And yet Another SmartCore build...

Got all the Parts printed and have received most of the rest the parts in the mail..Version 1.2.4. but need the firmware to upload to the arduino.. If someone has a working file ready to upload that works ,, to give me a place to start.. I am not very good a firmware/software end of things,,, I will be using a J-head no heat bed at this time,, and a 300x300 bed setup..ramps 1.4 and mega 2560... any help would be greatly appreciated.And. Is it OK to use Repetier Host ,,and a little input on how to get started getting the right firmware into the mega 2560 and repetier host settings,, I am a complete newcomer with the firmware side of things...

Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 08/10/2015 08:46PM by mike3.

I know Djinn is using Repetier on his, maybe he'll post up his files.

I went to the Smart Friends github and downloaded their firmware and uploaded a file called Marlin mk7 is that the right one? I have control of the X.Y,Z Steppers and the extruder through Repetier Host.. So where do I go from here..I'm really not sure what I am doing...

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/12/2015 03:29PM by mike3.

Use the Load button in repetier to open a .stl file. Then use the big slicer button (after researching some suitable settings for your filament and non-heated bed - also think about start and end g-code you might want to manually add to, say, lift the print head a little once you've finished) to turn this into g-code, the instructions for the printer to travel around squirting melted plastic out in just the right amount at the right location. Then press print if you feel brave enough. There's a dry run button you can tick if you just want to see if the mechanical parts can follow the g-code without melting plastic but I'm not sure if this is a Repetier firmware only option (i.e. not Marlin). Don't forget to hover the mouse over the emergency stop button just in case the print head crashes. I've used this several times when "kill print" wasn't responding.


Hope that gets you started.

Thanks .. one more question before I let the printer self destruct.. I built ver. 1.2.4. and I have the end stops jury rigged and am not happy with them that way.. I have looked everywhere on instructions on where to place them and I am usually pretty good at figuring these sorts of things out but I cannot see where on the printed parts to put them.. any Ideas...

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mike3
Thanks .. one more question before I let the printer self destruct.. I built ver. 1.2.4. and I have the end stops jury rigged and am not happy with them that way.. I have looked everywhere on instructions on where to place them and I am usually pretty good at figuring these sorts of things out but I cannot see where on the printed parts to put them.. any Ideas...

Someone asked this same question about the 1.2.4 version over on the Thingiverse "thing". The answer that someone gave there:

X endstop is under the carriage of the fusor facing left, and Y endstop is on the right side facing back, next to the motor. If you go to youmagine and render the file with openjscad, you can see them on place.

I went to generate the Jcad smartcore at OpenJcad and It will not work.. now looks like someone went in and messed it up somehow,, or at least it looks that way...

OK I uploaded what I believe is the proper firmware. I have control over the X,Y,Z and extruder .&. hot end with Repetier but the end stops aren't working? I plugged them in where is shown at the Smartfriends assembly site...

Have you tried M119 and see whats triggered? If they show all triggered even when they're not, or all open even though they should be triggered then you can try inverting the endstop logic.

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madmike8
Have you tried M119 and see whats triggered? If they show all triggered even when they're not, or all open even though they should be triggered then you can try inverting the endstop logic.

well i hate to show my ignorance .. but how to I try M119 and how would I invert the endstop logic?.. I totaly new to this... thanks

Here is a video I made for the SmartRap covering the endstops. You can follow along as the concept is the same.

Endstops

Got it .. thanks all ...

M119 is one of the most overlooked gcodes by newbie printer builders I think. Another good one is M114 which shows your axis postions.

When setting up a new printer that' I've completed assembling and wiring, here's the order I do things. Hopefully it helps someone.

With Power off center all axis manually, well at least have room to move in either direction.
Set Vref with USB power only.
Use M119 to check each endstop and make sure they are triggering correctly. Fix if not.
Add 12v Power.
Move each axis 1mm at a time to make sure it's moving and in the right direction. Fix if not.
I usually set my Z endstop up a few mm from the bed here. No need to run the hotend into the bed.
Then be ready to power down quickly and try homing each axis. If it heads off in the wrong direction Power Down. Fix if not.
Now set your Z home endstop if your not using autolevel. Level the bed to the hotend here too.
Move your axis to the max end of their axis or the edge of the bed (whichever comes first.) Then M119 to get your axis positions.
This gives you your max limits to set in your slicer.
Now test your hotend and heatbed to see if they respond correctly.
Then PID Autotune http://reprap.org/wiki/PID_Tuning
Now your ready to load filament and start test printing.

Thanks rcjoseb Video helped much.. MadMike8 Thanks for the guide.. After a few days I finally got back to the printer.. first I used a regular endstop on the Z axis and it will trigger.. but when I installed the Proximity sensor using M119 it doesn't show triggered either way contacting metal or not. I have a 150k and a 100k resistor to lower the voltage.. and it shows around 4.50v not near metal and around 3.4v near metal.. any Ideas.. I am using the MK8 Marlin file on the Smartcore Github I have the
LJ18A3-8-Z/BX 3-Wire DC 6-36V NPN NO 8m proximity detector . Thanks

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/18/2015 09:14AM by mike3.

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mike3
Thanks rcjoseb Video helped much.. MadMike8 Thanks for the guide.. After a few days I finally got back to the printer.. first I used a regular endstop on the Z axis and it will trigger.. but when I installed the Proximity sensor using M119 it doesn't show triggered either way contacting metal or not. I have a 150k and a 100k resistor to lower the voltage.. and it shows around 4.50v not near metal and around 3.4v near metal.. any Ideas.. I am using the MK8 Marlin file on the Smartcore Github I have the
LJ18A3-8-Z/BX 3-Wire DC 6-36V NPN NO 8m proximity detector . Thanks

Figured it out,, changed the resistors to 15k and 10k .. that gave around 4v high and .08v low.. now it will home and print.. but the Hot end keeps clogging .. I am using a Jhead bowden.. with PLA and no heat bed.. I have only printed with ABS on my Folger 2020 ..I have no experience with PLA... any Ideas.. Thanks

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mike3

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mike3
Thanks rcjoseb Video helped much.. MadMike8 Thanks for the guide.. After a few days I finally got back to the printer.. first I used a regular endstop on the Z axis and it will trigger.. but when I installed the Proximity sensor using M119 it doesn't show triggered either way contacting metal or not. I have a 150k and a 100k resistor to lower the voltage.. and it shows around 4.50v not near metal and around 3.4v near metal.. any Ideas.. I am using the MK8 Marlin file on the Smartcore Github I have the
LJ18A3-8-Z/BX 3-Wire DC 6-36V NPN NO 8m proximity detector . Thanks

Figured it out,, changed the resistors to 15k and 10k .. that gave around 4v high and .08v low.. now it will home and print.. but the Hot end keeps clogging .. I am using a Jhead bowden.. with PLA and no heat bed.. I have only printed with ABS on my Folger 2020 ..I have no experience with PLA... any Ideas.. Thanks

Finally stopped the extruder from clogging.. and have test printed a few decent pieces, but now the extruder has started leaking PLA from between where the hot end break screws into the heatsink piece,, any ideas ??

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mike3

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mike3

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mike3
Thanks rcjoseb Video helped much.. MadMike8 Thanks for the guide.. After a few days I finally got back to the printer.. first I used a regular endstop on the Z axis and it will trigger.. but when I installed the Proximity sensor using M119 it doesn't show triggered either way contacting metal or not. I have a 150k and a 100k resistor to lower the voltage.. and it shows around 4.50v not near metal and around 3.4v near metal.. any Ideas.. I am using the MK8 Marlin file on the Smartcore Github I have the
LJ18A3-8-Z/BX 3-Wire DC 6-36V NPN NO 8m proximity detector . Thanks

Figured it out,, changed the resistors to 15k and 10k .. that gave around 4v high and .08v low.. now it will home and print.. but the Hot end keeps clogging .. I am using a Jhead bowden.. with PLA and no heat bed.. I have only printed with ABS on my Folger 2020 ..I have no experience with PLA... any Ideas.. Thanks

Finally stopped the extruder from clogging.. and have test printed a few decent pieces, but now the extruder has started leaking PLA from between where the hot end break screws into the heatsink piece,, any ideas ??

I think you need to heat tighten those pieces together to form a tight grip. Remove the filament and heat hotend, then using pliers or a wrench tighten those two pieces together and then let it cool down, should be nice and tight by then. What temps are you using for PLA?

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widespreaddeadhead

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mike3

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mike3

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mike3
Thanks rcjoseb Video helped much.. MadMike8 Thanks for the guide.. After a few days I finally got back to the printer.. first I used a regular endstop on the Z axis and it will trigger.. but when I installed the Proximity sensor using M119 it doesn't show triggered either way contacting metal or not. I have a 150k and a 100k resistor to lower the voltage.. and it shows around 4.50v not near metal and around 3.4v near metal.. any Ideas.. I am using the MK8 Marlin file on the Smartcore Github I have the
LJ18A3-8-Z/BX 3-Wire DC 6-36V NPN NO 8m proximity detector . Thanks

Figured it out,, changed the resistors to 15k and 10k .. that gave around 4v high and .08v low.. now it will home and print.. but the Hot end keeps clogging .. I am using a Jhead bowden.. with PLA and no heat bed.. I have only printed with ABS on my Folger 2020 ..I have no experience with PLA... any Ideas.. Thanks

Finally stopped the extruder from clogging.. and have test printed a few decent pieces, but now the extruder has started leaking PLA from between where the hot end break screws into the heatsink piece,, any ideas ??

I think you need to heat tighten those pieces together to form a tight grip. Remove the filament and heat hotend, then using pliers or a wrench tighten those two pieces together and then let it cool down, should be nice and tight by then. What temps are you using for PLA?

Was kinda thinking along those lines just nice to hear it.. Like I stated above I haven't had any experience with PLA ,, I have been printing between 214-218c

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/21/2015 04:34PM by mike3.

Where did you get the J-Head hot-end? Is it a genuine J-Head or a chinese knock-off?

Got it from Folger Tech.. but I found the problem ... where the heatbreak attaches to the hot end wasn't screwed in all the way .. guess I need to not assume the factory puts things together properly..

Folger Tech is not selling genuine J-Head hot-ends. In fact, most J-Heads are cheap knock-offs made in China. There is more information on J-Heads at these two websites:

[reprap.org]

[jheadnozzle.blogspot.com]

Here is a link that shows the difference between clones (counterfeit) J-Heads and the real thing:

[jheadnozzle.blogspot.com]

Genuine J-Heads are properly assembled before shipping.

Best Regards,

Brian

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mike3
Got it from Folger Tech.. but I found the problem ... where the heatbreak attaches to the hot end wasn't screwed in all the way .. guess I need to not assume the factory puts things together properly..

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reifsnyderb
Folger Tech is not selling genuine J-Head hot-ends. In fact, most J-Heads are cheap knock-offs made in China. There is more information on J-Heads at these two websites:

[reprap.org]

[jheadnozzle.blogspot.com]

Here is a link that shows the difference between clones (counterfeit) J-Heads and the real thing:

[jheadnozzle.blogspot.com]

Genuine J-Heads are properly assembled before shipping.

Best Regards,

well I had mine completely apart.. and even tho its a clone its just like the Mk IV-B with the white tubing and after tighting the hot end .. its printing just fine.. b
[jheadnozzle.blogspot.com]


Brian

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mike3
Got it from Folger Tech.. but I found the problem ... where the heatbreak attaches to the hot end wasn't screwed in all the way .. guess I need to not assume the factory puts things together properly..

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/24/2015 09:39AM by mike3.