Replicator 1 Dual firmware upgrade to Sailfish

[Dan Henry]

Hi folks,

I thought for sure there was traffic on this list about experiences upgrading the Replicator 1 Dual to sailfish, but search isn't pulling anything up.  I figured I could just use the stock instructions at Makerbot, but RepG says it can't connect to the URL that they give me for the firmware

[0] http://jettyfirmware.yolasite.com/resources/release/firmware.xml

RepG says Network unavailable or site not responding.

I see instructions at Makerbot

[1] http://www.makerbot.com/sailfish/install

and supplemental guidance on the makerbotoperators google group

[2]https://groups.google.com/forum/#!searchin/makerbot/replicator$20dual$20sailfish/makerbot/4LsdTf5G0M0/fML5-HxygIQJ

that you need to use a different version of ReplicatorG 0040 (v0040r30) that must be downloaded NOT from the RepG site but from Thingiverse (posted by jetty)

[3] http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:32084/#files

He also states you have to uninstall the original RepG v0040, but there doesn't seem to be any uninstall process since it isn't in the registry and there's no uninstall.exe.

Additionally he says that the original ReplicatorG v0040 may have corrupted the toolhead offsets on my board, which now I don't know if I can trust to move ahead with the upgrade.

Which instructions did you guys use for your upgrades, and do I somehow need to reset my toolhead offsets and to what values?

Thanks,

Dan

.

[Chris Fastie]

Hi Dan,

I have not installed Sailfish, so I can't help. I think Dan Beavers has installed it on his Rep 1. Have you found the installation instructions at sailfishfirmware.com: http://www.sailfishfirmware.com/doc/install.html#x31-780006? The instructions seem pretty comprehensive.

Let us know if you figure it out. I should upgrade sometime.

Chris

[Dan Beavers]

Yes, I have done this. It has been several months ago though. The only
problem I remember having was a dexterity issue. I tried SEVERAL times
to get the printer button pressed and the keyboard key pressed in the
right order and at the right time. Once that was done everything went
fine. The home position was an issue for a while but it was pretty easy
to fix as I remember.

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[Liz Barry]

do you all think it's important to upgrade?

--

+1 336-269-1539

@lizbarry

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[Dan Beavers]

It provides a couple of additional features and probably fixes some
issues you don't know you have. So not really a big deal ether way.

On 2015-12-01 14:08, Liz Barry wrote:
> do you all think it's important to upgrade?
>
> --
>
> +1 336-269-1539

> @lizbarry <http://twitter.com/lizbarry>

>
>
> On Tue, Dec 1, 2015 at 12:19 PM, Dan Beavers <d...@beaversenterprises.com
> <mailto:d...@beaversenterprises.com>> wrote:
>
> Yes, I have done this. It has been several months ago though. The only
> problem I remember having was a dexterity issue. I tried SEVERAL times
> to get the printer button pressed and the keyboard key pressed in the
> right order and at the right time. Once that was done everything went
> fine. The home position was an issue for a while but it was pretty easy
> to fix as I remember.
>
> On 2015-11-30 20:49, Chris Fastie wrote:
> > Hi Dan,
> >
> > I have not installed Sailfish, so I can't help. I think Dan Beavers has
> > installed it on his Rep 1. Have you found the installation instructions
> > at

> > sailfishfirmware.com <http://sailfishfirmware.com>:

> http://www.sailfishfirmware.com/doc/install.html#x31-780006?
> > The instructions seem pretty comprehensive.
> >
> > Let us know if you figure it out. I should upgrade sometime.
> >
> > Chris
> >
> >
> > --
> > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
> > Groups "plotz-3D" group.
> > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send
> > an email to plotz-3d+u...@googlegroups.com

> <mailto:plotz-3d%2Bunsu...@googlegroups.com>
> > <mailto:plotz-3d+u...@googlegroups.com
> <mailto:plotz-3d%2Bunsu...@googlegroups.com>>.

> > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
>
> --
> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
> Groups "plotz-3D" group.
> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it,
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> <mailto:plotz-3d%2Bunsu...@googlegroups.com>.

[Chris Fastie]

There are a dozen features of Sailfish which I would use all the time if I were brave enough to upgrade. As Dan Henry has confirmed, it can take lots of effort to get your printer working again. Here are some of the added features from the readme file at github: https://github.com/jetty840/Sailfish-MightyBoardFirmware

1.1 Advanced printing features

1. Change the printing speed from the LCD display while printing.
2. Change the extrusion temperature from the LCD display while printing.
3. At the end of a print, the total print time and the amount of filament used is displayed.
4. At the end of a print, you can elect to repeat the same print: no need to go through screens reselecting the file. Quite useful when asking an associate, spouse, or child to repeat a print several times.
5. "Ditto" printing for dual extruder printers: simultaneously print the same model twice using both extruders or do other clever tricks.
6. Override temperatures found in gcode with different temperatures: useful for redoing a series of prints at different temperatures without having to reslice.
7. Control whether or not heaters are left active when prints are paused.
8. Jog the axes when a print is paused so as to make mid print filament loading easier. The axes' position is automatically restored when the print is resumed.
9. On printers with a most two heaters, a line of the LCD display provides constantly updated build statistics: filament used, percent complete, elapsed time, estimated time remaining, and current height.
   1. Much finer control of the height to pause at with Pause @ ZPos: MBI's firmware only allows specification to the nearest millimeter whereas Sailfish allows 0.01 mm resolution.
   2. Multiple Pause @ ZPos positions may be specified in gcode.
   3. When used in conjunction with GPX, automatic compensation for different filament diameters when placing Pause @ ZPos commands within your gcode.
   4. Support for Emergency stop and Pause stop hardware. Pause stop hardware allows a print to gracefully be paused when hardware detects a temporary problem such as filament running out or being snagged. Once the condition is resolved, the print may be resumed.

1.2 SD card features

1. Support for file folders on SD cards.
2. Support for high capacity SD cards (e.g., 4, 8, 16, 32 GB, etc.).
3. Support for the FAT-32 file system.
4. Support for the Toshiba AirFlash Wi-Fi card: send files to your bot over Wi-Fi.
5. SD card error detection and correction.
6. Long filenames are allowed; long file names scroll in the display so that the entire name can be viewed. MBI's firmware limits file names to 15 characters, not including the mandatory, case-sensitive ".x3g" extension.
7. Ability to save and restore the bot's internal settings -- onboard preferences -- to an SD card. Backup your bot's settings or quickly transfer them to another bot.

[Dan Henry]

UPDATE:

So, my main reason for posting was the implication in jetty's remarks that I may have corrupted my toolhead offsets as shown in EEPROM and had no idea how to figure out what they should really be.

I decided to forge ahead using the standard instructions assuming those offsets are correct.

The Makerbot instructions went OK in terms of a successful upgrade to sailfish (I even managed the reset/hit enter maneuver on the first try ;0).

The only area I had issues was in setting acceleration values, since not all the parameter names in the  makerbot instructions matched what I was seeing in RepG settings.  So, I did my best to match them and hoped for the best.

My next problem was trying to get slic3r in the 3D toolchain, hoping it would produce better support options.  I never got slic3r GCode to work right with RepG, so I am now trying a post-processing Perl script to generate the x3g file directly from slic3r GCode skipping RepG.  Some things liked about hat option:

1. The ability to insert start and end GCode

2. Change the way the pre-print nozzle clearing movements work

3. Control initial layer (raft/support brim) thickness, nozzle speed, platform temp 

So far, the prints are starting way off the rear right instead of centered, although it looks centered in Slic3r, so obviously some settings to look into there.

None of my other printing attempts with RepG 40/RepG40sailfish have come out, mostly due to first layer adhesion issues (filament balls up on the nozzle).

Dan

[Dan Henry]

Chris,

The makerbot instructions are much better and more detailed - those are the ones I used and it worked flawlessly.  

You DO, however need to get the sailfish Thingiverse files I linked above and load RepGv40r30-sailfish to actually be able to download the new firmware (and presumably for the subsequent steps to work).  The RepGv40 I was using just kept saying network unavailable or website not responding when I did the step to update preferences to the new firmware URL (even though I could see that URL using my browser).

As yet, I haven't found the right setting to get my current job to print, though I was able to print the standard platform leveling circle.

Cheers,

Dan