tech-zone issues

hey all,
i assembled my mendel last december, and still have yet to get my techzone gen 3 electronics to work properly. i am hoping somebody could point me in the right direction, as techzone is not responding to emails right now. the extruder will not run at all or heat up when wired. also, i cannot seem to get the opto's to work correctly either, it seems whatever way i plug them in they get burned out. also, the x axis is moving on a different scale than the other axis. if someone has any idea on how to possibly resolve this, or could take pictures of their setup that would be great. i need a little more info than the two incomplete wiki's contain. thank you in advance for your help



Morrist

Hi Morrist.

The axis scaling problem is related to firmware or motors: if you're only having one axis operate strangely, you may very well have a motor with a different stepping than the rest (Techzone firmware is usually set for 1.8 degree stepper motors, but Techzone sometimes supplies 0.8 degree steppers as well). My axis motors were 0.8 degree and reqired firmware edits to compensate for. Perhaps you can diagnose this by looking at the motors and checking what they are.

Gen 3 electronics from techzone do work, though it sounds like you are having lots of troubles. We are currently trying to collect all of the techzone build info (mechanics and electronics) for organizational purposes here: [reprap.org] Feel free to help with reorganization of information as you learn.

Getting the hot tip to heat up and behave properly is probably the hardest part of working with TechZone's equipment. We've seen various kinds of voodoo, but again, it is not impossible to get working. Based on what you've said, a diagnosis isn't possible. I do not reccomend using the Gen3 Extruder Controller to drive the extruder stepper motor - if you've already spent this much on on of their kits, it's worth getting a 4th stepper controller to drive your extruder.

If you blow your optos, you're SOL without them. The trick is just to be VERY careful about how to wire them. If you can identify what type of optos they sent you (they seem to have changed opto designs sometime in the last 9 months) we can confirm which leads are which so that you don't repeat this.

There are some good tidbits of information dispersed through the forum. You may want to check over the big Techzone post in this sub-forum, if you haven't already. I hope this helps!

how is the monolithic* board? i was considering trying to contact techzone and see if i could work a deal out with them.

EtherDais,
i purchased all the motors from techzone, it would be kinda odd if it stepped different than all the other's i recieved from them. how involved is it to change the firmware to compensate for the different motor? also, is using the stepper controller to drive the extruder going to require more firmware changes? this part of the build is the hardest part for me. i have less than minimal knowledge on these things. i am willing to read and learn. thanks for taking your time to try to help me




Morrist

I helped someone in a similar situation last week. We made a great deal of progress by first re-terminating all the cables, and removing the end stops (at least one was found to be bad). In the end, he decided to scrap the Gen3, and bought one of the RAMPS kits I had and one of my Wildseyed hot ends, and I performed the surgery.

I know it's not what anyone wants to hear after they've spent $800 on a kit, but consider what your time is really worth.

Hey Morrist,

I just got my techzone lasercut up and running a week or two ago. Mucking with the firmware actually probably isn't as bad as it sounds. I grabbed the firmware files from here, then I got arduino (0021 version, 0022 had some bug I can't remember exactly what it was) and the sanguino board hardware folder for arduino. Setting up your configuration.h file is pretty straightforward and the code is well documented. Get arduino up and running and open the code in configuration.h and take a look. If you don't feel confident flashing it you don't have to but you're probably going to have to do it sooner or later.

I haven't got a chance to look to much into the RAMPS electronics. I'm scared if I do I'm just going to want them. I will say the extruder hotend from techzone is definitely not great. You probably want to get serious about a replacement sooner than later. Mine lasted just a matter of days. My neighbour actually had a chunk of 5/8" peek rod in his garage by some stroke of luck. I rigged it up but I just don't have enough insulation and my wade's is warping. I've got a heat sink and just need to find a fan and I think I'll be alright though.

And check your cables. A lot. Those connectors are kind of tough to get setup when you don't have the proper doo hickey. Maybe someone threw a design up for one on thingverse. I guess thats a catch-22 though..

Good luck!

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/25/2011 12:09AM by chase82.

chase82,

just to be clear, i am re flashing the extruder controller correct? what about the stepper controller, since one of the motor's seems to be stepping differently? i have arduino 0021 downloaded from awhile ago. thought i would need it, havent touched it since i downloaded it. i just want to make sure i dont mess anything up lol



Morrist

You can flash both. I just flashed the extruder with the firmware provided in the techzone link (You have to plug your USB->TTL cable into the extruder controller). That software is in the extruder folder. Evey other setting is in your configuration.h for the motherboard (FiveD_Gcode, FiveD_Gcode_interpreter). There you can adjust your X,Y and Z_STEPS_PER_MM appropriately.

Really take a good look through TechZone InfoHub as most of your answers should be tucked away in there.

chase82,

in a few short moments im going to give it a try. il post again once i try it. i have one other question regarding the motor controllers. is there a way to fix those as well? my x axis motor seems to always step differently, i have no idea on how i can fix that.



Morrist

You could tape a piece of paper to the bed. Mark a spot on the paper and hit +100 in repsnapper and make another mark. If you measure the difference and it's like 80mm instead of 100mm. If you look in the firmware under x_steps_per_mm there's probably a default value of something like 10.047 in there. So if you do a little quick math you could figure out what it should be. x=(80mm/100mm)*10.047=whatever.

Once you get it up and running you can print a 40mm calibration cube and fine tune those numbers.

chase,

i sent you a pm, dont know if you received it. also, how do i get into the firmware exactly?( stupid question, but i haven't been able to find this out). im going to try checking all the cables now, and reload the firmware onto the extruder board.




Morrist

Did you get the arduino program up and running? Placed the Sanguino info in the hardware folder? And download the techzone firmware from the links above? When you get that all running you can just open the firmware in arduino.

As far as I know the extruder controller should come flashed from techzone and you're probably interested in flashing the motherboard as that's where most of your adjustments are made. Not saying that you can't flash the extruder controller for good measure. It's pretty easy

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/26/2011 06:20PM by chase82.

have the code compiling to flash the extruder, but when i go to upload it i am getting two errors
avrdude: stk500_getsync(): not in sync: resp=0x30
avrdude: stk500_disable(): protocol error, expect=0x14, resp=0x51

i have tried holding the reset button down then hitting upload, i re terminated the cables and i am using arduino 0021. i cant seem to find anything else to make this work




Morrist

i have tried the reset trick. does anyone have more specific instructions on how to do it? maybe im just doing it wrong




Morrist

... i'm waiting, until in the text window the size of the compiled file is displayed, then press the reset button sortly ...

---

Viktor
--------
Aufruf zum Projekt "Müll-freie Meere" - [reprap.org] -- Deutsche Facebook-Gruppe - [www.facebook.com]

Call for the project "garbage-free seas" - [reprap.org]

viktor, worked great. thank you



morrist

Sounds like you're getting closer! How's your heater and temperature issues?

i gotta wire it up and test it out. have been at work alot this week, hopefully tomorrow we will find out




Morist

so ive got it all wired up, and it seems like nothing is recieving enough power. everything worked okay before the extruder controller was connected. i am in the process of trouble shooting that now.




morrist

ended up abandoning these electronics. i am getting the techzone monolithic set hopefully very soon. from what ive read they have much less problems.



Morrist

Get RAMPS man. You won't regret it. If you don't want to build DIY, I can provide fully built. I currently have 7 assembled, and I've done a RAMPSplant on a Techzone, so I can tell you it works great. You might need to switch to using a thermistor, as I'm not sure how mature the thermocouple support is on RAMPS.

I have to agree with jcabrer - while the techzone monolithic set may be easier to get set up, and less problematic than their "Generation 3 remix", with the RAMPS setup a single component failure won't doom the entire board.

If I had the option of doing it all over again, I'd buy all but the electronics from techzone, and go with RAMPS electronics.

i already set the exchange up with lambert at techzone, so this isn't exactly costing me anything to switch. i may possibly upgrade to ramps in the future. for now though, it would be nice to just have a working machine. i will definitely keep your suggestions in mind



morrist

@morrist - make sure they send you source code to the monolithic firmware, or better yet, get them to put it up in github, and post a link to it here.

does the monolithic board require me to add the firmware all over again? i need to call and check on its progress of being sent



morrist

It'll come with firmware installed, which is good as far as it goes - but once you decide to start modifying things (i.e. dumping the thermocouple for a thermistor, or some such) you'll need source code.

alright, il make sure to try and get that from them. they are having email issues right now, pretty impossible to get ahold of them except by phone


morrist

got it plugged it in, debug light came on. have no idea what that means or entails. and i cant find any documentation on it. so here we go again with the wild goose chase

Just about any question can be answered here live .....

[webchat.freenode.net]