techzone remix.. how to connect all??

Hi All,

Call me stupid or call me carefull.. it could be both :-)

But I am having the hardware of kimberly, techzonecom.com. I got all the parts but I am not sure how to connect them together.

So if there is somebody or kimerly herself.. I would like to know which pins are what and how they hook up to each other..

I have included the pictures so if possible please write them in the picture or create a new picture with everything hooked up.. I don't care as long it's clear how stuff works :-)

And can I upload the Firmware with a TTL-232R-3V3 cable? Or do I have to use the
ICSP for that.. I am guessing that the TTL is correct answer and that the ICSP just is used for burning a new bootloader.. (if ever needed)

I have
MB: version 1.2
Stepper: v2.3
Extruder 2.2
EndStop

Images can be found here

A big thanks in advance!!!

With kind regards,

Michael

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/25/2010 06:07AM by mhensen.

I was going to point you to the documentation on the wiki:
http://reprap.org/wiki/Generation_3_Electronics/Tech_Zone_Remix

but when I started to read the attached files I realized they are *very* cryptically documented. Particularly the pinouts of the main board are a 'deep' puzzle with some connections even named after the AtMega pins instead of their function.

Going to the standard Gen3 page doesn't help much either, there is an image that claims to describe the connections but it fails to identify the connecters on the boards.

I own neither of these sets, but it would help a lot if some hero added photo's and/or a diagram to both these pages.


You could try to contact Kimberly by sending a PM on this page http://forums.reprap.org/profile.php?94,1953
R
-

This is what I've figured out so far:

• The 90-degree 6pin connectors are the serial interface to the computer. The extruder controller's is only used to program it, the motherboard is also used to send printing commands.
• The three 10Pin connectors on the MB go to the steppers controllers.
• One of the four RS485 sets (A and B ) go the the extruder's A and B (A to A and B to B )
• The I2C lines go to pins D9 and D10 on the extruder
• The min end stops connect to the non-90-degree set of three pins on the steppers (the 90-degree are the max end stops)
• The stepper motors connect to A, B, C, and D (Order depends on motor, mine were Blue, Red, Green, and Black respectively)
• And obviously, 12v power to the "12" block

NOTE: I strongly suggest you print out a set of the layout pdf that are labeled. Not everything is the same, for instance the serial connections go in opposite directions on the MB and the EC.
And yes the ISP and JTAG connectors are only for the bootloader which should already be on there.

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Build Progress Blog

hmm .. I've send a PM to kimberly.. :-)

It is harder then I guessed.. but already thanks for all the comments.. Indeed the PDF are helbfull but an actual image sais more then a 1000 words.. At least this counts for me :-)


Thanks again and any comments or suggestions are welcome..

does nobody any clues on how to connect? Would like to start and I am awaiting some explanation from Kimberly


edit: Kimberly mailed me the image..
The image is shown here

Thanks kimberly and anybody responding to my by PM !!

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 04/28/2010 06:22AM by mhensen.

That picture is missing one thing. You need another wire going from the i2c on the MB to pins D9 and D10 on the extruder controller. Assuming that you're using a stepper for the extruder.

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Build Progress Blog

Hi I also have some problems connecting the techzone remix electronics.

Especially the extruder and the opto endstops. The extruder, once connected, still doesn't show me any temperature readings like its described here.

In the picture above I miss all the power connections.
For example the one on the extruder is on the 10 pin box header (on pin 10 and 9) correct?
What are the Pins 7 and 8 for?
The Extruder Datasheet says D2 and D3 but I don't know what that could be.

Has anyone achieved to run all the tests on the electronics? If so, how?

mostley,

to answer the pins question...

check out the pinout pdf's on the techzone wiki page...

[reprap.org]

Yes I used those pdfs already. It's what I meant with 'Extruder Datasheet'.

But it couldn't tell me what the D2 and D3 Pins are for, only where they are.
Basically I think I connected everything correctly but on the other hand the wiki says there should be temperature readings while testing the extruder. There are none.

Any Ideas?

If I'm not mistaken, they're part of the Quadrature Input connector for the (optional) Magnetic Rotary Encoder board.

What have you got connected to the 2 pin "Temp" connector?

Also, I'm pretty sure that the 10k pot near there is an adjustment for the Temp sensor. If it's wound all the way to one end, I'm pretty sure you'll get constant readings of 0. Try adjusting that and see how you go.

Note: I don't have these electronics (in fact, I don't even have working Mendel electronics yet), but I'm working from first principles and going backwards from the track layouts Kymberly put online.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/04/2010 06:40AM by Cefiar.

Quote

If I'm not mistaken, they're part of the Quadrature Input connector for the (optional) Magnetic Rotary Encoder board.

ok, that clears that up.

Quote

What have you got connected to the 2 pin "Temp" connector?

nothing yet, but I also tried a small resistor.

Quote

Also, I'm pretty sure that the 10k pot near there is an adjustment for the Temp sensor. If it's wound all the way to one end, I'm pretty sure you'll get constant readings of 0. Try adjusting that and see how you go.

Ah, I thought the 10k pot was for the stepper driver on the extruder. Will try that, thanks!

the 10K pot IS for the pwm adjustment for the stepper motor... be very careful when moving this pot.. you can (and will) over-current the motor driver IC's and blow them if your not careful... as for the thermistor... you do have it connected to the TEMP pins? if so disconnect the wires and try testing resistance with your multi-meter to see if the circuit is working... the thermistor communicates to the mother board via the RS-485 connections... the sda/scl pins that are connected to pins 9 & 10 of the extruder controller are the step/direction signals for the stepper function...

here is a problem i had... it might help if your having communication problems...

[forums.reprap.org]

also what firmware are you using?

I'm using the firmware that came bundled with the reprap host software in the mendel zip...

[sourceforge.net]

above is a link...

also you will need to un-comment the line "use thermistor" in the firmware thermistertable.h tab

because the firmware is setup for a thermocouple by default...

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/04/2010 12:23PM by Mdbaughman2.

well ,, got it all up and running except for the extruder stepper..


just wistles(high pitch tone) but nothing else.. I see the green leds on and off


x, Y and Z are ok..


Temp is reading and rise when heating the barrel by the host sw.
but the extruder stepper won't turn..


got the I2C from MB to D9 and D10..

but the extruder can be turned by hand except when the pitch tone is there

@mhensen: you need to adjust the 10K pot.

hmm I think it is busted... The stepper just sounds but no movement..
When whining I feel torque.. but otherwise it is loose..


I guess I need to replace the board or is there another option?

Also mentioned is setting the PWM in the firmware instead of using the 10k pot..


How is that working?

Finally I can get it it jitter .. the leds of the qaudrant light up..

But what do I need to 'change' in the orginal extruder firmware to get the extruder stepper to run correct?? I am losing it :-)

I have no clue what to do.. the 10K pot seems ok. as values change when I turn it ..

do I need the fast_pwm enabled?

any suggestion is welcome!!!

I see here that they say that the LED lights should come on after connecting the power supply.

[reprap.org]

I connected the power supply but none of my stepper controller LED lights come on. Just checking, is this supposed to happen?

I think the LED lights should come on when it is connected to the power supply, but it doesn't. =X

Any help is appreciated. Thanks!

If you also turned the power supply on (affter connecting it to the Mendel) then the power LEDS should be lit.

In fact, if you move any of the axis by hand i.e. moving the extruder carriage (x-axis) or the bed (y-axis) then the lights on the corresponding stepper board should light (including the power LED if you move it quickly).

This feature in fact saved me from destroying my electronics because I had a short on the power of my extruder controller board after modifying the connectors and was able to see this because the stepper controller LEDS no longer lit when moving the bed! I then unsoddered and resoddered (if those are valid words) the power connection and reconnected the wires and then the stepper controller LEDS again lit when moving the bed (plus the power LED on the stepper controller).

WHEW - that was a close one.
Had I turned on the power I might have lost my power supply or even worse...

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

Thanks. =D I managed to solve that problem but now, the X and Y stepper connection turn red(meaning that the motor is on I guess) when it is connected to the Laptop. Is there a problem with my connection? It happens when it's connected to the extruder or motherboard when I am trying to install the firmware.

The weird this is, I can't manage to install the firmware on the extruder board either...

Any suggestions on how to solve the problem?

Weell ... it seems I have the same problem that mhensen has; (incidentally the rest of the kit worked like a charm - modulo the odd broken IDC connector not connecting at first).

Of course, I've fiddled with the pot extensively - to no avail; it appears (to me) as if the stepper drivers are just not enabled most of the time (why, I have no idea).

Thoughts much appreciated.

I still didn't get any temperature readings. I've made a diagram of the test assembly I made:
Diagram

I also tried connecting the I2C from mainboard to the D9 and D10 connectors on the extruder even though it doesn't make any sense to me.

mhensen Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Finally I can get it it jitter .. the leds of the
> qaudrant light up..
>
> But what do I need to 'change' in the orginal
> extruder firmware to get the extruder stepper to
> run correct?? I am losing it :-)
>
> I have no clue what to do.. the 10K pot seems ok.
> as values change when I turn it ..
>
> do I need the fast_pwm enabled?
>
> any suggestion is welcome!!!


I have the exact same problem that you do and i'm scratching my head.... X,Y,Z works, temp sensor works, heater works, except the extruder stepper.

Well, after grokking the forums a little; there was a suggestion that ensuring a good GND connection between both the mainboard and extruder is rather important - I added a substantial wire to do that, soldered directly to the USB GND pins from the motherboard: no joy

I re-wired all my connections to use a more reliable form of cut-down IDC connector; and checked continuity and wiring everywhere. Still nothing.

I tried all manner of different firmware: still no joy. I am still using the latest code from sourceforge - reprap-mendel-20100308 - no extruder joy.

Without a scope I guess it's hard to see is going on my E_DIR_PIN appears to do as expected (5V / 0V) and changing interactively as I click 'reverse' in the GUI. Seem the E_STEP_PIN is at stuck at 5V.

After selecting Extrude in the UI, it appears the extruder board locks up, doesn't respond to temperature requests ( I get endless 0's) - until it is reset.

I suspect some software problem; clearly it should not be possible to wedge the extruder controller just by asking it to step ;-)

I also tried re-instating the old comms approach for controlling the extruder (why was that removed in favour of the SDA/SCL step control - requiring more cables ?) - and am still trying to debug that approach - why was it abandoned ? :-)

Many thanks.

Weelll - the diagram you have is not correct, at least according to my reading of the code. You do need to connect to D9/D10.
The motherboard is not in fact using I2C - but just re-using those two pins as a E_STEP_PIN and E_DIR_PIN.
So - no point in connecting them to SCL/SDA on the extruder side - it's not I2C.
But - given that mine doesn't work either YMMV :-)
HTH.

@Micheal Meeks: ok, thats something that needs to go on the pinout.
But still shouldn't the board give me temperature readings even without this connection? If I understand correctly the connection from E_STEP_PIN,E_DIR_PIN to D9 and D10 is only used to controll the stepper on the extruder. So the Rs485 should be responsible for the temperature control, right?

I do think it's a grounding issue. If I place my finger on the analog input from pin 6, the stepper motor will try to work, but there's no control. Does anyone know if the board layout is available?


EDIT: When I looked very closely next to the two rs485 pins, there's a 180 ohm resistor, r1. It's missing on my board. Hmm, could this be the problem?

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 05/15/2010 12:51PM by Aperion.

Aperion Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I do think it's a grounding issue. If I place my
> finger on the analog input from pin 6, the stepper
> motor will try to work, but there's no control.
> Does anyone know if the board layout is
> available?
>
>
> EDIT: When I looked very closely next to the two
> rs485 pins, there's a 180 ohm resistor, r1. It's
> missing on my board. Hmm, could this be the
> problem?

A note on the missing resistor: It's missing on both the extruder and the motherboard,but I think it's not there for a reason. When we were troubleshooting this a few weeks ago, we added those resistors, but that just caused the signal to get more noisy.

Also, you only need the RS485 connection to get the boards to communicate. The D9/D10 is only for the step signals.

When we were having these problems, as well as problems with the end stops, it ended up being bad connections in the wiring. The insulation displacement connectors that they are sending with are um, well, crap. I bought this and rewired everything using those connectors, it solved all my communication problems.

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Build Progress Blog

i checked my wiring and used 22ga wire with those idc connectors. I have the correct crimper on hand for them...strange..