amoskst...@gmail.com]

Sorry but I have no idea what you are talking about. I don't know what CR, NL, CLI or AGC are, or what the serial console is unless you mean the serial monitor on arduino? I'm pretty new to all this. 

[cool...@gmail.com]

I an talking about the serial monitor:

Change "No line ending" to "Newline".

AGC is "Automatic Gain Control" and you access this parameter by typing "encoderdiag" into the serial monitor. AGC is a good way to tell if the magnet is in the correct position (distance) from the motor shaft to the rotary encoder on the mechaduino. This is important because if it is to close or to far away it can cause issues with the motor calibration.

[amoskst...@gmail.com]

It seems none of the commands do anything, ether they just do nothing, they don't even show-up on serial monitor once I press enter, or it freezes. 

[solarsy...@gmail.com]

Tom,

I'm getting identical behavior as you are from FW0.25 on a new Mechaduino 0.2 using the mods to line 18 & 30.

The unit works with the Mechaduino firmware, so the hardware is good.  The terminal just spits out "You need to Calibrate" endlessly.  I've tried Teraterm, changing NR, CR, etc settings in both.  It's like the code isn't hearing the COM port...  (the obstruficated command processing logic doesn't help much either ;)

Thom

[solarsy...@gmail.com]

Following up, I've hijacked the serial receive function and had it echo characters as they come in.  The receiver function never runs - the serial receiver isn't hearing characters over the wire (as opposed to rejecting characters as bad data).

[amoskst...@gmail.com]

Do you have any idea why it is not receiving the the characters? 

[tomek...@googlemail.com]

I've uploaded my backup of firmware 0.14 [Misfittech/ nano_stepper/ April 2017], which I use for my Mechaduino 0.1.

I modified only Line 18, 115, 116 in board.h.

http://www89.zippyshare.com/v/wLPaucCI/file.html

Maybe it helps to compare with the latest firmware 0.25.