help with skeinforge !

does anyone know how to get skeinforge to use e codes so i can get my extruder on my reprap mendel to work ?

Look at the "dimension" plugin.

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I'm building it with Baling Wire

Skeinforge Dimension
Operation

This adds 5D E values to the G-Code. E is "distance" so firmware does not have to calculate it on it's own and can set the extruder speed in relation to the distance that needs to be extruded.

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

BTW you should turn off acceleration in the firmware when using Skeinforge to generate your gcode.

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

thanks guys , and is there a reason why turning off acceleration in the firmware when using Skeinforge ?

Mmm ive turned dimension on in skeinforge but, my extruder motor isnt really turning ? any ideas ? Take note i'm a newbie to skeinforge

One of the most common "errors" is the firmware trying to turn the Z axis too quickly. This can easily happen because the previous move was at 1200mm/m and the Z move has to be under 40mm/m. But the firmware (with it's fairly stupid logic) decides that it needs to deaccelerate from 1200mm/m to 40mm/m. Trying to move the Z axis at 1200mm/m doesn't work at all, of course.

So, either insert a dummy "F40.0" command before each Z move, or turn off acceleration in the firmware. I'm sure there's a better solution, but until skienforge gets the correct F commands in there, this is what we have.

Did you double-check the generated G-code to make sure it looks right? It should have "E" parameters to some of the "G1" commands:

G1 X10 Y234.3 Z12.6 E10.2

If it doesn't then double-check the dimensions settings. (and make sure you're looking at the newly generated file)

Post a bit of the g-code here, preferable a bit with a level change in it (i.e. where the Z number changes)

Double-check: You *do* have a stepper-based extruder, right? If not, don't use 5D.
Double-check: You *have* set the E steps/mm correctly, accounting for microstepping? An error there can also easily cause the motor to not turn at all, as the step rate is too high.

Open a serial terminal and type g-code directly at the firmware is also a good way to debug (though I think the repsnapper command line thing is almost as good) You can try a few simple commands there. Especially try setting an extremely low feedrate for E.

G1 E1 F10
G1 E2 F1
G1 E3 F0.1

etc.

You should be able to hear the motor try to move, with a different pitch each time. Slow it down/speed it up until you get it to move. Then recheck your assumptions about E steps/mm in light of your new knowledge. One technique I've heard of is to get it sorta right, then print a thin (one extrusion line) wall. Measure the wall's thickness to determine exactly how much plastic is being extruded, and adjust E steps/mm to get a .5mm thick wall.

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I'm building it with Baling Wire

ive turned accelerate in the firmware off by blanking it out using // but fter loading the gcode in rapsnapper the stepper motor isnt doesnt move, but i can see the lights on the extruder controller flash a little and the motor trys to move but doesnt.

here is a sample of the gcode below :


M104 S240 T0 (Temperature to 240 celsius)
G21 (Metric FTW)
G90 (Absolute Positioning)
G92 X0 Y0 Z20 (You are now at 0,0,20)
M108 S255 (Extruder speed = max)
M6 T0 (Wait for tool to heat up)
G0 Z0 (Go back to zero.)
G90
G21
M103
M105
M115 S60.0
M116 S30.0
M117 S0.0
M108 S210.0
G1 X-20.0 Y-20.0 Z0.2 F1801.218
M101
G1 X-20.0 Y13.53 Z0.2 F1890.0
G1 X-17.56 Y13.53 Z0.2 F1890.0
G1 X-17.75 Y13.36 Z0.2 F1890.0 E0.333
G1 X-17.97 Y13.16 Z0.2 F1890.0 E0.629
G1 X-18.59 Y12.78 Z0.2 F1890.0 E1.354
G1 X-19.26 Y12.51 Z0.2 F1890.0 E2.079
G1 X-19.97 Y12.36 Z0.2 F1890.0 E2.804
G1 X-20.69 Y12.33 Z0.2 F1890.0 E3.529
G1 X-21.41 Y12.42 Z0.2 F1890.0 E4.253
G1 X-22.1 Y12.63 Z0.2 F1890.0 E4.979
G1 X-22.75 Y12.96 Z0.2 F1890.0 E5.704
G1 X-23.33 Y13.39 Z0.2 F1890.0 E6.427
G1 X-23.84 Y13.92 Z0.2 F1890.0 E7.154
G1 X-24.24 Y14.52 Z0.2 F1890.0 E7.879
G1 X-24.54 Y15.18 Z0.2 F1890.0 E8.603
G1 X-24.72 Y15.88 Z0.2 F1890.0 E9.328
G1 X-24.78 Y16.6 Z0.2 F1890.0 E10.053
G1 X-24.72 Y17.32 Z0.2 F1890.0 E10.777
G1 X-24.54 Y18.02 Z0.2 F1890.0 E11.503
G1 X-24.24 Y18.68 Z0.2 F1890.0 E12.227
G1 X-23.84 Y19.29 Z0.2 F1890.0 E12.952
G1 X-23.33 Y19.81 Z0.2 F1890.0 E13.678
G1 X-22.75 Y20.24 Z0.2 F1890.0 E14.401
G1 X-22.1 Y20.57 Z0.2 F1890.0 E15.127
G1 X-21.41 Y20.78 Z0.2 F1890.0 E15.852
G1 X-20.69 Y20.87 Z0.2 F1890.0 E16.576

OH. gen3 electronics, and you're driving the extruder stepper off of the h-bridges. See the page in the wiki about PCB changes for mendel. Have you done the required changes? Probably, if you're seeing flashing lights.

Your problem probably isn't with skienforge at all, but rather with configuring your electronics properly to run with the 5D firmware. (again, see the wiki page)

Telling point: Can you get the extruder motor to turn at all, ever, with the 5D firmware? At this point, probably not I'm guessing. Turn pots, adjust PWM settings, etc. Try not to burn up your h-bridges. Keep in mind that you can almost certainly avoid this pain by getting a proper stepper driver instead of using the h-bridges, which are designed for running a DC motor, not a stepper. (again, see the wiki page)

At that point though, my knowledge runs out.

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I'm building it with Baling Wire

I don't see an M113 command to set the PWM for the extruder motor. This is either sent by itself to use the pot on the extruder board or set to a value between 0 and 1 with the S parameter (http://www.reprap.org/wiki/GCodes). It was either set to a value that's too low or it's been set to use the pot and the pot is set too low. Skeinforge has options in the speed tab for duty cycle to generate this command. Perhaps this option is off.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/05/2011 01:44PM by brnrd.

my mendel runs fine, i was just wanting to use skeinforge to genarate the gcode thats all.. but after slicing the stl files in skeinforge my extruder wouldnt work, so i know its a skeinforge problem !

i have uploaded a screenshot of speed and dimensions from skeinforge.

also does anyone have a mendel with the firmware from " reprap-mendel-20100719.zip " installed and is using skeinforge,
if so can u upload your skeinforge profile setting so i can see if they work with my maybe this will fix it ?

If you were using the reprap host, then you were using the pot on the board. Try inserting M113 on a line by itself before the first G1 command.

Hey Garry

I have been spending all day trying to get Skeinforge to generate sensible looking gcode.

I found this post which seems to do the trick.

Essentially the Feed Rate = 30 and the Flow rate = 30 sets the extrusion correctly...

I have not yet run the code but it is starting to look better.

Quite a learning curve I must admit