Prints ruined by "pausing"

Hello! We've now managed to get it printing, yay!
But! It keeps stopping. On every print we have tried, even the test thing that was the first we were supposed to print. It just stops all of a sudden and stands there, melting a big blob of plastic. One time it started going again after having waited for a few minutes, but no other time. This happens with every single thing we try, and if we run the same file again it stops at the same place, so it isn't random. My theory is that it has something to do with the temperature and it waiting for a change in temperature, but for some reason it isn't working the way it should. Does anyone know anything about this?

Hi M3832,

Assuming you are using official RRP firmware, pausing will occur if the USB interface stops accepting data. That's the common reason This can happen if the PC goes into sleep mode, or sometimes when you connect other USB devices to the PC. To help avoid this, you can remove the M111 S1 command from config.g.. Or you could use my firmware fork instead, which has this bug fixed; but then RRP may be reluctant to support you, and if you are a new user this is not such a good idea.

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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].

Welcome to the Club that never sleeps....
Hi the only time I've had something similar was when the printer was powered by the Laptop, and I found that unplugging external devices (when connected via the USB connection, and normaly my SamSung phone) would cause the Laptop to turn the USB power off for an instant. The printer stopped dead, and when the power was back on, it restarted the Duet.

On the Duet, just beside the Heater Connection plug is a Hard to Read Jumper (J9), the print is so small it really is difficult to read.... If you close that link, on the newer Duet boards (Mine is from Jan2014 and has it) closing that J9 link allows the Duet to take it's power from the Main 12V supply, as well as from the USB. I think I'd try that first. Since finding out about the J9 jumper, I have it closed all the time, and use both the Web interface and the USB interface with no problem.

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Please send me a PM if you have suggestions, or problems with Big Blue 360.
I won't see comments in threads, as I move around to much.
Working Link to Big Blue 360 Complete

But we are printing from the SD-card using the Ethernet-connection. It is not even plugged in to the USB :/ We've tried having the USB plugged in, nothing changed. Also, it stops at the same place if I run the same object again, so if it would have been interruptions such as sleep mode or new USB connections shouldn't it have been more random? It happens at exactly the same place every single time.

Maybe Ian will suggest something. In the meantime, check your firmware and web interface version. I believe RRP's latest firmware is 0.65e but I don't know their web interface version. It's strange that nobody else has reported the problem if you are seeing it with standard test pieces. If you want to try my firmware fork, see [forums.reprap.org].

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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].

Out of curiosity, what do your bed compensation parameters look like?

Firstly, after the machine stops printing, is it still alive? (i.e. can you still control it or does it need a reboot)? If the Duet has crashed, it is probably due to electrical noise (switching something on or off on the same mains plug). Plug the Ormerod into its own separate mains outlet and/or a filtered mains extension. The fact that it stops in the same place every time would however suggest that that is not the cause.

If the printer is still alive, are you printing from SD card? If not, do so. Also check the G code of the file(s) you are printing with a text editor to ensure they are complete - they should finish with your end code and probably some comment lines. An error I made in the early days was to copy the G file to the SD card before the slicing software had finished writing it. If using Slic3r, it can take a ridiculously long time to slice some designs (many hours). I had started slicing then gone to make a coffee, and just assumed that it must have finished slicing by the time I came back from the kitchen.

Dave
(#106)