DISABLE_Z not working in Gen 7 1.5

Hi there,

I have uploaded Marlin (latest release) to our Gen 7 board.

when I set the DISABLE_Z to true, the motors (all of them) are not moving anymore.

I also have a Gen6 board, which works ok when DISABLE_Z is set to true.

is this a software or a hardware problem ?

thanks,
mihai

Gen7 has only one Enable line for all steppers, so if you disable one motor, you disable all of them. I guess the designer of the Gen7 finds it pretty pointless, if not asking for trouble, to disable motors while printing.

---

Generation 7 Electronics	Teacup Firmware	RepRap DIY

Traumflug

thanks for fast reply.

here is what I want:

I want to disable the Z motor when is not used, so that I can manually move the Z axis, so that the printing head is at 0.1 mm above the bed.

I was previously working with Gen6, and there, when I start printing, I manually rotate the Z motor a little bit so that I get an optimal distance of the hotend to the print bed.

Is there some way to do this in Gen7 ?

If the Z motor is not disabled, it is very hard to move it by hand.

thanks,
mihai


Traumflug Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Gen7 has only one Enable line for all steppers, so
> if you disable one motor, you disable all of them.
> I guess the designer of the Gen7 finds it pretty
> pointless, if not asking for trouble, to disable
> motors while printing.

Cut the trace to the enable pin on the Z driver, solder a link from said pin to a digital pin on the expansion header, adjust pins.h to reflect the modifications to hardware.

But the right way to do this is either:

A) Get your Z-MIN endstop in exactly the rightly place or

Switch to a Z-MAX endstop and set its height in software so you can tell the machine where the bed is rather than set it by hand.

If your Z end stop is set correctly you don't need this.
Never the less, it should be a simple matter to add a switch that would turn off the enable for the Z-motor driver(s).

---

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

I'm constantly modifying the extruder and the hotend ... and the distance to the bead is different each time ...
this is why I prefer to manually rotate the motors in order to achive the desired distance ...

regards,
mihai

rhmorrison Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If your Z end stop is set correctly you don't need
> this.
> Never the less, it should be a simple matter to
> add a switch that would turn off the enable for
> the Z-motor driver(s).

And why do you need to do this by hand.
Why can't you use the Pronterface Z jog buttons?
Or the keyboard/Rotary encoder button if you are running stand alone with LCD.

---

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

very good idea !

thanks,
mihai


rhmorrison Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> And why do you need to do this by hand.
> Why can't you use the Pronterface Z jog buttons?

Another solution is to add a G92 Z... after the homing command (G28) to compensate for the Z endstop misalignment.

---

Generation 7 Electronics	Teacup Firmware	RepRap DIY