Reprap Forums

Re: Bugs found in G-Code parser

james villeneuve — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 04:20:03 -0800

I've also noticed that on many gcode machines that extra spaces although should not be an issue, are. x1 y1 is different than x1 space space space y1 for example.

make sure that your output code starts with g1 and has only 1 space after it

g1 x1 y20

also get rid of all comments and commas

Re: Host Software display doesn't work quite right

james villeneuve — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 04:14:25 -0800

do you have meshlab or another program to clean up the mesh? what detail level are you using, for example resolution should be no greater than .1mm

Re: Skeinforge / STL

james villeneuve — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 04:10:00 -0800

it sounds like your profile settings for skeinforge need to be setup again.

another option is to look in your home directory (windows it is documents and settings\user profile\.skeinforge look for profile.cvs and extrude.cvs one of those files has changed, or needs to be copied over.

if you have a mesh file with open vertices (meaning not all triangle are closed it could cause errors in g code, prints going into your table, so clean up the meshfile first, i use meshlab, load and save image over itself.

best of luck!

Re: designing a program setup wizard tool for reprap

James Villeneuve — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 02:37:34 -0800

I had trouble doing software for gcode because of needing to remember to turn off extruder during moves. to make it easier to remember i created a gline language. keep in mind i needed to software control probably about 800 lines of custom g code for temp, extrude, feed rate settings. you will be interested to know i am close to done.

anyway for those interested in a simple language parser GLINE is below

basically it is like telling a line to do something on a screen and is much easier to visualize when programming:

say

gline x1,y1,z1 to x100,y100,z1 ' single line to line

converts code to gcode like this:

G1 M101 'turns extruder off
G1 x1 y1 z1
G1 m103 'turns extruder on
G1 x100 y100 z100
END ' if end of all lines of code

It is much easier to create for/ next and if loops with the above gline interpreter, if anyone wants it let me know. I created it to simplify gcode programming

here is the code in vb language but it is easy to move it to another language:
temp stores the gline code and converts it to gcode. cleaver use of the 'to' as a separate line
here is the language parser, simple and gline is simple to write!

TEMP = UCase(GCODE_TEMP(A)) 'MAKE ALL UPPER CASE
'FIND CODE LOOK FOR FIRST X AND FIRST Y
'GOES TO FIRST X AND Y THEN TURNS ON AND GOES TO SECOND
'CONVERTS FEW LINES INTO MANY, ALSO CHANGES MCODES WHEN NEEDED
TEMP = UCase(GCODE_TEMP(A)) 'MAKE ALL UPPER CASE
TEMP = Replace(TEMP, "GLINE", "M101" & vbCrLf & "G1 ", 1, -1)
TEMP = Replace(TEMP, "GLINE", "M101" & vbCrLf & "G1 ", 1, -1)
TEMP = Replace(TEMP, ",", " ", 1, -1) 'REMOVE WEIRD COMMAS
TEMP = Replace(TEMP, "TO", vbCrLf & "M103" & vbCrLf & "G1 ")
TEMP = Replace(TEMP, "SPEED", vbCrLf & "F", 1, -1)
TEMP = Replace(TEMP, "EXTRUSION", "M108 S", 1, -1)
TEMP = Replace(TEMP, "TEMP", "M104 S", 1, -1)

Re: Hello and newbie question.

MotorAssist — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 02:23:04 -0800

I asked this, too, before I started. The general opinion was that NEMA 17s will be fine for the McWire, but not strong enough (torque too low, or borderline) for the Darwin. The Mendel uses NEMA 14s.

Hazel.

Re: Fire cement

volty — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:53:16 -0800

Send me a PM if you still need any.

Re: Introductions

volty — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 23:52:07 -0800

I am currently (well, since September) in the process of building an acrylic RepStrap (Darwin). I expect it to be fully assembled some time in December.

As I did have a sourcing discussion with some other reprappers in the area -- my absolute favorite local source for metric fasteners is Tacoma Screw. Just thought it is worth mentioning, as I know of others who were not aware of it.

Re: Motherboard v1.2: atmega664 vs atmega664P

volty — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 22:47:54 -0800

Thanks all. Yeah, it seems I am not going to be able to avoid having to put a 644P in.

While USART is not the object used in the firmware (serial is), I see both serial and serial1 being used.

From SanguinoMaster:

//start our hardware serial drivers
void init_serial()
{
  pinMode(RX_ENABLE_PIN, OUTPUT);
  pinMode(TX_ENABLE_PIN, OUTPUT);
  digitalWrite(RX_ENABLE_PIN, LOW); //always listen.

  Serial.begin(HOST_SERIAL_SPEED);
  Serial1.begin(SLAVE_SERIAL_SPEED);
}

One of them seems to talk to the host (my machine) and the other seems to talk to the slaves (extruder drivers).

Oh well. Anyway, thanks all for the good info, links and motivation :)
-volty

Basic Atmega 644

reprapuser — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:58:27 -0800

Does anyone have schematics for a basic duino/atmega644 with nothing fancy like jtag or icsp?

Re: Extremely Low Torque to Extruder Stepper Motor

swighton — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:22:13 -0800

I have the one from the makerbot store that allegedly has .26 Nm holding torque. I have tried adjusting every possible thing that I can think of, here is what I have deduced

-Adjusting the pot on the extruder controller board has zero effect on the output torque of the extruder stepper motor (is the firmware reading the right pin? in the firmware it says pin 0, I thought the pot was pin 23 - though changing it to 23 in the firmware didn't seem to have any effect)

-Changing the pwm value does have an impact on the torque output, but still cannot make the motor achieve enough torque to extrude

Is anyone using a nema 17 stepper motor driven extruder on the 5g firmware? If so what adjustments if any had to be made to make it work?

I've been trying to get my mendel to print for a week - I may have to scrap the whole stepper driven extruder and get a dc motor and use replicatorG... Though I would much prefer to avoid that and get this working

Re: Extremely Low Torque to Extruder Stepper Motor

nophead — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:23:44 -0800

The Mendel extruder uses a NEMA17 with a small pinch wheel. They have quite a big range or torques though, about 0.1 to 0.3 Nm so you need a good one.

Re: Hello and newbie question.

Reprobate — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:57:28 -0800

MotorAssist Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I am building a McWire - with NEMA 17s.

Thanks Hazel, this is what i was (badly) trying to convey with my original post... using nema 17's instead of 23's, with the mcwire design.
I believe from my reading thus far, that the electronic side of things will be fine, so long as the stepping is 1.8 degrees, the sticking point may be a lack of torque though....... would this be correct?
Had a look at your blog, i'm sure it will be very helpful to me as it's just what i had in mind. Thanks for the links.

Re: Mendel corner bracket STL geometry flaw

Adrian Bowyer — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:52:48 -0800

Yes - you're right looking at it. In practice the error is too small to give nut-and-washer cracking problems with PLA or ABS, I think. And (when we've finished the docs...........) you'll see it's intended to be stood on soft pads.

Nonetheless, if you have time to fix it in AoI and e-mail me that file, that would be marvelous and I'd really be grateful.

Re: Mendel Machined Extruder Parts Kit (Extruder Version 2.0)

wesjanik — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:42:28 -0800

Just got my parts today... They look good - now all I need is the rest of the machine :)

Re: Looking for RepRap parts in Australia

stephen george — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 15:11:17 -0800

Hi all,

If anyone is buying from makerbot let me know.
Would like to split the cost of postage and packing.

Live in Brisbane.

Stephen

Re: Extremely Low Torque to Extruder Stepper Motor

swighton — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:45:59 -0800

Do you mean that the torque to the stepper on the extruder is adjusted by the trim pot on the extruder controller board? I tried turning the pot to both maximum and minumin without seeing any effect.

Has anyone used a nema 17 stepper for a pinch wheel extruder? I can't get to to push the filament through no matter what I do.

Re: Darwin or Mendel printed parts kit. £75 +shipping.

teraquendya — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:16:59 -0800

might also be interested in a set

Re: Unable to open some files in AOI

Vidiot — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:40:26 -0800

You can copy the plugins folder from 2.7.2 to 2.8.

Not a good idea! Believe me...

Greetings
Harald

Re: Unable to open some files in AOI

gerard94 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:30:03 -0800

The STL plugins are the same in 2.7.2 and 2.8. It needs an update, obviously.

Quote

Or you can use 2.7 to import STL and 2.8 to open AOI with CSG. That is similar to when I am currently doing with 2.6 and 2.7. A bit annoying.

It's exactly what I'm doing.
Thanks for your help.

Gérard

Re: Probleme mit 2 stl Dateien

ATCC — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:12:05 -0800

Danke Funktionieren

Is there any interest in using PEEK for the extruder thermal barrier?

reifsnyderb — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:53:47 -0800

Hello,

If there is enough interest, I am willing to make a run of PEEK thermal barriers for the extruder. I would have to charge about $12.00 each, plus shipping ($1.50), for them.

Regards,

Brian

Re: Unable to open some files in AOI

mccoyn — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:29:04 -0800

You can copy the plugins folder from 2.7.2 to 2.8. I've done it with a plugin for 2.7 to 2.6 and everything seemed to work fine.

Or you can use 2.7 to import STL and 2.8 to open AOI with CSG. That is similar to when I am currently doing with 2.6 and 2.7. A bit annoying.

I'm glad to here this thing is fixed in 2.8.

Re: Hello and newbie question.

mccoyn — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:22:13 -0800

I noticed something strange with the speed when I switched from the Gen 2 firmware to the 5D firmware. When I was using the Gen 2 firmware, I could run up to 50 mm/s with no problems. If I pushed it to 55 mm/s, the Y-axis would occasionally skip and I would get messed up builds. After I switched to the 5D firmware, 50 mm/s didn't work at all. I ended up slowing it down all the way to 25 mm/s. Anything above 30 mm/s would cause the y-axis to skip.

A part that took about 40 minutes to print with the gen 2 firmware set to 50 mm/s took about 40 minutes to print with the 5D firmware set to 25 mm/s.

The flowrate/feedrate ratio had to be twice as large on the 5D firmware.

So, at least one firmware is off by a factor of two and we might be comparing apples to oranges here.

We should compare the predicted time by Skeinforge to the actual time to print something to try and figure this one out.

Re: Extruder controller Stepper motor not working

nophead — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:43:53 -0800

Seems odd because Adrian Bowyer has been using a stepper extruder for months. He always checks his code into SVN so there must be a working version.

Looking for mendel plastic parts

PimpKittah — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 05:10:29 -0800

Hi
if anyone got any Mendel Parts (machine + extruder) they want to sell please email,
prefered payment paypal, state your price in the mail including shipping airmail / EMS.

I live in sweden, dont really care where the parts come from.
(Zip dest 80321 for calculation)

Thanks :P

Re: Unable to open some files in AOI

gerard94 — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:25:07 -0800

@nophead : It's what I had alredy done. Perhaps the pluglin has not yet been updated for this beta version.

Re: Looking for RepRap parts in Australia

Joffy — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:23:55 -0800

Hailing from Canberra as well, I have just started researching hardware for construction of a Mendel.

Once complete I'm looking towards printing components for others and extending the design with a few ideas I've been cooking in my head for about two years.

Re: Looking for RepRap parts in Australia

Oscar Fox — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:01:34 -0800

Looks like I have interest from Fergus, Cogsy and That Guy for three of my four spare kits and I will contact them separately.

If anyone is interested in the last kit let me know ASAP, I will be bringing in more bits and pieces and more extruder kits in the future, but it will be more than likely as I need bits for myself

Cheers

Oscar.

Re: Unable to open some files in AOI

Grogyan — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 03:52:47 -0800

nophead Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> @Grogyan,
> I have seen Adrian check in several files
> recently with "bad triangulation fixed" so they
> may already be sorted.

Nope, they have not yet, though i've sent Adrain an email with the proposed fixes of bad files that people like gerard94 have noticed.

Re: Probleme mit 2 stl Dateien

Paddy — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 02:43:27 -0800

Schua mal in Deinem Email Postfach nach!