Hotend not heating.

[Albert Latham]

Hi all,

I know cross posting is generally frowned upon, but perhaps I can get a larger audience this way.

State of my efforts: I am setting up a Rapman 3.2 to run with the R2C2 control board. Thus far I have managed to get control of the Rapman with the controller. Currently I can home and jog all axes.

Issue: I have attempted to get the hotend to heat by sending the "Set" command from Pronterface. The command is successfully sent, but the hotend remains cold.

Other issues: The thermistor does not report temperatures correctly. I have been unable to figure out how to configure the thermistor from either config.txt or any other means. As far as I can tell there is no documentation.

Toolchain:
64 bit Ubuntu 12.04 LTS
Printrun/Pronterface (latest from github)
R2C2 Board V1.1
Rapman 3.2

What I have tried:
1) looking for some config.txt setting that might interfere.
2) testing voltages on the board when the command is sent. Results: 0V across pins 3 and 4 of CTC#1.
3) checked resistance values of both the heating resistor (5 ohms) and the thermistor (hovering around 110k ohm).

What am I missing? What else can I try? What else do you need to know?

Thanks you for your time,

Albert

[Ivo Angélico]

Hi.

Issue 1:

Do you know which GCode are you sending when the button 'set' is pressed? 

Does the led near the extruder connection gets on when you send the command?

Issue 2:

If the extruder is not hot it should be at around 20ºC. At that temperature you have a lot of noise in the reading. Could you post here a sample of the readings you have?

Best Regards,

Ivo

[Albert Latham]

Ivo,

First, thank you for your reply!

I don't know the gcode, but I can certainly find out.

The LED does not light up at all when I send the command.

The thermistor isn't correctly configured yet. When it is I will post the readings.

Again, thank you!

[Nicolas Chaslot]

Hi, 

If the led doesn't light up, it means the board doesn't receive the right gcode.

Are you sure you connected everything properly?

Nicolas Chaslot,

nc...@laposte.net

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[Albert Latham]

Nicholas,

I've triple checked my connections, checked the continuity of just the board, and just the hotend (thermistor and resistor). I don't know what else there is to check. It sounds like it may be a gcode issue. Where can I find R2C2 specific gcodes?

Albert

[bobc]

I think the R2C2 uses codes compatible with Pronterface, I have not had problems with that.

Getting the temperature reading right is the first step though, the hotend will not turn on if it thinks it is above the target temperature.

I think the standard Rapman hotend used a 200k thermistor, so the temperature table would need changing.

[Albert Latham]

Bobc,

Thank you for your reply!

I've attached a copy of my autoexec.g file that initializes my hotend and extruder.

I set up the autoexec.g file and loaded it on my R2C2. The hotend still fails to respond when told to heat from pronterface.

Albert

[lionel...@gmail.com]

Hi,

not sure if you are still having an issue with the heating, but have you calibrated the thermistor first? If your thermistor calibration is way out then it may be that the board beleives that it is already hot.

Lionel

[lionel...@gmail.com]

By the way, the thermistor lookup table can be updated without having to re-flash the firmware. For this, connect your R2C2 board to your PC and keep the 'boot' switch pushed while pushing 'reset'. This will switch it to 'pendrive mode' and you should see it as a USB memory stick on your PC (you'll have to wait a bit).

Then either access or create the file autoexec.g. This file is launched at startup and allows changing the EEPROM, so that you can change the temperature lookup table of the extruder. I include my file here as an exemple.

By the way, if anyone knows how to do the same to access the lookup table of the hot bed I would be grateful.

Lionel

;Changing the lookup table of the extruder heater:
M239 I0 X56 Y916 ;Extruder ID number, ADC value, temperature
M239 I1 X1811 Y265
M239 I2 X2039 Y250
M239 I3 X2192 Y240
M239 I4 X2344 Y230
M239 I5 X2557 Y216
M239 I6 X2802 Y200
M239 I7 X2970 Y189
M239 I8 X3244 Y171
M239 I9 X3413 Y157
M239 I10 X3546 Y146
M239 I11 X3647 Y136
M239 I12 X3727 Y127
M239 I13 X3792 Y118
M239 I14 X3845 Y110
M239 I15 X3890 Y103
M239 I16 X3990 Y80
M239 I17 X4057 Y50
M239 I18 X4078 Y20
M239 I19 X4091 Y2
M240 T1 S0

M500 ;last command, saves parameters to EEPROM