PRUSA I3

I just completed the construction of PRUSA I3. Everything is hooked up correctly and no smoke (good sign). The LED on the Melzi card is steady but, nothing works except the fan on the extruder. From what I have read the firmware needs to be installed. I have read so many articles on this process it is making my brain hurt. Let me start by saying I am not a programmer by any means. I am utilizing a MAC. Could someone please put this process (if that is the issue) is simple terms on uploading new firmware.

Thanks in advance.

Brandon

Go to reprap.org/wiki/Melzi
This should give you all the information you need on that board. Most of the time on Marlin you don't have much control over your axes until you home them.

I assume that Marlin is a firmware? I see it in several places ,but is an additional board needed for uploading the firmware? I have read "reprap.org/wiki/Melzi" and I have more questions then prior to.

Thanks,

You need to install Arduino on your computer from [arduino.cc] .
You then connect to the Melzi via a usb cable. If your Melzi came with the bootloader already installed which would be usual then no other board is needed for programming.
The Arduino software allows you to program the Melzi with Marlin.

Thanks Ralph, the Ardunio 1.0.6 has and option for several cards. Is there one that should be utilized? I ask because I am gettinga compling error.

Thanks,

There should be an option for a melzi board shown?

Nope, Melzi in not in the list of available cards. However I downloaded the "Sanguino“ add-on and selected card # AT-Mega1284p 16 Mhz. Here is a helpful link

[www.wimmeralogic.com].

However I do get an error.. see the attached photo.. any Ideas what is causing this issue?

Also how do I check to see if a bootloader is loaded? Is the Melzi card good for all versions of Marlin? know this is alot of questions. Thanks for your patience.


Brandon.

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/18/2015 05:38PM by brandon43.

Per the Wiki
[reprap.org]

What is Sanguino?! Sanguino is the basic architecture of the board (see [sanguino.cc] ). Sanguinololu is Sanguino, with the addition of stepper drivers. Melzi is based on Sanguinololu, so needs some extra files so Arduino IDE can talk to the Melzi.
The Sanguino drivers are located within the Marlin folder of the firmware. Copy the 'Sanguino' folder to your /arduino-1.0.4/hardware/ folder.

After many hours I finally found my problem. It appears that Arduino does not like more than one revision of a firmware in the arduino hardware file. Once all revisions except one was delited it compliled and installed. However No the Y Axis does not move and the home positions are incorrect. I installed the latest Marlin from Github. Any Is ideas what could cause this?

Thanks,

Brandon.

For the incorrect home positions, when you manually try to move the axes, do they move in the direct you expect? If not you may need to invert the endstops. Look for Invert Endstops=true or false.

For the Y not moving, does it even try - does it make any noise at all? You might need to turn up the pot on the board.