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Commissioning 101 - Pronterface

Shawn Fitzpatrick

April 28, 2016 19:20

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Per Robert Oakley's suggestion I am attempting to do basic things such as issuing my OpenGB an Extrusion command.

As has been previously stated, this is my first foray into 3D printing. Hopefully my posts will be of benefit to any poor fools that attempt to follow in my foot steps :)

Downloaded the Windows version of Pronterface and fired it up.

Baud ratings next to the Port kind of throw me, haven't had to deal with those in like 20 years LOL. Obviously we are talking pretty low level communication. Cool, I can deal with that. Plodding forward.

Can I connect via TCP/IP from Pronterface? One reference I find is at http://smoothieware.org/pronterface which I take it, is another controller board, which we don't have on OpenGB.

Attempting to do the above, the connection log says:

Connecting...
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "printrun\pronterface.pyc", line 1053, in connect
  File "printrun\pronsole.pyc", line 720, in connect_to_printer
  File "printrun\printcore.pyc", line 46, in inner
  File "printrun\printcore.pyc", line 186, in connect
TypeError: coercing to Unicode: need string or buffer, NoneType found

So obviously that is a fail...

Thus I assume that when Robert Oakley suggested using Pronterface he was expecting me to connect the USB cable to my computer rather than leaving it hooked to the Raspberry Pi and trying to establish a TCP/IP connection. Fair enough, time to dig up a USB extension cable to reach across the room...

OR download the Linux version of Pronterface to the Tablet. Hum...

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32 comments

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  Mike Battaglia May 02, 2016 15:54 Official comment

  The Z home position should have been set and is not intended to be moved. The 3 points should account for course and fine adjustment.

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  Micah Ganske April 28, 2016 21:39

  I've just connected my laptop to the OpenGB using the machine's usb cable, selected the correct com port (look in Device Manager to confirm which one is being used by your machine), selected 250000 for my baud rate, and hit connect.  Worked right away.  

  I can report that extruding in Pronterface works fine from the left Extruder (T0). I extruded for 100mm without issue.  Pronterface, by default, also extrudes much slower than the OpenGB app. If I had to guess, I'd say that the app pushes out plastic about twice as fast as Pronterface.  This would definitely result in the skipping I was experiencing.

  I've also run into another issue with the app.  This didn't happen yesterday, but when I tried to heat up the right extruder today, hitting the "PLA" or "ABS" buttons next to the second extruder moved the print head to the front-center location on the XY, and then froze.  From there, temperatures no longer updated, and I could no longer move any axis.  In order to get past this, I had to restart the Pi.  

  Weirdly, this exact same thing happened when I tried to heat the right extruder (T1) in Pronterface which seems like it might be a firmware issue.

  Looking forward to hearing how this works for others.

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  Robert Oakley April 28, 2016 23:56

  Do you have filament in both hot ends running past the filament detection switch?

   

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  Robert Oakley April 29, 2016 00:02

  Because it sounds like the filament detection is being tripped (coming soon we were still developing this) if this is the case, we can disable it by uploading the no filament detection firmware here: https://www.wevolver.com/re.3d/opengb/firmware/files/ 

  Let me know if you need any help with that

   

  Edited by Robert Oakley April 29, 2016 00:03
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  Shawn Fitzpatrick April 29, 2016 00:16

  Is that switch with the small bearing in the bottom rear corners where you feed the filament in?

  It seems that after finding this USB driver from the original Gigabot that I can now connect to the OpenGB: http://wiki.re3d.org/index.php?title=Installing_and_using_software_with_Gigabot

  Now to see what I can do...

  Edited by Shawn Fitzpatrick April 29, 2016 00:21
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  Robert Oakley April 29, 2016 00:24

  If you have the drivers for the arduino mega you should be good, but yes that is the page you are looking for.  That would also be the filament switch you are talking about.  If filament detection is enabled if a hot end heats up and filament isn't setting off the switch it will move the hot end and go into a sequence of a filament change.

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  Robert Oakley April 29, 2016 00:25

  I am also writing up a thing for you guys on how to install firmware if this is the issue I will post the link as soon as I am done

   

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  Shawn Fitzpatrick April 29, 2016 00:27

  We have plastic!!!!

  

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  Robert Oakley April 29, 2016 00:31

  YAY!!!!!!!

  I also just finished the firmware guide if either of you are having issues with this and need to reupload firmware to the controller

  https://www.wevolver.com/re.3d/opengb/firmware/guide/

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  Shawn Fitzpatrick April 29, 2016 00:32

  Both heat up using the app. Pronterface so far only sees the first print head which I assume is a config issue?

  The bed does not seem to heat with either the OpenGB App or Pronterface...

  Both the OpenGB App and Pronterface are able to control head and bed travel though I find the location of the Down button on the App counter-intuitive as its above the up button. Of course that is how it is in Pronterface so its probably a standard based on the movement required to build an object rather than looking at things from the user perspective.

  Edited by Shawn Fitzpatrick April 29, 2016 00:34
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  Shawn Fitzpatrick April 29, 2016 00:33

  Could we get you to describe the filament change sequence or do a short Youtube showing what that looks like?

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  Robert Oakley April 29, 2016 00:36

  in the settings of pronterface you need to set it to two extruders

  then you can change between the two hot ends with the tool button 

  

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  Robert Oakley April 29, 2016 00:38

  They are currently getting the filament detection set up on the app and once that is done i will make sure they do that.

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  Shawn Fitzpatrick April 29, 2016 00:40

  Sweet! Let me test that. Do you perhaps have something we can use as a test file? The jig or holder for the dial gauge for leveling the bed comes to mind as a good choice :)

  Thinking that would overcome issues such as configuring the slicing software correctly...

   

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  Robert Oakley April 29, 2016 00:43

  here is a test cube I sliced for ogb, if you load this file you should just have to hit print.  I will also work on documentation for simplify and loading the profile for your printer tonight

  file: https://www.wevolver.com/re.3d/opengb/getting-started/files/

  Edited by Robert Oakley April 29, 2016 00:43
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  Robert Oakley April 29, 2016 00:47

  I also just added a factory file to that link I don't want to keep you from printing so if you just remove the cube and add your own file to that you should have a good place to start before you get the full profile uploaded

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  Shawn Fitzpatrick April 29, 2016 00:52

  Thank you!

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  Robert Oakley April 29, 2016 00:53

  Let me know how it comes out cant wait to see your first print!

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  Micah Ganske April 29, 2016 00:59

  Oh duh!  I forgot about the filament detection! There was a piece of filament in the tube that I saw yesterday and thought, "oh I don't need this..." and threw it out, but that's what was letting the second extruder heat up.  Not used to having so many fancy features on my gigabot hahah. 

  Thanks Robert!  Feel quite silly about that now.  Looking forward to when the app has more notifications in place to let you know why it's doing what it's doing.  

  Got my test cubes printed already, going to go for something nice and big to run overnight!

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  Shawn Fitzpatrick April 29, 2016 01:05

  I can hardly wait either.

  I loaded the Arduino software and drivers, but I don't see any new Comm Ports so I wonder if I have a conflict with the Gigabot driver I loaded earlier.

  I haven't uploaded the new firmware yet, but if I followed you correctly it sounded like you expected that to help overcome issues with the OpenGB App, not with Pronterface, right?

  Being impatient, I loaded the cube.gcode file that Katy uploaded earlier into Pronterface and it enabled the Print button and says its printing but nothing is happening.

  Unfortunately I have to take a break for some family stuff for an hour or so, and then pack for my trip tomorrow... so it might be a bit before I get back to this.

   

   

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  Shawn Fitzpatrick April 29, 2016 01:06

  OH!!! Micah! Got you. Duh, I didn't think about the fact it would want filament in BOTH tubes either. Makes perfect sense!

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  Shawn Fitzpatrick April 29, 2016 01:09

  Except I never removed the piece of filament from the 2nd extruder tube, so we are back to uploading Robert's firmware patch.

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  Micah Ganske April 29, 2016 01:13

  Well, I was trying to heat up the second extruder so that's why it exhibited that behavior. 

  When you hit print in Pronterface on the 20mm cube gcode, it will heat up the bed first and it takes awhile.  Does the temperature readout for the bed change in Pronterface?  Once the bed heats up, the extruder will heat up, and then the print will begin.  Just make sure your bed is level and the z-height isn't too close.  Normally the corners are a touch lower than the center, so manually move the head to the center to check to make sure it's not touching.  You don't want your first print to scratch the bed surface. 

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  Micah Ganske April 29, 2016 01:15

  And that last bit is coming from lots of experience scratching my print beds!  

  My goal with my OpenGB is to avoid destroying part of it in the first week like I did with my original Gigabot.  It's nice to have goals!  hahaha

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  Shawn Fitzpatrick April 29, 2016 03:40

  Goals are extremely good to have.

  That said, now I'm a bit nervous about pushing things tonight, given that I don't have the tools to go thru the bed leveling procedure that was suggested. I might be tempted to just do it with a feeler gauge or something if I wasn't so tired.

  Thank you for including that bit about the bed having to heat before anything happens. Given that I think there is something wrong with my bed heater, that would likely explain why Pronterface wouldn't actually activate the printer even though it said it was printing.

  I'm off to Spokane early tomorrow for a work related meeting and then a wood turning course over the weekend, so sadly I won't get to do anything more till Monday now :(

   

  Edited by Shawn Fitzpatrick April 29, 2016 03:42
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  Shawn Fitzpatrick April 29, 2016 03:44

  Bed heating takes a while you say? What's "a while" - 5 minutes or 30?

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  Micah Ganske April 29, 2016 04:16

  More like 5 min so yeah, if the bed's not heating, but the software things it's supposed to, then it won't start.  That's a shame, but I'm sure it'll be a minor issue like a wire needing to be reseated or something like that.   

  Bed leveling can be quite the process, but you don't have to do it very often.  Once you get more familiar with printing, you can sort of skip some of the steps if you have a good eye. It's definitely much more challenging on a machine this big though. 

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  Micah Ganske April 29, 2016 04:19

  Also, thanks for putting together the firmware guide, Robert!  It will be exciting to see the software improve over the coming months. 

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  Shawn Fitzpatrick April 29, 2016 04:44

  I am sure all that's happened is a wire wiggled loose. I will need some info from re3D to help me diagnose that but sure we can figure it out.

  I leveled the bed red neck style with some paper as a feeler gauge which seemed to make sense...

  Then figured out how to set the bed temp to 0 in Simplify3D test this theory and loaded that gcode file up. Lo and behold but it started to try and print but it moved the bed up rather than leaving it where I had it, and scratched a 1" long line in my print bed before I could shut the printer off - sigh.

  At least I now know for sure that I need to fix this bed heater to get the printing process to work...

  Next I need to take the time to do the bed leveling again, more accurately. I am expecting I missed a step on adjusting the limit switches or something in software that controls it so the printer doesn't go past zero in the Z direction.

  Sadly I can't do more till Monday now... Oh well. Patience is a virtue they say.

   

   

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  Micah Ganske April 29, 2016 05:52

  Once you get the bed level, you need to make sure you home all the axis to make sure you're not too low.  I use the paper to level as well, but since the corners tend to be a little lower than the center of the plate, you need to manually adjust the overall z-height with the bolt under the front-right corner of the build platform.  Lower the screw raise the platform, raise the screw to lower the platform.

  Then make sure to use Pronterface, or the OGB app to manually move the print head toward the center to check your height.  The paper should be able to move freely under the nozzle toward the center.  There will be a pretty big gap between the nozzle and the bed at the corners, but I don't know any better way.