A Tale of Frustration and An Odd Fix For Firmare Compile Issue
Posted by jeremypettit
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A Tale of Frustration and An Odd Fix For Firmare Compile Issue June 30, 2014 11:55PM |
Registered: 11 years ago Posts: 14 |
I built my 3D printer a little over a year ago and over that time, I ran into some issues and performed upgrades to correct them all the while running into a bit of bad luck over the next year. My computer died, my hot end was junk, I changed extruders all around the time I fought for custody of my kids, got married and moved into a house. Needless to say, I got pretty busy. Finally, I got some free time again and attempted to get my machine back up and running.
I never did get the chance to fully setup my new extruder, so I made the necessary adjustments and attempted to compile and upload. I got an error. Was it the Windows 8 update since I last touched this about a year ago? Or was it all done on my old computer that died and I didn't have this one all setup?
After what seemed like a good hundred attempts, I gave up on Sprinter and tried Repetier. This was great, I was able to edit all of my settings in a nice simple web interface that I could manage even after knocking back a few. Better yet, It compiled and successfully uploaded.
So I fired everything up again and found that the extruder I had put together wasn't applying enough force on the filament. I'm now living in a small town and finding metric hardware sin't easy. So instead of ordering more bits and pieces of things I ordered what looked like a good solid complete extruder and impatiently waited for it to arrive. Finally after a few days it showed up in my mailbox and I went back to work. The stepper for the extruder is a geared Kysan 1040220. The same brand as my other non-geared steppers and same color coding. After wiring it together and tidying it all up, I loaded up Repetier and attempted to test out the extruder. No good. I couldn't connect to my printer. I tried good ole Pronterface and was able to connect. I first checked axis X, Y and Z. All good. Then I tried the extruder. Nothing. So I made a few adjustments and it was jerking around a bit back and forth.
Was the wiring different? I looked at the schematics and tested with a multimeter and found that it was all good. I checked everything to make sure it was all good by swapping steppers. Everything seemed good except for the E0 extruder. I connected it to the X axis and I was able to get it to move properly. Maybe E0 got shorted out or a solder point got loose after the move. I don't know, I'm losing patience and my wife probably isn't so thrilled about me dumping more money into this thing. I remapped the pins to use E1 and nothing still.
I thought it had to be the firmware version I managed to grab and I didn't have every little detail right. I mean I tried every little setting for extrusion that I could. I decided to go back to Sprinter because I did have that all working at one point, but I could not compile it at all. I would get so many different errors and I look at enough code during the day for work I wasn't even going to try do dig in too far. It seems to work for everybody else, right? I tried every version of Arduino and would get a different error with each one. Maybe it is this lemon laptop I bought. So at work, we have Windows 7. I decided to download Arduino .23, grabbed the latest GIT of Sprinter and opened it up. I got an error compiling, but I forgot to switch to Arduino Mega. I made the switch and successfully compiled. I then zipped up everything so I could pull it up at home.
I got home later that same night and downloaded the files from my cloud account. I happily unzipped the files and opened it all up. I made sure to select Arduino Mega this time and clicked compile. Curses! I'm getting errors again! Just when I was about to take a hammer and destroy this blasted computer once and for all, I thought I'd try one more thing. When I was at work, I first had Uno selected before compiling for Mega. I selected Uno, clicked to compile, got the error saying I should select Mega, I selected Mega and compiled...successfully. I am now as happy as a little girl. I was able to fully control every axis and extruder from Pronterface. My wife can relax about where the money is going and I can resume making things.
It was a long story, but I'm sure some can relate to all of the trial and error. The short of it is if you're having trouble compiling with a Windows 8 computer, try first compiling for Uno, then Mega.
I never did get the chance to fully setup my new extruder, so I made the necessary adjustments and attempted to compile and upload. I got an error. Was it the Windows 8 update since I last touched this about a year ago? Or was it all done on my old computer that died and I didn't have this one all setup?
After what seemed like a good hundred attempts, I gave up on Sprinter and tried Repetier. This was great, I was able to edit all of my settings in a nice simple web interface that I could manage even after knocking back a few. Better yet, It compiled and successfully uploaded.
So I fired everything up again and found that the extruder I had put together wasn't applying enough force on the filament. I'm now living in a small town and finding metric hardware sin't easy. So instead of ordering more bits and pieces of things I ordered what looked like a good solid complete extruder and impatiently waited for it to arrive. Finally after a few days it showed up in my mailbox and I went back to work. The stepper for the extruder is a geared Kysan 1040220. The same brand as my other non-geared steppers and same color coding. After wiring it together and tidying it all up, I loaded up Repetier and attempted to test out the extruder. No good. I couldn't connect to my printer. I tried good ole Pronterface and was able to connect. I first checked axis X, Y and Z. All good. Then I tried the extruder. Nothing. So I made a few adjustments and it was jerking around a bit back and forth.
Was the wiring different? I looked at the schematics and tested with a multimeter and found that it was all good. I checked everything to make sure it was all good by swapping steppers. Everything seemed good except for the E0 extruder. I connected it to the X axis and I was able to get it to move properly. Maybe E0 got shorted out or a solder point got loose after the move. I don't know, I'm losing patience and my wife probably isn't so thrilled about me dumping more money into this thing. I remapped the pins to use E1 and nothing still.
I thought it had to be the firmware version I managed to grab and I didn't have every little detail right. I mean I tried every little setting for extrusion that I could. I decided to go back to Sprinter because I did have that all working at one point, but I could not compile it at all. I would get so many different errors and I look at enough code during the day for work I wasn't even going to try do dig in too far. It seems to work for everybody else, right? I tried every version of Arduino and would get a different error with each one. Maybe it is this lemon laptop I bought. So at work, we have Windows 7. I decided to download Arduino .23, grabbed the latest GIT of Sprinter and opened it up. I got an error compiling, but I forgot to switch to Arduino Mega. I made the switch and successfully compiled. I then zipped up everything so I could pull it up at home.
I got home later that same night and downloaded the files from my cloud account. I happily unzipped the files and opened it all up. I made sure to select Arduino Mega this time and clicked compile. Curses! I'm getting errors again! Just when I was about to take a hammer and destroy this blasted computer once and for all, I thought I'd try one more thing. When I was at work, I first had Uno selected before compiling for Mega. I selected Uno, clicked to compile, got the error saying I should select Mega, I selected Mega and compiled...successfully. I am now as happy as a little girl. I was able to fully control every axis and extruder from Pronterface. My wife can relax about where the money is going and I can resume making things.
It was a long story, but I'm sure some can relate to all of the trial and error. The short of it is if you're having trouble compiling with a Windows 8 computer, try first compiling for Uno, then Mega.
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Re: A Tale of Frustration and An Odd Fix For Firmare Compile Issue July 01, 2014 07:00AM |
Registered: 13 years ago Posts: 7,616 |
Which wiki instructions did you follow and where exactly did you get stuck?
| Generation 7 Electronics | Teacup Firmware | RepRap DIY |
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Re: A Tale of Frustration and An Odd Fix For Firmare Compile Issue July 01, 2014 10:13AM |
Registered: 11 years ago Posts: 14 |
I don't recall where, but my biggest issue was that after different Windows 8 updates to my laptop, something would always seem to get dinged up. I had to install drivers several times throughout the course of a year as it would no longer recognize an Arduino afterward. Then I had issues compiling Sprinter on it. I could compile on other computers, but it's my laptop that I can take in the garage. Even when bringing over every library, file and whatnot. I zipped the entire contents of the folder I store all of my Arduino IDE versions, sketches and libraries. Repetier may work fine with my newest extruder stepper, but I'd have to get into the advanced settings and start yet another round of trial and error. At this point I just wanted it working again, so maybe later I'll try again.
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Re: A Tale of Frustration and An Odd Fix For Firmare Compile Issue July 02, 2014 06:57AM |
Registered: 13 years ago Posts: 7,616 |
Quote
jeremypettit
I don't recall where
Then, please find out. IMHO it's a bit pointless to try to engage a magic crystal ball to find out what happening on your side. There should be instructions and if these lack, they should be completed. Ideally by the vendor of the stuff you bought.
| Generation 7 Electronics | Teacup Firmware | RepRap DIY |
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Re: A Tale of Frustration and An Odd Fix For Firmare Compile Issue July 02, 2014 11:19AM |
Registered: 11 years ago Posts: 14 |
Usually when I was stumped, I'd come looking here.
When I was dealing with Repetier, I used Repetier's website.
Host: [www.repetier.com]
Firmware: [www.repetier.com]
When I was setting up and installing Sprinter, I used the Readme file that is kept in the directory.
[github.com]
For Arduino setup, I followed what was detailed for Sprinter. I believe this is also documented in the RepRap Wiki.
[reprap.org]
IMHO, most Wiki's don't have much for troubleshooting, which is why I use search engines. If I couldn't find it here, I'd Google for something similar. At times, I'd find a site or a post describing some error similar to what I was seeing when trying to compile. While hoping for answers like that of the poster, often times I would see replies saying it should work or to use Google or something similar. I have seen several frustrated users mentioning Windows 8 and I haven't found much other than the rigorous process of how to install the Arduino drivers on it. What I do know is that my printer had worked, then after a hiatus and several Windows 8 updates, I had to reinstall Arduino drivers each time. After all of that, I couldn't compile the Sprinter firmware, which I needed to do after getting a different stepper motor for an extruder. This is likely a compatibility issue with Windows 8 and that version of the Arduino IDE. With Sprinter, it is repeated to use Arduino 0023, which is old. I just happened to find a way around the compile issue that I and others had been getting and thought I'd share.
I'm not looking for any answers, I'm just sharing the experience to maybe help someone with the same problem. Yes, I had some problems, but they were typically easy fixes. Building your own machine is unlike an out of the box solution. It is a process and sometimes you shoot yourself in the foot in an act of frustration and/or desperation. This compile issue bandaid fix I used would have been handy had I known it earlier.
When I was dealing with Repetier, I used Repetier's website.
Host: [www.repetier.com]
Firmware: [www.repetier.com]
When I was setting up and installing Sprinter, I used the Readme file that is kept in the directory.
[github.com]
For Arduino setup, I followed what was detailed for Sprinter. I believe this is also documented in the RepRap Wiki.
[reprap.org]
IMHO, most Wiki's don't have much for troubleshooting, which is why I use search engines. If I couldn't find it here, I'd Google for something similar. At times, I'd find a site or a post describing some error similar to what I was seeing when trying to compile. While hoping for answers like that of the poster, often times I would see replies saying it should work or to use Google or something similar. I have seen several frustrated users mentioning Windows 8 and I haven't found much other than the rigorous process of how to install the Arduino drivers on it. What I do know is that my printer had worked, then after a hiatus and several Windows 8 updates, I had to reinstall Arduino drivers each time. After all of that, I couldn't compile the Sprinter firmware, which I needed to do after getting a different stepper motor for an extruder. This is likely a compatibility issue with Windows 8 and that version of the Arduino IDE. With Sprinter, it is repeated to use Arduino 0023, which is old. I just happened to find a way around the compile issue that I and others had been getting and thought I'd share.
I'm not looking for any answers, I'm just sharing the experience to maybe help someone with the same problem. Yes, I had some problems, but they were typically easy fixes. Building your own machine is unlike an out of the box solution. It is a process and sometimes you shoot yourself in the foot in an act of frustration and/or desperation. This compile issue bandaid fix I used would have been handy had I known it earlier.
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