Ok I have found information on this before but I just can't seem to now. I have an almost ready to go Mendel with gen3 electronics and a wade extruder. All works fine except that the pla melts too slowly or better the extruder motor is too slow.
In the code I found:
//#define E_STEPS_PER_MM 0.9 // NEMA 17 extruder 5mm diameter drive - empirically adjusted
#define E0_STEPS_PER_MM 2.2 // NEMA 17 59/11 geared extruder 8mm diameter drive
#define E1_STEPS_PER_MM 2.2 // NEMA 17 59/11 geared extruder 8mm diameter drive

and since I have a nema17 with 5mm drive....I thought I should just uncomment the first line....but this seems to make no difference. Any ideas ??

what software are you using

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[mike-mack.blogspot.com]

If you are using SF40+ then you will need a value of ~90, otherwise a standard wade is 2 to 2.2.

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

Hi,

Hope all is well.

If you are using SF 40 or SF41 for slicing files, you can use the following formula.

(Steps Per 360 Degrees Revolution*Gear Ratio)/(Pinchwheel Diameter*Pi)

Steps Per 360 Degrees Revolution - Gen 3 Extruders have half steps so this should be 400 steps per rotation

Gear Ratio - Im not sure if there are any variances in the number of teeth on the Wades gears but this should be something like a 39/11 ratio.

Pinch Wheel Diameter - Measure the Diameter of the Wades Hobbed bolt and then multiply this by Pi. Hopefully this should get you the correct E_STEPS value. There should not be any need to uncomment the first line in the code you outlined. Just update the E0 and E1 to the calculated value and upload the firmware.

Hope this helps

Raj

Thanks for all the responses, however the issue seems to be that the wade extruder doesn't turn. It turns a few revs when the software is run but then stops. There doesn't appear to be any advancing of the pla after this first run up of the motor.

also, the software is arduino-22 on the motherboard and ardunio-21 for the extruder board .

thanks again for trying to help

Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 07/16/2011 10:05AM by HereIgoAgain.

Hmmm since I had no responses to my last post I'll assume I am not clearly stating the issue properly. When I run the reprap software and go to the extruder 0 tab and press extrude the motor for the extruder advances for about 5 seconds and then stops. When I adjust the E, E0, E1 values in the software, it appears to change how much time the extruder motor operates say from 5 secs to 15 seconds but after a number of seconds it stops and does not restart. Is there somewhere else in the software that I can tweak to get the motor to run steady ??

thanks in advance

Is it possible that you have the potentiometer set too high on the stepper motor driver? It might be overheating if this is the case. Try turning the pot down (counterclockwise) a little bit and attempt to extrude again.

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Germanicus

Hi All

I want to take a moment to thank all who have held my hand thru this exercise. I've attached my first print...not much but hey....it works!!!
Looks like I need a better nozzle. Currently using a welder tip .05mm but its really not long enough and I think a bit too wide. The quest continues, but not without reward.
Thanks again

Was that the problem; the ref pot set too high causing the motor to overheat?

To adjust the pots certainly has made things run better, however, unfortunately, I think the real error was operator error (me). Let me explain. Before trying to actually print anything I thought I would heat up the extruder, press the extrude button, and extrude till I was satisfied that it all worked. I thought I could just turn on extrude and it would extrude till I hit the button again. Wrong!!. Once pressed the extrude button seems to run for 5-10 seconds and stops. So i pressed and pressed and pressed but no extrusion. Now I'm embarrased!! Turns out that the feed was backwards so that when I was trying to extrude the filiment was actually moving the wrong way. I of course assumed this to be a problem with the speed of the filiment. Anyway, I just reversed the wires on the extruder. Now back to the question, the motor still gets pretty hot..that seems to be the consensus of other folks...but seems to work fine. Hope this helps!

more to come...think i started ordering parts in January. Sure will be nice one day to actually print stuff!!

ps anyone know anything about droid ATT captivate phones...seems I've bricked mine trying to get it to 2.3...oh geez now more to learn

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/23/2011 02:06PM by HereIgoAgain.

HereIgoAgain Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> To adjust the pots certainly has made things run
> better, however, unfortunately, I think the real
> error was operator error (me). Let me explain.
> Before trying to actually print anything I thought
> I would heat up the extruder, press the extrude
> button, and extrude till I was satisfied that it
> all worked. I thought I could just turn on extrude
> and it would extrude till I hit the button again.
> Wrong!!. Once pressed the extrude button seems to
> run for 5-10 seconds and stops. So i pressed and
> pressed and pressed but no extrusion. Now I'm
> embarrased!! Turns out that the feed was
> backwards so that when I was trying to extrude the
> filiment was actually moving the wrong way. I of
> course assumed this to be a problem with the speed
> of the filiment. Anyway, I just reversed the
> wires on the extruder. Now back to the question,
> the motor still gets pretty hot..that seems to be
> the consensus of other folks...but seems to work
> fine. Hope this helps!
>
> more to come...think i started ordering parts in
> January. Sure will be nice one day to actually
> print stuff!!
>
> ps anyone know anything about droid ATT captivate
> phones...seems I've bricked mine trying to get it
> to 2.3...oh geez now more to learn

Ok for the captivte issue go here [www.mobiletechvideos.com] the guy that does jtag service goes by the name of connexion2005 on xda developers forums and i just got my cappy back last week from him. you'd never know i bricked it just by looking at it and using it. he also kept an open line of communication as well. took about 2 days. its $50 plus shipping. return shipping is free and if he can't fix you up, shipping is all you pay.

I have no extruder knowledge i'm sorry. been too long since instrumentation courses complete years ago.

thanks for the captivate info. I will be wrapping this up later this weekend. Ok so now back to mendel. Here I was playing...tweaking...getting plastic to flow and ahhh....the thermistor quite responding ??. I recompiled and uploaded software multiple times to the mother board and to the extruder board...this has always worked in the past but now I get get the thermistor to report ??. On the extruder board, the power led is green and there is an led next to it..think it says led5 which is also green . Not sure if that was lit up before. Any ideas ??