Posts Tagged ‘ rumba

Building the C-Bot 3d Printer : Part 31 : Upgrade to RADDS, Repetier

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This post could also be called:

How the C-Bot experienced catastrophic failure, and survived

The short version of what led up to this point is:

  • Decided to print a 3d quad-copter frame on the C-Bot, but needed to swap to my .6mm nozzle from the 1.2mm one that I had installed.
  • The last time I used the .6mm nozzle and removed it, I burned out the filament with my butane torch, so it’d be clean for next usage.  However, I was a dummy and gripped the threads with my pliers.  Even gripping lightly, it marred the threads, compounded by the extreme heat of the burnout.
  • When I threaded in the .6mm nozzle, I encountered resistance I didn’t expect.  So I just ‘twisted a little harder’, and popped the head off the nozzle.  It’s now stuck in my hotblock.
    • snapped_nozzle  Sad, so sad…
  • Ordered a new hotblock, and a .4mm nozzle at the same time:  Why not, I’d never tried a .4mm nozzle on the C-bot before.
  • Got the new hotblock and .4mm nozzle installed.  But when printing at 90mm\sec with Marlin, I got a lot of stuttering, even when printing directly over SD.
  • It was suggested I drop the microstepping of my DRV8825’s to 1/16 from 1/32 : This will halve the number of instructions the machine needs to process.
  • Pulled the drivers out of the Rumba, flipped the dip switches, plugged them back in, and turned on the machine:  Terrible squealing sound, bad smells, etc.  Turned it off immediately, but the damage was done:  Rumba dead.  Even though I double-checked, I had plugged one of the drivers in one-pin off.  Magic smoke = released.
  • Now I need an all new mainbord.  After much research, I decided on a Arduino Due/RADDS combo, running Repetier:  I liked the idea of the 32-bit system, and a new firmware that was wasn’t Marlin.  Plus if I didn’t like Repetier I can always swap to RepRap Firmware.

So that’s what this post is about:  Swapping out my old Rumba for a new Due/RADDS combo, and installing Repetier on it.  I’ve made it so verbose mainly for myself, as reference in the future.  It is definitely a living document that will be updated over time.

The final product looks pretty slick:

radds_repetier

(I do have a fully 3d-printed case for them both now, I just like that pic…)


Installation Notes

My notes below are in the order I performed them to do the swap from my existing hardware.  Prettymuch the same order you’d do it in if you were doing this new, from scratch.

After I did my upgrade, I also found this great setup guide: http://reprap.me/media/manuals/RADDS_UserGuide_V2_reprapme.pdf

My development environment:

  • OSX 10.10.5
  • Arduino IDE 1.6.4
  • Repetier 0.92.5
  • RADDS 1.5

Hardware Sources:

  • Arduino Due : I got mine via an Amazon Prime special for $15.
  • RADDS : $61, via MakerFarm.
  • LCD : $37, via MakerFarm.
  • SD6128 Drivers: 4x, $11.50, via Panucatt.
    • Note, there are other stepper driver options out there.  One of which is the RAPS128.  From the forums, it sounds like there are reason to not get this driver because of it’s ‘inverted’ state (compared to the SD6128).  Discussed below in the watchdog section below.

Configuring Arduino Due with the Arduino IDE:

  • The Due wasn’t recognized by Arduino software:
  • Arduino -> Tools -> Board -> Board Manager -> Search for SAM -> Choose the one that supports Arduino Due
    • https://www.arduino.cc/en/Guide/Cores
  • Got this error on simple “blink” sketch:
    • arm-none-eabi-gcc: error: core/syscalls_sam3.c.o: No such file or directory
  • Forums to the rescue > I downgraded the core to 1.6.4, and could then upload.
  • Be sure to use the ‘programming USB port’ (the closest one to the barrel jack) to upload sketches to it, I didn’t have success with the other one (‘native USB’).

Pre-Configuring the RADDS Board:

  • Set stepper driver microstepping first, on the back of the board.
  • I’m using SD6128 drivers, set to 1/32 microstepping, so it’s {on,off,on}.  By default they were {on,on,on} (1/128 microstepping), so I just flipped the middle switch.  Based my my query to the forums, the though was presented that humans can’t see much past 1/16, and the higher the microstepping the less holding torque the steppers had.  Since I’d previously had my DRV8825’s set to 1/32 on the Rumba, I kept this the same on the SD6128’s.  This had the benefit below of being able to use the exact same steps/mm for the steppers in Repetier as Marlin.
  • Insert stepper drivers, making sure DIR pin on driver lines up with DIR pin on board.
  • Squish the RADDS Shield into the Due.  Carefully.

LCD-Display:

  • Connect via the diagram in the link.
  • Can’t use a RepRapDiscount display I have on my Rumba board, gotta use the special RADDS display.

 Installing Firmware: Repetier

  • Instructions via the RADDS page I followed here.
  • For future note:  A list of all valid G & M codes for Repetier can be found on it’s GitHub page for Repetier.ino : I’ve found other spots on the web that list them (including the RepRapWiki and ironically the Repetier Firmware GitHub Wiki) which all seem out of date when it comes to Repetier’s codebase.
  • First step is to go to the Repetier firmware download page, which links to the web-based ‘Repetier Firmware Configuration Tool’ discussed below.  After you’re doing configuring, you download.
  • Note, Repetier makes it super easy to do a later update:  After the initial full download and install of Repetier via the Arduino IDE (info below), to do an update all you have to do is upload your existing configuration.h to the web-based ‘Configuration Tool’, update the settings, then re-download just the configuration.h, which you can re-update via the Arduino IDE.  Pretty slick.
  • Also note that after you do the first install, some values are only adjustable via the EEPROM (see notes below) unless you disable that feature (See ‘General Tab’ below).
  • Repetier Firmware Configuration Tool v092 initial settings:
    • General Tab:
      • Set correct Processor : Arduino Due based boards)
      • Set correct Motherboard : Arduino Due with RADDS
      • Set the printer type.  Mine is set to “z axis + H-gantry/core-XY (x_motor = x+y, y_motor = x-y)” : I have my “X-stepper” mounted to the top-left, and the “Y-stepper” mounted to the top-right.
      • Set the dimensions correctly.
      • Set the EEPROM usage.
        • By default it’s set to “Set 1”, which means after the initial install of Repetier, certain values are only editable via the EEPROM (via the RADDS LCD).  Took me a while to figure this out, couldn’t figure out why changing values (like steppers steps/mm) wouldn’t update when I’d re-upload the firmware:  This is the reason.
        • Note:  Every time you use the configuration tool, if you change this value (from 1 to 2, then back to 1, etc), it will refresh the EEPROM.   So if you want to blast your EEPROM values based on some future config, just tick this value from 1 to 2, or 2 to 1 depending on its current state.  Actually pretty slick way to do things once you figure it out…
    • Mechanics Tab:
      • If you’er using RAPS128 drivers (I am not, I’m using SD6128), be sure to check ‘Invert Enable Signal’.  See notes on the watchdog section below as to why this could be a bad thing.
      • Don’t forget to double your steps per mm (if you’re setting them here now) for the X & Y, since Repetier requires them to be doubled for core-xy machines for some reason (told they’re working on a future fix for that).  I plugged in the past ones from Marlin as a starting point, since I was using 1/32 microstepping on that as well (399.486, 401.083, 804.91) – those are the doubled x&y vals.
      • If you’re driving both Z-steppers from two different stepper drivers, you can enable that in the ‘z stepper motor’ section. To start, I’m going to try to drive both steppers off the same driver, since the RADDS board specifically has pinouts for that.
      • Set “Delay Stepper High Signal” to 1, since this is a Due board.  Also read this is needed for core-xy machines.  Note I’ve used both 0 & 1 values, and have noticed no difference in print quality.
      • Set ‘Move Cache Size’ from 16 (default) to 32 (since we have a lot more memory on the Due than a normal Arduino).
      • Set your endstop homing order.  Mine is X,Y,Z:  I want to get the gantry out of the way of the build platform just in case…
      • Set your endstop switch type:  Since I’m re-using the “makerbot style” (or RAMPS 1.4 style) mechanical endstops, I set mine to “normally-open”.  See ‘Endstops’ below.
    • Tools Tab:
      • Set the Temperature Sensor for your extruder.
        • My E3D-v6 Volcano stated it came with a “100K Semitec 104GT2 NTC thermistor” : This wasn’t listed in Repetier.
        • The E3D Troubleshooting docs said: “Repetier Firmware use thermistor definition number 8”:
          • #define EXT0_TEMPSENSOR_TYPE 8
        • There is no option for that number in the firwmare setup wizard (it’s all by name), but I later set it to that value in the configuration.h file directly via the Arduino IDE.
        • Note, getting this right is super important!  I was having all sorts of print problems (since I’d just chosen a thermistor by name that ‘sort of matched’) until I set it to ‘EXT0_TEMPSENSOR_TYPE 8’ in the firmware, and it’s amazing how much better the print quality got.  Of course you may be using a different type of thermistor, but the important thing is get the right value plugged in here.
        • ALSO NOTE, ALSO SUPER IMPORTANT: If you later go back to use the online ‘Repetier-Firmware Configuration Tool’ to adjust other settings & re-download, this temp sensor setting will get reset (mine gets reset to 14 every time) : You must manually go back into the configuration.h and set it back to 8 (or whatever value is appropriate for you).  I’ve posted this bug to their forum, so we’ll see what the community has to say about it…
      • Be sure to set the “Extruder Cooler Pin”, or the fan won’t kick on as the hotend heats up.  I set mine to “Fan pin”.
      • Be sure to set “Enabled Heated Bed Support” if you have one, and the type of thermistor used.
      • Set your extruder’s “Resolution”, or “steps per mm” : Mine is 300 from Marlin (Repetier was 370 by default).  I ended up having to set it to 325 based on testing (but via the LCD Configuration menu, and store in the EEPROM, not via the Arduino sketch.)
    • Features Tab:
      • Be sure to set your “Print cooling fan pin” if you’re using one (to cool the filament as it is deposited).  I set mine to “Fan 2 pin”.
      • Set “Fan pin for board cooling” if you’er using fans to cool your mainboard.  I set mine to “Heater 3 normally used for extruder 2”.
      • Set ‘Enable Watchdog’ if you’re doing that (see the next section below).
      • At the bottom, set “Homing after Filament Change” to “No Homing”.
        • Or in Configuration.h set:
        • #define FILAMENTCHANGE_REHOME 0
        • If you don’t do this, you may get a bug that happened to me:  If you pause the print to reload the filament via the LCD, when the print restarts it’ll go to the wrong location :(  This took me a lot of troubleshooting to figure out.
    • User Interface Tab:
      • Change “Display Controller” to “RADDS LCD Display 4×20”
      • I unchecked all the languages other than English
      • I set my Machine Name
      • Setup ABS & PLA preheat presets.
    • Manual Additions:
      • None
    • Download:
      • Note any errors or warnings that appear at the top of that page (in the different-colored callout box.  There may be none):  I didn’t realize these are actually calculated based on the latest settings, and will change\update every time you go back to the ‘Downloads’ section.
      • “Download complete Firmware incl. these settings” the first time.
      • Every time after the first, you only need to “Download configuration.h” to update the firmware.

Firmware installation on HD, integrating with Arduino, upload to Due:

  • I unzipped the download to my (mac) ~/Documents/Arduino folder, which is the home for all my sketches.
  • When I opened Arduino, a “Repetier-Firmware” section appeared in my sketches.
  • A txt file is provided at the root of the zip with more specific info to do.  One of those things is getting the ‘Hardware Watchdog‘ setup for Due (which is off by default).
    • The instructions are all for windows though:  I’m on Mac, so none of the copy paths matched up.  Finally, I found the directory where I needed to copy everything:
    • /Users/<USERNAME>/Library/Arduino15/packages/arduino/hardware/sam/1.6.4/variants   -> Copy the /arduino_due_repetier folder from the zip here
    • /Users/<USERNAME>/Library/Arduino15/packages/arduino/hardware/sam/1.6.4  -> Copy the boards.txt here.  I first renamed the old one to _boards.txt just to not loose anything.
  • Upon restarting Arduino, under ‘Tools -> Board’, there is now a ‘Arduino Due for Repetier’ option.  Which is what you want to select to enable the watchdog.
  • Time to upload to the Arduino.  Simple Repetier guide here.
    • Don’t forget to fix your ‘EXT0_TEMPSENSOR_TYPE’ to the correct value before upload, if it was changed by the web ui!
  • The compile and upload went off without a hitch!  LCD came to life immediately after the reboot.

Testing the Watchdog:

To make sure you have the watchdog working, issue a M281 to Repetier Firmware via your host software (I use Simplify3D).  If its working, you should see something like this:

SENT: M281
RECEIVED: ok 0
RECEIVED: Info:Triggering watchdog. If activated, the printer will reset.
RECEIVED: TargetExtr0:0
RECEIVED: T:21.34 /0 B:21.25 /0 B@:0 @:0
SENT: M105
SENT: M105
RECEIVED: start
RECEIVED: Info:Watchdog Reset

And the printer should reset in the process.  Thanks to Ryan Carlyle for the above tip.

What is the ‘Hardware Watchdog’ doing?

Fine question which I didn’t know the answer to.  Gotta love the internet:

Here’s a quote from Dan Newman:

“If the processor is wedged up, then for many/most definitions of wedged up, it won’t be responding to any commands as the software is, well, wedged up.  That’s the point behind the hardware watchdog: you enable it with a timeout (e.g., 4 or 8 seconds is common on an AVR).  Then your software MUST reset it every N seconds before the timeout expires.  If your software doesn’t reset it in time, then the watch dog fires and forces a reset of the processor. Wedged software won’t reset it and so it fires resetting the processor.”

“Watch dog is just a hardware timer.  It starts, for example, a 4 second countdown.  If you don’t reset the timer before the 4 seconds elapse, then the hardware in the processor causes it to reset (i.e., reboot).   So, healthy firmware makes damn sure to reset it more frequently than every 4 seconds.  If the firmware locks up or is otherwise having unexpected problems, it cannot reset it and so the countdown completes and the processor is rebooted.   To be useful, the electronics and firmware should be well designed: the electronics should be default assert a powered off state for heaters.  And the firmware on booting should also turn all heaters off.   Likewise for motors.”

And Ryan Carlyle:

“It’s a hardware deadman switch built into the processor. The watchdog has a countdown timer (adjustable but usually a few seconds long) that must be reset by the firmware over and over forever. If the timer ever reaches zero, the watchdog will hard-reset the processor. Specifically for 3d printers, we want to ONLY reset the watchdog timer when the heater powers are managed. That way, if the firmware falls into an infinite loop during a bad SD read or whatever and stops paying attention to the heaters, the watchdog will reset everything. That will then turn the heaters off, unless something else is wrong too.”

Comments on using RAPS128 stepper drivers, and the watchdog, in regards to the “…And the firmware on booting should also turn all heaters off…” comment above:

Ryan Carlyle: “This is something that bugs me about RAPS128 drivers (enable is inverted) and FD-RAMPSv1 (FET is inverted) — the standard reset sequence actually turns stuff on while the firmware loads. Not good behavior. “

Dan Newman: “And when installing/updating firmware they typically enable as well.  Yes,
it is annoying. “

People, just use SD6128 drivers…


Connecting the Hardware:

Descriptions below based on this image of the RADDS board.

RADDS_Wiring

Connecting Steppers:
  • I hooked both Z-steppers to the same driver on the board:  They conveniently provide two headers there specifically for that.  So far, I’ve had no issue raising \ lowering the bed.
  • I hooked my “left” stepper to the “X” driver, and the “right” stepper to the “Y” driver.  And.. the extruder stepper to the corresponding driver.
Tuning Stepper Drivers
  • I’m using 4 SD6128 drivers:  One driver for the dual-z steppers, plus one each for X, Y, & Extruder steppers.
  • Setting the reference voltage:
    • They have a max peak output of 2.2A.
    • Based on this doc: http://reprap.org/wiki/RAPS128, it recommends a voltage range between .8-1.6v
    • Based on the user guide, the: Current Limit = VREF*2
    • To set this, touch one probe from your voltmeter on the pot on the driver, an the other on the RADDS ground.  See the picture in section 3.4 of this pdf guide.
    • By default they all appeared to be set to around .55v : I dialed them up (clockwise) to just under 1v : Anything higher than that and the steppers would make a terrible sound and I had to reboot the machine to get them to move again.
    • Fast-forward:  .9->1v is way too much for the steppers:  After only 4 minutes of printing they were burning hot to the touch, and were starting to melt their brackets.  I dialed their voltage back to .55, and got much cooler-to-the-touch results.  As an aside, I’d set my DRV8825’s to .58 volts.  After a bit more printing my extruder stepper was doing some skipping, so I pushed it up to .75v, and it’s been doing fine since.
    • Lesson learned:  Set SD6128’s ref voltage to .75v, this sets the current (from the current limit equation, above) to 1.5A (1.5 = .75*2). Anything higher than that and things start getting pretty hot.
  • Update:  I swapped out to some RAPS128 much later (as a test only):  You should set their ref voltage to 1.1v.  Their ‘Current Limit = VREF*0.9125
Endstops:
  • I’m still using the “Makerbot style” (or RAMPS style) endstops that I had hooked up to my Rumba.
    • endstop diagram
  • Their pin order (starting with the side of the switch) is (sig, -, -, +)
  • To hook this up to the RADDS board it’s important to not hook up the +v, just the sig and -:  RADDS is a 3.3v system and the LED works off 5v logic.
  • My wire colors were Green (sig) Black (-) Red (+).  So I just cut the Red (+) line and plugged it in to the MIN XYZ headers on the board (since my machine homes negative X, negative Y, negative Z).
  • These switches are NO (Normally-Open) by default:  Tripping the switch creates (closes) the connection.

Other Components:

  • I plugged my main power, and hotbed input voltage just like the image shows.
  • Since I use a relay to actually control the bed power, I wired it into the voltage output for the bed (blue/yellow lines in the image), just like before on the Rumba.  In Repetier : ‘Heater 1 normally used for heated bed’.
  • Hotend heater cartridge connected to “Heater Hotend 1”.  In Repeter : ‘Heater 0 normally used for extruder 0’.
  • Hotend cooler fan connected to “Fan 1”.  In Repeter: ‘Fan pin’.
  • Filament cooler fan connected to “Fan 2”.  In Repetier: ‘Fan 2 pin’.
  • Mainboard cooler fan(s) connected to “Heater Hotend 3”.  In Repetier : ‘Heater 3 normally used for extruder 2’.
  • Hotend thermistor connected to “Thermistor Hotend 1”.  In Repetier : ‘Temp 0 normally used for extruder 0’.
  • Heated bed thermistor connected to… the top plugs (per the diagram), which I’m guessing is actually “Thermistor Hotend 5”?  In Repetier: ‘Temp 1 normally used for heated bed.’

3d Printed Cases

I’m sure your Googling is just as good as mine, but I found this nice RADDS & LCD case on Thingiverse:

  • RADDS Case
    • Note, after print I had to cut a long slot (with my Dremel) through the side that said “Arduino Due” to provide wire access to all the screw-terminals on that side.
  • LCD Case

Setting up with Octoprint

try to use Octoprint most of the time (back using the Rumba/Marlin) for remote print monitoring.  I couldn’t get it to recognize the SD card however on the new hardware.  Under Octoprint’s Settings -> Feature menu, there’s a bunch of “Repetier specific” options :  I checked those all on, and the SD card was immediately recognized.

Also found a slick plugin called the “EEPROM Repetier Editor” that, quote “Makes it possible to change EEprom Values of Repetier Firmware through OctoPrint”.  Nice!


In Conclusion

I’ve had it running for a few weeks, now, and have been tuning my print profiles in Simply 3D:  All my tests have been running at 90m/sec with no issues, so high hopes for much higher values in the future.


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C-Bot 3D Printer: Resource Page

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This page is a collection of resource for building my Core-XY C-Bot printer:  Electronics, hardware, software related.

Finished C-Bot!

Finished C-Bot!

OpenBuilds Links:

  • Main C-Bot page : Includes printed part picture links, and external 3d files that are needed (for the Bowden extruder, etc).
  • C-Bot Forum : Fantastic Resource
  • C-Bot File List : Original BOM, assembly guide, and all the stl’s to print.
  • Link to my BOM.  This is a modified version from the OpenBuilds page based on my specific needs.
    • Note when ordering the hardware:  Think about the overall color of the printer:  Many nuts and bolts can come in silver or black:  Do you care? Should they all be one or the other?  Worth considering.

Hardware:

Core-XY Mechanics Theory Link

To build the 12″ x12″ x24″ build volume, these were my extrusions lengths:

  • The below labeling corresponds with the Assembly Guide updates (above link) that Mason Sheffield made.
  • 20×40 OpenBuilds V-Slot Extrusions:
    • A : Vertical Legs : 4x 820mm
    • B : Top/Bottom Horizontal X : x4 440mm
    • C : Top Horizontal Y : 2x 450mm
    • D : Base Horizontal Y : 2x 420mm
    • E : Print Bed Supports (Mounts to G) : 2x 395mm
    • F : Top XY-Gantry (what extruder mounts to) : x1 464mm
  • 20×60 OpenBuilds V-Slot Extrusions:
    • G : Rear Z-Slider : x1 428mm
  • ACME Leadscrews : 2x 705mm

Important notes though:

  • Using the E3D Volcano Extruder subtracts 2″ from your build height based on how much it hangs down.  And, the above calculates on the Z-axis were still off, so right now I’m at a practical 21″ build height not 24″.  To resolve a few options:
    • Cut longer A lengths.
    • Redesign the extruder holder to move it ‘up’ more.
    • Since my z-gantry is a 40×60, I could actually move the whole build-platform down by 20mm by sort of ‘reversing’ it.  however, I feel that design would give less overall strength to it.
  • Basically, calculate your extruder length into your overall height.

Electronics


Software/Firmware


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Building the C-Bot 3D printer: Part 23 : Filament Cooling Fans

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(Note:  Since I posted this, I upgraded the fans to more powerful models.  See that here.)

Total time:  About 2 hours.

Based on previously printed calibration cubes, I knew I couldn’t do any serious printing until I got my filament coolers installed:  I printed out the pair of them, bolted some 12v 40mm fans to them, ran the wires, and quickly realized I didn’t know how to tell Marlin & the Rumba board they existed.

Long story short, this is how I wired all the fans on the board:

  • The extruder cooler fan is plugged into the Rumba’s ‘Extruder2’ / pin 6 (I hijacked it, since I don’t have multiple extruders).
  • The filament cooler fans (one on each side of the hot-end, that this post is about) are plugged into the Rumba’s ‘Fan0’ / pin 7.
  • The two case fans (that cool the stepper drivers) are plugged into the Rumba’s ‘Fan1’ / pin 8.

Then in Marlin:

Configuration_adv.h : 
#define CONTROLLERFAN_PIN 8 // Rumba Fan1:  Case stepper driver cooling fan
#define EXTRUDER_0_AUTO_FAN_PIN 6 // Rumba Extruder2 : Extruder cooling fan

pins_RUMBA.h:
#define FAN_PIN 7 // Rumba Fan0 : Filament cooling fan
Once that was uploaded, the filament coolers got to work immediately:
filamentCooler2
My only concern is they don’t feel like they have enough ‘oomph’:  They’re 12v, .1A, if I buy any more in the future I think I’ll look for something with a higher CFM rating.  But for the time being, they work!  And as you see, some real printing is starting to happen…

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Building the C-Bot 3D printer: Part 20 : Electronics Day 3: Swapping stepper drivers

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Update:  Since authoring this post I have switched my electronics to RADDS, and my firmware to Repetier.  See the “Part 31 post” for the latest on it.


Total time:  about 3.5 hours.

My Rumba board originally came with 6x A4988 Motor Stepper Drivers that have a 1/16 microstep resolution (I won’t pretend to know that that really means.  Sounds small).  Their ‘continuous current per phase’ is rated at 1A.  I’d had previous problems trying to drive both my Z-steppers off a single driver, so I switched to a driver per stepper.  In the meantime though, I ordered a five-pack of DRV8825‘s:  They have 1/32 microstepping resolution (ooohh…) and their ‘continuous current per phase’ is 1.5A (which I figured may be enough to drive two z-steppers, which is how Mason does it).

My thought was go back to the ‘single stepper driver controls two steppers’, but since I’ve already got my paired steppers and drivers working, I’ll just leave it that way for the time being.  I may only never need to change if I decide to go to dual-extrusion.

Removing the A4988’s and swapping in the DRV8825’s was seamless: I didn’t even need to flip any of the dip-switches living under each driver, on the Rumba:  In both instances, {on,on,on} was exactly what I needed set.  However, it’s VERY IMPORTANT you mount them the correct direction (see below pic):  The trimpot on the DRV8825 mounts 180 from the A4988:  Towards the ‘top’ of the board, rather than towards bottom.  I figured this out my checking the silkscreen on both the boards and (luckily) realizing the difference.  DRV8825:  Trimpot over capacitor.  A4988: Trimpot away from capacitor.

Like before, I needed to tune them.  Previously I tuned them by adjusting their resistance (rather than voltage) values while they were un-plugged from the Rumba.  Later I found these values to be off, and ended up manually tuning them via the trimpot while driving the steppers back and forth.  Second time is always better, and I grasp the whole process more fully:

This post from the RepRap Wiki spells it out pretty plainly:  To set the reference voltage,  you take 70% of the steppers current, and divide by two.  So the maths:

How to actually tune it?  They have a nice pic on the above link, but the steps I went though were:

  • Turn on the Rumba.  I then energized the stepper drivers by manually driving the x\y gantry from the LCD.
  • Once energized, I set my multimeter to volts, touched the positive probe to the trimpot, and the negative lead to the negative pin on the driver itself.
  • From there, I’d adjust the trimpot slightly until I got to around .58v on each.
  • drv8825 tuning

    Checking the DRV8825’s reference voltage: One probe on the trimpot, the other on negative.

When that was done I thought I’d try and print the calibration cube again:  Suddenly everything started printing 2x as small.

AH!  A4988 drivers have 1/16 microstep resolution, but the DRV8825’s have 1/32 : You need 2x the steps to go the same distance.  So it was back into Marlin’s Configuration.h file to retune the ‘DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT’ variable.  By default I doubled everything to: {200, 200, 800, 300}, then individually started tuning them via the process I used before.  My final numbers:

#define DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT {199.7403,  200.5415,  804.90995, 300}

Noooow, I can get back to final wiring and tuning my print settings…


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Building the C-Bot 3D printer: Part 18 : Software Day 3 : Tuning movement settings

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Update:  Since authoring this post I have switched my electronics to RADDS, and my firmware to Repetier.  See the “Part 31 post” for the latest on it.


Now that my z-stage is moving down and up, and I can ‘auto home’ my printer through the LCD, it was time to get the movement settings and max travel extents calibrated.

Total time:  About two.5 hours.

Tuning Movement Settings:

You need to make sure that when the g-code tells your printer to go 100 mm’s, it really goes 100mm.  Not 90mm.  Not 100.1mm: 100 mm.  On bots like my Makerbot Replicator (1) this is already done for you.  But when building your own machine from scratch, you need to figure all this out.  Otherwise you get ovals where you should get circles, and rectangles where you should get squares.

First I had to get some info for my hardware:

  • Stepper :
  • Stepper Driver:
  • XY Pulleys:
    • GT2
    • Teeth : 16
  • Belts:
    • GT2
    • Pitch : 2mm (distance between each tooth)
  • Lead Screw :
    • 8mm ACME
    • Pitch : Listed at 2 (distance in mm between each peak), but this value was incorrect for the below calculator.  Info below.  The value needed in this instance was 8 (the distance in mm traveled with one revolution).

Armed with those numbers, I accessed the “RepRap Calculator” to get me the base values for my bot.  I wanted to see if they’d match values Mason had already pre-plugged into Marlin (that mine should very closely match), but I wanted to understand how this system worked:  In Marlin’s Configuration.h, I found the line with ‘DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT’ with an array of four values plugged into it {x, y, z, extruder}.  Based on the calculator, my ‘belt steps per mm’ came out to 100, which was around what Mason had given me.  However, the ‘leadscrew steps per mm’ were 4x (1600) what was listed in the firmware (400).  After a bit of research, I realized the calculator wanted to know the distance the lead screw travels in one revolution, not the tooth-to-tooth pitch (2mm).  Armed with my calipers, I figured out one revolution traveled 8mm, and plugging that into the calculator gave me a value of 400.  Success!

Now for the tuning:  I found this great guide (on the Marlin Configuration page) by Neil Underwood that goes through the manual process of telling your bot (in my case, via the LCD) to go 100mm, and then measure with calipers to see how far it really went.  Do maths, enter new values into firmware, re-measure, over and over.  Not hard, just a bit time consuming:

My final values:

#define DEFAULT_AXIS_STEPS_PER_UNIT {100.2166,  100.20469,  401.770921, 145.5687675196672}

Gotchas:

I just hit one major problems:  Very often the Rumba would reject the upload from the Arduino IDE.  At a certain point, it took me half an hour to get three uploads.  It turned this already slow process into an incredibly slow and frustrating process.

I’ve been programming Arduino’s for years and never encountered anything like this (but never on a 2560 like the Rumba uses):  Sketch would compile, but when it would go to upload it would timeout, saying this:

avrdude: stk500v2_ReceiveMessage(): timeout

Searching the internets, I found many other people with complaints (not Rumba specific, Arduino Mega specific), but no solutions.  Finally, I read one post (which I’ve lost the link to) that had this issue.  The fix?  Simply swapping USB ports on your PC between uploads.  Suddenly I was back in business.

Setting the max travel extents

For each axis, there is an endstop telling the printer to ‘stop moving’ when it hits it.  Most printers (like mine) only have one endstop per axis, although you could setup two per axis (min & max) and probably skip this step.  If the endstop stops the toolhead\build platform going in one direction, what stops it going in the other?  The firmware.

In Marlin’s Configuration.h, there’s a section called “Travel limits after homing”, where you can setup these constraints for X, Y, and Z_MAX_POS.  To start, I edited these values to be something much larger than my current volume, since I was going to dial this in manually on my own and didn’t want a small value to stop me before the true extent was reached.

After re-uploading the firmware with the ‘big’ values, via the LCD I manually drove each X, Y & Z axis to what I considered was the ‘safest max position’: Just before a X/Y gantry would hit something on the opposite side with maybe 10mm to spare, or about 50mm above the lead screw flexible couplings so as to not cause any binding.  I copied those numbers down from the LCD and plugged it back into the firmware.  My final values are:

// Travel limits after homing (units are in mm)
#define X_MIN_POS 0
#define Y_MIN_POS 0
#define Z_MIN_POS 0
#define X_MAX_POS 320
#define Y_MAX_POS 315
#define Z_MAX_POS 530

So my X & Y are clearly over a foot (304.8 mm), so I have no problem filling my whole 12×12″ bed.  But the Z is just under 21″, 3+” short of the 24″ build height I was after.  This is due to a few reasons:  I have maybe an inch before the z-gantry hits the flexible couplings on the leadscrews, and my E3D volcano easily sticks down over 2″ from the X/Y-gantry : If I did a bit of redesign on the extruder mount I could probably move it ‘up’ more and get 2+” back, and I’d be closer to my 24″ height goal.  But 21″ isn’t too shabby to start… 😛

Other Notes:

In my previous post I showed how my Y-endstop was at the rear of the bot:  This actually blocked the gantry from moving all the way back, and since the extruder is mounted on the front of it, I couldn’t get all the way to the rear of the build platform:  I moved it to the front corner instead, and got that clearance back.  Now my  endstops are all Xneg,Yneg,Zneg, when before they were Xneg,Ypos,Zneg.  In the firmware, the settings are thus:

// ENDSTOP SETTINGS:
// Sets direction of endstops when homing; 1=MAX, -1=MIN
// :[-1,1]
#define X_HOME_DIR -1
#define Y_HOME_DIR -1
#define Z_HOME_DIR -1

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