smart lcd panel + ramps +marlin

I finally done it. I started building my own printer.
So I ordedred a bunch of stuf, put it all together, experimented with all the posibilities, and so far almost everyrhing works splenditly.

But..
I have a ramps 1.4 board, mega 2560 processor board and a reprapdiscount smart lcd display.
The display is giving me a headache.
Sure, it gives me all the necessary information, very nice.
But it keeps switching between the menu list and the main screen every second.
First I thought something was wrong with the encoder or the connections between the ramps board and the encoder. Or maybe wrong pin-setup in pins.h ( I am using Marlin v1 firmware, btw)
I think I have tried everything. I even desoldered the encoder, cut the wires between the ramps board and the display-print, tried all the settings I could find, but it keeps switching like a mad man.
Funny thing is, that when I use repetier, the switching stops. The encoder doesn't work very well, only in one direction, no button action, so something is not right there either.
I'd rather use marlin actually. It seems nicer.
Can anyone help?

Rien.

mstouten Wrote:
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...
> Funny thing is, that when I use repetier, the
> switching stops. The encoder doesn't work very
> well, only in one direction, no button action, so
> something is not right there either.
> I'd rather use marlin actually. It seems nicer.
> Can anyone help?
>
> Rien.

I recently added a standard LCD ( 4 bit data bus similar to the reprapdiscount LCD) to my 3D Printer using Repetier-Firmware with no issues.

LCD add-on

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3D Printing :: bit-by-bit - Thingiverse

flurin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> mstouten Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> ...
> > Funny thing is, that when I use repetier, the
> > switching stops. The encoder doesn't work very
> > well, only in one direction, no button action,
> so
> > something is not right there either.
> > I'd rather use marlin actually. It seems nicer.
> > Can anyone help?
> >
> > Rien.
>
> I recently added a standard LCD ( 4 bit data bus
> similar to the reprapdiscount LCD) to my 3D
> Printer using Repetier-Firmware with no issues.
>
> LCD
> add-on


Yes, that would work. Actually, after long thinkering, I decided to pry the display loose from the board. Connected it with some wires to the Ramps board, and had the same results as before.

Marlin keeps switching the pages, Repetier just works.

But in Repetier I can't get the encoder bit working, so I had the idea to forget about the encoder, and use simple switch-buttons instead.
But how to configure that in Repetier? I'm having a very hard time understanding how that is suposed to work.
The nicest way to do that is via a 4x4 matrix, I can see that must be possible, but how?
Anyone?

Rien

mstouten Wrote:

> But in Repetier I can't get the encoder bit
> working, so I had the idea to forget about the
> encoder, and use simple switch-buttons instead.
> But how to configure that in Repetier? I'm having
> a very hard time understanding how that is suposed
> to work.
> The nicest way to do that is via a 4x4 matrix, I
> can see that must be possible, but how?
> Anyone?
>
> Rien

Which Repetier-Firmware version are you using? I added a piece of code to version 0.90alpha, this version has a better interface for add-ons.

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3D Printing :: bit-by-bit - Thingiverse

flurin Wrote:

>
> Which Repetier-Firmware version are you using? I
> added a piece of code to version 0.90alpha, this
> version has a better interface for add-ons.


Version 0.90c.
But it doesn't matter anymore, since I figured out what was wrong.
Somehow D31 gets pulled to ground, wich is normally the signal in Marlin firmware for BTN_ENC.

After configuring all the encoder signals to different pins, (41, 43, 45, and kill to 38) everything works perfect.

But thanks for your help.

P.S.

I understand you are using Repetier. Could you tell me what the advantages would be to use that firmware?

(please, no flame wars, everyone)

greetz,

Rien

mstouten Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I understand you are using Repetier. Could you
> tell me what the advantages would be to use that
> firmware?
>
> (please, no flame wars, everyone)
>
> greetz,
>
> Rien

Actually I used Marlin for a long time. It is great how software developers invest time to develop open source applications for the community.
As I said above I added a small piece of code to Repetier and it just did the job. I saw other contributors working on the same issue for Marlin without success.

I prefer the Repetier-Firmware because it is better structured and has a "clear" Versioning. Marlin is a "work in progress" without Versioning. It seems to me that to many people are changing the Marlin-Firmware.

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3D Printing :: bit-by-bit - Thingiverse

flurin Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> Actually I used Marlin for a long time. It is
> great how software developers invest time to
> develop open source applications for the
> community.
> As I said above I added a small piece of code to
> Repetier and it just did the job. I saw other
> contributors working on the same issue for Marlin
> without success.
>
> I prefer the Repetier-Firmware because it is
> better structured and has a "clear" Versioning.
> Marlin is a "work in progress" without Versioning.
> It seems to me that to many people are changing
> the Marlin-Firmware.

I see your point.

I only just started this new adventure, but ihe Marlin version system is somewhat confusing. The number of webpages with outdated information sure doesn't help either.
For now, I stick to what is working for me, but when the time comes that my printer is ready, I will shure take another look at Repetier.
A lot of things seem better, I just found out Repetier comes with a whole lot of documentation, something I couldn't find for Marlin.
Thanks again for your help.

Rien. (that's my name, not the French word for "nothing".)

Well......that didn't take long.

At first I was very happy I had everything working..... so I thought.

The display, the clickencoder, everything worked, but today I connected the steppermotors, and suddenly my X-axis wouldn't budge.
Some stupid message about a kill signal.
Back to square one.
Suddenly I had enough of the whole mess.
So I made a *real* effort this time to understand Repetier, wich had no problem at all with the X-axis.
Within the hour I had the menu working, complete with encoder.
For now I'm sticking to Repetier.
Now on with the finishing of the hardware.
(that can't be difficult,right?)

Rien.

Quote
mstouten
Within the hour I had the menu working, complete with encoder.
For now I'm sticking to Repetier.
Now on with the finishing of the hardware.
(that can't be difficult,right?)

Which FEATURE_CONTROLLER did you set? I suppose 2 = Smartcontroller from reprapdiscount on a RAMPS or RUMBA board?

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3D Printing :: bit-by-bit - Thingiverse

flurin Wrote:

> Which FEATURE_CONTROLLER did you set? I suppose 2
> = Smartcontroller from reprapdiscount on a RAMPS
> or RUMBA board?


Nope. Used option 1, the manual definition, since I have a problem with the standard pincofiguration due to a short on my board somewhere, I figured it would be easier to go that way.

Rien.