Alligator Board Q & A

Hi everybody,

I was one of the one's that had the luck to get an Alligator Board!
I think is a great board with lot of great features and with a 32 bits processor!
Besides the user manual and the wiring connections scheme, there isn't a lot of online information, also sending to the Alligator team emails with questions, will be a big effort for them!
Also in this forum there is more than 300 post in Italian about this board, but there is the language barrier.
So, I would like with this topic that we all could share and contribute with our experiences with the Alligator Board, and that everybody with doubts or problems could post in here to help everybody!
I'm not affiliated with the Alligator team or with 3dartists, I'm just a owner of one that I get in indiegogo, with some questions.

All the best,

GeoTete





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/23/2015 02:29PM by geotete.

Hi,

you're right. For the moment the only forum in which our backers talk about their experiences with Alligator is in Italian. It’s not a problem for us to answer your private mails but a public forum in English might definitely be useful to more people.
We make an update right now to address backers to this post for problems or curiosities.
Anyway we are working on expanding the documentation.

Michele, 3DArtists Team

Hi,
Great idea!!
Hope there will be more Alligator Boards user to come here.
Sometimes it is a bit tricky to figure out all the solutions alone.
May this topic may help.
I am glad to be here.

greetings
thomas

Hi Everybody,


To have an answer from 3DArtists in less than 24 hours, after the creation of this topic, only shows the commitment that this team has to their product!
I really appreciate your "official" recognition for this topic!
It's great news to know that you are expanding the documentation.
Thanks!

Geotete

Good evening,
in case of connecting magentic endstops I need some help.
On my Alligator Board there is no +5V ES to supply my max. endstops for a delta printer.
According to wiring diagram there should be power.
Is there anything missing like a jumper or solder bridge or is it a matter of firmware?
Using Repetier at the moment.

Maybe some can help?

Thanx in advance,


thomas

Hi,
already solved the enstop problem.
Never measure a voltage, when no wire is attached to the connector screw.

Now everything looks good and I hope my delta will run soon.
Switching from a running smoothie printer to AlligatorBoard.

CU,

thomas

Thanks Geotete,
we are doing our best to be able to give assistance to all backers.

Regarding Thomas' problem, as we explained him by email, it was due to the fact that he was measuring the end stops voltage by measuring from the screw of the terminal block and this procedure is not recommended.
The reason is that, if this screw is not sufficiently tightened, many times doesn't make contact and this doesn't allow proper measurement.
You must, then, measure on the wire connected to the connector.

Hi,
the support of the alligator team is absolute perfect.
Hopefully they come out with a documentation also.

cu,

thomas

Hi,

Anyone using the Alligator with a Prusa I3 Hephestos?

All the Best,

Geotete

Hi,
anyone here who knows to set the pwm-speed for both fan seperatly?
How to set up the LED´s, status led for example?

CU,

Thomas

Hi,
finally got my AlligatorBoard working on my delta printer.

Still need some adjustment in firmware and some more detailled slicer settings needed to be done.
I am satisfied with the board and can recommend it to anyone who want to build or modify a printer.

Good job, you guys from 3DArtists.

By the way, is there some more documentation on your schedule?


Cu,

Thomas

Hey there,

I have two of these. One is going on my new Kossel (build log is at Kossel build log), one is shelved for some unknown awesomeness.

Does anybody know if Mattercontrol supports this board? I tried it and I couldn't get it to connect.

Chris

Hi,
have tried to connect to Mattercontrol, too. Without success.
Using Repetier and Pronterface.

Greetings,

Thomas

Hi Thomas,

Alligator + Repetier works with MatterControl , I am trying now with my PC, these are the steps to configure:

- Power Alligator with 12-24V power in
- Plug UART/USB port in your PC
- Run MatterControl software
- Navigate to File -> Add printer -> Add
- Select Make : Other
- Select Model: Other
- Save & Continue
- Set Baud Rate to 115200 and Continue
- Click to Manually Configure Connection
- Select your serial port associated to Alligator UART
- Click Connect

your alligator is ready to communicate with MatterControl





I take this opportunity to remind all users not use the Native port in the presence of 12-24V
Native port has OTG function, they are directly connected to 5V power !
Do not connect Native USB port to the PC in presence of 12-24V power input.
Program and communicate with Alligator and with your printer only from the USB/UART port.
Native port connected directly to the PC can be used only for board testing or programming without 12-24V power input .

Quote
MarcoAntonini
I take this opportunity to remind all users not use the Native port in the presence of 12-24V
Native port has OTG function, they are directly connected to 5V power !
Do not connect Native USB port to the PC in presence of 12-24V power input.
Program and communicate with Alligator and with your printer only from the USB/UART port.
Native port connected directly to the PC can be used only for board testing or programming without 12-24V power input .

You mean that despite having a native USB port capable of high speeds and with built-in flow control, you are forcing users to communicate with the board over the lower-speed USB-over-serial interface, which doesn't have flow control? That makes me glad I have a Duet and not an Alligator.

---

Large delta printer [miscsolutions.wordpress.com], E3D tool changer, Robotdigg SCARA printer, Crane Quad and Ormerod

Disclosure: I design Duet electronics and work on RepRapFirmware, [duet3d.com].

Allows communication with Native removing power from the USB cable, this is not a problem, there are many adapters on the market.

We have two USB ports, we can choose

Hello Marco,

later on I will check if I can get a connection via Mattercontrol software.

May I ask you what server software are you running on the raspberry pi connected to the Alligator board?
And please tell me how to make use of the open drain pwm outputs. I would like to set up status leds to show in different colours the status of the printer.
Thank you very much in advance.




Kind regards,
THOMAS

To connect raspberryPi just plug the 26-pin ribbon cable, these are references to connect it:




For the RaspberryPi software you can install Repetier-Server or Octoprint, new Repetier Server has a very nice look, these are the steps to install it :

- Connect with a terminal via SSH to your raspberry.

- Run the raspi-config command :

sudo raspi-config

Navigate to advanced option -> Serial -> Select No -> Finish , the RPI serial port is ready to communicate with Alligator.


- Download Repetier Server :

wget "http://www.repetier-server.com/en/?wpdmdl=186" -O Repetier-Server-0.51.1.deb

- Install Repetier-Server :

sudo dpkg -i Repetier-Server-0.51.1.deb

- At this point start Repetier-Server with the command:

/etc/init.d/RepetierServer restart

- Connected with a browser to http: //Raspberry_ip:3344 and configure your Printer



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/07/2015 12:38PM by MarcoAntonini.

PWM Connector are directly connected to the processor, they will not be able to drive a power load.
To drive your RGB LED are needed external transistor :

Hello Marco,

your description helps me a lot.
And also the MatterControl gets working now.

Thanx.


Greetings,

Thomas

I hope someone could help me with my situation, I am at the point of applying firmware and connecting using a printer driver like repetier host or pronterface. It seems that I can make the Alligator board take the firmware for Repetier, I can flash and reflash it using either the USB/UART dip switch dance, or take it off power and use the native usb/MCU, with relative ease, but I cannot seem to connect to it afterwards using the USB UART via the com port. I have tried 250000, 230000, 115200, 76800, 57600, I've switched from Windows to Linux Ubuntu, uninstalled the FTDI driver and re-installed it. tried multiple usb ports (on my laptop) and even tried multiple USB cables. I tried using pronterface, repetier, event the arduino com console interface, even putty, but no luck on any response coming from the alligator board. it does seem to respond when I reboot it, and I can reflash it and see the mechanical results from just the simple default homing, is promising, however I cannot get anything to communicate with it.

Is this a limitation of repetier in this specific consition? would you suggest the marlin bits over repetier firmware? is there a sample code I could run to just prove there can be console/USB/UART serial response?

This looks great, and I am off to go find a way to make this cable this afternoon. I still cannot talk to my printer via USB UART port, and not anxious to plug into the MCU port given past guidance about the 5v power, so I have been extremely keenly interested in the raspberry pi options. are there any special bits of code I need to interface with the raspberry pi and the alligator board this way? how does this connect up with octoprint? I'm just a little bit more familiar with that one...

also from your pictures, I see you have a USB cable plugged into the native/MCU USB port. what is that connected to? and, how is your raspberry pi getting power? I didn't see a USB connected to it either; does it get it's power from the alligator board in this case? if so I really, really need to be able talk to my alligator

Hi EljefedsecurIT ,

in Repetier-Firmware is possible to set the communication port, check if your communication is set to USB/UART .
In HAL.h file search the RFSERIAL variable and change it with:

#define RFSERIAL Serial   // Programming port of the due
//#define RFSERIAL SerialUSB  // Native USB Port of the due

Raspberry does not require an external power supply, Alligator will power your raspberry

That is interesting, because I actually do have it set to Serial at this time.

to add, I also found, while pouring through the hal.h, this was commented out:

//#define SERIAL_BUFFER_SIZE 1024
//#define SERIAL_PORT UART
//#define SERIAL_IRQ ID_UART
//#define SERIAL_PORT_VECTOR UART_Handler

would it have anything to do with the communications?

Do you know where i can find some 3d models of the board?
I need to print out an enclosure!!

What are your Repetier-Hosts communication settings?
This is strange, you're programming board via UART/USB, so communication with your board is ok!
Attach your firmware Configuration.h file .

Good idea to draw an enclosure
Here you can download the 3D model .

Hi,

Can you upload the stl file to avoid installing the FreeCad?

Thanks,

Geotete