Pronterface - hot end switching off at start of job :-(

i seem to be having the same problem described here but neither of the suggested solutions seem to work - i.e. setting the temperature to 230 or setting it to zero. I am just so darned close to being able to do the fine tuning but the blasted printer seems to be rebelling against me. Maybe it's become self aware?

You may want to try slicing in a different program (or with a different instance of Slic3r), and then just have Pronterface run the GCode, and see if that changes anything.

Is all of your software up to date?

.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/10/2014 03:16AM by waitaki.

---

_______________________________________
Waitaki 3D Printer

Thanks for your replies. I can confirm that I am using the latest version of everything - freshly downloaded from the site. To my shame, as a newbie, I have never used any slicer directly, and was happy to let Pronterface take care of everything (at least that was the general idea). Looks like I have more learning to do

Hi waitaki - did you mean to post an empty message?

It was meant for another topic, not this one. Must be getting tired...

---

_______________________________________
Waitaki 3D Printer

You need to understand what's going on here. The temperature controls in pronterface are basically intended to allow you to manually control the printer. You'll need to use them, for example, for changing filament, etc. Many people do turn off temperature control in their slicer, and just handle it manually. That is a perfectly valid way to proceed, but bear in mind that you must turn it off completely in your slicer. Once you start printing, pronterface is no longer in direct control - the G code is. If the G code contains an instruction to change the temperature, then the temperature will change. If you change it manually during a print, the next time the G code executes a temperature command, the temperature will change again.

That said, there are a couple of places to look in your slicer. First, check the temperature settings that you have for your filament type. I'm not actually sure if this causes slic3r to insert a temperature command, but the foolproof way to set the temperature automatically at the start of a print is to have a bit of "start" G code. Both slic3r and skeinforge allow this; other slicers may too, but these are the ones I am familiar with. The "start" G code can be parameterized so that it takes values from the slicer settings, so often times, the same start code can be used for different types of filament.

When I get home tonight I will post my start code, but basically it starts the heaters, homes the print head, moved a bit to the right (x=50) and raises the print head to 0.5mm. Then it waits for the temps to be reached, extrudes a few millimeters of filament to both prime and wipe the hot end, homes again, and then starts into the print.

My custom end code raises the print head, moves the bed most of the way forward, and turns off all the heaters. The slicer may do this last item already, but I'd rather be safe than sorry when dealing with a heated element like that.

Thanks for a very comprehensive response - it'd be great if you could post your start/end codes. I have managed to get some output, but the results are far from ideal . Is anybody out there aware of any site that helps to diagnose setup issues, ideally with pictures of the results of various misconfigurations? (a big ask I know, but what the heck )