cannot connect to printer

Dear folks, I have built myself an ABS Prusa, which I bought from thereprapkitstore. They are out of bussiness, and I need help. Whatever I try, nothing happens when I hit connect on pronterface.

info: board is Melzi Ardentissimi ATMEGA644P, on computer I have ubuntu, pyhthon, pronterface. I open port with sudo chmod 666 /dev/ttyUSB0. The green led on the board blinks slowly. Pronterface has one port available: ttyUSB0. Connection speed is 250000, which is also set in configuration.h .

Frankly, if someone had told me the software part of 3d printing was such a nightmare I would have saved for some ready-to run package. I am struggling now for months without having printed anything, and it is exremely frustrating.

So, please help me, how do I conect to my printer?
thanks, Maarten

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flutelab makes ergonomical flutes and adaptive woodwinds

You were able to connect to the printer two months ago, whats changed since then?

Some distributions of Linux, Ubuntu included, have problems with non-standard baud rates like 250000. Try dropping back to 115200.

Not sure why you're opening the port from the terminal, but remember that only one process at a time can access a port so you may be blocking pronterface.

Andrew, thanks for your quick reply.
I was able to "see"my printer, but not run any commands. Since then my computer broke. So I converted an old computer to Linux, to be dedicated to this printer. As for opening the port from terminal: i f I dont, I get a "permission denied" message. And I tried all the different speeds in pronterface. Should I change that in configuration.h too?
thanks, Maarten

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flutelab makes ergonomical flutes and adaptive woodwinds

YES, you must change it in configuration.h compile and upload the firmware, THEN change it in proterface and try to connect. BOTH devices must be using the same baudrate and protocol e.g. 8 bit, No parity.

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Bob Morrison
Wörth am Rhein, Germany
"Luke, use the source!"
BLOG - PHOTOS - Thingiverse

Ok, thanks, I will try uploading firmware, it seems a complex procedure to me. Where do I see which protocol is set?
thanks, Maarten

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flutelab makes ergonomical flutes and adaptive woodwinds

Oh well, spent some time at it, but now the firmware does not compile. I get a "Cardreader does not name a type" message. I used the latest marlin, just uploaded from github. So what to do now?
thanks, Maarten (who is now wondering if he should give up)

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flutelab makes ergonomical flutes and adaptive woodwinds

Don't give up, you should be very close now. Latest marlin compiles for me, but not if I compile for Melzi which is a sanguino defined board. It might be something to do with the gen 7 extensions, make sure you have the latest version and a compatible version of the arduino IDE.

FYI, in Ubuntu you need to add yourself to the "dialout" group or you won't be able to connect to your 3D printer.

Unfortunately since the move to Gnome 3 (Ubuntu 11.10 and up) there is no GUI for it anymore (thank the GNOME project ), you need to do it in the command line.

sudo usermod -a -G dialout username

Where you obviously replace "username" with your actual user name. Then log off and log back in.

Hi folks, good morning from Amsterdam with a fresh cup of espresso (some machines dont let you down).

@Andrew Smith, thanks a lot. When I choose a board in ArduinoIDE, Melzi is not even there. So I choose ATMEGA664P or ATMEGA 1284P 16MHz, or even 8MHz, but I cannot compile any of them. Only change I made was that I changed baud rate drom 250000 to 114500 in configuration.h. So I will get the latest versions of arduino ide and marlin and try again.

@NormandC Thanks, I'm a totaal noob when it comes to linux, but it was the only legal way to pull a working machine from my computer scrapheap. I like to have a dedicated computer for the printer, which does nothing else. I also have one for my cnc mill.

Thanks, and I will let you know how things are developing
cheers, Maarten

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flutelab makes ergonomical flutes and adaptive woodwinds

Hi folks, nu success here...
I downloaded the Gen7 Arduino IDE 2.1 , it does not compile.
Also I cannot add myself to the dialout group in Linux, if I try it says user does not exist.
How do all these people manage to print? I find it completely impossible!
desperately, Maarten

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flutelab makes ergonomical flutes and adaptive woodwinds

Quote
Maarten Vissen
Also I cannot add myself to the dialout group in Linux, if I try it says user does not exist.

I told you, you need to replace "username" by your user name, which is your login name, the name you login to Ubuntu with.

@NormanC, I understand, trouble was that Ubuntu represented my username in the screen with a capital first letter, but I had to use small letter. But after I succeeded adding myself to dialout group, I coud not run sudo chmod 666 /dec/ttyUSB0 anymore. I am getting some help this weekend, do you think I need to install FTDI drivers?
thanks again, Maarten

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flutelab makes ergonomical flutes and adaptive woodwinds

Maarten Visser Wrote:
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> I coud not run sudo chmod 666
> /dec/ttyUSB0 anymore.

The point of that usermod command was to make running chmod unnecessary. Can you run other sudo commands? Didn't you omitted the -a switch in the usermod commnad? Perhaps you did, and now your user is no longer member of admin (or whatever is it called in ubuntu) group.

@miso: no, I did not omit the -a. Ans if I dont need the chmod 666 anymore, who cares? Thanks so far. I'm away from the printer now, cant wait to try it out! Thanks a lot,
Maarten

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flutelab makes ergonomical flutes and adaptive woodwinds

Hi folks, here an update:
I switched to a windows 7 machine. At least something I know how to operate. Also, it happened to be a netbook, so I could carry it to Fablab in Amsterdam [fablab.waag.org] where I received some great help. They helped me install a bootloader, compile and upload marlin (removing sd support to make it fit in the 644 chip), and the motors started to move! Also, they helped me correct a faulty bed thermistor.

Now two issues remain: The Y axis moves strangely. After connecting is listens to commands 3 or 4 times, then it stops. But it does home when I hit Y home button! Same behaviour in repetier host. Other axes move as expected.
Other issue: bed does not heat. Resistance measures a few ohm, and when I let the bed heat, I do not get the slightest increase in current consumption. Not the greatest problem as I will be printing pla mostly, but I would like it to work.
Any comments on the Y axis problem?
Thanks, Maarten

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flutelab makes ergonomical flutes and adaptive woodwinds