Pieter log
Wednesday 29 January 2020
Updating the log. Benedikt has his first print. We found out that the STL file from Don's pen holder design is very bad with holes. Michel is trying to clean it up.
The diode between and behind the X and Y motor drivers has to be cut because we provide the RAMPS board with 24V instead of 12V. It then also powers the arduino. We cut the diode to prevent the RAMPS to power the Arduino. We power the arduino manually.
My X axis doesn't move properly anymore. Changing the small driver shield seems to work. Unfortunately, when doing a test print, it is apparent that it doesn't work properly. If it is not the driver, then it could be the board. Changing the board encompasses removing the diode, and inserting jumpers. We also used E0 as the extruder which means that the original firmware should be uploaded again. This resulted in good movement of the axes, but unfortunately the extruder doesn't move. There are two hypotheses:
- The firmware wasn't correctly uploaded, so it still has the old firmware. This can be confirmed by trying E1 for the extruder.
- Not only the board was fried, but the Arduino behind was also fried. This can be confirmed by changing the board.
Changing from E0 to E1 didn't work, so we discard hypothesis 1. We changed the Arduino but it started to behave badly. It was in a boot loop making a sound every half second or so. Connecting the board to the computer also gives us this boot loop. Our conclusion is that coincidentally this Arduino is bad. After changing it, it appears to work well.
Tuesday 28 January
We are reducing the voltage on the motor drivers. 0.4V for X, Y, and the extruder. Marcin says 1.0 for the two Z motors, but the Universal has only one Z motor, so we put it to 0.5V. We can measure directly on the pot meter instead of the measuring point that requires us to remove the heat sink.
I accidentally fried something while measuring the voltage of the extruder: smokes and sparks. After experimenting it turned out that the extruder didn't work. Exchanging drivers didn't work. Rewrote the firmware to use E1 instead of E2. The diff in the firmware:
diff --git a/src/Marlin_Universal/pins_RAMPS.h b/src/Marlin_Universal/pins_RAMPS.h index da14a6d..31569a2 100644 --- a/src/Marlin_Universal/pins_RAMPS.h +++ b/src/Marlin_Universal/pins_RAMPS.h @@ -105,15 +105,15 @@ #define Z_ENABLE_PIN 62 #define Z_CS_PIN 40 -#define E0_STEP_PIN 26 -#define E0_DIR_PIN 28 -#define E0_ENABLE_PIN 24 -#define E0_CS_PIN 42 - -#define E1_STEP_PIN 36 -#define E1_DIR_PIN 34 -#define E1_ENABLE_PIN 30 -#define E1_CS_PIN 44 +#define E0_STEP_PIN 36 +#define E0_DIR_PIN 38 +#define E0_ENABLE_PIN 30 +#define E0_CS_PIN 44 + +#define E1_STEP_PIN 26 +#define E1_DIR_PIN 28 +#define E1_ENABLE_PIN 24 +#define E1_CS_PIN 42 // // Temperature Sensors
Basically, we switched the pins for E0 and E1. This turned out to work but we know that my RAMPS board is partially fried.
Holger had flakey motor wire connections probably because of the rewiring of the cables. The motor made a bad noise and didn't move properly. Pressing them in a bit more worked.
FreeCad introduction by Michel. I designed a simple filament holder end-stop.
Moving on to the pen holder. Don posted a design that I've printed. This is a rather large print. First two attempts failed because of the wrong closeness to the print-bed. Third one ran fine but the print was of very low quality. The print head dropped on the print itself messing up the tension of the belt. After retensioning the belt, the X-axis doesn't work properly anymore. After switching ports from X and Y, the Y axis behaves bad while the X-axis behaves properly. We can conclude that the motors are ok. The driver may be messed up or the board itself (that was already partially fried).
Beber had to build the board from scratch, so he needed to cut the diode that sits between the X and the Y motor driver part. Unfortunately, he didn't know that it is required to bridge the three pins underneath each motor to enable microstepping, so he was dealing with very fast motors or no movement at all. After bridging these, the motors work fine.
Benedikt was dealing with a nozzle that did not reach the bed, because blower was lower. In addition, the Z sensor had a problem with the board. Holger and Benedikt rewired the Z ports in the firmware. Pins 18 and 19 were switched in a similar way as above.
Monday 27 January
Debugging printer issues:
- After a print the print-head keeps falling.
- The print head moves out of the dimensions of the board.
- The Z-axis probe should ALWAYS be within bounds of the print bed. Otherwise the printhead will just move down.
Sunday 26 January 2020
Confusion about the motor wires. The wires from the US are completely parallel, whereas the wires ordered from Europe are crossed in two different configurations. A Reprap drawing showed us a crossed configuration. Experimenting on the right setup led us to conclude that we need the parallel wires. Rewired all the wrong wires but they are more brittle now. We had problems with moving the axes: we could only move forward but not back on the X-axis. This confused us a lot, but this had to do with the right configuration of the end-stops.
Confusion about the axis set up and what "Home" was: In the firmware, home turned out to be (0, 150, 6) instead of (0, 0, 6). This, in combination with the wrong axes configuration was difficult to debug. Confusion about the direction of the motors. Cables can simply be turned.
The Z-sensor didn't work properly. We rewired it to 5V and then it behaved properly. The led is clearly less bright on 5V and Marcin says that it is less reliable but we have a decent experience with 5V.
The configuration of the pins for the end-stops is:
- start X
- end X
- start Y
- end Y
- start Z
- end Z
The right configuration of end-stops for us is:
X-axis: put the end-stop close to the motor. This would be our 0 point. This means that we need to put the cable of this end-stop in the first pins with the green wire on top. Y-axis: put the end-stop far from the board. This would be our 150 point, so we have to put the cable in the 4th pins position. Z-axis: This acts as a normal end-stop switch and it will determine our 0 point. This means that we have to put it in the 5th pins position.
We are able to make a view test prints but the motors are running hot.
Saturday 25 January 2020
Building the D3D-Universal. Confusion on where to place the axes. Z-axis sensors are a bit different than the spec, they rate 6-36V, whereas the spec should be 5V. We have to connect the brown wire directly to 24V, so soldering them in. Adapt the power configuration since we are on 240V instead of 110V (US).